We are Bill and Rosemary from Ashford in Kent beginning our journey on 23/9/05 to start our adventure to Africa. This is something that we have dreamed about for some years, hence the tiitle for our site - 'atlastafrica'.

Our vehicle is a 1995 110 300TDI Land Rover Defender called 'Moby', which has been carefully equipped for our trip.

We intend to travel down the West Coast to South Africa and then up the East Coast to Egypt and all the countries in between. From Egypt we will continue along the north coast of Africa through Libya and Tunisia before catching the ferry from Tunis to Genoa in Italy.

On our journey we will be spending some time in Malawi supporting the charity 'Starfish Malawi', who in just 12 months, have changed the lives of the children of Kaputu school in Salima, by raising funds to renovate and reconstruct an entire school. Please take time to visit their website www.starfish-malawi.org.uk to find out more about their work and future projects. There is a provision on the website for making a donation which goes direct to the charity and would be greatly appreciated.

A special thank you to our family, Debbie and Jonathan and Ben and Will for their support and great presents, all of which will be really useful.

Also, Les from Doddington garage, for last minute service preparations to Moby. Frogs Island 4x4 expedition and preparation centre, for some of the work to our vehicle. Dr Morey and Mr Brindle our local doctor and dentist, for preparing comprehensive medical kits. Mike Bates, Bill's clay pigeon shooting buddy, for giving a home to his guns and our old series 3 Land Rover whilst we are away. Ginette for last minute sewing, the trousers and skirt are great! The BMC Travel Clinic in Ashford, for their advice, our injections and sore arms. All our neighbours in Smeeth and other friends and family for their interest and best wishes.

Thank you also to all the staff, parents and children from Pluckley School in Kent, for their interest in our trip and support for Starfish Malawi.