The idea of a journey to the solar eclipse of June 21st 2001 to southern Africa was born - who would blame us - during the total eclipse of August 11th 1999, which took place in Austria but unfortunately under unfavourable weather conditions. That's why the first ideas were formed while we were observing: Let's go and see the 2001 eclipse in Africa. There the weather will be better.
We soon started planning the journey. Do we just want to see the eclipse or also something of this fascinating continent? We quickly decided for the second option, because the flight would make up the largest part of the travel costs. If it must be Africa then we want a full dose of it.
Robert Edelmaier took over the planning and organization of the tour. But the first offers from travel agencies had a sobering effect on us. A two week tour through the South of Africa had a price tag of 70,000 Schillings (about 4,600 Dollars) attached. Too much. But soon more reasonable offers appeared and finally the one of Sandveld Tours made the race.
A tent-tour was planned. On the one hand rustic and strenuous but on the other hand maybe this would provide us with the right feeling for Africa. And of course it was about half as expensive as the original offers.
The tour-programme - very attractive. Besides the total eclipse towards the end of the tour (to give all the participants time to adapt to African circumstances), there were absolute highlights of Africa-tours on the itinerary: Etosha National Park, the Hoba-meteorit, the Okavango Delta and the Victoria Falls. But this also meant travelling more than 2500 miles through the African continent with variable road conditions.
We announced the tour on our homepage on the internet and were surprised to see that it turned out to be an international hit. Originally planned for 12 participants, the number was raised again and again until we reached the limit with 22 participants and three vehicles.
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