When I was in Namibia Julie Havercroft contacted me from Nzira Magaine and some months later the magazine published the article.  Nzira means road in the local Shona language. Below is an image of the article. 

A Recurring question is what would I consider to be some of the most essential items I took with me on my journey and I will give you my top picks, in no specific order. A keyring penknife . I was given this gift by my nephew and it served me well. Not only was it a penknife, with the added benefit of bottle opener, screw driver (flat and star) but it most usefully had a small button which switched on a tiny LED light. That light was so incredibly useful, being on the keyring it was always with me...

It was an early morning start to get to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation studio for a brief interview with Merelin Ngwenya the host for Good Morning Zimbabwe coming out of Bulawayo. Regret the video was taken with a direction switch.      

I was pleased to be interviewed by traveller Heather Markel who also interviews other travellers and their journey's.  Below is the interview   Heather Markel and Dot Bekker discuss the value of leaving stability - especially when what's keeping you stable is also keeping you tethered to unhappiness and stuff. There are some excellent insights in this interview, especially for those of you on the fence about leaving stability. You'll want to listen to this one! Dot Bekker heads up a great girl's education charity, Kusasa. You can learn more about it at www.kusasa.africa and on Facebook at @kusasa.africa Dot...

I had an amazing interview with Joe Mars of Capitalk Radio 100.4FM.  Joe also visited with BlueBelle and I for a cup of coffee. The podcast of the interview is below: https://soundcloud.com/capitalk-fm/dot-bekker-travels   The Facebook video of Joe's visit for coffee, link is below: https://www.facebook.com/goinghometoafrica/videos/784820851968052/  

There is very little that can prepare you for the roads of Africa if you are overlanding, I’ve met seasoned overlanders who have been unpleasantly surprised and challenged by the roads I encountered. My best advice is … be prepared for anything and everything. Alongside that I would add that I would highly recommend you don’t attempt overlanding in some parts of Africa in the wet season, unless you are into mud and digging and probably a bit of a masochist. I opted for a 2WD vehicle because I couldn’t afford a 4x4 and I had the firm belief that...

It was a great pleasure to be able to join Mark Philpott ont he Global Podcast Travel and discuss my journey with him.  Find the link to the Podcast below ... and many other great travel stories.   https://www.globaltravelchannel.com/home/episode/dd11d048/barcelona-to-zimbabwe-by-van-with-dot-bekker   Global Travel Channel Podcast Show   -    9/17/2019 Walking out on a broken marriage and with little money Dot Bekker was closing in on age 60. She decided to challenge herself, a van and the African continent. What happened next was extraordinary. Driving solo for 20'000kms she ventured into territories and country's where not so long ago wars were raging....

Jessica Bauldry of Delano once again interviewed me after the completion of my journey to Zimbabwe.   See the article online on the Delano website. https://delano.lu/d/detail/news/one-womans-journey-give-women-africa-keys-their-future/207569  

I've been asked frequently about my safety, as a woman, during my journey through Africa and people are usually surprised at how few problems I had.  To be honest I was never mugged or attacked, I fell prey to a switch and bait but other than that I never feared for my safety.  Perhaps it was luck, perhaps I did the right things. I have to say that I didn't go into Africa with a Pollyanna approach, I took lots of precautions, most of them small but they all added to my safety and personal confidence.  I believe that personal...

I was approached by Nathalie Baker who found my story inspirational and wanted to use it to enter into a short film competition.  She joined me for 3 days on the road when she filmed away as we drove through some beautiful areas of Morocco.  This is the film entry.   It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years. And with her 60th birthday fast approaching, Dot decides to live out the adventure of her dreams - a solo 20,000 km journey across Africa in a van she built herself. Is life over at 60?...

I had met Jessica Bauldry when she interviewed me on the phone for an article which she published in the Luxembourg magazine Delano.   She had been inspired by what I was aiming to do and wanted to take a different angle by interviewing me for her personal podcast.   I was, at the time, already in Barcelona and working on BlueBelle when she did the interview.  Technology enabling me to be sitting in the back of the van in the street in Barcelona while she was in Luxembourg.   Follow the link to hear the podcast  Many of may know her...

In the summer of 2018 I spent several months in Solsona, Catalonia in Spain and was welcomed by the local community and made some life-long friends.  To me it was the first time in Europe that I felt at home.  Despite not speaking the language Catalan (a mixture of French and Spanish), or Spanish, yet whether they understood me or not they made me welcome and it remains a memorable time.   The people also embraced me by helping me raise funds for Kusasa and the local Language school (EOI Manresa and Solsona) remains a loyal supporter of our girls. Celsona...

At some stage once the structure of the internal build was done things started to move on at a better pace, or perhaps it was just that my muscles were better attuned and I was better skilled. There was the seating area, finishing the internal structure of the kitchen cabinet, installing the sink and water bottles, the secure storage areas and not to exclude the book shelves. Slowly I added some colour with plastic sticker tiles, my Africa map, the quotes and sayings that I like to have around, curtains were cut and sewn, cushion covers made and suddenly it...

Returning to Luxembourg was necessary to settle personal matters and put into play the registration for the non-profit I wanted to start for girl’s education as well as picking up the 35 boxes, chair, table and carpet I had left in storage in my friend’s garage. My intention to return to Africa is a one-way direction and without a location or destination at present in Zimbabwe it means that I have to either pay storage for my goods while I am away for an indeterminate period of time or reduce to a size where I can impose my things on...

This was one of my first interviews, below is the link to the article and the text is below. The Heroine's Journey What is the best thing that I love about my work? My work for over a decade has been working with Entrepreneurs which I truly love. Entrepreneurship brings people such a feeling of independence and freedom. However, right now I am working on returning home to my country of birth, Zimbabwe. I am planning to drive home, through 20+ countries and 20000km, on my own. At the same time I plan to raise funds to help promising young...

My first interview was with Delano Magazine in Luxembourg.  They had got to know me in my term as President of The Network, a women's organisation in Luxembourg.   Read the full article on their website  https://delano.lu/d/category/dot-bekker/85064  

You've met BlueBelle, now it's the serious work of getting her ready to go.  I'm still a long way off setting out, especially because I still need to earn/raise a large sum of money to cover the costs of the journey.  But I've always believed that in order to get success you have to at least be on the path heading toward it.  Thus, I continue with 'the plan' despite not quite knowing if I can manifest it. First thing was to clean out the van and try to rid it of the disgusting smell of oil.  I think they...

Finally, here is an introduction to BlueBelle my new friend with whom I intend to drive home to Zimbabwe ... InShaAllah (god willing) as they say in Arabic. As per my last blog here are the details of the van, whom I have affectionately called BlueBelle. MAKE:       Ford MODEL:     Transit 190 LWB YEAR:        1998 ENGINE:     2496cc - Diesel (Heavy Oil) She started out life working for a church as a disability and community vehicle and at some time she was a general runabout van for someone who didn't really look after her.  She came to me from a dealer East...

Finding the right vehicle has been a true challenge.  My earlier specifications were quite specific but getting all of those to fit into my within my budget meant that instead of a sparkling unicorn I probably settled for a very solid donkey, not too pretty but should do the job just as well. I've come to realise that not having paid any attention to vehicles, but for the basics, has been a disadvantage, however, I've done a lot of work to understand and learn more, hence I came up with the list that I published earlier.  I'm really grateful to...

In 2008 Monty (so called as he was a Ford Tioga Montego) was to be my new home for a while, at least on a journey around Europe to see some of the places never yet seen.  In hindsite he was too big but at the time it seemed a reasonable space to live in for 2 people and 2 dogs.  Monty, as I said was a Ford Tioga Montego RV.  He (he because he was a beast and not in the least bit she) had a V8 engine running on either Petrol or LPG and had long range tanks...