Wanderlust Group
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has commended Wanderlust Ghana, a group of philanthropists and tourism enthusiasts that has completed a road trip from Accra to London, for their remarkable spirit as well as raising the flag of Ghana high and making Ghanaians proud.
“You have lifted the spirit of people all across the country that difficult things can be done with the right focus, and many Ghanaians are extremely excited about this,” the Information Minister eulogised the expedition team.
According to the Information Minister, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom was expected to host the team on its arrival in London.
The High Commission, he added, would also amplify the feat of the team, as part of efforts to showcase Ghana as a tourism destination of choice in the West African sub-region.
Trip
The team arrived in London yesterday, after a tiring journey of reportedly 10,000 kilometres.
The squad of 12 men and one woman reportedly set out on Sunday, July 23, 2023, from Accra through Aburi to Nsawam, Kumasi, and Sunyani to Dormaa and then via Golokrom to Cote d’Ivoire. But one person dropped off in Senegal because of work related reasons and two others also dropped off in Morocco.
The participants were Richard Anim, Kwadwo Saka, Kwame Peprah, Kofi Peprah, Kwadwo Prakah-Asante, Franklin Peters and his son Quincy, Joseph, Cyprian Ed, Kwabena Ayirebi and his brother Kojo and the only female in the pack, Nana Afua Serwaa, also known as “Shecanic”. She is an auto repair technician on a mission to master the mechanics of automobiles across diverse terrains and climates.
Epic journey
Reports revealed that on Friday, August 4, 2023, they were at the outskirts of Monaco in Europe, and were about to enter France, having moved through five African countries, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco and entered Europe by a ferry on the Mediterranean to Algeciras in Spain, before driving to Barcelona via Valencia.
They used five different Ghanaian registered vehicles, a Mercedez Benz G-Wagon, two Toyota Landcruisers (V8), Lexus RX 350 and a Ford F150, Raptor.
On a daily basis, each of the vehicles they used consumed about 250 litres of fuel. Averagely, they did about 800km to 900km in a day. They have shared videos on social media moving through the desert and how some of the vehicles – Toyota – had their brake pads changed many times while the others still moved without any brake pads changed.
Ghana Card
While in Spain, the team, in a radio interview on Accra-based Peace FM, shared its motivation for embarking on the extraordinary journey.
Kwabena Peprah explained that all they needed was their Ghana Card (ECOWAS card) which they used to travel through West African countries until their entry into Mauritania where they had to pay to get visa on arrival. It is 60 Euros but they had to pay 120 Euros due to what they termed as extortion by security officers.
They entered Morocco from Mauritania with visa on arrival at US$10, and entered Europe through Spain via the Mediterranean with Shengen visas, and then headed towards London with their UK visas.
The expedition is also being used to raise funds for rural primary schools in Ghana, according to Kwabena Peprah.
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