Background

I realize that the people visiting this website range between the ones who will follow our journey passionately, maybe even wishing it was them out there on the road, and the ones who think we’re flat out coppers crazy. And a whole bunch of people in between of course. This page is mostly for those of you who feel the need to ask us WHY THE HECK are you doing this? Are you NUTS?

Well, since my teens I’ve been inspired by great adventurers who have travelled the world and seen all those places I long to see. I’ve known for many years that I would like to head out on a big expedition to explore and experience. Brian always  just had a dream of simply buying a good car and going for a long drive, whether somebody knew about it or not. This trip is a compromise between the two.

And the best answer to the question why that I can come up with is why not? We have one life, and one life only, on this planet and I don’t know about you but I feel like it’s going past pretty darn quickly! Who knows if we will be here next year, or live until we’re 85? There’s also just one planet and how long will it be around the way we treat it? We are no slackers, we are hard working tax paying people like everyone else. We just want to make the best out of life as possible and to us, that is exploring and experiencing the world.

Brian has a favourite expression: “When I die I don’t want to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, I want to come sliding in sideways on a motorcycle, shouting ‘WOW, what a ride!’”

So there are of course the philosophical background to this project. But there are also some practical reasons to it. Brian, as the keen fisherman that he is, has always been longing to try out the lakes and rivers and seas of his continent, that he’s heard so much about. I’m seeing the chance to do a lot of journalistic work along the way. Tell the stories of the people we meet and show photos of the places we see. So then, since we’re crazy about travelling, don’t mind roughing it for a while and anyway going to Africa – why not just drive there?

It sometimes feels like a very selfish project, thinking of all the experiences we will earn, all the marvelous landscapes we will lay eyes on and all the great people we will meet. All the hardships that will toughen us and give a good perspective on life as well as all the great moments we’ll share. We realise that we are extremely fortunate to be able to do a trip like this. It’s therefore important to us to give something back, by cooperating with a charity organization that works in Africa. We can’t help everyone, but hopefully the funds that we will raise will make life a little bit better for some people. We also obviously travel with a great respect for the people and cultures we encounter, aiming to learn their ways and customs while telling of ours and create interesting and memorable meetings.

I will do my best to spread the word about the situation in the countries we pass through and hopefully raise some awareness of what life can be like in Africa. But as well as wanting to shine light onto misery and poverty, it’s also very important to me to try and eliminate some stereotypes by telling of African success stories. You get those as well, they just hardly ever reach the western world media.

The future of Africa can be discussed indefinitely. The debate is heated as well as difficult. The western world seems to be struggling with the guilt of having colonized most of the continent, while strong economic interests these days can make it seem like Africa is still under colonization. Some people argue that Africa should be once again colonized, others say the Africans should be left alone to sort it out themselves. Most important to me, while the political debates continue, is to never forget the people living their lives in the middle of the process. Never to neglect human rights.