The 2013 Put Foot Rally is imminent! To be honest, it’s come around so fast it feels like the 2012 rally was just the other day, which is great because it was the experience of a lifetime (and I don’t use that term loosely). Last year I was on board as rally photographer / blogger / social media wrangler and this year I’ll be on the rally again, albeit in a slightly different guise.
This year I’ll be joining the 2013 rally as one of its ambassadors as well as representing Getaway, who will be the media partner to the rally for the third year running. I will, however, not be relinquishing photo duties simply because there is just too much awesome out there not too point a lens at. If you missed all the action from last year, you can see all the Put Foot Rally highlights on the Getaway Blog here.
Put Foot Rally 2013
For me, last year’s rally was about getting out there and testing the notion that Africa is accesible to everyone and less frightening to travel through than many people think. It was. It still is. And the more we just get out and visit, what is in my opinion some of Africa’s top destinations, the better. For everyone.
This year, the route will take drivers through five different countries, starting in Cape Town and heading on to Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique before making it’s way back to South Africa. You can check out the route’ish in more detail on the Put Foot Rally website.
As with last year’s rally, it’s not a race. It’s all about having fun and discovering new things for the 50+ crews departing from Camps Bay in the wee hours of the morning of 18 June. As Rally Chief, Daryn Hilhouse puts it:
‘The Put Foot Rally is for those who see themselves as explorers, unafraid to chart the uncharted, unfazed by running out of petrol or losing a tyre … in the middle of a pack of lions or herd of elephants. This adventure is for those who listen to the Garmin and Tom-Tom girls for their sexy voices and for those who laugh in the face of a two-minute noodle diet. If you are that person, the passionate adventurer who takes life as it comes, then this is for you chaarna!!’
Well said, boet. This year the rally will once again (and has already been) raising funds for the Put Foot Foundation. The charity aims to raise funds for a minimum of 600 pairs of shoes and to give Put Foot Rally participants the opportunity to see and feel ‘first-hand’ the life-changing experience that gifting a brand new pair of school shoes to a young underprivileged child can bring. Visit the Put Foot Rally Charity page to see how you can be a part of it.
National Barefoot Day
To bring the goal of the Put Foot Foundation home, on 18 June (the day the rally gets underway) the Put Foot Foundation calls on all South Africans to go barefoot for a day. Be a part of it, take off your shoes and stretch out those toes. My toes are gonna get icy and without shoes on I could easily get lost under an kitchen table (being a hobbit and all), but I’m still going to do it. Why don’t you?
All that’s left now is to get out there!
Follow the rally on Twitter: @PutFootRally and @MikeSharman and myself @TysonJopson. Find the Put Foot Rally on Facebook, visit www.putfootrally.com and stay tuned to the Getaway Blog for daily news, photos and updates form the rally as we make our way through five countries, covering 8 000 kilometres in 18 days on Put Foot Rally 2013.
