On January 13, 2018, Canadian Ray Zahab and Italian Stefano Gregoretti ran the length of Namibia, crossing the Namib Desert for approximately 1,800km, heading north from the South African border towards the Angolan border.
The Namib extends over 2,000km (1,200miles) across Namibia, from the Angolan border in the north, to the South African border in the south. Considered one of the oldest and driest deserts on Earth, the Namib is almost completely uninhabited by humans…yet African Desert Elephants, Mountain Zebras, and antelope are just a few of the wildlife that populate this incredibly diverse region of Africa. Legendarily treacherous, the Namibia Desert has claimed many ships through the ages along its fabled Skeleton Coast. Some of these wrecked ships can be found as much as 50 metres inland, as the desert slowly moves westwards into the sea, reclaiming land over a period of many years. The people that do call the Namib home have amazing stories to tell, and the team will share them.
The Trans Namibia Expedition was a mix of minimally supported and unsupported sections where Stefano and Ray relied on the gear and equipment that they brought with them to complete each day of the expedition. The adventurers saved huge distances from their original route by navigating cross country whenever possible.
An experienced crew shot film and photograph of the expedition, uploading content daily, with the primary goal being to bring the expedition into classrooms, and classrooms onto the expedition through daily satellite connection.
On February 13, 2018 Ray posted on Instagram: “Done!!!!! Today Stefano and I completed our Trans Namibia Expedition!!!! For the past month and close to 2,000km (exact gps data to come), we have ran, trekked and navigated our way across the Namib Desert… from south to north across Namibia! The best part of our last day was that we visited a school in Etoto and shared photos and stories with students and teachers from our Namibian adventure, and from Canadian Arctic adventures as well!”
