The Kingsmills' Overland Adventures


Having trekked to Everest Base Camp, rafted down the Sun-Kosi River in Nepal, travelled extensively through the Australian deserts, rode BMW motorbikes through Asia, and travelled overland from Hong Kong to Pakistan through China we were after another adventure.


In 1998/1999 myself, Geoff Kingsmill, a computer consultant from Alice Springs Australia, my wife Kienny and nine year old daughter Su-lin shipped our Toyota Landcruiser to South Africa and then drove to London.  The lure of Africa was just too much so in 2000 we spent two months travelling through the Sahara Desert in Tunisia and Libya.

Not being content, we hit the road again in 2004 and drove through Russia, Mongolia and Scandinavia to Europe, starting in Vladivostok on the sea of Japan and finishing in London, some 25,000km to the west.

We got itchy feet again, so in 2008 we started our next overland adventure. Our plans are to drive from Ushuaia, Argentina at the very bottom of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska at the very top of North America.

Trans-Africa
Trans-Americas
Trans-Russia-Mongolia

If you have any questions feel free to email us at gkingsmill@yahoo.com


The Kingsmills' Trans-Americas Overland Trip
(2008/2009/2010/2011)

South America
  01 13-Dec-08 Puerto Montt, Chile         (Chile)
  02 29-Dec-08 Ushuaia, Argentina          (Chile, Argentina)
  03 07-Jan-09 Antarctic Expedition        (Argentina, Antarctica)
  04 28-Jan-09 Bariloche, Argentina        (Argentina, Chile)
  05 07-Feb-09 Buenos Aires, Argentina     (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil)
  06 17-Sep-09 San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (Argentina)
  07 09-Oct-09 Copacobana, Bolivia         (Chile, Bolivia)
  08 11-Nov-09 Villa G Belgrano, Argentina (Peru, Chile, Argentina)
  09 02-Jul-10 Porto Velho, Brazil         (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil)
  10 08-Jul-10 Manaus, Brazil              (Brazil)
  11 02-Aug-10 Cartagena, Colombia         (Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia)

Central America
  12 19-Aug-10 Belize City, Belize         (Panama, Costa Rica,
                                           
Nicaragua, Honduras,
                                            El Salvador, Guatemala,
                                            Belize )
North America
  13 29-Sep-10 Dallas, TX, USA             (Mexico, USA)

Map
  Google Map showing our route through South, Central and North America

South American Map



The Kingsmills' Trans-Russia-Mongolian Overland Trip
(2004)

01 14-Jun-04 Vladivostok  (Russia)
02 26-Jun-04 Ulan Ude     (Russia)
03 02-Jul-04 Ulaan Baatar (Russia, Mongolia)
04 20-Jul-04 Tashanta     (Mongolia)
05 28-Jul-04 Kazan        (Russia)
06 16-Aug-04 North Cape   (Russia, Norway)
07 20-Feb-05 Practical details on driving through Russia/Mongolia

Mongolia_GPS Track

Russia Mongolia Map



The Kingsmills' Trans-Africa Overland Trip
(1998-2000)

01 25-Aug-98 Leaving Australia
02 06-Oct-98 South Africa and Lesotho
03 12-Oct-98 South Africa
04 23-Oct-98 South Africa and Namibia
05 04-Nov-98 Namibia
06 20-Nov-98 Botswana
07 01-Dec-98 Zimbabwe
08 18-Dec-98 Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi
09 14-Jan-99 Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya (updated Oct-00)
10 02-Feb-99 Kenya and Ethiopia (updated Oct-00) *
11 23-Feb-99 Ethiopia and Sudan (updated Jan-02) *
12 16-Mar-99 Sudan and Egypt (updated Jun-02) *
13 06-May-99 Europe
14 01-Jul-99 Epilogue (updated Jun-02) **

15 15-Mar-00 Europe and Tunisia *
16 11-Apr-00 Libya *

Route Map
* includes detailed information on border crossings
** includes lots of practical information on doing an Overland trip

Map of our route through Africa
Our route from South Africa through to Europe

Camping in South Africa
Roughing it in South Africa
Driving in Sudan
Having much more fun in Sudan.


If you have any questions feel free to email us at gkingsmill@yahoo.com

Food for thought

    'Why do you do it?' friends often ask, perplexed,
    Brows raised, minds sorely vexed.
    'The world out there is dangerous!
    Aren't you scared? Why do this?
    You need steady work, a house, two cars!
    You have only a motorbike, and sleep under stars!'

    Dear friend, if you must ask, you cannot know
    This curiosity that drives me so.
    To you it is hidden; in me rises unbidden!
    But one day the world I'll have ridden
    By iron steed, then perhaps this need
    Will have vanished, finally vanquished!
    That day will find me on deathbed,
    With no regrets for the life I led.

    Will you be able to say the same?
    Or will you despair a life worn plain?

    I will stake my Himalayan memories
    Against your estate of a thousand trees.
    Pit my Thai sunset
    Against your private jet.
    Weigh my horse rides at sunrise
    To your Italian suits and ties.
    I'll rejoice in friends before I go,
    Not the figures of my stock portfolio.

    And, amazingly, there are more like me;
    They reject slavery, and are truly free.
    They took the chance we all had,
    And honestly it makes me sad
    That you didn't.
    You thought you couldn't...
    What?
    Live without the luxuries
    Of all our modern amenities?
    You choose the bonds of mortgage, but claim to be free,
    Wasting a lifetime absorbed by TV.
    Why watch it? but live it!
    One life's all you get!
    Don't put off 'til morrow and continue to borrow
    The lives of strangers; 'tis the greatest of dangers
    To the soul
    Which grows old
    Before its time.

    Hercules, Columbus,
    Guevara, Odysseus,
    Champlain, Agamemnon,
    The list goes on...
    What have they in common?
    Regardless man or god,
    The soil of continents they trod,
    Not in search of gold but adventure!
    Not growing old 'cause they ventured
    Far from safety; but far be it from me
    To Judge...

    The pitiless pity us
    With souls black pitted.
    Pray! save it for those less spirited.
    For us... our horizons are unlimited.

by James Richmond, Canada