Sorry for the lack of email last week, I did in fact write one and tried sending one but the internet cafes of Cape Town didn’t seem to want let me use my normal address book stored within MS Outlook, so instead I posted the update on the front page of the website!

We spent a great week in Cape Town taking in the usual attractions and caught up with some old friends as well, its amazing how time flies by; its 8 years since I saw some of them and it felt like yesterday – you hear old people saying the same thing the whole time and never really take it into account but its starting to actually mean something now…..maybe even I, the Peter Pan of all people am starting to get old!!  Ha ha fat chance!!

Drove for two days to get from Cape Town to another friends house in Dundee as it’s the gateway town to the battlefields and one of the essential places I have to visit on the expedition to fulfil the requirements of the VC180 Challenge.

Anthony Coleman is a military historian and the uncle of Patrick, one of the other Overlanders I travelled down from Ghana with. He is a wealth of information and took us to the very famous sites of Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana for a day to describe to me in perfect detail the background of the activities associated with them.

The visit was a moving and memorable reminder of the strength and power of the British Empire in its day and also of the Zulu forces which fought to keep the land their own. It was also a reminder of just how stupid and pointless war is….

Since then Alex and I have travelled north to Johannesburg to meet up with Josy and Rach who have flown out from the UK for a well earned holiday after their efforts with Onionfest (www.onionfest.co.uk)

We all head east through Swaziland into Mozambique at over the weekend and head to the coast to dive, train hard on the beaches and soak up some real African sunshine…..oh yes and to enjoy the feast which the Indian Ocean provides!

Hope all is well wherever you are, congratulations to Eve and Gary on the arrival of the first little bundle of fun, Nancy – thinking of you guys!

Be back in touch again soon,

Yours expeditionally,

Ben

Dear All,

Been a good week here in Cape Town. I’m sitting here typing this on a pretty miserable grey, wet and windy winters day in the southern hemisphere looking out of the window of the café at Ashanti Backpackers at Table mountain shrouded in twisting angry clouds.

Yesterday was different, the weather was stunning, there was no wind and the sky was bright blue so Bre and I decided to attack Table Mountain. The rather more leisurely route up and down in the cable car was not an option, they’re currently servicing it for the next week and so the decision to climb it instead was forced on us and I’m so pleased as it was simply stunning!

The standard route up the face of the mountain is supposed to take 2.5hrs for a good walker so we thought we’d test this theory out and try and smash the estimation! Stripped down to the bear essentials we marched up and down the mountain in exactly 2hrs…..taking only 25 minutes to drop the 1000m back to the Colonel! A brilliant day out, but both of us are paying the price today, sore thighs and calves to prove it!

Last week we stayed in the coastal town of Hermanus and all headed out on one of the shark diving boats to explore the underwater world with the incredible Great White sharks which call this part of the world home. Photos are just about to go up onto the website for you all to see! www.afritrex.com and follow the link. We each had a 20 minute session in the cage with the 3.5m long monsters circling us from all around and I loved it….a real pump of adrenaline!

I leave Cape Town at the weekend with Alex and head north east to Joburg as we have separated from the Watkins family and Kees for the next month to take on different missions, and met up with some friends from the UK to sample the delights of the Mozambique coast. We’ll will see them again in around a month and intend moving north together and are starting to put together a plan to ascend Mount Stanley on the Rwanda/DRC border.

Exciting times ahead, have a good weekend, back in touch soon,

The second half of the trip, which really kicks off at the end of July, sees the remainder of the sites all within grasp and so the total will quickly rise to somewhere around the 180 I intend getting to.

Since setting off on the expedition the situation with some of the countries I will need to get to has changed, generally for the worse. Zimbabwe happily grabs the headlines and with it the chance of getting to the sites within Harare, formally Salisbury, diminish but from speaking to other travellers and Overlanders the opportunity to visit the country, and with it the sites, remains as long as you can be totally self-sufficient for fuel and food, something which I certainly don’t have a problem with…..so watch this space, I think I’m heading that way after Mozambique!

The four sites which I’ve been through are in Gambia, Nigeria (as close as I could get to without causing myself big problems), Namibia and South Africa – transiting through to get to Durban in time for the Comrades. I will spend the next month visiting sites along the coast and then turn inland towards to majority of South Africa’s sites located around the area of Rourke’s Drift, from there I’ll head up to the capital Joburg to collect my buddy Rachel from the airport and then towards Mozambique and Zimbabwe where the next splattering of sites occurs.

By the time I arrive at the north coast of Africa towards the end of the year I will then have left remaining the sites of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia…..easy then!!

Ben - Afritrex

After 5 long months during which the circumstances of the trip changed hugely, 19,000kms of very ‘African’ roads and 3 of the 10 challenges completed the Afritrex expedition consisting of myself and the Colonel have finally made it into the relative safety of Southern Africa!

 The group of 3 vehicles and 12 people crossed the border from Angola into Namibia on May 28^th and headed for the national park of Etosha for some well earned rest and recuperation. From here we’ll all go our own separate ways with some going back up the east coast quicker than I will, some heading south to Cape Town and others heading home.

I will go east straight to Durban, South Africa in time for the Comrades Marathon on June 15^th – the next and hardest of the challenges so far.

Now I have a decent internet connection I will attempt to bring the site up to date with all of the latest information, but do bear with me.

Thanks for staying on touch, its awesome to receive so many emails of support as I go!

Ben - Afritrex

After a gruelling week on some of the worst roads yet between the Nigeria border and Limbe, Cameroon the three vehicles finally had Mount Cameroon in their sights...the location of the next challenge!

An active volcano which pokes its toes into the ocean and rise 4090m above sea level at the summit and presents a steep challenge to those who attempt the climb....just what I did!

The ascent was made in two days and went very well with no ill effects from alitutude sickness or the constant rain during the first day.

The legs felt pretty tired afterwards but its in the bag, another one of the ten challenges completed. The next being the drive down through the Congo, Gabon and DRC and attempting to get to South Africa by June 15th in time for the Comrades Race.

Wish me luck!

Ben - I am Afritrex