Earlier travels

tropical Africa

Every tree produces some 100 coconuts every year. There is no specific ripening period or time of harvest.

Inhambane city market

town market

A life in modesty: most people live from hand to mouth.

A journey through this unparalleled scenery is an absolute delight.

Unparalleled beauty along the coast of the Indian Ocean.

Getting a hitch.

Pawpaw tree

The art of weaving palm fronds.

Tailoring - a man′s job

off the main road

Paradise for lovers of sea food in all variations: lobsters, bought directly from a fisherman on the beach.

The common means of transportation along the coast: Dhow

The rural population often lives in modesty and self-sufficiency, whereas the „state“ lives off foreign aid.

water for the family

One of the most terrible legacies of the long civil war are the mines. De-mining is proceeding only slowly.

beach accommodation

buying wood for the campfire

along the road

Algerien August 2002

in the Hoggar mountain range

the landscape is characterised by dunes and rocks

there is life in the desert after all!

The “grave route” – a challenge to man and technical equipment alike.

on the “grave route”

picture book camping sites

one of nature’s wonders

good for exercice

unlimited playground

Erg Oriental

On the route to Djanet: and repeatedly sandy plains and the great experience of crossing the Erg.

Sooner or later, everybody gets stuck – but in summer, with temperatures of 50 degrees C, it becomes almost unbearable

Not travelling on your own, is an advantage in such situations. Digging out a truck with travelling companions is much quicker.

The ACTION MOBIL always guarantees for a shady spot in the midday heat.

Camels content themselves with the scanty shade offered by the thin branches of the acacia tree.

Tracks in the evening light often lead to a romantic camping site…

Whereas tracks in daylight constitute a promise for many adventures.

Adventures and events of this sort are generally unforeseeable in the morning. They are the consequence of driving over hot sand, sharp stones and also thors of the acacia trees.

Lunch break

a walk-in wardrobe is nothing unusual in a nomad’s home

Some litres of fresh drinking water from the ACTION MOBIL fresh water tank – a delicacy for nomads.

Little heaps of stones serve as a traveller’s guide through the desert. Caravans and nomads have been using them for generations to find their route through the desert.

10 tons on their way to southern Africa

subtropical climate and sunny beaches on the Indian Ocean

South Africa – a melting pot of cultures

No speed limit, but there’s not point in trying to find your contact lenses afterwards.

The Stellenbosch Wine Route leads from one cellar to another.

Ostriches eat considerable quantities of sand and stones – as a digestive.

why don’t you come a bit closer...

well-fed and healthy

Hippos might look clumsy, but are rather fast. They don’t care about who or what is in their way.

camping site on the shore of the Berg River

penguins on Boulders Beach

the gorgeous Jackass Penguin

Hout Bay

Chapman’s Peak Drive – the world’s most spectacular coastal road.

the famous landmark of Capetown, the Table mountain

Rock hyrax live in colonies of over 50 animals.

Swartland, the granary of the Cape region

Springboks are known for their vertical leaps.

Due to lack of trees, up to 150 weaver birds have chosen this one to build a nest.

Cheetahs are active during the day.

Arrived!

The Quivertree belongs to the family of succulent trees.

Bizarre mountain shapes, awesome and lonely landscapes

The expanse, the mountains and the Oranje river make for a fantastic scenery.

Fish River Canyon – the world’s second largest canyon

the world’s oldest desert with the world’s highest sand dunes in Soussusvlei

River successfully crossed!

Spreetshoogte pass with a gradient of up to 23%

Camping site at breezy altitude with a stupendous view.

cheese fondue and South African wine

corrugation – as far as the eye can see

colony of seals near Cape Cross

A seal’s fur is soft and smooth to the touch.

Namib desert: open and still untouched landscape

Welwitschia mirabilis, a primeval plant, up to 1500 years old

Namibia is home to 11 different ethnic groups.

Herero woman wearing a typical Wilhelmian traditional costume: its production requires some 12 meters of fabric.

Many have tried their luck in the Kolmanskip where diamonds could be found, but only very few became rich.

“Warmquelle”, a camping site with hot springs

Himba kraal

Himba women spend several hours every day on their beauty care. They use a mixture of rancid butter fat, herbs and ochre as body lotion.

An important part of a woman’s traditional costume is the “ohumba”, a white triton shell.

Road description: in parts very narrow, often with pointed and sharp stones, leading along deep precipices.

light and shade

Roidrom (an empty, red fuel drum) signals an important junction in Kaokoveld

Which is the best place to cross?

just about made it …

Shower with water supplied directly from the Epupua waterfalls – even brown water can be refreshing!

Himba women wear interesting loincloths.

extravagant hairstyle

Colourfully printed fabric is very popular in Africa.

mainroad in Moremi National Park

cleaning-up after an accident

rich prey

Blue Wildbeest

good camouflage

Springboks are often found around water ponds.

a bird’s eye view of a village in the Okawango delta

primeval landscape

washday

Land in the water: Okavango Delta, a land-locked delta of some 16′000 km2

Mongoose

At the rim of the Magadikgadi pan: bush and grass savannah.

After a power slice with the truck finally found the ideal camping site.

once more…

In the Makgadikgadi salt pan: In the midst of the flat landscape of a former primeval lake, a bizarre granite island rises, called “Kubu Island”. Huge Baobabs grow on it.

Carelessness has lead to entire trucks sinking into the salt pan.

Matobo National Park

View of the world with Cecil Rhode’s tomb

Piste von Binga nach Kariba.

village in a remote area

thick skin

The African elephant, the world’s largest animal, weighing some 6000 to 7000 kg.

Sanyati Gorge River

warthogs are fascinatingly ugly

ready for the flight over the waterfalls

thundering smoke = Victoria Falls

In Africa, hippos account for more fatal encounters than any other wild animal.

Despite their phlegmatic nature, they are dangerous. They strictly defend their territory.

A land-locked sea in Africa: The artificial Kariba Lake, extending over an area of 5580 km2.

camping site without swimming – too many crocodiles

Over 1 million cubic meters of concrete were used to build the Kariba dam.

market day

Rhinos: aggressive in character, unpredictable, bad eyesight, but good sense of hearing.

siesta

Cute yellow-brownish fur balls - as adults they weigh up to 200 kg.

The giraffe’s neck arteries have special valves which prevent the blood from accumulating in the animals head while it is drinking head-down.

Amigo playing with a young warthog.

Mexico, even the smallest villages can be reached by public transportation. The second class is often overloaded, with people and all sorts of animals standing in the aisle.

The temple complex on Monte Albán: a mountain, the top of which has been taken off by man to create the plateau to build the temple.

On horseback to “Paricutin“, the world’s youngest volcano.

Palenque, a city of the Mayas, formerly hidden in the jungle. A place, where harmony between man, his architecture and nature counts.

Indigenous population with a rich variety of traditional costumes in San Cristobál de las Casas.

Mexicans: friendly and helpful people, who take everyday life slower.

off-road driving

Santo Domingo, one of the most beautiful Baroque churches of Mexico.

Zócalo, the centre of all activities

the “Voladores” dance

“Chapulines”, roasted grasshoppers, with a dash of lime juice – what a treat!

taking a break on the roadside

Chichén-Itzá – where the Mayas held their ceremonies

Nine terrace landings with 4 stairways each (= 364 days) plus a last level – which the temple rests on - for one more day represent the 365 days of the solar year.

every stair has 91 steps

We wanted to see the production of Tequila, the agave liquor.

Drink your Tequila in one gulp, lick salt immediately and bite into a lemon – and then pull faces as you like.

Mariachi wear the costumes of the “charros”, the costume of the horsemen on the haciendas.

Their music reminds of a blend of African and Caribbean rhythms. An unforgettable and unique atmosphere.

Cancún with its beautiful white sandy beaches.

Entry refused because of the military colour of the vehicle. Painting it with white dispersion paint allowed for an unforgettable 6-week-trip.

In the Grand Atlas: the perfect place to spend the Christmas days.

Boulmane in the Dades valley – the largest souk (bazaar) of the region

Sheep farming is still the livelihood of many people living up here

The participants of the Paris-Dakar really were quite obviously travelling faster than we were.

Âit Benhaddou – where to movie “Sodom and Gomorrah” was shot.

Veteran convertible Unimog

With the peaks of the Grand Atlas mountains always on the horizon, there is a lot to discover: innumerable clay fortresses, palm groves and wild romantic gorges.

fresh poultry on today’s menu card

The Grand Atlas mountains encompass a rich variety of landscapes – splendid beyond words.

Torrents have created deep ravines.

The steep ascent to the Cirque du Jaffar.

Fezzan, the south of Libya

Signposts: large and clear letters, but only in Arabic.

The oasis of Ghariyat

Ghadames, an old city where caravans used to stop

The “Daouda”, the mysterious and dark-skinned people living in the region of the Mandara lakes

Entering the route to the lakes at Takartiba

Over and over again, the desert shows us where our limits are!

slowly but steadily...

Erg Ubari, a sea of sand with several small lakes, surrounded by dunes and palm trees.

Wau en Namus, the mosquito crater: approx. 5 km in diameter, with lakes up to 15 meters deep

Myriads of insects feeding on blood have made this biotope uninhabitable.

The red hue in the lake is caused by a special kind of bacteria.

Ferry Genoa-Tunis

Fabulous mountainous landscapes, oases with palm trees and the monotony of the sun-burnt desert steppe

looking down on Chott el Gharsa

Soil erosion due to overgrazing through goats and sheep.

Old town of Tamerzas, situated between two wadi. The houses are built of stones and sun-dried clay tiles.

rock shapes – as if formed by hand

waterfall of 8 meters of height in the wadi

Prickly pear plants are used as fences and to mark borders. The fruits are juicy, tasty and have a lot of seeds.

Nomadic herdsmen and their “mobile home”: Functional tent scaffold with tent blanket.

The men’s clothes: Djellabah (looks to us like a night gown and shesh (a kind of turban).

Berber women wear dresses reaching down to their ankles, with patterns in shiny colours. They don’t cover their face.

Status symbols consist of plenty of jewellery, ornamental face tattoos as well as henna-dyed hair and hands.

The gate to the Sahara: the oasis of Douz.

On the road between Douz and Ksar Ghilane.

Nestled on a mountain saddle: the Berber village of Chenini.

To protect themselves against the invasion of the Arabs, the Berber built caves and castles to escape to into the mountains, which are difficult to get to.

Chott el Djerid, the Sahara’s largest salt lake. It can be crossed on a road on a dam of a length of 40 km.

no petrol station in sight

the White desert – nature’s art exhibition

In thousands of years, wonderful sculptures were formed by erosion.

A view of the surroundings and an insight into the inner courtyards of private homes.

Mosque El-Qasr with construction wood poles on the clay minaret, in the oasis of Dakhla

The lintel (crossbeam above the door) reveals the names of the owner and the builder, as well as the construction date.

Track from the oasis of Baris over the “Limestone Plateau” to Luxor. Military area, permit required.

A narrow, very steep pathway leading into the Valley of the Queens.

The ride along the precipice rewarded us with a stupendous view of the Karnak temple.

Oases, linked by wadis and passes, allow for a magnificent round trip through the unspoilt desert landscape of the Sinai.

The guide cooks tasty flat bread over the open fire.

camping site – starry sky guaranteed for

fascinating, breathtaking mountain scenery in the Sinai

5-day trekking tour with camels into the loneliness of the mountain desert

painting by erosion in the Coloured Canyon

Wadi Arada: In the canyon, a torrent has created a vertical gorge of several storeys’ height. One can climb and slide through a branch of the gorge. 

gone down in the oasis

Tunisia, in the military restricted area, in 1997

driving over passes on two wheels in Europe

tropical rainforest, West Africa, 1990

tricky crossing, Ghana, 1990

learnt one’s mechanics on veteran cars

Cairns, Australia, travelling with a 4WD and a hydroplane, 1987

Phuket, still unspoilt, 1984

Men’s bath only: A men’s trip – Algeria – 3 vehicles – 1980

practising “salvaging” out of the Kander river, 1979

Ténéré 1979

sand everywhere

West Africa and Sahara 1978 / 1979

no good waiting for the TCS (Swiss breakdown service)

romantic atmosphere at the campsite, with sandy wind

island hopping and fishing in the skärgård (archipelago) of Stockholm
Sweden, 1976

Ténéré 1975

West Africa – ritual dances, 1974

Years ago ...

fuel transport in the living quarters

Tambacounda–Bamako on the platform, 1974

Agadez - Bilma 1974

travelling at different speeds

getting water in Jferouâne, 1974