Erik van der Rijt, 31, and Tijn van den Berg, 37, from Geffen are travelling by motorcycle from the Netherlands to South Africa. They left in early September and are currently making their way through Sierra Leone, after crossing Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea. They expect to reach South Africa in February, following a route of more than 11,000 kilometres.

The journey has included mountain tracks, muddy roads, camping, a fall in the dunes and mechanical breakdowns. Soldiers have reportedly helped them out of the mud once. The pair say they expect that they could become ill or be robbed, but are not panicking and stay in contact with other travellers for information. They also described being surrounded by hundreds of children in one village. Their next destination is reportedly Sierra Leone’s Bo district, and they hope to continue on to Namibia to see wildlife.