Fridolin und ich reden oft darüber wie es wäre, mehrere Monate durch das südliche Afrika zu reisen. An meinem letzten Geburtstag, schenkte Fridolin mir das Buch: „To the wild.“ Ein Bericht über einen Südafrikaner, der für 100 Tage auszog das südliche Afrika zu entdecken.
Da sein Buch „To the wild“, seine Idee und seine Route perfekt zu unserem Blog passt, habe ich gleich Michael Parfitt angeschrieben und ihm um einen persönlichen Blogbeitrag zu bitten.
Hier ist er. Viel Spaß beim Lesen.
Everyone should experience wild southern Africa by doing a self-guided overland 4×4 adventure.
Our family of 4, including 2 teenagers, planned our whole 100-day overland adventure ourselves and had the experience of a lifetime. We started in Cape Town in a well equipped LandRover and travelled more than 18,000 km clockwise through Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa, visiting the all region’s premier wildlife and wilderness areas. It can be quite an intimidating undertaking, tackling such a journey, and driving off into the unknown, but with good planning and preparation anything is possible.
For insurance we carried a satellite phone, for in case we ever got stranded alone in some remote wilderness.
It is also not easy living and travelling in such a confined space for such an extended period, even with family. As my daughter said afterwards, there were times that we wanted to figuratively kill each other but there were more times „that we have never loved each other more“. The great thing about camping though is that you really get to experience nature and the sounds and smells of the African bush, especially in roof-top tents where you hear everything.
That led to many very interesting and sometimes scary wild animal encounters as you would imagine. But forme it was more than just the animals and birds. It was also about the wide open spaces, the sunsets, cooking around a fire and soaking in the millions of stars in the night–sky.
For an adventure like this you really need to step outside of your comfort zone and prepare yourself for the unexpected.
Things will and do go wrong but a positive can-do attitude will usually get you through even the most difficult situations. That is what true adventure is really all about after all. My life philosophy is two-fold. Firstly, live your life like time is preciousand make the time you have left count. Secondly, it is possible for ordinary people to do amazing things and I believe these reflect in the book.
The idea behind my book
The idea behind my book ‚To the Wild‘ was also to take readers along on the incredible journey with us by doing a day-by-day journal–style book, including over 500 colour photographs as well as some bush chef recipes. Hopefully reading it inspires you to embark on an African adventure of your very own.
Facebook page – To the Wild @michaelandrewparfitt https://www.facebook.com/michaelandrewparfitt
Instagram – michaelandrewparfitt
Hallo Elke, das macht mir Lust aus Lesen! Vor allem um herauszufinden ob die Erfahrungen der Familie unseren ähnlich waren. Waren wir doch ebenfalls gut 3 Monate in ZA – BOTS – NAM – ZA unterwegs und einem weißen Defender mit Hannibal-Dachzelt unterwegs. Danke für die Anregung. Liebe Grüße Petra
Thank you Elke for doing a feature my book ‚To the Wild‘ on your awesome southern Africa travel blog. I am so glad you have enjoyed the book and look forward to meeting you in December when you visit Cape Town