Exodus Expedition

Exodus truck The Exodus Expedition Truck, an African "Package Tour"
November 6, 1987 - February 25, 1988

Africa seemed a bit scary to attempt on our own. The original idea was to go to Europe in the fall, drop down into Africa during the winter, and continue on around the world in the spring. But Africa captured our imaginations, and we eventually signed up for a four-month trip. We couldn't have gone on our own knowing what we did then. Now, we could (and would).

There were 23 of us, 21 passengers and 2 drivers, on a Bedford army truck. Each of us had a small locker for our stuff under the seats. Other lockers were reserved for food, dishes, spare parts, and books. The plastic windows of the truck rolled up for riding in the open air, which people preferred even on frigid Sahara mornings.

Our sleeping bags and roll mats were in nets above the seats, and the tents were kept on the roof of the cab.

A typical day began with a wake-up call at 4:30-5:30 a.m. We had to get up, dress, stuff the sleeping bags, roll the tents, and be ready for a 5:00 or 6:00 breakfast. We'd leave an hour after breakfast, just about daybreak.

Two out of three days we spent on the road, bumping along at no more than 40 mph. We traveled nearly 12,000 miles at that speed and that's a lot of riding.

Mid-morning, there would be a break of about an hour for shopping. Unless it was our turn to shop, we could wander around town, see the sights, visit the markets and talk to the people. On a rotating basis, we guarded the truck against thieves in teams of two.

Around noon, there would be a lunch stop of about an hour, and we'd pull up in a gravel pit or field to camp just before dark. Hundreds of people gathered around to watch us whenever we stopped, even in places which seemed as remote as anywhere in the world. I guess we were the best entertainment in town!

Once a week, we cooked in teams of three, randomly assigned for month-long stints. Cooking could be fun, depending on the group. We'd be given money to shop for three meals, and our creativity was challenged as we tried to prepare varied, tasty and nutritious meals from locally available food, supplemented by "stores" brought from London. The food kitty cost only $18 per person per week, yet we ate quite well and generally had all we could eat.

The group was well-balanced in many ways, and consisted of people from 8 countries, aged 16-48, and about half male, half female. Most were professionals or semi-professionals. All spoke English fluently, including the six people from Scandinavia, but none spoke French, the common language in Northern Africa. There were two couples besides us; most were young singles.

We didn't select this group of people we'd be with 24 hours a day for four months, and we wouldn't have selected them. Many of them preferred to hit the bars for drinks immediately upon reaching a town. We dared to question the leader on occasion. We did not fit in.

On one occasion, we stopped for tea but the wood was wet. The water wouldn't boil, despite everyone's best efforts. Finally, Dennis poured a cup from the tea kettle to make hot chocolate (the water was warm enough for that and had been chemically purified). The leader upbraided him openly. Dennis asked what was the problem. With less water in the pot, the rest should boil more quickly. The leader angrily accused Dennis of selfishly hurting everyone else by "messing up the molecules" in the water. None of the educated people in the group even questioned that statement, to our amazement! The leader was so popular and the group pressure so intense that I was convinced that if he had ordered his followers to kill an oppressed group of people, they'd have complied. We were only too glad to finish the organized portion of the trip and leave everyone behind. We'd have dropped out earlier and continued on our own, but there were no refunds, and we wanted to go on the truck through the game parks in Kenya. So we stayed and avoided spending time with the group as much as possible.

This experience contributed to Dennis' interest in "Survivor", the TV show. We'd likely have been voted out of that group right away!