Portugal
Spain
France
Germany
Poland
Slovakia
Hungary
Romania
Bulgaria
Turkey
Iran
Pakistan
India
Nepal
Tibet
China
Then a flight ...
The Philippines

Morocco
West Africa

Great Modern Travelers: Manon Ossevoort

Girl on a tractor, tractor

Manon Ossevoort at 28 has worked in the theatre as an actress, a dancer, and a theatre maker. In the summer of 2005 she began the biggest performance of her life with a co-star tractor on an overland trip from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, South-Africa, Cape of Good Hope, South pole.

Along the way she is collecting the dreams of people written down on little pieces of paper. Once in the South Pole she will build a big snowman and put the 'dreams of the world' in it's belly. Well if that's not a bit of creativity, I don't know what is. But tractors and snowmen aside this is the story of a dream of courage, humanitarianism and quite simply humor that will span the whole of Africa.

Having lived in Africa for a number of year myself I can just imagine the look on a remote villagers face to see Manon coming down a dirt road. The same goes for city folks, though I imagine a lot more noise there. It would never cease to bring a smile. This sort of thing brings us closer as people. We all have sense of humor, and appreciation for courage. No matter where we are in the world there are always good people that will join in to help us, laugh with us and give us support. Those that have not seen that in their travels need to get out more!

Manon's website is quite nice. There are some incredible surreal images of the tractor and her in the middle of nowhere and worth the visit for just that. Here's her website - Tractor Tractor (clicking here will open up the site)

Update: Manon arrives safely into South Africa and the Cape. She's nearly there.