Going Overland Transglobal Expedition

“Global Adventure / Local Exploration”

 

About the Going Overland Expedition

In June 2010 the Going Overland Transglobal Expedition began an attempt to complete a true circumnavigation of the world overland.  Requiring one continuous journey through both hemispheres and every line of longitude, the 66,000 mile expedition will travel through 46 countries, and into some of the most remote and unspoilt places on Earth.  Travelling in a Land Rover Defender, the expedition team will visit some of the most remote parts of the planet, explore life in distant places, and contrast them with life in the UK. 

The expedition is already bringing adventure and education together, acting as a giant ‘Virtual Field Trip’ for schools throughout the UK.  Two websites, one aimed at the 7 – 11 yrs age group, and the other for older followers of the expedition, are providing access to interactive learning opportunities direct from the expedition.  For pupils at KS 1&2 there are also additional resources in a special Teacher’s Resources section on the website.

As well as reporting what life is like in the various countries, the expedition is exploring important social and environmental issues in the places it visits in some detail, and bringing its discoveries directly into the classroom using video reportage, a photo diary, satellite tracking, and internet technologies.  In this way, pupils are able to closely follow, and share in, the expedition.

Teachers can use the resources provided with their pupils as a vehicle for learning about the planet, meeting the demands of the international element of the community cohesion curriculum, and to invigorate a wide range of subject areas.

More about the expedition

 The Scale and Duration

The expedition began in June 2010 and is due to return to the UK around March 2012.  During this time team members will be making an unbroken journey through four continents and both hemispheres.  En-route they will be highlighting and working in a broad range of newsworthy projects being run by our chosen charities, connecting with local communities and exploring local issues. 

The continuous nature of the expedition will mean that the team will encounter an extreme range of environmental and weather conditions, from the scorching dry heat of the low deserts, to the extreme humidity and oppressive temperatures of tropical rainforests, to the wild and freezing wastelands of the Arctic.  We will be reporting these environments as we find them, and using them as a rich source of still and video images.

The Expedition Route 

The Expedition began in the UK, travelling through Europe, Ukraine, Western Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, before shipping their vehicle from the old Russian Naval Port of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, across the northern Pacific Ocean to North America.

The team journeyed to the Arctic Circle in Alaska and back down through Canada, before being reunited with their vehicle in Seattle.  The team is now poised to continue their journey south through the Americas to Tierra del Fuego, before turning north through Patagonia and the plains of Argentina to Buenos Aires, from where it will ship to Cape Town.

Heading north through Africa, it will pass through western, south central and eastern African countries, before crossing the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia for a tour of the Middle East and Turkey.  The expedition will then ship across the Mediterranean to tackle the Libyan and Saharan deserts, entering Morocco from Algeria. A short ferry trip to Spain will then lead to the homeward leg through Portugal and France to the UK.

Important small print:  The expedition will be travelling through a variety of environments, some of them extremely challenging, which means the expedition’s success is inherently unpredictable. Whilst every effort will be made to complete the objectives of the expedition over the route planned, we are unable to guarantee this should the expedition be curtailed due to events or circumstances beyond our control.

The Expedition Vehicle – ‘Landy’

The expedition vehicle is a Land Rover Defender 110 Station Wagon, and has been specially prepared for simple expedition living.

The team have affectionately nicknamed the vehicle ‘Landy’, hence the ‘Landy’s Adventures’ website for primary age children.

The vehicle is equipped with roof tent for sleeping, additional facilities to create a ‘living’ area, as well as on board cooking and washing facilities, and stowage.

The Expedition Websites 

There are two websites serving the expedition:

www.landysadventures.com – represents the education arm of the expedition.  It has been designed to enable younger children to use its facilities and engage with the expedition.  Features include ‘Ask a Question facility’ and ‘Competitions’ for the UK primary age group (5-11), as well as using blogs to promote areas of interest to children and promote education and learning about the places we visit.  The teachers’ resources section provides additional resources teachers can use to incorporate into lesson plans to enable Landy’s Adventures to be integrated into classroom learning.

www.goingoverland.com – enables expedition members to keep in touch with followers back home, through blogs and photos, and reaches out to others who are interested in overlanding or adventurous travel. It contains in-depth details of the background of the development of the expedition, such as vehicle modifications, preparation and expedition team members.  It is also the vehicle for promoting the expedition’s sponsors and the charities it supports.  School staff are welcome to draw additional material from the blogs, photos and other pages on this second site.

Both sites are updated regularly from the field by expedition team members.

Supporting Charity

In addition to its main objectives, and as a conduit for learning, the expedition is supporting the work of three important charities and will visit and participate in some of their projects in Mongolia, South America and Africa, bringing the experiences to children in UK schools.

Schools can also choose to raise funds to support our trip and our charities, at any time during the expedition’s duration, uniting the whole school and its community around common goals that deliver a meaningful and measurable difference to others in need, including charitable projects visited during the expedition. 

All of our charitable partners have pledged to help us support schools that fundraise, and we have established JustGiving pages to make donations easy and straightforward. Alternatively, we can support charitable fundraising that works on a split funding basis, where the school and the charity share equal benefit from donations.

The three expedition charities are:

The Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, which provides housing, education, health and emotional support to children and their families in Vietnam and Mongolia.

 

Rainforest Concern, which supports the development of sustainable alternative rainforest utilisation to slow the pace of deforestation in Europe, Central and Southern America, India, Africa and South East Asia.

 

Water Aid, which works to create practical solutions for providing clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education to families in Africa, India and South East Asia.

 

5 Reasons why your school should get involved

It’s unique

• Children using the Ask A Question facility are guaranteed a response from expedition team members in the field – we answer all questions
• The expedition can respond to requests from participating schools to investigate specific topics or places en route, within the overall objectives of the expedition.
• The expedition provides an internet based resource for primary school pupils
• The nature of a true overland circumnavigation of the world will bring together a unique and truly global range of learning opportunities

“It’s great when children come running up telling me about the
e-mail answers they have received from Landy’s Adventures.”
Head Teacher, Middlesbrough

It’s real

• The team creates real-time learning opportunities direct from expedition through interactive media. 
• The team reports from live projects being run by the charities we are supporting.
• Videos filmed ‘through the eyes of local people’ encourage pupils to think about real challenges faced by people in other countries, and to empathise with how these affect life in these places.
• The expedition provides links to charities relevant to issues being encountered by the expedition.
• Blogs convey what it is like to be on expedition and tell the story as it happens
• Pupils can continue to follow the expedition outside of term time, through the blog, video and photo updates (which are moderated by the expedition home team to prevent improper use).

 It’s interactive

• Teachers and pupils can direct our enquiries in the communities we pass through en-route, linking them more closely with the social and environmental issues we encounter.
• Teachers can shape the expedition and their pupil’s learning experience.
• The team can establish direct contact between schools across international boundaries and then pass the relationship over to teaching staff.
• The Ask A Question facility elicits real answers to real questions
• The expedition posts Video responses on the website in answer to the most interesting questions received via the Ask A Question facility.

 It’s fun

• Landy’s Adventures follows the real adventures of the team members and their Land Rover (Landy).
• There are regular Competitions for primary school pupils encouraging engagement in different aspects of the expedition.
• Children can get their name and school publicised on the website by asking great questions.
• The resources available include lots of fun activities for children.

 It’s rich in learning opportunities

• The expedition provides a rich source of learning opportunities across several areas of the school curriculum, for example:
  • Understanding community
  • Science and nature
  • Basic skills including reading, mathematics and IT
• Life and experiences on expedition are conveyed through blogs, photos and videos, that can be followed by pupils individually or incorporated into classroom learning
• There are additional multi-media materials in the Teachers’ Resources section to support lesson plans in the classroom
• Suitable for use across the whole age spectrum within the school, uniting the school community

How to get involved

Schools can register their interest and get further information about the project, by contacting the Expedition’s home team co-ordinator, Natalie Glover, on 01843 296025, or by email to natalie@goingoverland.com.  Alternatively, the form at the end of this document can be completed and returned to the address at the top of the form.

Option 1 – Self funding

£125 gives full and immediate access to all the resources on Landy’s Adventures, payable on receipt of invoice.  Please complete the relevant section of the application form.

Option 2 – Bursary request

Please complete the relevant section to request funding through our bursary fund that links small businesses with schools.  We maintain a list of small businesses that are willing to provide funding to schools for full access to Landy’s Adventures.  The list of funders remains open and schools may nominate a business or individual willing to fund on their behalf.

 

To ensure your school has the opportunity to take part download enquiry & booking form here, complete and return to the team.  If you would like more information please do not hesitate to email the team on contact@goingoverland.com