By Mercy Mwende
Nation Media Group
Since October 2022, Malkit Rooprai has not seen his home. The Kenyan-Briton left West London in the UK in a car on October 6, ready to tour the world alone.
After a roller-coaster of a journey, driving a 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser (120 Series) that saw him cross Britain, France and Spain, he took a ferry to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Morocco. Then he drove across Algeria, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and into East Africa through Tanzania and Uganda, then finally into Kenya.
It is a trip that has cost him a total of about $40,000 pounds (Sh6.8 million), with fuel taking the largest portion.
The 63-year-old had wished to go all the way to Egypt but the conflict in Sudan has made him change his mind. Now, he is spending time in Kenya, where he spent the first 17 years of his life before he moved to the UK in 1978.
“I have been looking into other options of crossing over to Sudan but now, it doesn’t seem viable considering the logistics at my disposal. Had it not been for the wars in the country, I would have managed to circumnavigate Africa,” he says.
Were he to proceed to Egypt, he would have driven through Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan.
“Instead of planning on how I will travel to Egypt to complete my excursion, I have decided to interact and visit my former schoolmates and neighbours whom I have not seen in a long time,” Malkit tells Lifestyle.
Since his arrival in Kenya, he has visited some of the temples in the country and toured Malaba, Kitale, Eldoret, Kisumu, Kibos and Kericho.
Mr Malkit Rooprai, a Kenyan-Briton who drove through 30 countries starting from the UK between October 2022 and May 2023. In this photo taken in May 2023, he was in the vicinity of the Del Monte farms in Thika.
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Until the end of June when he plans to ferry his vehicle to the UK before travelling back, Rooprai says that he intends to rekindle the happy childhood memories he had with his Kenyan-based friends.
The motive of his arduous journey was to experience Africa by road to attempt what many had not. That desire to cross borders to meet people with diverse cultures has seen him visit 30 countries.
He spent about four to six weeks in each of the countries he visited. The shortest he ever spent in one country was a week, which happened in Benin and Togo.
“There was not much to see. So, I visited their monuments and proceeded with my journey,” he explains.
While on the road, he travelled slowly, sightseeing places that he had only heard of or read in books. He could take breaks by stopping over in villages and towns to eat with locals and resting before resuming his journey.
Sometimes, when unable to arrive at his destination country on time, he would find a safe place to stay — which could be a police checkpoint, somebody’s compound, or somewhere near a roadside café where he would park his car and sleep in it.
“I always ensured that I won’t drive at night. Therefore, before sunset, I had to look for a place to spend the night,” he says.
Before visiting a country, he scoured the internet and gathered all the information he could. And when in a particular country, he committed to enjoying as many of the adventures as possible during his stay.
During such tours, he explored wildlife, natural sites, and historical monuments and immersed himself in the culture of the country.
Some of the places that he has enjoyed during his tours include visiting some of the largest cities in Africa: Lagos and Kinshasa, following the source of the River Nile in Jinja, Uganda, visiting the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the Tunda Vala Fissure which is a natural sight found in Angola and the table mountains of South Africa.
He manoeuvred his way around countries using iOverlander, a mobile application used to find information about places. The app enabled him to search for hotels, fuelling stations or mechanics.
Mr Malkit’s Toyota Land Cruiser during his visit at the Chobe National Park in Botswana on March 3, 2023. He drove through 30 countries starting from the UK between October 2022 and May 2023.
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“Being polite to people also helped a lot as they did not mind showing me around,” he says.
His schedule was relaxed, allowing him to work in between the journey. Rooprai, a data migration consultant with over 20 years of experience, says he would often stop by the road to work, especially in the mornings.
His occupation involves the development of software for different industries, for instance in the sectors of defence, telecommunication and finance.
He says that though the expedition had seen him take time off from work, midway he realised that communication systems had improved in Africa, enhancing the internet connection and thus making it easy for him to work from anywhere.
His car was fitted with satellite equipment for easy communication, accessibility by security and to allow his family to track his journey’s progress.
Nevertheless, whenever he crossed borders, he would purchase a Sim card and contact his family and friends to inform them of his whereabouts.
“I would also take scenic photos of all the destinations I visited and upload them on my Facebook page – Rooprai Overlanding Africa – which I created for this expedition so as to involve my friends in the trip,” he says.
He also carried with him a diary in which he recorded his stop-overs, where he stayed and the mileage covered.
“I drove 350 kilometres daily, which ultimately became 70,000 kilometres for the 30 countries I visited,” he says.
His vehicle did not have any special modifications, although he carried a fridge in his car with frozen food.
The journey, though solitary, was not lonely for him. He says that he often met other overlanders with the same mission as his on the road or while camping.
At times, when feeling low, he would listen to music or make several stop-overs in towns or roadside cafes to connect with the world.
“Sometimes, the distances were very long and I had to persevere with conditions that I was not used to, for example harsh weather,” he explains.
Despite this, he did not get any major breakdowns with his vehicle.
What kept him going was the yearning to accomplish the expedition that he had planned over the last three-and-a-half years.
He says preparation for the journey involved testing whether the family vehicle he had owned for four years was fit for travel, planning on the personal essentials that he needed to carry in the car, budgeting on travel expenses, getting the clearance documents required for travelling and the requirements needed in each country.
“Some of these items included visas, vaccination certificates, car passports and an insurance cover,” he says.
While crossing the borders, he used a UK and an international driving licence.
He says that he also had to psychologically prepare for the journey and consistently reminded his family about it so as to prepare them too.
“My family, especially my children, supported me as they knew exactly what to look out for during my preparation. Moreover, I maintained communication with them throughout the journey so as to keep them from worrying,” he says, adding that good communication was achieved because of the road transport with a good network.
He travelled alone because he did not want to put any of his family members or friends at a risk. Equally, he notes, the journey gave him time and space to be on his own. Had he travelled in the company of someone, he reasons, he would have spent time seeking their opinions on decisions made during the trip.
The journey had no major challenges, Rooprai says. Police and other security agencies did not disturb him while driving on the road, except in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Sierra Leone where driving a right-hand vehicle is prohibited.
“In Sierra Leone, I had to liaise with a customs officer at the border to drive me to Freetown because I was not allowed to cross the border with my vehicle,” he says.
In some countries, he says, he would have really loved to park his vehicle and sleep on the roadside or on a campsite. But he had to look after his own safety because such places were insecure.
Mr Malkit when he visited Namibe beach in Angola on January 9, 2023. He drove through 30 countries starting from the UK between October 2022 and May 2023.
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His memorable moments in the journey are the desert drives in the Western Sahara and Central Africa and the tracking of mountain gorillas at the Bwindi National Park in Uganda.
During such trips he has toured museums, the Chemelil and Nandi plantations, Lake Victoria and the Mount Elgon National Park.
Unlike most countries he has visited in the past months, he says that this is not his first visit to Kenya since he was born in Thika but left for the UK at 17 years of age to further his studies. He notes that his Kenyan roots are from his great-grandfather who settled next to the Del Monte farms.
Despite the limitation, he advises anyone willing to take such an excursion not to contemplate it and be flexible.
“Do not give yourself a limit of how your journey should be or what you should achieve. Have an open mind because the moment you start pressurising yourself while on the road, you are going to start rushing and miss quite a lot,” he says.
While on such a journey, he urges fellow explorers to take enough rest so as not to exhaust themselves while driving.
Given a chance, he says, he would still consider such an undertaking.
“Africa has developed and is rich in resources, beautiful scenery and welcoming people, unlike the West. The roads are also very good. Only about 20 percent are all-weather roads. So, why not?”
Prior to the expedition, he had mainly visited East African countries, only visiting some of the other countries occasionally for work.
Because of his daring excursion, on May 22, Toyota through its Corporation for Africa and Overseas arm honoured him by documenting his experience.
