THE EXPEDITION PROJECT STORY...

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What’s in the name?

‘EXPEDITION’ – journey by a team on a mission of purpose.

‘project’ – implying sustainability, an ongoing endeavour rather than a once of feel-good campaign.

You could say we know a thing or two about being on the road. 

Since 2011 we have completed 4 expeditions. Travelled 27,082 km (16828 miles) by road across South Africa. Passed through 301 towns. Stopped for a visit at 230 of those. Connected with 4,012 people. Identified 142 community projects. Worked with 405 hospitality partners. Planted 61 trees.

The challenge

One of our greatest challenges since the inception of The EXPEDITION Project was its complexity. For most people, its scope was just too vast to latch on to. And yet, we didn’t want to simply “dumb it down” or “make it more commercial”. That would have gone against the whole philosophy behind the organisation. We’ve decided to solve this puzzle through focus and simplification. We will consolidate topics and repackage them into catchy ideas that will get stuck in people’s heads. Because only sticky ideas can change the way people think and live. These “earworms” of ours will be The EXPEDITION Project ’s “offspring” – drawing resources and direction from the parent, but with unique identities and missions. The next phase of this is The EXPEDITION Project Rally 2017. Enter Sarah Bergs and Nourish…

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In 2012, we had the privilege of meeting Sarah Bergs, who’s NPO “Nourish”, is based in Hoedspruit, Limpopo Province. Nourish helps within rural communities to uplift people while promoting social responsibility and environmental education. We tagged along to a tree planting and environmental education talk as well as uniform distributions at two primary schools. We also watched as Sarah handed out donated knitted dolls to thrilled pre-schoolers, (read more about our visit here). Sarah was only 24 at the time, but it was hard to keep track of all that she was doing and had accomplished. She struck me as the perfect kind of person for what she does: she has a wonderful attitude, bags of charisma and heaps of business savvy. She has overcome enormous obstacles in the past four years since we first met, now her biggest problem is rapid growth!
Making connections is one of Sarah’s greatest talents. It has enabled her to forge the new ties (with local tribe chiefs, community members and projects) that are expanding Nourish. She kept in touch with us throughout and it has been so encouraging to follow her progress.

Recently, The EXPEDITION Project had the wonderful privilege of facilitating a partnership with Nourish, hence enabling the implementation of a series of two-week trips into a rally format. We sampled with the shorter format of our trips in 2013 and 2014 but without Sarah’s energy The EXPEDITION Project Rally 2017 wouldn't be possible.

Roger Wynne-Dyke,
Founder, The EXPEDITION Project

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Enter the 2017 EXPEDITION Project Rally, which includes you, and maps out the best bits of the trip, scenery, projects and adventures into a 2 week Rally.  The Rally(ies) involve driving from the bottom to the top ( or vice versa) of awesome South Africa- visiting charity checkpoints along the way, getting involved hands on in some of SA’s most special grassroots community/conservation projects, and at the same time taking in a HUGE amount of what makes SA so epic – landscapes, mountains, rivers, and historic points! Over 4000 KMs of driving in two weeks, with activities and charity days packed in!

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Quote from Sarah Bergs (2016) The Expedition Project Rally is important because it’s a chance for us all, as travellers, to SEE—really see… the awesome vibrant country that South Africa is, as well as assisting in charity projects that are helping SA at this vital  time in its development, dealing with very real conservation and community issues. We get to brings rally particpants a real love and understanding of “ our” South Africa-the Africa that gets into your heart, and makes you realise that its got a heartbeat like nothing else – and your KM’s done seeing so much of it, and your days spent helping conserve and protect  drives positive change for SA. ( your $$ helps make this real! Putting our hands and money where our mouths are!)

We want to Drive Change and fall awesomely in love with SA!