“Elsewhere is as good a word as tomorrow”
Paul Morand

Every man dreams of wide open spaces, and ever since it was invented, the motor car has been one way of turning this dream into the reality of crossing the plains and deserts of the world.

At first the privileged few drivers, later followed by many more, reached out for the end of the world; that infinitely distant place where, as in non-Euclidean geometry, parallels meet: the position where, once upon a time, Africa, Asia, Europe and America met on the dim horizon of a newly spherical Earth.

Citroën’s part in the writing of this automotive history has been considerable. Encompassing the first crossing of the Tanezrouft with the B2 half-tracks of 1922 and the 1973 crossing of the Ténéré by sixty 2CVs. Other landmarks have been; the trans-African “Croisière Noire” of 1924, the trans-Asian “Croisière Jaune” of 1931, the rally of 1,300 youngsters from Paris to Kabul and back in 1970 and the run from Paris to Persepolis in the following year.

Since the last war, the 2CV in particular, has provided the means by which young Europeans have explored far beyond their own frontiers. This tradition, and reservoir of experience, has provided the inspiration for this brochure. It offers advice, and useful warnings. But the essential lies in your capacity for accepting and understanding. Travel is not a way of dropping out: it is one dimension of freedom.

For the rest, technical preparation and driving methods are a matter of common sense. Everyone will resolve in their own way, the seeming paradoxes which balance some factors against others. For example, some parts need to be strengthened in order to withstand driving on rough terrain - but this can expose the relative weakness of an associated component... Again, caution dictates that some spares should be carried; yet they add to the overall weight, which
makes the vehicle more prone to break down, which can in turn tempt you to take even more spares... to the extent where some specialists are prone to advise that the only truly indispensable items are some rags to wipe parts clean of sand and dust, and galvanised wire for everything else.

Otherwise, you have only yourself to rely on. Henry de Monfreid used to tell his apprentice adventurers: “First, study plumbing.” Why? Because there are few places in the world where plumbers are not in demand.