Cape Town pilots Wim Heuninck (31) and Michel de Clippel (40) are fulfilling a dream of a lifetime. They are on a 15-day adventure flying 12 300km from Belgium to the tip of Africa in a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza F33.
Fulfilling their childhood dreams, however, has proved more difficult than the two Belgium nationals first expected. It has taken more than six months to plan the whole expedition and get all the logistics right.
"Finding safe landing strips and suitable overnight accommodation was easy for our first and last legs - Europe and South Africa - but some of the places in between were a major challenge especially when it came to organising visas and landing permits," says Heuninck, marketing manager at Hewlett-Packard South Africa.
The flight, which is being sponsored by Sabena, South African computer equipment distributors Siltek Distribution Dynamics (SDD) and Tarsus Technologies, and ITWeb hugs the coast and hinterland of West Africa and includes flying over some of the most remote areas of Africa. These include the Sahara Desert, the Ivory Coast, the jungles of Equatorial Africa and the rugged coasts of Angola and Namibia. Daily progress reports are to be published on ITWeb, the daily Web-based IT newspaper (www.itweb.co.za).
"The route will take us to some areas of outstanding natural beauty and we`ll be taking plenty of photographs and video on our digital equipment. We`ve planned it so that we only spend about three hours flying each day to give us time to meet the local people and see a bit of the area," says De Clippel, who is an electronics components trader based in Cape Town.
The Beechcraft will consume more than 2 000 litres of fuel on the flight. It is carrying as many spare parts as it can, including spare wheels, tyres, plugs, and vital engine parts, worth in excess of R34 000. Two maintenance checks on route will cost a further R20 000, with radio and communication equipment adding another R38 000.
Is it all worth it?
"We`ve both dreamt about doing this for so long that it`s worth every cent and all the time we`ve put into it. It`s a once in a lifetime experience that we`re going to relive a million times," says Heuninck.
Itinerary:
September 11 - Depart Grimbergen (Belgium) to Reus (Spain?) - 3hrs 58mins - 1138kms
September 12 - Reus to Rabat (Morocco) 3:59 - 1143kms
September 13 - Rabat to Laayoune (Western Sahara) 3:44 - 1071kms
September 14 - Laayoune to Nouadhibou to St Louis (Mauritania) 4:38 - 1330kms
September 15 - St Louis to Dakar (Gambia) 0:38 - 182kms
September 18 - Dakar to Bamako (Mali) 3:42 - 1062kms
September 19 - Bamako to Lome (Ghana) 4:17 - 1220kms
September 20 - Lome (rest day)
September 21 - Lome to Libreville (Gabon) 3:50 - 1098kms
September 22 - Libreville (rest day)
September 23 - Libreville to Luanda (Angola) 4:01 - 1153kms
September 24 - Luanda to Walvis Bay (Namibia) 5:47 - 1660kms
September 26 - Walvis Bay to Cape Town 4.26 - 1272kms
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