Since returning from the Mongol Rally in September 2017 I, along with several of my travel buddies have been craving another big high stakes adventure. I’ve been out of the country a few times to satisfy the travel bug this year, going to Germany in February and Portugal in July. Those kind of trips are awesome, but they are different. The Mongol Rally was the craziest thing I or anyone else (aside from my compatriots of course) I’ve ever known has been a part of.
It was uncomfortable, sometimes grueling and the stress of keeping the car running every day was maddening. By the end we were absolutely burnt out. But I’m not gonna lie, after returning to Texas and getting settled back in to normal life there was a sense of loss that eventually crept in. Stockholm Syndrome comes to mind. We had completed this epic journey and missed the craziness of it. I might even call it a sort of adventure based depression. Enter The Monkey Run
The Monkey Run is an adventure that takes the impractical brilliance of a Monkey Bike; a vehicle so delightfully ludicrous for even the shortest of jaunts; and tosses it head first into some of the most demanding and challenging stretches of road that have been laid out on planet Earth.
The Monkey Run is another incarnation of motoring stupidity put on by the Adventurists, the “organizers” of the Mongol Rally. It involves driving a tiny 50cc motorcycle across stretches of land and road it has no business being on. It’s basically a go-cart that breaks down all the time with only 2 wheels.
Why Morocco?
There are 3 different Monkey Runs you can do: Morocco, Romania, and Peru. Morocco was the location of the first Monkey Run and not to mention the most exotic of the three locations as none of us have been to Africa before. And with the following sales pitch how could anyone not be convinced. As the Adventurists put it:
“Quite frankly, the most suitable location to sit astride a monkey bike. The huge sand dunes of the Sahara sit in wait to make moving forward largely impossible. Then, the Atlas mountains will rise up to make your engine melt and your fingers freeze. There is literally thousands of miles of off road chaos between you and the finish line.”
As soon as entry spots for October 2019 opened up I called everyone I knew that said they were in and we all signed up immediately. All total we have 5 people from Texas and Oklahoma, as well as one Dutchman living in the UK. Now all we have to do is wait an entire year…
So what exactly does it entail?
We show up in Marrakesh and then are driven to an undisclosed location in eastern Morocco. We’re then given our little bikes and a walk-through course, and then 2 days later we set off west towards the finish line. Right now that’s also an undisclosed location. What we do know is that it’ll be close to a 700 mile trip and we’re given 6-7 days to get to the finish line. There isn’t a set route so it’s completely up to us on how we get to the end. The starting point is on the western edge of the Sahara desert so there are no shortage of dunes, and we’ll have to cross the Atlas mountain range on our way to the finish line.
Oh, not to mention these are not good reliable motorcycles. They will inevitably break down, but they are easy enough to fix and at the very least if you fall off it you won’t be going very fast and you aren’t falling very far. Much like the Mongol Rally, you are being thrown into the proverbial deep end and your job is to not drown. I’d like to think the kind of people who seek out trips like this are at least capable of floating. More to come…
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