The Dakar Rally is a competition held every year during the first weeks of January. It's considered to be one of the toughest rallies in the world. Until 2008, the participants started in a European city and the finish line was in Dakar, Senegal.
For many years, the rally started in Paris but since 1995 the starting city has alternated between various European cities (Barcelona, Lisbon), even though the real competition doesn't start until the participants get into Africa. Likewise, the finish line has also been changing, in 1992 it was in Cape Town. In 2000 and 2003, the Rally finished in Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The rally was moved to the South American countries of Argentina and Chile in 2009 after being cancelled because of terrorist threats in 2008. The upcoming 2010 edition will be held in South America once again.