ALL IS WELL THAT ENDS WELL

With its arrival in Rome after travelling over 50,000 kilometres through 30 different countries the Overland 12 expedition that led to the Iveco vehicles making the exploration of the boundless African continent, officially ends. It was a long and difficult path, full of pitfalls, which combined the charm of adventure with humanitarian objectives. The fleet of vehicles, in the classic orange livery that made them famous, the new Iveco off-road range and two of the legendary "bonneted" 330.30 ANW 6x6 vehicles, specially refurbished after so many years and many expeditions.

A route that led vehicles and participants to travel across the continent to South Africa and then back, crossing Central Africa and Egypt before concluding the trip in Rome. A fascinating and ambitious itinerary for both parts of the trip, both the roughness of many road sections, as well as geographical barriers encountered along the way, in complex areas from the point of view of the environment, safety and logistics, but certainly for the rich variety of people, landscapes and wildlife.

The difficulties of African routes through deserts, savannahs and forests, were added to those derived from the early arrival of the rainy season that has sorely tested the reliability and robustness of the vehicles, so that the twelfth edition of Overland is to be considered as the most challenging adventure by far, but one even more fascinating than all the others. Travelling across countries with no political stability, territories with poor or no viability, and regions where armed conflicts have left war debris like mines are the main concerns on the itinerary.

 It will be impossible to forget for expedition members when a Kalashnikov rifle was aimed at him in Ghana. After passing the Ivory Coast border, the caravan was apprehended and the team stopped. Under the threat of weapons, the entire crew and vehicles became hostage to a group of rebels. Only after release negotiations by expedition leader Beppe Tenti, which took until the following day to agree, did the Overland 12 mission continue its march onwards. The expedition team encountered a frightening moment again, when close to the Cameroon state frontier, the convoy was been forced to quickly change direction to avoid riots between government forces and rebels.

But Overland has always been very conscious of the humanitarian aspect and in this expedition has therefore tried, wherever possible, to help the people it met on the journey. To this end, a specially equipped version of the Iveco Daily was dedicated to an alternating shift of four doctors from the resuscitation and first aid department at the University of Parma, who have collected statistical data and brought new knowledge through advanced techniques of telemedicine. In this way it was possible  to provide help to the many medical outposts passed during the expedition but above all to help with promoting maternal and child health care and prevention of some of the major diseases afflicting the African continent.