CNN
By Thomas Page, CNN
Try as you might to stop it, the Sahara will still find a way to assault your senses. If the heat doesn’t get you, the sunlight might. The psychology of the task at hand is enough to break most people.
For Kiera Chaplin, the Sahara struck deep within her inner ear. After crossing rolling dunes in a customized 4×4, the car’s soft suspension and the constant up and down had her disorientated and off-balance. It was sea-sickness, by way of sand.
Watch: Africa’s only all-female rally
“You’re surfing on the waves,” she recalls, “you just glide.” But a serene experience took on added venom when the car rolled to a halt. Climbing gingerly up a dune, she surveyed the landscape, consulting her map and compass and made a judgment. “That way.”
Chaplin was in the middle of the toughest stage of the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles du Maroc — Africa’s only all-female off-road rally.
When the event began in 1990 it was the first of its kind in the world. Touting both its eco-credentials and empowering ethos, the rally’s petrol-head sorority has careened around Morocco’s eastern reaches for nearly three decades, always racing on its own terms.
Unlike other rallies, there are no prizes for speed. And while most competitions use a host of technologies, the so-called “Gazelles” must negotiate the terrain without GPS. Instead, contestants win for completing each stage while driving the shortest distance, meaning accuracy and bravery are key.
Expert teams travel kilometer to kilometer, says Chaplin, constantly readjusting their route. Drivers need to hit flag points along each stage; getting lost or looping back is fatal to one’s chance of winning.
