Tanya Ritchie, a Johannesburg resident, settled on an adventure from South Africa to Kenya in a 42-year-old Mercedes Benz.
The 62-year-old Briton is a full-time caregiver, who enjoys the outdoors and became interested in travelling the world.
However, after several trips, she settled on 5,000 kilometres from Johannesburg to Nairobi. She wanted to conduct the trip with a stranger, so she posted an advert on Facebook.
Ritchie received 80 responses before she decided to conduct interviews.
"I started to interview all the candidates through video calls. From the moment I spoke to Helen I just knew. She was equally keen on this adventure and full of enthusiasm," she stated.
After interviewing various interested adventurers, she settled on Helen Hahn.
"I saw Tanya’s video and post on Facebook. It just made me giggle at how fun and crazy it would be; such an unusual adventure. I instantly knew Tanya and I would get along. My expectations of the trip are to see some African delights while driving a beautiful, classic Mercedes, one of the best cars to drive," Hahn stated.
The pair left Johannesburg on March Friday 3, and plan to drive through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi, up the west side of Tanzania, across to the Indian Ocean at Dar es Salaam and into Kenya.
They plan to visit Makgadikgadi Pan, Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba, Lake Malawi, and the Tanzanian city of Arusha.
Before her trip to Nairobi, Ritchie drove from the UK to Gambia in a Land Rover in 1994.
How She Settled on 1981 240D Mercedes Benz
Ritchie indicated that she decided to pick the 42-year-old car after seeing it in an online marketplace.
“This all started when I saw this Mercedes on the Facebook marketplace after a local rally called the Bull Run. I am not really a Mercedes fan, or of yellow cars for that matter, but I saw this yellow W123 [Mercedes-Benz series] and fell for it,” she stated.
The 1981 240D has since been christened Mustafa and has accumulated a worldwide following online from Mercedes Benz W123 fans.
Features of the Mercedes Benz
The W123 240 D Mercedes Benz has a naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine.
The power is transmitted to the road through a rear-wheel drive (RWD) with a 4-speed manual gearbox. The W123 240 D braking system includes discs at the front and discs at the rear.
It was manufactured by Mercedes Benz, with 4 doors and 5 seats. It was sold as new from 1980 until 1984 and was available as a used car thereafter.
