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Latest News headline

A Land Rover advrt from Africa....for your amusement!

 

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

 

Posted on 09 Sep 2008 by Ben Southall

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Welcome to Afritrex - A privately funded charity endurance challenge of marathons, mountains and more; documenting the encounters, obstacles and achievements of 12 months of hard fundraising and charity work across Africa.

Whilst circumnavigating the African Continent I will complete the following challenges:

  • To complete five marathons of at least 26 miles
  • To climb five of the highest mountains in Africa
  • To visit as many of the sites across Africa where the Victoria Cross has been won as possible (VC180 Challenge)

"The challenge to make every penny count"

Have a closer look at the site and find out more about how we'll be spending 2008.

Keep up to date !! - The action is happening as we speak...

Click here for the latest diary entry

Click here for the latest photos

Click here for the latest route

 

Project Overview

My name is Ben Southall and for the last decade I’ve travelled extensively throughout Southern Africa taking on projects and expeditions to test my abilities and discover exciting new areas of the African continent, whilst in the UK I take part in fitness and endurance events to raise money for charity and thought it was about time I combined the two fields to create my own fundraising expedition from with others could benefit.

So was born Afritrex: the logistical equivalent of one man trying to build spaghetti junction using Taiwanese instructions and a broken shovel.

The idea was simple: take one continent; attempt to circumnavigate it and whilst doing so try and stay fit enough to complete a number of endurance challenges to raise money for my chosen charities and whilst doing so post it all on the internet!

This is set to be the most challenging, exciting and exhausting year of my life, can I really do it?

"The answer is I don't know,

so why not find out!"

This is me Ben Southall and this is my mission throughout 2008. Stay in contact with my progress updates on how things are going through this site.

I’ll be keeping you informed of my progress through biweekly updates to the site, route information and with regular photo and video blogs.

Check our route and progress here

Our predicted route

Our route

Where are we now ?

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