A dream come true!
Date : April 11th, 2006, 12:02 PM
Place : Southernmost Point / Cape Agulhas, South Africa
Exactly 178 days, 3 hours, 32 minutes and 29,131km after I left home in Istanbul on 15th of October, 2005, my white Land Rover and I are here in the southernmost point of Africa! It is a dream come true!
The mystery of the desert, magic of the Nile, the charm of the wilderness:
The Call of Africa…
I was maybe 5 or 6 when I watched that movie in the Renkli Sinema, a movie
theatre in Bahcelievler, Ankara. I can recall neither the title nor much
of the story, but I remember it was in Africa; some "bad guys",
probably illegal hunters, were chasing the wild animals whilst the good
guys were pursuing the baddies. Breathtaking car chasing action in the
wild nature; animals on one side, and on the other, the nature which civilization
had yet to set its foot on, protecting its untouched beauty... That film
has created in me, if not an obsession, definitely a world of imagination
which I could never get enough of.
And so with such a memory began my interest in and passion for Africa and the 4WD's. My first ever international trip was to Kenya, while most people dreamt of going to America or the Europe for their "first".
Such a trip couldn't
go beyond a dream, due to lack of time and money, up until the beginning
of last year (2004) when I finally decided to shake myself off the monotony.
Initially, I thought of calling a company that organizes "safaris"
and joining one. It is a child's play to access such companies via the
communications miracle of our age: internet. I sat in front of my computer
and began to browse. My search keywords were "expedition" and
"overland", and the search returned lots of addresses not only
of the safari organizers but, to my surprise, also a variety of sites
prepared by people who have done this trip alone, or the forums such people
have created. I saw that the real joy lies in making the trip "alone".
I first thought I'd fly to somewhere in Africa, rent a vehicle and travel
around with it. Soon I changed my mind and decided to make this a real
"overland expedition" which would start from Istanbul with my
own vehicle and end back there. I started doing research immediately.
I found the websites of many people who have done this before or are still
on it, and started reading their journals. I studied the preparations
essential for an adventure trip, scanned the literature published on this
subject and gathered the books written by well known expeditors such as,
Chris Scott, Charlie Shackel / Illya Bracht, Jack Jackson, Phillip Briggs,
Siân Pritchard-Jones / Bob Gibbons and others. Towards the end of last
year, I was able to outline the main schedule. Despite a few changes along
the way, such as the route, I have pretty much stuck to my original plans
for the date of departure and total duration.
Why alone?
The briefest answer to this question could be: not to turn this trip into
a torture both for me and my companion(s). I think, not a single soul
that I know have committed such terrible sins, that they deserve to be
punished by having to spend about 160 - 170 days, 24/7 under most strenuous
conditions with me! Joke aside; spending such a length of time together
under difficult circumstances might well turn into a test pushing the
limits of people's strength and endurance. Honestly, I don't believe I
am ready for such a test. Instead I have decided to experience this 6-month
trip, traveling from one end to the other end of Africa alone with its
joys as well as the tortures. The support I received from Buket (my wife)
and Alican (my son) for my decision to go on such a trip alone has also
been very encouraging.
I am aware that it
will be tough, but I want to give it a shot.
So, the
latest on the trip: Departure is on October 9, 2005 and timeframe is 6
months.
Ali ERİÇ
Istanbul; September 2005
main I vehicle I route I contact