We continued westward with Paul, an Englishman in a 1957 beetle, and three Indian guys in a lowered Mercedes Benz. It took about 5 minutes for the Mercedes to hit a rock and knock a big hole in their oil pan. All the engine oil poured out immediately and he car is officially dead. They are out of commission, but got towed to the nearest village for repairs. Even though a serious accident, we´re quite it´s not the last we´ve heard from them. 

The beetle, on the other side, has done very well in todays terrain. We are off the tarmac now, and are doing todays stage on rocky paths, sand dunes and dried out river beds in order to get to the next campsite. It´s amazing to see how resilient that beetle is, and it´s amazing off-road capabilities never stop to impress us. The only weak spot is low ground-clearance and sand. There is a lot of sand in the Sahara. 


After driving a couple of hours south from yesterdays camp in Mazourga we got stuck pretty bad just off the route indicated by GPS waypoints. Quickly a couple of local guys turned up over the sand dunes on their mopeds and offered help. After giving us some 101´s in sand ladder and snatch strap use we ended up paying them 20 Euros to guide us out from the area we were in, building an improvised bridge to cross a huge ditch and sending us off on the correct unmarked path. The area we are navigating in is extremely demanding, there are hundreds of paths and wheel tracks crossing the ground, and you never know which ones might lead you out of the desert or which ones will lead you into a real bog. 

Finally making some progress along the plotted route the Beetle hit a big rock and knocked of the oil drain plug from the underside of the engine sump pan. Needless to say, that thing is a vital component, and we had to stop immediately. After assessing the problem, figuring out that we only had three hours till sundown and still 120 km to nearest sign of civilization we realized we were in for a night alone in the desert. Actually We thought we were the only ones left out here, when all of a sudden Norwegian Team Funduro passed by us as the last car. They stopped for a chat and gave us some "super steel" two component filler mass. Paul and Johan dismantled the oil pan from the Beetle and managed to fill the twisted bolt hole with our precious gift. 

While waiting for the filling to harden we had a warm meal and thoroughly searched the map for the easiest route out from this hell hole, preparing for some night driving. Sunset is around 1930 here, and unfortunately it was nearly impossible to make any progress in the darkness when all we could see was the sand dune in our head lights. During the next five hours we only gained a mere 20 km, stopping every 50th meter to dig and push the Beetle out from a bog, running after it with sand ladders and completely exhausting ourselves. When the moon disappeared around midnight we were left in absolute darkness and decided to pitch camp and stay for the night. Our first night alone in the Sahara, close to the Algerian-Moroccan border. 

Currently sitting in our tent. No cellphone-coverage. No road on map. No road on GPS. Sand everywhere. Electronics are starting to fail, but We hope to get out of here in the morning. 

We are enjoying this very much. Good night! 

- Sebastian, Johan and Paul - Phoenix and Beetle.