An African Odyssey

Bitten by wanderlust, father and son duo adrian and jaikishen jeyasingha undertook an epic journey spanning 10 countries across the African continent. Having shipped their 1997 Land Cruiser from Sri Lanka to South Africa, they travelled a total distance of 15,000 kilometers over 60 days. Starting their journey from South Africa they travelled through Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Djibouti with zero breakdowns! Driving on average of 7-8 hours a day they explored the African wilderness taking in the beauty of the wild terrain and cultural spectrum.

- Tina Edward Gunawardhana

Why did you decide to plan your adventure in Africa?

The Dark Continent has always intrigued us and we believed it fitted the full spectrum of what we wanted to accomplish in terms of seeing and experiencing an element of danger, survival, adventure and also wildlife.

How much of preparation did you have to do?

The logistics of shipping the vehicle to Cape Town our first port of call one month before our adventure drove home the fact that this adventure of a lifetime was about to begin. We also had to familiarize ourselves with Trax 4 Africa an app that provided us with all the details that we needed in terms of planning our route, campsites and even restaurants. Other prep we did was to get a SIM card as we entered each country. Whilst in Sri Lanka we had to get a carnet for the vehicle which allowed the vehicle to enter and exit the ports of the countries we visited. Somewhat like a passport the Automobile Association had to give us two carnets for the amount of travelling we planned on doing. We were told that the last time anyone in Sri Lanka needed more than one carnet was over 40 years ago. When we heard that, the enormity of the task ahead dawned upon us.

How did you kit out the land cruiser?