Tire Tracks
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Starting in early 2006, we will leave our London home behind and head towards the southern tip of Spain in our expedition-ready 4WD. Our 50,000-mile African adventure starts when we enter the continent in Morocco. For weeks, desert sand will be our companion, until we hit the more populated coastal areas in Guinea, and the Ivory Coast. Dense rainforests in Central Africa and savannas in the East will eventually bring us to South Africa, where we will make a 180° turn. From then on, we will spend our second year heading up north along the African east coast, until our journey ends in Cairo.
The purpose of undertaking this expedition is not just the excitement and lasting experience of this adventure – though that in itself would be reason enough to undertake it – but more because we want to truly understand this magical continent and its inhabitants. We strongly believe that to fully understand a country, its culture and its people, you need to spend a significant amount of time in a country allowing you the flexibility to move away from the beaten track, and experience a country in its day-to-day life. By doing so, you will be able to identify and understand the different aspects that affect a country, and relate them to each other.
If you then have the opportunity to experience daily life in over 30 other African countries, you will also be able to see each country in relation and comparison to its neighbors. By doing so, not only does your understanding of each individual country grow even deeper, but it also becomes possible to put the different aspects of each country into a broader, more recognizable perspective. With this fresh and balanced outlook, you can then start to think of Africa and its place in the world in a new way.
With this unique approach to exploring, understanding and explaining Africa , we want to take people along with us on our journey, and make them part of what we go through – the good and the bad, the great and the trivial. Through our education and media initiatives, we will provide adults and students with the opportunity to share in our experiences throughout our two-year expedition.
Our global, interactive, multi-media pilot education program will provide students and teachers with expedition- driven, Africa-based content that easily integrates into current teaching curriculum, and reinforces concepts taught in science, social studies (geography, citizenship), technology and reflective writing classes. Students and teachers are encouraged to interact with the expedition team, as well as with other participating pilot schools in Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, UK and USA, thereby opening up another avenue for students to learn more about other cultures and deepen their understanding of concepts taught.
In addition to our education initiatives, we will share our African experiences with the global public through our adventure stories, reports and photos. With a combination of media like writing and photography, and where appropriate, sound and video clips, we will sketch a complete picture of our journey as it progresses.