ALKHOBAR, 22 June 2005 — At the start of each school year it is traditional for students to write about what that they did during their summer vacation. For the teenagers of the Mahmood and Johnstone families such an assignment will result in essays that will be the talk of their schools.
“I don’t think my friends actually believe me about this trip,” said Bilqees Johnstone. “When I told them that we’re driving through Africa they looked startled. It doesn’t make sense to them. They say, ‘Why don’t you just get in an airplane and go. It’s much faster.’”
The Mahmood and Johnstone families are about to begin what they are calling “an epic journey.” The Mahmoods are originally from Tanzania and South Africa although they are now British nationals. The Johnstones are from South Africa. The families will leave the Eastern Province today and travel west across the Kingdom to Riyadh, Taif and then Makkah, where they will perform Umrah.
“Immediately from there we will move on to Jeddah and then catch a ferry across to Suakin in Sudan,” explained Mushtaq Mahmood, 46, the intrepid traveler who instigated this incredible journey. “The ferry normally takes 12 hours and our vehicles and gear will go along with us. We will arrive in Suakin at 6 o’clock in the morning and we’ll travel to Port Sudan to stay overnight. We’ll do some diving and snorkeling there as well. Then we’ll move across the desert to Atbara where we’ll meet the Nile for the first time. We’ll come down from there to see the Pyramids of Meroe in Sudan. Then we’ll continue on to Khartoum and follow the Nile. Our website, www.khobartocape.com, shows the entire route.”
The journey continues on through Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and finally ends in South Africa. The families will be on the road for a total of 45 days. For the Mahmood family, Mushtaq and his wife Waheeda will be doing most of the driving assisted by their son Shahzad (17) and accompanied by their daughters Rumana (15) and Fowzia (13). For the Johnstones, Abdullah and his wife Fatima will have to manage the driving duties alone as their daughters Ateeqoh (16) and Bilqees (13) are still too young to get behind the wheel. The families will be driving Land Cruisers packed with enough gear and supplies to see them through every imaginable situation.
“The preparations for the trip have consumed us for the last two years,” said Abdullah Johnstone. “Basically we had to get the cars ready and then get ourselves ready for the journey. In terms of determining the route, that took a while. I have my own interests and Mushtaq has his own interests but being friends for nine years enabled us to work things out in the end. We have read so much about the countries we are going to that sometimes I just have had to stop for a little while because I was feeling saturated with it. Next to my bed was a meter tall stack of guide books and all the tables at Mushtaq’s house were covered with maps.”
Armed with a satellite phone and laptop the families will be posting accounts of their journey to their website as they go along. The girls will also be keeping diaries of the journey which they hope to be able to share in some form once they return to the Kingdom. Everyday the families will be driving about 350 km. The trip will cover 15,500 km.
Share in their adventure as Arab News will keep you updated with special reports throughout the coming weeks on this journey from Saudi Arabia to South Africa.
