The plan

The plan is easy: I will drive to Tanzania!

But easier said than done: The realisation took me roundabout two years from the first idea until my departure. And without the support of my family and my friends, I would never have come to this point.

The reason for the journey is my friend Zadock. I know him for since 2011. My mum took me on a safari as reward for graduating from high school. Zadock was our tour guide and we just found each other. In the following years, we started shipping cars from Europe and Japan to Tanzania and selling them.

Zadock lives with his family in Arusha, nearby the Kilimanjaro. As a tour guide, he could earn a lot more money having his own safari car… preferably a Toyota Land Cruiser ("My ride"). It would have been way easier, faster and cheaper to just ship the car to Tanzania. But it’s a unique opportunity too. I really want to drive to Tanzania with my own car.

My aim was to go to Tanzania on the most direct way. I planned to cross Croatia and the Balkan (blue route). After Greece, I would cross turkey and leave Europe. As Iran is just opening again, a detour through the formerly centre of ancient Persia should be a great adventure. Afterwards, I need to ship my car to Africa and this is faster and cheaper from Istanbul. That’s why I have to return to Turkey again.

The routes (I do not claim any rights on the picture. The picture is property of stepmap.de, I just added the lines showing the route)

My initial idea was to drive from North to South (black route). I would have crossed Egypt, Sudan (northern Sudan for all the people screaming right now), Ethiopia, Kenya to arrive in Tanzania. Against all opposition, I wanted to stick to this plan. But as the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea starts to flare up again, I gave up and switched plans.

My car will be shipped to South Africa, probably Durban or Cape Town. Then I will drive from the South to the North (green route) via Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia to get to Tanzania. Malawi, Burundi and Rwanda are optional destinations.

Concerning all the route plans, nothing is determined. I have so many possibilities and enough time to choose new destinations day by day. This freedom is one of the most valuable things for my journey.