ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROADItraP

ac ro s s t h e... aboard a Land Rover Discovery. Car India follows thes ev e n s e a s . . .

adventures of a couple from Greece on an epic journey

Story and Photography Vula Netu & Akis Temperidis
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ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROAD

Who are we?

e have driven 77,000km
through 37 countries so far and after 400
days on the road we are in India. We
are a couple from Greece, a carjournalist and a dance teacher. We
had a dream for many years; to travel
the world without a return ticket but
we never had the money, the time or
the guts to take this seriously. Oneday, we said to each other: “That’sit. We have to do it now ornever”. It was not simple to makethis dream come true but
anyway, 23 months later wewere both in a brand new,sponsored Land Rover Discovery 3
departing to…wherever we wanted. We had a motto
as well, ‘Explore the earth in 800 days!’ Off-road, possibly…
We planned to cross Europe, get to Africa and drive aroundthe continent for six months. In the end, we spent almost ten
months till getting back to Greece for a break. That meant 41
border crossings, 58,000km, 45,000 pictures, 70 hours of video
filming and more than 150 pages of travel stories published indifferent media. In 291 days, we did not have a single scratchw

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So you wonder...

on the car or a tyre puncture. “Now we are strong enough tochallenge Asia”, we said after a two month break in our homecountry. So, after we crossed Turkey, Iran and Pakistan – threevery hospitable countries – here we are in India.
What is our impression of this country? I admit that India isa challenge for any traveller. Despite our experience, thecultural shock was unavoidable. This is a tough country todigest. You need a strong stomach, strong eyes, strong ears
(don’t horn please!!!), a strong nose and a big heart to survive
India. Driving here – you know better… is not easy.
Communicating with people is tricky. In the beginning it’s alove and hate relationship between you and this incredible
melting pot of people, cultures, religions, languages andspices. At the end, India proves to be addictive. I still don’tknow why…
Our next destination is Malaysia and from there we plan tomake a breathtaking roundtrip to South East Asia. Our aim isto reach Australia and from there to ship karibu (our car) toAmerica or to Japan. We don’t know what comes next.
Overlanders are like rolling stones. So let’s rock ‘n roll together.
Just stay tuned to Car India and follow our adventures fromnow on. We’ll depict our journey thus far through pictures thistime, as it’s impossible to cover 400 days in a thousand words.
We’ll use more words from next issue on though...

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Where do we get the car serviced?
There are more than 1,500 Land Rover official workshops
around the world.
How do we wash our clothes?
We give them to a laundry or wash them by hand and drythem in the car.
What do we have for lunch?
Most evenings, Vula cooks. Our menu includes pasta, noodles,
rice, eggs, fried vegetables and fruits. Greek salad (tomatoes,olives, onions) with olive oil is a must. In India, we cook less as
the local cuisine is great even at the cheapest dhabas.
How do we know where to camp by night?
We don’t! We search on Lonely Planet and if there is nothing,
we try to find shelter anywhere. So far so good.
Do we carry a gun?
No. A smile is the best protection!
The worst moment of our trip?
In Kathmandu when Akis’ brother died of cancer in Greece.
Our best moment?
Difficult to say. Just take a look at the pictures of this article.

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ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROADThe car

Land Rover Discovery 3 TDV6S, MY 2007, Tonga green
colour provided by Land
Rover Greece (KEDO S.A.)
with a manual gearbox, coilsprings and 17inch wheels.
Position reporter. It automatically transmits thereal position of the car to a satellite so you can see
where we are on the web

Equipment

Italian made Autohome Maggiolina
roof tent is the shelter of the crew

Full list of G4 Challenge
accessories was used andmany more customized
items for the specific model.

Roof rack and headlamp protectors

75W solar panel by Conergy provides 220V
electricity through an auxiliary 45A dry typebattery and a 500W inverter

Double spare wheel base by Kaymar

Car graphics designed by the Art
Director of 4Wheels magazine andapplied by Dobby Design-Athens

Garmin 276C GPS

Snorkel, protective sliders and10mm sump shield
Bull bar with auxiliary headlights

9.500 lb. Warn winch

Tyres used: Cooper Discoverer STT(245/70-17) in Africa and BF Goodrich
245/75-17 in Asia.

Heavy duty coil springs by King Springs andcustom made shock absorbers by Jam Sport ofGreece is the new suspension

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Outback Import (www.outback-import.com)
auxiliary 110-litre fuel tank fitted at the spare
wheel compartment

Engine CPU is tuned by Overfinch for better torque at low
revs. It is combined with a TGI air filter.
Car interior: Rear seats were deducted. Two customized
safe boxes and a 55-litre water tank are fitted.

Thrane Explorer 300 Inmarsat satellite antenna provides
broadband (492kbps) internet connection anywhere onearth (98 percent coverage). It is provided by Navarino
Telecom-Greece
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Motorola 9505A Iridium phone. Charges are adollar per minute to landline phones

ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROAD

The journeythus far...

Day 109 – 20,750km: Hewa Bora Airlines cargoflight to Lubumbashi is the only way to go on

Day 1 - 223km: In the superfast ferry from Patras to Ancona

Day 116 – 22,087 km: Bungee jumping andrafting at the Zambezi river (Zambia)

Day 130 –25,020km:
Skydiving over
the Namib desert
in Swakopmund,
Namibia is themost thrilling
experience of ourtrip so far

Day 31 - 5,046km.: Camel trekking and off-roadingin the Sahara next to the Algerian border96 SEPTEMBER 2008

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ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROAD

the routeSofia

D292

Italy

Spain

D1

D9Moroco

D297

TurkeyD307

Israel

Iran

D31

D281

Egypt
D51

Dakar

Mali Niger
D64

Sudan

Canal Do Geba

D257

Somalia

D248
D87
D97

D238

D105

Kinshasa

D213

Dar Es Salaam

Luanda

D203

D109
Monkey Bay

D124
D130

D139

How dowe survive?
We are not rich, so we have to work on the road. We
write articles for different magazines, report on theradio and have our site www.theworldoffroad.com. In
this way we earn a salary that permits us to keep goingon. Our daily budget is basic. We spend an average of300 rupees per night for sleep. At times we bush camp(that is for free!) and sometimes we stay in a basic hotel
paying a maximum 800-1,000 rupees. This is okay fora shower even if we carry about 60 litres water in thecar. Food costs us about 300-400 rupees per day. Mostof our money is spent on diesel fuel (8kmpl average),visas, shipments (like the ship Chennai-Kuala Lumpur).
Car repairs cost almost nothing as long as the “Disco”
is under guarantee. How we get cash money? FromVISA compatible ATM’s that are spread everywhere. Incase of emergency, we have an amount of just a 1,000
dollars well hidden in the car.

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D116

D186

Zimbabve

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D168

D150

D171

D387

Pakistan

KanpurIndia

Khartoum

D75

D363

Lahore
D324

D264

D44

D340

Tehran

D192

D404

ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROAD
Day 291 – 57,853km: Wecross Syria and Turkeyand arrive atThessaloniki, ourhometown in Greece!

Day 206 - 38.964km: Two nights with the Hatzabe
hunters, the most primitive tribe in Africa

Day 218 - 41,515km: We follow
the classic safari rally in Kenya

Day 238 – 44,699km: A close
encounter with a family of Gorillas
in Kahuzi-Biega N.P., D.R.CongoDay 270 – 51,739km: Two days of red tape to
get issued Egyptian car plates in Aswan

Day 246 - 47,253 km: An armed Kenyan
soldier escorts us to the border of Ethiopia

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ADVENTURE THE WORLD OFF ROAD

Day 297 – 59,814km: We fly in a balloon overthe majestic landscape of Cappadocia

Day 307 – 62,184km: We get lost in themountains of Iran and find shelter in a
local house – beautiful people

Day 347 –69,160km: Weleave behind thepeaceful Kalasha
people and drive
through theinfamous NWFP toPeshawar. We
have noencounters with
Taliban militants

Day 363 – 71,246km: We drive on the Khardung La, thehighest motorable road in the world (5,602m) and three
more passes at over 5,000m on the road to Manali

Day 324 – 65,130km: The Iranian police escort us all the way tothe border in the Balochistan desert, a place that is notorious forsome kidnappings

Day 340 – 68,551km: It’s freezing on the Khunjerab pass(4,730m). We want to enter China but red tape for the carwould cost us a fortune

Day 358 – 70,566km: The
shikara tour in the lake isa peaceful parenthesis
so far in our trip

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How did wemeet them?

ENDOFItraP

Car India received an email from Akis and Vula, a Greek
couple who had traveled extensively and were planning tocome to Asia on one of the most capable four-wheel drive
vehicles on earth. We could hardly wait to hear tales of theirmulti-stop dream trip and finally met them on the Indian legof their trip, right here in Pune.
A day together in the office, followed by a few drinks, foodand all night long conversations and we became the bestof buddies. The fact that they survived the night at Amit andBunny’s terribly messy and typical bachelors’ pad says a lot
about how much they can endure. Akis and Vula will sharethe experiences of the remaining 400 days of their trip overthe next year, once every two months. Stay tuned...

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