A1 World Explorer South America 2 Report

4 x 4 WORLD EXPLORER – SOUTH AMERICA 2

Tapirs are interesting-looking animals found uniquely in both Malaysia and South America. The South America 2 expedition by 4x4 World Explorer Snd Bhd uniquely brought interested Malaysians to explore South America!

The World Explorer – South America 2 is the second part of a series of 4x4 expeditions attempting to circumnavigate the world in 4x4 vehicles suitably modified for differing terrain conditions with long-range fuel tank capabilities. Starting with South America 1 in 2006 we visited Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Chile.

The recent South America 2 expedition began in Lima, the capital of Peru where our vehicles arrived by ship from Port Klang, Malaysia. As it turned out, APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) was on at that same time, attended by a strong political presence from Malaysia. This resulted in us being formally invited to attend Malaysian-hosted functions, which also included a flag off from Lima by the Malaysia Ambassador and the Mayor of Lima on 28th November 2008.

From there we headed north along the Pan Americana Highway hugging the coast of the Pacific Ocean passing mainly desert and arid terrain to Ecuador, which turned into a contrasting green haven with fascinating people, if some what shorter in height, and found ourselves winding up the Andean range mountain roads.

Travelling Northwards, after donating medical supplies from Malaysia to a village school near Otavalo (along with kilos of Christmas sweet treats for the children), we then entered the unexpected gem of a country, Columbia which resulted in us traversing the Andean range which forked into three veins, a thrilling drive giving us jungle terrain to snow-capped, active volcanic surroundings which at 4300m above sea level was breathtaking in more ways than one! From there we navigated our way down into the lowlands via the capital Bogotá, home of the famous Gold Museum which contains some of the most beautiful and largest collections of South American gold artifacts and treasures of old. The lowlands then led us into Venezuela with a chaotic border crossing resulting in an immigration, traffic and vehicle inspection experience never to be forgotten! Once finally in Venezuela we were happy and equally amazed to discover that it was cheaper to fill up a 100 litre tank of fuel than to buy a US$2 bottle of water.

After reaching the capital, Caracas, we headed westwards back into Columbia hugging the Caribbean coast, which led us to Cartagena a magical city with great historical significance for the South Americas. This is where our 35 day expedition ended and a few days resting ourselves gave us time to digest the amazing expedition that provided an invaluable insight into this vast, ancient and progressive continent. Our vehicles are now stored there and we are in preparation for part 3 of our next adventure to Central America which will be the first time to this region in our 15 year history of organising expeditions.

Central America, commencing end of April to mid June 2009, will visit the countries of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and ending at Los Angeles in USA.

Part 4 of World Explorer will start from Los Angeles in October 2009, heading eastwards along the southern states towards New York City and then northwards crossing into Toronto, Canada ending around mid November 2009.

The final part of the World Explorer Americas Series will begin from Toronto and head to Vancouver in April 2010 then going northwards through beautiful British Columbia to Yukon and Alaska (USA), before returning along the Pacific Coast to USA, Washington State, Oregon and California to end this expedition in San Francisco.

From the United States, the expedition vehicles will be shipped across the Pacific Ocean to Tianjin, Northern China to continue into Russia heading towards Europe, Africa and Asia before returning after a 3 year programme back to Malaysia. An adventurous undertaking for people with adventurous spirits.

For those like-minded adventurous spirited people interested in any of our future expeditions then please contact us at:
4 x 4 World Explorer, 242-C Jalan Ampang 50450, Kuala Lumpur. Tel +603 4251 2423 Email linus@4x4we.com or visit www.4x4WorldExplorer.com