…in London
(England)

Andy says...
Over the past 10 years I have been organising and leading vehicle based expeditions across the Sahara and West Africa. I've also worked in the tourism industry across Europe and the States managing large group tours.
I am currently working as a filmmaker for corporate and broadcast clients, making films for ethical companies and current affairs documentaries.
I'm going to use this trip to make a series of films about Africa today.

Esther says...
My family left Ghana in the mid 70's and this is an opportunity for me to rekindle an understanding for Ghana and Africa.
For me, this trip is a chance to work with African children, and create teaching resources that are accessible to teachers in both the UK and Africa.

Our Landcruiser,
which will be our home for the next few months, will celebrate its 23 birthday in the week that we set off. Despite it's age the car is in great shape and has only done 100,000 miles.The engine, gearbox and drive chain are all in excellent condition and it's the perfect choice for the unhurried pace of our trip. It's only had 2 previous owners, both of whom have obviously loved and cared for it. The bodywork is a little bit rusty but this is purely cosmetic and gives the car a bit of charm.

3.87 Mb - QuickTime Player

These Toyotas have always been built for durability and their design was so far ahead of its time that they are still found working hard all over Africa. Their reliability has made them the favourite for Aid Agencies and overlanders like us.

The underlying aim of the trip is to engage with the places we visit and as a result we haven't prepared the car so comprehensively that it's totally self-contained. We are only making minimal changes to the car before we leave.

In addition to our preparation Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings, who are supporting our trip, will be supplying us with equipment and accessories to test along the way.

Work Along The Way
Using our combined skills we will be working with local schools and people to create a series of multi-media projects combining films, audio, photos and text, for schools in the UK and Africa. These projects will give a voice to African children and an insight of modern-day Africa to children in the UK.

We will also be filming local NGO projects as we go.

And of course, we'll also be updating this website regularly with video and photos from our trip in the Landcruiser and we'll be producing a DVD about overlanding at the end of our trip.

15-9-05