Afritrex - Project News

I found this in a motoring magazine in Malawi, it's advertising the new Defender. Read it although its been taken from the pages of a book and has been edited.

Enjoy.....

"

….the impenetrable bush. The only way across was over five kilometres of impossible sand track, an undertaking that proved a long way from easy for many of our party.

On arrival we discovered that the river had come down in flood making the route impassable – although the surroundings were all the more interesting for it. An important part of travelling in unknown parts was surveying the route carefully. We were lagging behind our schedule, though, and therefore, without any care, we entered the water and crossed the boiling maelstrom that was the river. At the far bank, the vehicle juddered and became stuck fast.

After extricating ourselves with difficulty, and towing the others out of the mud, we paused to regain our composure, and then proceeded further north through arduous terrain until we reached camp. On the horizon, backlit by the dusty orange sky of dusk, baobabs (Adansonia digitata), the ancient giants of Africa, stood sentryover our group as we set about preparing our overnight stop.

Our vehicle, along with the others’ (none having shown the fortitude necessary for an expedition as such as this), was by this time in a serious state of disrepair and would take many hours of hard work – and perhaps even more than that to return in tip-top condition. The next day’s route was known to be a mixture of relatively straightforward rocky paths and inaccessible bush and sand, so we all made whatever repairs were needed and eventually settled down to an uneasy sleep.

As the first light of dawn tinged the eastern horizon, we roused the others. The distant barking of baboons and, even further away, a deep, repeated rumbling that could have been contented hippo-potami, provided our breakfast chorus. Without much delay, however, we began the hard, grinding far from enjoyable journey further into the interior. Several unhappy hours passed before we were presented with an insurmountable gorge that was blocked and prevented us going further.

By this time, it was decided to send a number of the others back to find help, while we wolfed down our meagre lunch, almost certain that we had failed. The glorious journey before us now was just an unrealistic dream, stretching ahead like some exquisitely exhausting, untouchable prize.

We traced our by now hopeless route on the old map: the so called trail wound its way onward, down nerve jangling chasms, over insurmountable peaks, and across seemingly endless plains of over whelming treacherous territory. Even with our modern equipment, we were to fail in following the footsteps, literally, of the pioneers that had gone before us, and marvelled at their bravery, while bemoaning our own unimpressive achievements."

Ben

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