THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA IS CONQUERED……

After 5 long months during which the circumstances of the trip changed hugely, 19,000kms of very ‘African’ roads and 3 of the 10 challenges completed the Afritrex expedition consisting of myself and the Colonel have finally made it into the relative safety of Southern Africa!

The group of 3 vehicles and 12 people crossed the border from Angola into Namibia on May 28^th and headed for the national park of Etosha for some well earned rest and recuperation. From here we’ll all go our own separate ways with some going back up the east coast quicker than I will, some heading south to Cape Town and others heading home.

I will go east straight to Durban, South Africa in time for the Comrades Marathon on June 15^th – the next and hardest of the challenges so far.

Now I have a decent internet connection I will attempt to bring the site up to date with all of the latest information, but do bear with me.

Thanks for staying on touch, its awesome to receive so many emails of support as I go!

Ben - Afritrex

Posted on 02 Jun 2008 by Ben Southall

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Welcome to Afritrex - A privately funded charity endurance challenge of marathons, mountains and more; documenting the encounters, obstacles and achievements of 12 months of hard fundraising and charity work across Africa.

Whilst circumnavigating the African Continent I will complete the following challenges:

To complete five marathons of at least 26 miles
To climb five of the highest mountains in Africa
To visit as many of the sites across Africa where the Victoria Cross has been won as possible (VC180 Challenge)

"The challenge to make every penny count"

Have a closer look at the site and find out more about how we'll be spending 2008.

Keep up to date !! - The action is happening as we speak...

Click here for the latest diary entry

Click here for the latest photos

Click here for the latest route

My name is Ben Southall and for the last decade I’ve travelled extensively throughout Southern Africa taking on projects and expeditions to test my abilities and discover exciting new areas of the African continent, whilst in the UK I take part in fitness and endurance events to raise money for charity and thought it was about time I combined the two fields to create my own fundraising expedition from with others could benefit.

So was born Afritrex: the logistical equivalent of one man trying to build spaghetti junction using Taiwanese instructions and a broken shovel.

The idea was simple: take one continent; attempt to circumnavigate it and whilst doing so try and stay fit enough to complete a number of endurance challenges to raise money for my chosen charities and whilst doing so post it all on the internet!

This is set to be the most challenging, exciting and exhausting year of my life, can I really do it?

"The answer is I don't know,

so why not find out!"

This is me Ben Southall and this is my mission throughout 2008. Stay in contact with my progress updates on how things are going through this site.

I’ll be keeping you informed of my progress through biweekly updates to the site, route information and with regular photo and video blogs.

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