Described as adventurers, brave and extreme junkies, the Nitty Gritty Nomads are a band of four motorcycling, adventurous, young, Africa enthusiasts from Krugersdorp.
Two years ago, they decided to go find and explore the secrets of Africa. They paid off all their debt and sold everything to make the adventure possible. They will be exploring archaeological sites, cultural culinary secrets, local traditions, and reaching out to and educating local communities,with a focus on the pressures on heritage preservation and human encroachment on the environment.
On 1 April, they will be leaving on their year-long mission. They will be travelling through South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and back, making a detour on board ship to Madagascar on their way home.
They are determined to find the roads less travelled, interact with people from diverse cultures, discover and visit their archaeological sites, and uncover their culinary secrets. They are planning to hold meetings in local communities where they will teach the youth about the importance of their wildlife and heritage as well as the current rate of poaching and the impact it is having on the larger mammal species.
“You have one life, why not live it?” asked Istene Rousseau.
The Crew:
• Trent “Barefoot” Seiler, an African archaeologist who is the founder, writer, editor and adventurer of the Nitty Gritty Nomads. He is about to embark across Africa on a motorcycle, discovering ancient sites.
• Istene Rousseau is a pilot, rock climber, beard enthusiast, writer and aspiring chef for the Nitty Gritty Nomads. She has bungee-jumped, sky-dived and quit her job in aviation to embark on this year-long motorcycle adventure through Africa.
• Tom Ulysses Da Silva, who is from Australia. His passions are photography, adventuring and exploring, fire twirling, skateboarding, and tree/ rock climbing. He has experience as a field guide in the Limpopo and has done anti-poaching work, focusing on rhinos.
• Mike Watson, who is the Mister Fix-it of the crew. His real love for Africa began in 2011 when he successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Since then he has been up close and personal with the gorillas in Uganda, gone white-water rafting at the source of the Nile, fished in Botswana and laid on the white beaches of Mozambique.
“Everything I have done during the past two years leads to this adventure,” said Trent Seiler.
What the crew is most excited about:
• Meeting new people
• Eating all kinds of food
• Growing as a person
• Soul-searching
The crew wants to inspire people to make daring choices, to be bold and to do something that they have never done before. They also want the community to follow their journey on their Facebook page via TheNittyGrittyNomads and their website here. The News will do an update after the expedition.
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