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Modern Nomads: The Mongol Rally
By Sam Keam

sam and luke

A very unique twist on a very new type of travel/tourism. In a world with an ever-expanding range of options for the career-break, ecotourism and ethical travel sectors enters the bijou mini-adventure. A concept so sketchily conceived that it's guaranteed to arouse one of two emotions in people - jealousy or pity. Whilst it is definitely not the Dakar, The Mongol Rally does have some strong ground on which to lay claim to being the 'Mother of all Adventures'.

There is no support.
There is no predefined route, you are encouraged to mix it up, why not pop into Iran or maybe Cross the Tien Shan in Kyrgyzstan on the way?
You have to drive a small, old, rubbish car powered by an engine of no more than one litre.
You have to cross countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and there happen to be 5000m high mountains and no tarmac roads in such places.
You have to raise at least £1000 pounds for Save the Children and Send a Cow

Whilst wandering between insightful internships and part-time jobs in London, a friend invited me to join the rally before subsequently pulling out for a delightful eco-monitoring trip to Costa Rica (I let her off as it was part of her PhD).

It all looked very bleak, but after pondering a solution over a few drinks with my friend Luke I had it! Rather than give up and have a chilled summer break before my Masters began, I would firstly teach Luke to drive, then, having secured various visas and provisions we would set off on the greatest adventure in the world! Perfect. I had learnt lesson one of the rally - solve the problem no matter what and worry about the consequences later.

Various other crash courses (sorry!) in Russian, car mechanics, international diplomacy, insect evasion, oncoming lorry evasion and of course vodka drinking ensued, often having to be learnt the hard way - through plenty of mistakes.

What the rally did for me:

sam's panda car

I have definitely improved my ability to tackle problems positively and plan ahead to avoid them. It also provided a huge amount of personal insight into, and first hand experience of topics that I am fascinated about. The history of the soviet empire and the impacts it had on the people and environments of Central Asia was a real eye-opener. Whether is was forcing nomads to live in concrete blocks or tearing apart ecosystems and irrigating vast swathes of deserts, which now lie as dusty, toxic, windswept wastelands; the ramifications were all around us throughout the journey.

From my perspective as a geography boffin it was interesting to see how independence from Russia had altered the cultural, economic and political landscapes of the countries we passed through. As they embark on different paths of development, nonsensical borders drawn by Stalin are solidifying and tensions are rising as formerly insignificant lines cut across national and ethical groups now ruled by separate regimes.

The flip side of the new independence is that the route we took just wasn't possible until about ten years ago, a fact that sinks in once the tenth person has greeted you as 'Turist' with a strangely curious look and broad smile of gold teeth.

Lastly I learnt just how small the world is, you can get a third of the way round it on 25 tanks of a Fiat Panda!

Career Breakers take note:

A large number of ralliers were taking career breaks, some used the rally as a way of generating media coverage and an alternative CV to help them move into new careers in travel, publishing and journalism. Ventures like these require a substantial input of time and money, ideally a couple of months of free time to prepare for a big trip would be ideal, this is rarely feasible so start early, people missed the start line due to visa delays. Fundraising isn't hard, people will often give money to trips/projects that are a bit far out and unusual. Think BIG! If you're interested in an area (such as photography) plan to maximise your ability to develop personal skills along the way. We took 1000 digital images and a similar number of slides; this had to be budgeted for but was central to utilising the trip for personal development.

Lastly, think about how you might want to communicate your experiences with friends, family and sponsors. We set up a blog via www.blogger.com and found that it was immensely useful both in the run-up to the event and along the way for keeping everyone posted.

www.mongolrally.co.uk
www.myblackboxrocks.blogspot.com
(this is an archive of our blog of the rally)

Email sam.keam@green.ox.ac.uk for more information.

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