In November 2013, Florian Keller left Nairobi in a 1997 Toyota Landcruiser dubbed “Pele”. His destination – Rio de Janeiro and the 2014 Football World Cup. 199 days and 42,000 km later, he crossed the border from Bolivia to Brazil, three days before the opening match of the World Cup.
The journey took him through 26 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Heading north from Kenya, he crossed the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti to Oman, drove onwards to Dubai and crossed the Persion Gulf to Southern Iran from where he headed east through Central Asia and Mongolia and then across Siberia. After reaching the Pacific Ocean at Vladivostok, he shipped the car to Japan and onwards to Los Angeles for the second part of the journey – through Mexico and Central America and along the Andes to Brazil.
The August slide show will cover the first part of the journey from Nairobi to the Pacific Ocean. En route, Florian and his travel companions explored the Silk Route, battled with Siberian winter temperatures of below -45°C, skied in Iran, Central Asia and Russia, snowboarded on frozen Lake Baikal being pulled by their faithful expedition vehicle “Pele” and in a scary moment broke through the ice of the frozen Amur River.
Part II in September!