About the Nairobitarra

                                **Photo gallery Irudimenezko Bidaiak**

Nairobitarra I SS-65455



In 1980, Ángel Ortiz and Manueltxo Mokoroa bought an old, Pegaso line bus and fixed it up so that they and sixteen others could travel to Nairobi (Kenya). For three months, 10 thousand kilometres and a fair share of trouble, the bus went through the sands of the Sahara and tropical forests. The travellers arrived safely in Nairobi, but the bus was in no condition to return: in order to pay for the plane tickets home, they sold that first bus to the Kenyan Ministry of Public Works, which wanted to give it to a football team.

Nairobitarra II SS-5732-A



Two years later, in 1982, Ángel Ortiz and Josu Iztueta bought an old truck and prepped it to take 20 passengers (beds, tables, kitchen...). This second vehicle inherited the name “Nairobitarra” because it kept up the same travelling spirit as the that of the first run through Africa. Josu and Ángel organized three or four trips a year, both in the north of Africa (especially in the Sahara Desert) as well as in Europe (from the Iberian Peninsula to Scandinavia).

This second Nairobitarra crossed the ocean: in 1989 they sent it by ship to North America. They made several different trips through the United States, Canada, even reaching Alaska, before they began to travel south toward Central America. In 1995 they entered South America and travelled the continent from top to bottom. They later wanted to send the bus to Asia, in order to reach Europe by completing the trip around the world, but  complications in some of the countries caused them to scrap the plan. In the end, in 2002, they decided to donate the Nairobitarra to a foundation in Chile dedicated to helping orphaned and abandoned children.   

Nairobitarra III SS-97274



When in 1989 the second Nairobitarra crossed the Atlantic, Ángel and Josu bought an eighteen year old school bus. In this third Nairobitarra they continued to travel through Africa and Europe until 2003.  When they stopped organizing trips the bus ended its days in a scrap heap.

But the Nairobitarra is alive and well, because more than a vehicle it is an idea, the spirit of adventure that has travelled a million kilometres over the course of 25 years. Thus the Nairobitarra continues on the road.