Maui Jim at Wild Africa Motoraid

Wild Africa Motoraid, the adventurous humanitarian mission in Ethiopia by the Marco Polo Team of Michele Orlando, Carlo Mascarin, Marco Denicolò and Paolo Zancan, sponsored by Maui Jim, came to a successful conclusion.

In the new BMW F800GS, supplied and equipped by BMW Motorrad Italia with the technical support of Metzeler and the BMW Motorsport Group dealership, in this country in the Horn of Africa the four drivers covered over 5,000 km, at least 4,000 of which were off-road. The mysterious and legendary locations they went to included the Blue Nile falls, Lake Tana, said to have been the location of the Ark of the Covenant, Gondar, Lalibela and the remote territories of the Rift Valley on the border with Kenya in the south, inhabited by tribes that still live in primitive conditions.

The tracks and the climate in Ethiopia were a tough test for the drivers and the cars, with temperatures ranging from 3˚C in the Sanetti Plateau, a pass at an altitude of almost 4,500 meters, to almost 40˚C in the Omo Valley, one of the last African territories to be explored by the Italian expedition led by Vittorio Bottego. The routes were frequently daunting and at times turned to mud by the last downpours of the rainy season, or else they were tricky tracks of dirt, sand or stones. There were also numerous fords that were crossed with some difficulty.

But the team was rewarded by the sight of extraordinary animals, landscapes, peoples, places and situations and, above all, by being able to give the hospital at Wolisso, which is supported by Doctors with Africa Cuamm, tangible help that allowed it to pay for all the medical and hospital costs for one bed for a year.

The extraordinary filming of the Motoraid will also be used to make a 12-episode report scheduled to be televised at year end on Sky's Mototv channel.