How did you come up with the idea of wanting to travel from Hamburg to South Africa by car?

For a long time, Africa as a continent for traveling was not even in discussion for us. When we were traveling by motorbike in Morocco in 2015, we got our first feeling of what it could be like in sub-Saharan Africa in the southeast near Zagora and we found it exciting.

So in the winter of 2016/2017 we traveled to South Africa. Looking back, it's our first approach. We booked the trip as a self-drive trip with accommodations through Elefant-Tours after we realized in the early planning stages that booking lodges in state national parks during peak season would overstrain us and we also lacked the feeling of which routes we could actually drive at what time. We never thought we would enjoy safari and wildlife watching so much. And: We found the part of the trip in the northeast much more interesting than the Garden Route, which seemed very European to us. We were infected!

The next trip we were untertaking in winter 2019/2020. We were very looking forward to Namibia. We booked two Toyota Hilux with roof tent. The travel planning is primarily done by Wolle, who actually planned to make the journey from Hamburg to Namibia by motorbike – which did not work out finally. Nevertheless, traveling on your own in Namibia is fun and everything works out great.

And then: Corona. No more big travel plans, we're moving around Europe – as much as possible. In October 2022, Covid did hit us in Venice. Sitting on the sofa at home, convalescent and frustrated, we come up with the idea of traveling to Namibia again in the winter. We alone, again with a Toyota Hilux with a roof tent and a vague route idea in the lonely northwest. Bright eyes! And the idea of stop to work and traveling while we are still healthy is gradually becoming more concrete.

The Namibia trip 2022/2023 creates certainty: We want more of it and this kind of traveling we can imagine. So after our return at the end of January 2023, we start with the concrete planning – knowing well that everything can always turn out differently. But the vision is there and with it the anticipation and the energy.