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There
once were two ants that wanted to travel to Australia, however, on the highway
in Altona their legs began to ache and they wisely refrained from the remainder
of their trip. (J. Ringelnatz) |
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After
we had spent many nice summers in Cape Town and had tooled around the countries
of South Africa in a rickety Nissan 4x4 the thought occurred to us to invest in
a new car. This became quite an expensive undertaking because of the high
import tax in South Africa. The idea to navigate across the African continent
had always been in the back of our minds. Why not buy a much less expensive car
in Germany and have it shipped to Cape Town? This provided the opportunity to
drive the vehicle from the north to the south of the continent. We had, after
all, a real destination where we would then leave the car to use it in future
years. The final decision weighing this undertaking became a fortunate outcome
of circumstances. The success of such a plan hinged upon the political
situations in each country and the ability to move freely between the borders of
these different politically oriented countries. |
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So
it came to pass that in August Uwe, full of optimism, bought a Kultlandrover. It
was very spartanly equipped - the fewer add - ons the fewer things that could go
wrong. Then with a few added extras such as a cable winch, bullbar,
additional headlights, a raised up air cleaner, rooftop carrier, roof tent,
ladder, additional gas tanks, differential lock, compressor, additional
battery, refrigerator, stovetop, aluminum boxes, GPS and laptop, the
outfitting was nearly complete. This trip was to start the end of February
or early March. |
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began to haunt us like a dream. We would start out in our winter season,
possibly in ice cold conditions and would then move on to the south where the
weather conditions would begin to be more tolerable, through the Sahara desert,
into the Sahel, to press on through the humidity of the equator region and into
the animal zone of Africa, then to pass by Kilimanjaro and through the thick
bush to again be met by the dry conditions of the Kalaharie, Namib or Karoo
where at the end of the rain period we would perhaps experience the landscape of
South Africa at its most beautiful. We would then arrive in Cape Town. |
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The
thought of looking for traveling companions crossed our minds. Not an easy
undertaking for this type of trip and for the three to four months of time the
traveling involved. A few ads placed in appropriate trade magazines left us
with little response. We made the decision to take the trip alone. Because of
every man’s past failure in crossing the Sahara we ruled out the possibility of
negotiating it alone. The relatively safe alternative became a route through
Egypt over the Libyan Sahara. The approach to Egypt is a path through Turkey,
Syria and Jordan. |
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Ultimately, we find interested travel companions. They all have the same goal in
mind within the same time frame. The potential teams consist of two additional
pairs - one from Berlin with a 15 year old Landrover and another an IFA Saurian.
They are planning a route over Libya, Sudan and Ethiopia. We also had this in
mind, but not as solo travelers. We didn’t have to think about it too much. We
were all dependent on each other for this region. |
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Next
came the long period of planning. In the house little piles began to appear
consisting of things we thought would be useful, which in no way must be
forgotten. We reviewed ideas for the car and had to get our Visas. The
departure date of 2/24/2001 out of the port of Genova began to crystallize like
a magical ball. The beginning of the year brought information via the internet
that Libya was accepting no more tourists through its borders – or, if so, only
with a guide or by invitation. This information kept becoming increasingly
unclear. Visas for Algeria, Niger, and Chad would prove to be increasingly
important in case the entry to Libya went awry. The Visa for Egypt could prove
useful too should we not be able to get from Libya through Sudan. So, we also
found these Visas in our passports. The reports increased about attacks in
regions where the Tuareg tribe exist. The pair with the Landrover decides to
leave one week earlier to Tunisia. We plan to meet the IFA team in Genova on
2/24. |
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So, we
too, on 2/22/01 embark in a southern direction, in a direction towards
adventure…. |
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