As some of you might have heard the race administration of the Budapest-Bamako chose to cancel the Mauritania and Mali stages on this years rally.
The argument for this is the security situation in Mauritania and Mali, the rally will instead finish in Agadir, Morocco - effectively also canceling stages in Western-Sahara.
Since the start in Budapest we have followed the rally's official stages, but this intermediate solution from the organizers only seems to tend to the participants in the racing category. So after a few days of dune bashing in Merzuga (where families come to get the Sahara experience) we have decided that enough is enough. We are breaking away from the rally.

There are at least two different groups that are breaking away from the B2 and actually heading to Bamako, but since our vehicle requires daily maintenance we fear that we might have to part from a convoy for repairs leaving us traveling alone through the areas that several governments have told us to avoid. Since we cannot leave the vehicle in Morocco we have to drive it home and have started on our trip back. We will give you more updates and pictures in a short while.

Best regards,
Polar Bears