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Lebou women dance during the parade of the Great Carnival of Dakar on November 27. AFP-Yonhap |
The Dakar rally will be raced across the daunting deserts of Saudi Arabia again in 2022 with organisers on Sunday revealing the full route that exploits the depths of the Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter).
The January 1-14 endurance test will be a third Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia, a country accused by the international community of a poor human rights record.
But it will also be the 44th edition of the rally itself, with 1,065 participants aboard 578 vehicles racing across 8,375km of treacherous routes in the various categories.
The landscape and backdrop of the course is similar to the last edition, and it begins and ends after 12 stages in the port city of Jeddah.
From canyons and cliffs in the Neom region to stretches of dunes surrounding Riyadh, the race also takes in the Red Sea coastline and the mysterious Empty Quarter. (AFP)