Africa Rally 2011 - The Ultimate Adventure

The Adventurists offer a challenge to those of you wanting a travel experience that will see you take on the deserts, jungles and some of the dodgiest terrain in Africa. London to Uganda in 4 weeks sounds simple, right? If it was that easy, it wouldn’t be that much of challenge now, would it?

The rally is designed to raise money for charities in Africa, whilst giving the travellers an experience that they’ll be reliving for years after. There are very few rules to the rally as ultimately it's your adventure. However, if you want to enter the rally your team is required to pay a sign up fee, raise £1000 for your chosen charity, complete the journey within 4 weeks and most importantly find a 1 litre vehicle to get you there.

Your global fridge magnet collection will be significantly greater than any of your friends. In 2009 most teams only passed through two European countries(France and Spain), but you'll get the opportunity to travel as far across Europe as you desire.

The quality of road surface will change before your eyes, one minute you'll be pushing the speed dial on your 1 litre as far as it can go on the German Autobahn and the next you'll be creating your own road through the Kenyan deserts and jungles. Some days you could cover 10 miles in 5 minutes and others it could take 5 hours to do the same distance.

The Adventurists will also throw a Europarty that will be held in Sarajevo during the rally giving you the opportunity to swap stories and lessons learned with other ralliers.

The rally to Uganda offers endless route possibilities and the danger level can make this as scary as it is exciting. Your route has the potential to take you through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Sudan to name just a few troublesome hotspots.

The No Regrets team of Adam and Ruth made up one of the entrants in the 2009 Africa Rally which took them from the Top Gear test track in Surrey to the finishing line in Cameroon. After spending months planning their route, the Foreign Office stepped in to spoil their best laid plans only three days before the start of the rally.

There had been a number of British nationals kidnapped in Mauritania, Mali and Niger within the last month and the Foreign Office did not want ralliers to head into these countries. Any map will tell you that these countries would be key to almost every teams route in to Cameroon. Every team had a choice to make - Ship the car to Senegal direct from the UK or drive to Morocco and ship it from there. What would you choose?

The No Regrets team decided to get to Morocco and speak to shipping agents when they made it to Casablanca. Adam and Ruth appeared to be in a hurry to get to the sun as they drove for 29 hours solid to clear France and Spain faster than all but one team. Being one of the first teams in to Morocco should've given them the best opportunity to get the car shipped to Senegal.

9 days later and still in Morocco. No Regrets decided to make a brave (or stupid) plan as they teamed up with the Camervroom boys to drive 18 hours through Western Sahara and then through Mauritania against the advice of the Foriegn Office.

After stripping the cars of all rally signage and losing as much non essential weight, the two teams hired a guide who would drive one of the cars through the minefield between Western Sahara and Mauritania. This then led to probably the most nerve racking days drive any of them had ever experienced followed by a border crossing into Senegal that was going to be anything but straight forward.

Once in Senegal, although the danger level was no worse than driving at home the standard of road quality got worse and frequency of bribe requests increased the nearer they got to Cameroon.

Along the way, there were a number of fantastic people in all the countries who welcomed Adam and Ruth into their community and provided assistance when it was most needed. These people will live in their hearts forever.