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Desert Travels: Motorcycle Journeys in the Sahara and West Africa

Author(s): Chris Scott

Location(s): Sahara

Genre(s): Travelogue

Era(s): 1980s

Today, following decades of kidnappings, rebellions, banditry and associated terrorist activities, tourism has collapsed in the central Sahara. But it wasn’t always like that. The 1980s were a golden age of independent exploration. Post-colonial nations had yet to be beset by internal strife and the original Dakar Rally led to an evolution of desert-capable motorcycles and 4x4s which saw adventure tourism flourish in the Sahara of Niger, Algeria and Mali.
’Desert Travels’ covers Chris Scott’s early motorcycling years in North Africa. Initially a clueless amateur blundering into the void, subsequent forays saw him hone his skills and extend his knowledge to become an established specialist on the region.
With occasional diversions towards interesting historical episodes or musing over the enduring mystique of the desert, most of the book describes the group tensions of an ill-fated motorcycle tour which, one by one, saw its participants drop away until just one was left still riding.

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