Tag Archives: expedition

Timing Is Everything

July 21, 2008 – 4:51 am

I know that we have posted a few blogs about our current financial situation recently and some of you are probably getting sick of it. The bottom line is we are struggling, but that is not going to deter us from finishing what we set out to do and that is to drive around the world, regardless of the reason. Unfortunately for us, we decided to drive around the world in an era of rising fuel prices and a declining US dollar. In fact, you might call it the perfect storm. However, if rebels in the Congo can not hinder our progress, you can bet that this little economic weather front will not stop us either, even if it feels like a category 5 hurricane right now.

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Courtesy of Newsbusters.org

To put everything in perspective, since I have been here in South Africa, one of the last apparent safe havens for the US dollar, the value of the dollar has declined about 8 percent to the South African Rand. At the same time, local fuel prices, which are controlled by the South African government and are set at a fixed price on a monthly basis, have increased about 6 percent. It has pretty much been the same in most of the countries we have traveled in. When we were in the Congo, we watched the value of the dollar drop nearly 20 percent compared to the Central African Franc and the fuel prices in Europe have risen enough to lead to massive transportation strikes in several different countries. Unfortunately, there is not much we could have done to either predict how much fuel prices would increase over the course of the expedition, or predict how bad the US dollar would get pummeled on the foreign exchange markets. Overall, the combination of rising fuel prices and the declining value of the dollar has increased our overall expedition costs by approximately 20 percent. On a trip of this scale and proportion, that 20 percent amounts to a significant amount of money. So, if you are contemplating a jaunt around the world, Alan Greenspan’s advice might be just as important as what type of vehicle you choose.

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Courtesy of Planebuzz

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By Steve Bouey | Posted in Interesting, Observations, Trip Prep, Trip Thoughts, World News | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Anyone Can Do This

July 17, 2008 – 11:08 am

One of the main messages I think that we want to convey during and after the course of this expedition is that anyone can do what we are doing. Sure, we are all exceptionally intelligent, sociable and good looking here at TWBR, but honestly, all it takes is an idea or a dream and the conviction to follow through with it and you too can find yourself halfway around the world on a trip many people thought would never even happen. A lot of people that we meet say that we are doing this at the right time in our lives. We are young, we do not have many family commitments, (i.e. no children or spouses) and we can always go back to our jobs later on if we so choose. I guess this is a pretty good time to do something like this, but then again, I think you can always find time to chase your dreams, no matter what age you are.

Case in point, while we were stuck in the Congo trying to sort out our Angola visa problems, we met Stewart and Annaliese. Stewart and Annaliese hail from Cape Town, South Africa and are in the midst of driving their Land Rover around Africa. On the surface, that may not sound that interesting because there are a lot of people driving a lot of Land Rovers around here in Africa. What makes Stewart and Annaliese a bit of an exception is that they both left well paying professional jobs in Cape Town, sold their home and basically everything they own and put it all into a trip they had been contemplating for quite a while. They did have to wait for their son to go off to university, but it just goes to show you that you can always find the time in your life to do something like this. Just like us, Stewart and Annaliese’s friends thought they were totally out of their minds for giving up all of the things they had worked for in life, but as they point out and as we have experienced, a lot of the people who thought we were crazy are the ones checking out our respective websites and wishing they were in the car with us. It was nice bumping into the couple because we all shared an understanding of the rigors of overlanding but more importantly, what it feels like to take a big, potentially risky, yet rewarding step out of our comfort zones. You can follow Stewart and Annaliese’s adventures on their website: Roots in Africa.

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By Steve Bouey | Posted in Africa, Congo, Friends of TWBR, Interesting, Observations, South Africa, Trip Thoughts | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

One of the Strangest Campsites in the World

July 15, 2008 – 10:10 am

If you ever find yourself in southern Namibia, you must stop by the Quivertree Park just north of the South African border and outside of Keetmanshoop. Some friends of ours in Windhoek had recommended the Park for an overnight stay on our way south and it actually makes the pages of Rough Guides and some other guidebooks. However, until you have seen this place with your own eyes, you have no idea what to expect and no description can really do the place any justice. The bottom line about the Quivertree Park, is that it is just plain Jane weird.

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Not exactly the entrance to the Hilton

We arrived at the Park just after dark, which made driving down the long, lonely gravel path even more strange. The actual campsite is about a kilometer off the main highway and along the way, your imagination starts to run wild with images from horror movies like Wolf Creek or the Hills Have Eyes as your headlights illuminate some of the other residents of the park lingering along the road. There are absolutely no lights on around the campground and all of us were getting a little bit nervous about our choice of campsites that night. We finally ran into some other campers who assured us that the place was in fact a campground, the other residents were well behaved and that as far as they knew, we would make it through the night without getting murdered. This place was definitely like no other campsite I have ever bedded down at.

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The Quiver Trees are unusual in and of themselves

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You are never alone while camping at the Quivertree Park

In the morning, you rise to find yourself in the middle of a large stand of Quiver Trees, trees unique to the region and aptly named, and realize that you are also in the middle of a very large collection of unusual art. You also realize that you had plenty of company throughout the night. The Park residents have been assembled in consultation with and are the brainchild of a 78 year old woman who runs the place. She actually lives in the next town these days, but has been putting together the strange and unusual artwork at Quivertree for many, many years. Honestly, I do not know what the overall objective of the Park is… maybe it is some sort of recycling project, maybe it is a display of unique art, or maybe it is just the tangible extension of a crazy old lady’s thoughts. Whatever the case may be, the Quivertree Park is definitely worth a visit, and if you do decide to stop by, make sure you arrive after dark… it will make the experience even more bizarre.

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A fellow overlander

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Park manager

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Not sure where they were from, but they appear to be having a good time

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I got nothin…

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Sweet ride

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Not sure what the old lady was thinking on this one

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You try knocking on the door of the “park office” at night and see what your imagination starts to do

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TWBR crew and our new Quivertree friends


By Steve Bouey | Posted in Africa, For some laughs, Interesting, Namibia, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

It Is Getting a Little Crowded

March 6, 2008 – 6:11 pm

_DSC0023 It is starting to get a little crowded down here in Africa. The road that is, and it is not necessarily a bad thing. We are quickly finding out that Africa is definitely the place for overland travel and adventure. There are people from all over the world here in North Africa in their desert rigs, custom off-road RV’s and expedition vehicles. In fact, we have probably seen more overlanders in the last few days than we have on the entire expedition combined. In Mongolia, we spotted a couple different groups heading towards Beijing and Shanghai from Europe. In Kyrgyzstan, we met up with the guys from Trabant Trek, and at the ferry depot in Kazakhstan, we ran into a couple of French guys headed east as well, but that was about it.

Now, it seems like every day we meet new groups of people. Most seem to be headed in the opposite direction, and although it would be nice to caravan for a while with some other people in the lonely stretches of empty desert, we have been getting some pretty detailed intel about what lies down the road for us. In Dahkla, Morocco, we crossed paths with three South Africans who have been surfing their way up the west coast of Africa for the last 11 months. We soon became good friends with the guys from African Surfer and they passed on a lot of helpful information including assuring us that we would not be disappointed by taking the west coast route.

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Tim sets up camp in the African Surfer ‘81 Toyota

Here in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, we have also met numerous overlanders headed in all directions. We have been camping with a couple from Germany, learned the complexities of trying to sell a vehicle from a group of kids from Poland, traded stories from the road with another group of South Africans and exchanged GPS coordinates with a couple from France. Everyone has unique experiences and words of advice and encouragement to share with everyone. Even though the stories are different and the words of advice may conflict from time to time, if one thing has remained constant, it has to be the abundance of adventure and the rewards obtained from driving overland in your own vehicle. Nowhere else on the expedition have we met more people who understand why we are doing what we are doing. No one ever has to explain why they are driving overland because everyone already knows. It is a refreshing feeling. Oh yeah, and most of the vehicles happen to be Toyotas…

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The Germans get ready to head north into Morocco

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If you are in the market for a couple of Land Rovers we know some guys in Mauritania

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Some more South Africans arrive on the scene

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The SA’s logo is pretty cool

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Just another day in expedition-ville central

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By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Africa, Western Sahara | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

You have got to try this once in your life.

February 26, 2008 – 6:14 am

Have you ever done something that was completely unnecessary and totally necessary at the same time? Instances like these can only really be understood in retrospect, but I suppose that is how one might define some of the most memorable experiences in a lifetime. After recently crossing the straights of Gibraltar and officially starting what may prove to be the most intense part of the whole expedition, Morocco has proven to be a place full of color and excitement. The markets, touts, ancient cities and delicious food are enough to keep you occupied for months here and the citizens of this country, although intense at times, are always helping to make each moment more interesting than you planned it to be.

In Fes, the city that Lonely Planet notes at the “Soul of Morocco”, the first impression of walking through the narrow streets of the Medina is something reminiscent of an Indiana Jones like epic, searching for a lost antiquity or mythic scroll that has the answers to all of your questions about life. These narrow streets are far to slender to accommodate a smart car in places, let alone two oversized American trucks. As the Medina’s narrow streets begin widen closer to the city walls, the locals take it upon themselves to fill this extra space with vegetables, car parts, coffee makers, and tons of other goods in a winding loop of a marketplace. Here, although the streets are considerably wider than the streets in the center, they are by no means a thoroughfare to get from one side of the Medina to the other.

The first night that we spent in Fes, we were led to a hotel near the bottom of the Medina by a tout. We were tired when we arrived, so the first night we stayed at the hotel the tout had delivered us to, even though it was booked for the rest of the weekend. The next morning the owner offered to take us to another area of town where we could find another hotel. This was the necessary part of the day. Tasks like these are the makings of a normal day, getting the things done that need to get accomplished that day.

The twist that made this more than just a transfer from one hotel to another was the ingenious idea of our friendly hotel owner to have us take the not so direct route. This route was actually so indirect that it caused us to go in a complete circle from a point we had already passed on the way to the other part of town. Looking back on this incredible experience, it now seems hard to decide whether the necessary part of this incredible day was moving to the new hotel or driving on this longcut. Have a look at this clip and decide for yourself, and then at some point give this a try…


 
icon for podpress  Fes Markets [1:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1141)
By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Africa, Morocco, New Videos | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)