2019 Travel distances

Between July 15th and November 15th 2019 we travelled through northern South Africa, eastern Botswana, much of Zambia, north western Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Ethiopia. We self drove through all but Ethiopia.

On mainland Africa we drove 7,848 kms and in Madagascar 2,448 Kms for a total of 10,296 kms of self driving.

In Ethiopia we had drivers and covered a distance of 3,589 kms for a total Africa road distance of 13,885 kms.

We flew 14 segments for a total of approximately 38,416 km.

Vancouver to Johannesburg via Toronto/Addis Ababa – 14,851 km

Johannesburg to Antananarivo – 2,140 km

Ile Sainte Marie to Antananarivo – 500 km

Antananarivo to Nose Be return – 1,640 km

Antananarivo to Addis Ababa – 3,230 km

Addis Ababa to Lalibela – 339 km

Lalibela to Axum – 240 km

Mekele to Addis Ababa – 506 km

Addis Ababa to Vancouver via Dublin/Toronto – 14,970 km

Total distance traveled by land and air – 52,301 km

The distance around the earth is 40,075 km.

Africa beckons!

We debated continuing on with our plan that was in place at the early ending of our last world adventure.

This would have taken us to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia including Borneo as well as Papua and Australia. We had some grand plans for all of these places however Africa and the adventure it offers for self driving, camping and immersing yourself in the culture, food and wildlife won out so;

Departing July 15, 2019 Joyce and I are hoping to equal or top the amazing 4 month experience we had in Africa in 2017.

Starting from Johannesburg we’ll spend 6 weeks self driving and camping with a Toyota Hilux 4×4 Bushcamper covering most of the national parks of Zimbabwe and Zambia.

We’ll drop our vehicle back in Joberg and then fly to Madagascar where we have a Nissan double cab 4×4 reserved for 5 weeks. We’ll be mostly staying at lodges and small hotels but will have camping supplies just in case. We’ll self drive through the North East, Central and South West of the country and then fly to the far north west of the country to spend some down time on the beaches of a couple of small islands (noseys).

From Madagascar (Antananarivo) we’ll fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we’ll experience about 2 weeks of the amazing cultures and geography that this country has to offer.  This will be a private tour that we’ve arranged through the great help of Verity Bester, a friend and travel consultant we know in South Africa who has helped us tirelessly in our planning of our previous and now next adventure.

Next stop is West Central Africa. We’ll fly from Addis Ababa to Libreville, Gabon where we are currently working on a plan to see this country that is called the last “Eden” on earth. We’re hoping to explore both Gabon and Cameroon over a period of 3-4 weeks.

Please stay tuned and if anybody who reads this has suggestions, ideas etc. please comment.

Time to move on to more adventures

We’ve now been home for 8 months since our last adventure.

During this time we said farewell to Joyce’s sister Marilyn who passed away peacefully from cancer July 23rd, 2018.

She will be forever loved and we will miss her terribly. Her name is now on a star in the Milky Way galaxy. We will use Marilyn’s star to guide us into the future.

Her star is Sadr in the Cygnus constellation.

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Marilyn was 63 years old.