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“Anything worthwhile doing won’t come easy” – Frances Foster
Over the course of our 9 years of marriage Bridget aka BB and I have been extremely lucky to have traveled extensively around Africa and the world. The amount of travel is thanks, in part, due to the work we do and in part, due to a deep affection we have in meeting new people and exploring new places. We have traveled Europe, Experienced life on a Catamaran, filmed in the Congo, explored the Kgalagadi and surfed waves around South East Asia to name a few of the adventures. Along the way we have had the privilege to meet special and interesting people. Their stories have always left us inspired to continue exploring and one very special couple’s story played a big part in our decision to embark on this overland trip from South Africa to Egypt and beyond.
There isn’t enough page space in this blog to mention all of Johan and Jenny Radcliffe’s adventurous exploits, but to give you a brief introduction…. They cycled with their young son and daughter from Cape Town to Namibia sleeping in the wild, Johan has paddled the length of the Kunene River, entered and completed the freedom cycling challenge from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town via dirt roads and obtained the world record for the longest marathon doubles tennis match in 2017! The list goes on and on, but one adventure in particular had a big impact on us. In short. After watching Bruce Brown’s famous film, The Endless Summer and before having children, Johan and Jenny decided to sell everything and traveled the world with a white water kayak and a tent for two years!
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I mentioned above that we sailed a yacht from the Seychelles to South Africa, which was more like a rushed yacht delivery that we paid to be crew on than it was a leisure cruise. Anyhow, the ocean air, tropical waters, BBs beauty and the tiny little cabin we called home for 4 weeks led to her falling pregnant en-route to Richards Bay. To be precise it happened while docked at Mahe, but I won’t go into the details. We were both overjoyed by the prospects of being parents once the shock wore off, but unfortunately it was not meant to be, and BB suffered a miscarriage around eight weeks into the pregnancy. This was traumatic for obvious reasons and our perspectives on life changed. Basically, you wake up to the fact that your life together will undoubtedly transform once you have children and what you can do for certain periods (unless you are Johan and Jenny) will most likely be limited. This gave the campfire concepts of living mobile and traveling the world the motivation required. The once floating seed had now landed, received some water, sprouted and was growing into a healthy little plant that was about to flower. It became a topic that brought us joy and, in some way, shifted the focus from the tragedy of miscarriage towards something positive, inspiring and exciting. A well needed change was in order!
The first concept was to find a campervan with ample space for BB to carry her musical instruments (She’s an amazing singer songwriter), my surfboards, camera equipment and the rest of our gear, but there are a few things about campervans that just wouldn’t work. Firstly, they cost a small fortune and neither of us have trust funds to dig into. Secondly, you are limited where you can go in most of them, unless it’s a 4×4. Thirdly, we already own a prized 1988 FJ62 straight six 3F Toyota Land Cruiser that can literally go anywhere. It might even be able to cross the Atlantic with a few modifications here and there (For all the Toyota lovers). Based on those facts, we decided the best mobile home would be the one we already own, trust and thoroughly enjoy traveling in. Our beloved “Beast”, which we got from a very close friend Captain Kenji and it hasn’t even been broken-in yet at 280 000 kms on the clock.
Next on the list was what to do about our little cottage which had been our base for ten years and always offered a place of sanctuary to return to after traveling. Out of all the decisions to come, this was the easiest to make. We hadn’t been happy there for quite some time and all the signs were there that it was time to move on. When you decide to make a change in life, the more you hold onto the past, the less likely it is that change will come, and when you plan to live mobile, the only material possessions that matter are those that will ensure your survival and those that can fit in your vehicle. As such, we decided to give up the cottage and sell or give-away everything we couldn’t fit into The Beast. Our glasses clinked, we looked each other in the eye and the decision was made. From here onwards it was the real deal. We were going.
What to give-away, what to sell and what to keep? These are just a few of the questions you start to ask yourself when looking around a house full of your belongings and attachments. If you allow it to, making the required decisions to move forward can become quite overwhelming to say the least. We continually reaffirmed the reasons behind the decision to travel overland through Africa and kept on. First, the storeroom full of ten years’ worth of crap had to go. This was done in a few days and a few loads, and we started to feel like the belt was loosening. Next, we started on the rooms and the clothing items, 95% of which we hardly ever wore and therefore had to go. There’s always someone who has more and there is always someone who has less. We chose to share the clothing with the latter and it felt good. Then the furniture was next. Our king-size bed went within a day to a lucky lady out of town which meant we would be sleeping on our hiking mattresses for the next two months before moving out. I was concerned about the lack of loving that may follow as a result, but figured it would be best to start getting used to a bit of hard ground before hitting the long road. The rest of the furniture took some time to shift out, but with persistence and around ten thousand messages on Facebook marketplace (the worst part of it all) most of the attachment had vanished and we were left in a clean space.
When your house is being cleared out, the reality of your decision starts to “hit home” so to speak. With this come’s its fair share of anxiety and worrying. Are we really going to do this? Is it the right decision? How are we going to afford this? Will the companies we worked hard to build survive and so the list went on. It’s a shock to the system and you must keep yourself constantly in check. BB as per usual in these sorts of situations was an absolute trooper! She kept enforcing positivity with a firm “There is no turning back now! We have made the decision and we are doing it!” attitude. Testimony once again to the amazing women and traveling partner she is. Her strong voice, a few bottles of wine and following hashtags like #travelafrica and #vanlife on instagram in the evenings helped break the pattern and soon the excitement of the upcoming adventure took precedence. I know BB had her own concerns, but when it’s time for change you either embrace it or stay stuck. She had embraced it and I soon followed suit. It made me think of the quote we had stuck on our kayak rack at one point; “You know not where you are going, for the ocean and animals will decide, don’t worry about the destination, just enjoy the ride”. It is a reminder that life is a journey and clearing out was only the beginning of the adventure for us, we had better embrace what’s to come.
On a journey like this your vehicle is your home and life source to a degree. It’s of vital importance to have “your house in order” as they say. There is however, only so much you can do and plan for on a mission like this. When you are on a tight budget it’s not a case of off-loading your vehicle at a local 4×4 outfitter and requesting it be kitted out from top to bottom. Things can get very expensive, very quickly if you are not vigilant. We identified key areas to focus on based on the following methodology; What could we fix ourselves in the middle of the bundu and what parts would we need to carry with us? More importantly, what would we not be able to fix in the bundu, where could we get the parts and who would be reliable to fit them? With these pointers in mind, we knew we needed: a new alternator (our vehicle still had the original from 1988 fitted!), new tie rod ends, new bushings, new heater and radiator hose kits and the list went on. Parts are not exactly easy to find for a FJ62 1988 model in South Africa but we hit gold through N14x4 in Pretoria and Snyman4x4 in Cape Town who both specialize in Toyota Landcruiser parts and come highly recommended. After sourcing these parts, we moved onto the other crucial elements namely; all things related to wheels, shocks, oils and electronics. The equally important topic of backup power requirements and accessories, required to live comfortably and maintain a good work ethic / schedule while in the bush, comes next. At this moment in time, we still have mechanical work being done, but are close to the main preparations being finished, which will be another milestone reached and most likely be followed by some more tipping of the glasses and thoughts of relief and gratitude.
One thing that was very important to us, was to have a mission, a cause. Something that would keep us productive, focused and support us and others along the way. Adventure Connect Africa was born from this ideology. The purpose of which is to connect with communities, operators and individuals who rely on tourism for their survival, produce to notch promotional videos for them, that showcase their unique attractions and support them in utilizing those videos to promote their services and region to an international audience through social media and online booking platforms. In return, we hope to build some long lasting friendships, create some great content to share with you and hopefully have a place to park our vehicle for a night or two. So far the concept has been well received and we already have contacts en route in every country other than Sudan thanks to the line of work we are involved in.
The next step of our journey is to begin with a trial run through the remote and quite unknown Baviaanskloof region not too far from home, which we hope you will choose to read about in our next blog post. We hope you enjoyed this post and if you haven’t already done so, please sign up to receive our newsletter and leave us a comment below.
Till next time and always remember, “Anything worthwhile doing won’t come easy” so keep with keeping on and enjoy the journey. It has only just begun!
Bonus – If you have any contacts who you think might benefit from our mission please don’t hesitate to share their details with us. We would love to connect.
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