The Trip
Back in October 2009, inspired by Tim Slessor’s original expedition, Ric and Charlie set off from the UK in a Land Rover Defender — Monty — to drive from London to Cape Town.
That wasn’t always the plan. We had intended to drive across Europe and central Asia to India. Long overland trips transiting many countries are susceptible to political disruption though, and unfortunately for us our route to India was closed to westerners. Luckily, a route to South Africa was possible, so we changed our plans, bought some new maps and hit the road.
Seventeen countries and roughly 20,000 miles later, we arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. Along the way we crossed the Sahara, navigated the Horn of Africa, explored the Great Rift Valley, and found out exactly how much punishment a Defender can take.
The Blog
This site is the original trip blog, restored from a Joomla archive and rebuilt as a modern static site. The writing is unedited — day-by-day diary entries filed (when there was wifi) from mud huts, sailing clubs, campsites and border posts across Africa.
Monty
Monty is a 1998 300TDi Land Rover Defender 110. I spent a few months prepping him for the trip, adding sand ladders, a roof rack, a second battery, a shower and a fridge. Barring a broken gearbox (which started in Italy!) he held up well.
Contact
You can reach Ric at ric@rmstudio.co.uk.