Wally’s Cape Town to Cairo caravan

In 1959 Wally Byam and a group of Airstream owners travelled across the continent of Africa in their Airstream trailers. I found a video on YouTube made of that historic trip, as well as a website for a group that intends to retrace the original route: Cape Town to Cairo. From the website:

“Wally Byam’s Airstream travel trailer has been an American icon of design and product integrity as well as a symbol of a carefree, adventurous way of life since 1931. To this day, Airstream Caravanners travel the world, making friends with people from all walks of life.

The year 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of Wally Byam’s Cape Town to Cairo African Caravan Adventure. This historical event was an overland, 221-day, 14,307-mile journey embarked upon by 106 Caravanners in 41 Airstream travel trailers. This anniversary provides the motivation to rediscover Africa as a Caravan destination. We want to tackle the challenge that is Africa, once again embracing the humanity and participating in the community that Wally Byam endorsed in his life and in his book, Trailer Travel Here and Abroad….”

Here is a link to the video:

I have just realized how easy we sometimes have it today with our modern roads and full hookups.