The roar of a lion in the night wakes us both up. It’s after midnight, there is no moon. I drop down from the rooftop quickly (it’s that time of night) and don’t stop to enjoy the brilliant sky. A while later another roar… a whole lot closer! “Dam and I are going to see if we can find them.” Marnus and his SAN tracker slowly leave the camp in the direction of the most recent roar. We watch them from the roof top tent on top of our Land Rover. The search light dances around in front of their…
Today we begin our eight month journey. We fly from Dallas Texas in the USA to Doha Qatar in the Middle East on to Johannesburg, South Africa. The entire journey will take about 30 hours. This is about preparing to overland Africa 2018-2019. Why do we do this? In our small way we’re about helping people saving wildlife. Preparing to overland Africa to save wildlife in our old Land Rover requires a few things: Like securing a carnet de passage for border crossings (sort of a vehicle passport), a Comesa (third party auto insurance), updated vehicle registration, buying hard to…
It all began quite suddenly without warning and turned into quite the Land Rover Stuck in Tanzania adventure. The entire stuck in Tanzania saga took 14 days. Yes, it was all of two weeks later that we finally are back on the road south. It all started when driving the back road from Singadi to Dodoma. Our Land Rover’s back right shock failed and took out a fuel connector. We rolled to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Or so it seemed. (Read about it here.) This is where the story continues… After four nights and three days camped…
On Wednesday afternoon we get stuck in Tanzania, in the middle of nowhere, and by Saturday we’re still in the small remote village. “It must be five o’clock!” Russ groans as the morning prayers blast through the village. Five times a day Muslim devotionals are broadcast via loudspeakers. Even in remote villages like Kwa Mtoro its part of the tradition. So begins day two of our stuck in Tanzania story. (You can read how it all started here.) It’s a beautiful morning after the rainstorm yesterday. Today we sit and wait. Recap of yesterday: After fixing and replacing all the…
In the midst of being stranded in the middle of nowhere in Tanzania I might just have discovered the secret to a happy life. Recently I read a book by Shanda Sumpter. She is a business woman with a fascinating model for success. A key element is endurance. Most of us give up too easily she says. To counter this she encourages her clients to get involved in some endurance sport… running a marathon for example. It’s in pushing ourselves past our limits that creates within us the ability to succeed. Then a few days ago I listened to a…
