'Next year I'm going to be 80 years old. My car will be 20 years old.
Together we'll be 100. We're going to drive to Cairo.'
'And what route are you going to take?'
'I have no idea. I think I'll keep to the right.'
When 80-year-old Julia Albu calls in to her favourite radio show with a
zany, half-baked idea, she has no idea that it will lead her to the
adventure of a lifetime.
From helping push a 30-year-old Toyota bakkie up a precipitous mountain
pass in Malawi to being 'adopted' by the riotous ex-pat South African
community in Dar es Salaam and being fed mildly hallucinogenic 'herbs'
by her Ethiopian driver-guide, nothing deterred 80-year-old Julia
Albu from her quest to drive through Africa from the Cape to Cairo.
She and her 20-year-old Toyota Conquest, Tracy - a personality in her
own right - travelled through 10 African countries, from South Africa to
Egypt (and beyond). Julia was accompanied by a series of companions who
added texture to her travels: three of her four grown-up children, her
son-in-law, and at least one person who began as a complete stranger and
ended up as a friend for life.
Reminiscing about her long and interesting life along the way, and
maintaining a bright and upbeat outlook regardless of the circumstances,
Julia proves that you're never too old to tackle that buck
