"Adventure
and romance still call from the past 'The Colorado African Expedition 2007 - a 21st Century Trans Africa Crossing' will be a member oriented expedition, with an active multi-cultural team from points around the globe. While presenting the historical significance of Mr. Paul Louis Hoefler's 20th century journey, our team's 21st century goals will also bring global awareness to issues that arrive at a time when we must all collectively realize that together we are charged with the responsibility of protecting the environment, the culture and the people of the African continent.
Since Paul Louis Hoefler made the first epic journey crossing Africa in truck in 1928-1929, adventurers from around the globe have been drawn to the African continent. The majority of those that have followed have concentrated on the route from Cairo to Capetown as well as the Trans-Sahara route. To my knowledge and research few if any have followed Hoelfer's trail. The main reason why most have shied away from the Mombasa to Lagos route are the dangers that lie in wait within the territorial boundaries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire, and the Central Africa Republic. Our expedition will follow as close as possible the exact route of Mr. Hoefler's 1928-29 Colorado African Expedition. We will use as a guide the 'chapter by chapter' text of Mr. Hoefler's classic adventure tale, 'Africa Speaks - A Story of Adventure'. The popular documentary 'Africa Speaks' was filmed and produced by legendary filmmaker Walter Futter. To cross most of Africa Mr. Hoefler utilized the guiding services provided by Cottars Safari Service, the oldest registered safari outfitter on the African continent. Mr. Don Ker, co-founder of Ker & Downey Safaris, one of the two oldest safari companies in Africa, was also a part of the original team. The legendary radio correspondent Mr. Lowell Thomas narrated 'Africa Speaks'. Mr. Hoefler was the on-screen actor and also did much of the filming. Mr. Hoefler later wrote the best selling book detailing the actual expedition entitled, 'Africa Speaks - A Story of Adventure' that was published in 1931 by The John C. Winston Company. Although our expedition will rely partly upon the footage within the documentary that represents the first 'talkie' about Africa that was released in 1935, we will primarily focus upon the book that Mr. Hoefler wrote. For the book is written in the context of the actual journey from east to west, whereas the movie reverses the route to follow a west to east trail. The reason that the movie version of 'Africa Speaks' was flipped from the east to west reality of the journey, well Hoefler was a moviemaker before he became an adventurer and so he understood the importance of building the story throughout the length of the movie. Because of the abundant wildlife that was concentrated in Central and East Africa during the late 1920's, the explorer and hunter decided the documentary had to take the moviegoer to a cinematic climax, hence the west to east approach. In my research I have been fortunate that the archives at both the Royal Geographical Society in London (with the IBG) as well as at The Explorer's Club in New York City have been accessible. Both Mr. Hoelfer and I, though separated by three quarters of a century, are both fellows with the RGS and members of The Explorer's Club. This thread alone is reason enough to retrace the journey, for the historical significance and importance of Mr. Hoefler's journey and route should be realized. We have also uncovered a written letter to The Brown Palace Hotel in Denver Colorado written by Mr. Hoefler's now deceased daughter. Following the trans Africa expedition of 1928-29, the Hoeflers lived at The Brown Palace for three years. The preface of 'Africa Speaks - A Story of Adventure' notes that Mr. Hoefler's was writing from The Brown Palace Hotel. Finally, we have chosen to make our Africa crossing during the months
from January through March based upon the weather patterns within the
African nations that we will travel through.
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