Tafies is very famous in Saudi Arabia. Last week the organizers announced that they are changing its route which was for 30 years in North Africa, and in the past decade in South America, to the Middle East. https://adventuremotorcycle.com/news/dakar-saudiarabia-2020
The race is the supreme test for off-road cars. When Saharan Africa became unsafe due to terrorism, the rally was moved to South America. However, South America has no good deserts. Saudi has lots of deserts, and is politically safe. Other important factors are that Saudi Arabia is passionate about the sport. Many young people rally in the desert on sand dunes in their Jeeps. This became a popular sports art known as “Tafies”, or dune bashing in English. Yearly, the local government of the Eastern Province organized a “Tafies” competition at the Half Moon Corniche during the End break (festival days after Ramadan) with participants from all over the Gulf region.
