A couple of months back I posted a story about American explorer Julian Monroe Fisher, who was deep into the planning stages of his Equatoria expedition. The plan is for Fisher to start at the Indian Ocean and travel more than 4000 miles (6437 km) across Africa, completely on foot, until he reaches the Atlantic Ocean. He'll take the first steps on this arduous journey later this week.
Julian will begin his long march in Pemba, Mozambique and will continue heading west until he arrives at Lobito, Angola. Along the way, he'll pass through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Malawi as well. This adventure is being undertaken to not only explore the landscapes of the region that is being crossed, but to also raise awareness of the work of the Mines Advisory Group, an organization that works on a global level to dispose of land mines and other explosive devices left behind from a conflict.
The official website for the expedition lists Fisher's departure time for this Friday, and as you can imagine, he is hurriedly finishing up his preparation for the trek. You can read more about that preparation and what is going on in these final days before he begins on the expedition's Facebook page. That is also the same place you'll find update once he is underway, although Julian tells me he isn't carrying satellite communications gear or a laptop with him, which means we'll only get updates when he arrives in a town that is sizable enough to have Internet access.
The expedition is expected to take months to complete, with most of that time spent in the field, where Fisher can expect to face endless miles of challenging terrain, turbulent weather conditions, and the possibility of coming face-to-face with one of Africa's more dangerous animals, such as lions or elephants. But the experienced explorer has faced those things before, and is more than ready to make this walk across the continent.
Stay tuned for updates.