...a journey of a life time through ibn batuta's africa

letters

Congratulation for great adventure... Praise to Allah Almighty who has saved you all in the adventure.

Best regards, Muslim Iskandar Jakarta -Indonesia

You have a done a wonderful thing and am hoping you are enjoying this journey with your family and friends. I really enjoy the information on the website, which Ayaz kindly gave to me. Give regards and praise to your family and friends. Look forward to reading about your journey as you continue on.

Kind regards,  Andy

Alhamdulillah, you finally arrive in Cape Town. Congratulation to you and the whole family! I think you should do a presentation to SAMD members on what have you and your family learn through the whole journey.

Regards, Mohammad Hasnul, Hasim.

shaz man, how goes bro, jason here...man just emailin to say good luck, have a safe trip n have fun dude...crazy guy man! take care dude...drive well

jason 

Assalamualaikum, A thought of yours struck somewhere in my mind and I went through your web site.according to the timetable shown there you must be in cape by now. hop you enjoyed your journey.Let me know how are you going to go back.hop your family is well and in high spirits.plse. remember me to them, I'm the only one from your home town who has written you a mail. plse. keep in touch.Meanwhile I pray to ALLAH SWT to keep you steadfast and give you courage in all your endeavours. AAMEEEN

Allah hafeez, Issa

ASA Bros, Great to see you completed it successfully & safely. Mashallah! Will learn more about it when you get back. Hope all are well and in good spirit� it�s a tribute to your planning and of course to Allah � the greatest planner. Allah Hafiz

Regards Azhar Chaudhary

So you made it!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to you all. Fantastic achievement!!!!!!!!

Diamond A. Mohamed, Cyprus

Dear friends, I have been following ur updates and interesting journey from the start. i first read abt it on arabnews, and since then have frequented onto ur website. MashaAllah, its gr8 to c some muslim families that too from SaudiArabia having the enthusiasm of undetaking such a cool journey. I wish u the very best throughout and May Allah keep u in his safe hands. I am ruman, kashmiri by birth, but have been living in saudi since '89 (GIZAN!) i m currently studyin here in Sunway , Malaysia ... Keep us updated , we r watcin out for u !

take care ruman

As promised, I am tracking you daily through your site. I am really proud of you all for making this journey. It is for me a live education event. Today is my last day at work before my annual vacation. I will keep looking at your site for more education for me and my family. I wish you all safe journey to Cape and return back to Saudi Arabia.

God bless you all. Hussain A. Al Mahr

Hi There, Road Runners Wonderful watching your site, have been following everyday, always looking forward to your writings and photo�s. More please! You are now in one of our favourite spots Kenya. Hope you get a chance to go to Lake Nakuru, even if it is a day trip, just to see the beautiful pink flamingo�s. Please be careful of view points looking over the Great Rift Valley, these are not maintained and the planks are so rotten that a person could fall through. (Outside Nairobi) Keep up the good work and keep safe. Remember this is Africa Baby! And we miss her. I hope you manage to see lots of animals as well, as we know how good that is for the soul. Enjoy and have lots of fun. We are green with envy.

Best Regards Edith

I have seen your website (very impressive) and I wish you good luck inshallah you get to Cape Town safely and happily.

Best wishes, Samer Al-Zaaim Family

Dear Mushtaq and Abdulah, Greetings and hope all is going well on your journey to South Africa. I collected a copy of the June 22, 2005 Arabian Sun and just got around to reading it this morning. Thanks for providing the website to track your progress, however I noticed I am 12 days behind so will have to make time to go through your diary. Ironically as I opened the webpage I noticed your day 12 journey starting from Dese to Addis. I have driven this leg on my to the famous rock hewn churches of Lalibella, another days drive from Dese going north west. It should be a beautiful drive towards Addis as this is the rainy season and the scenery should be of lush grassy plains. And going south from Addis you should encounter excellent pavement that will have dispelled the some what bouncy experience from Dese. I have quite a few contacts in Addis in case you may need some assistance; contacts also include mechanics and a friend who runs driving tours throughout Ethiopia, especially down in the area boarding Kenya.

Best of health and safe journey. Thurston Williams

Hi there, How are you and how is your family, on a daily basis I track your progress in the trip, I feel like joining you in this wonderful trip as I can see from the website (www.khobartocape.com), frankly speaking your website made me like being part of the trip���.. Wish you all the best in your trip and being safe. Wish you and your family a pleasure stay and trip

Take care, Abdullah

May all of you be in the best of health and iman. And may Allah protect you through out your journey. Khobar to Cape is a great site. Keep writing your journal.

Good Luck Muzafar

Good day to you all,

I am a South African who has been working in the Middle East for the past 9 years. 8 of those were spent in Jeddah and vicinity. I am following your trip with interest and am enjoying it very much. Travel safely � I will keep traveling with you in spirit. 

Christina Nieuwoudt (RDSA)

Johnstones and Mahmoods how are you all doing? hope you're all in good health and high spirits. i've been following your journey from day one. tried mailing y'all but haven't had the chance due to my hectic schedule. first off...my name is Salem and I live in Rahima...yep...RT. i graduated from Rahima Academy (ISG Dammam) and am currently in my 3rd year of medicine. you know what's so funny?...it's such a coincidence...me and a bunch of friends are planning a similar trip next year from KSA thru Sudan and Ethiopia but only till Somalia. your site is a good place to start inorder to know how the trek is. i've been to Sudan...really great country except for the extreme heat and duststorms. the people are nice but try to rip you off when they get the slightest hint you're a foreigner. the place seems to have no system what-so-ever...i mean...i'm sure you guys went through all that to get your visas and get your cars through... in Sudan...money speaks...and i'm guessing you guys found that out too. hope y'all had a nice time there. anyways....thank you and hope to stay in touch have a safe journey till the end

salim

I gave up my Thursday morning lay-in to log onto your website and catch up with your adventure so far! Sounds like you have had your share of highs and lows (especially red tape at borders!), but overall are having a great adventure. Sorry to hear about Abdullah's little injury..hope he is OK now. Keep up the good work and keep posting those up-dates!

Rehman Akhtar

Assalam alaykom�. In shaAllah you are all doing very well. It looks like you are having fun� We'll keep visiting your website. See you inshaAllah

The Tiss Family

Have been following your progress on your website and it looks like despite the 'lows' you are having a good time. As promised, I got to wish you good luck on air on Joburg's Highveld Stereo on the morning you left. Unfortunately you were already gone (9:55) and you could not listen to the broadcast, but Highveld posts the daily "Global High's" on their website.

Enjoy your trip, have a safe one, Nic

Neat , pretty neat , I am following every day of the journey , sounds very interesting , the tough part about the Sudanese customs to the best spot visits. Alhamdullilah , Saad replied stating that he has received my resume , and will get back to me soon Inshallah. Well nothing special on my side here. I'll let you go and keep following and posted. Praying for your safe return and an enjoyable trip.

Salaams to everyone. Shakil.

We have just been reading your website and are really interested in the fact that you managed to get a ferry from Saudi Arabia to Sudan with your vehicles. We are doing a similar trip in September from the UK and have been trying to find out about such a ferry link but haven't really had much success. I don't suppose you would be able to let us know as much information about the ferry as possible so that we can try and use it in our route as we would really like to see Saudi Arabia. Good luck in the rest of your travels and hope to hear from you.

Kind regards Grace

Mashallah!!!! just checked the khobartocape.com website and checked your diary and all.. way to go!!! i'm so excited myself, you must be up there somewhere! ;) Good luck mush and all :) drive safely, i guess! one more thing, I LOVED THE IDEA OF TAKING WATER FROM THE GULF TO POUR IN THE OCEAN AT CAPE :))))

Regards, Majed A. Sahli

My Name is Noor Mohammed, Working as a Contractor employee in Abqaiq Saudi Aramco in Abqaiq Community Maintenance Division as a Secretary to Superintendent, i saw your website, it was nice surfing... i Pray to Allah that you all suceed in your journey and enjoy the most if it and return back home with sweet memories, convey my regards and my message to your family members. I will be watching out everyday where you are at the moment... i will keep in touch with you all till then...

Take Care Bye, Noor

GOOD LUCK WE PRAY FOR ALL OF YOU

nidal

How are you all ? To-day I happen to the Arabian Sun What a exiting things you have planned Outstanding! Enjoy the Trip WE WILL PRAY FOR THE SAFE TRIP ALL-THROUGH THE JOURNEY I AM LIVING IN KHOBAR WORKING FOR CORPORATE MANAGEMENT IN DHAHRAN, BEST OF LUCK GOD IS WATCHING OVER YOUR SHOULDERS AMEN

THANKS ANTONY A. RAJ

slmz!!!!!!!! congrats for getting though to african soil!!!!

Rafique & Ariefa

I just discovered your website on www.africa-overland.net, which I visit regularly , as I'm planning my own trip home (Cape Town) from England in two years. It will be very interesting to follow your travels and to learn from your experiences, also because it will be from a fresh perspective. Apparently, the Blue Nile Sailing Club in Khartoum is very popular with overlanders, for camping by the river. (n015�36.695' e032�32.048') Redtape can only get less after Sudan.

All the best on your journey. Corn� Uys London

Assalamo Alaikum. I have been following your journey, through your daily diary. I am glad to learn that you landed on the African continent, and began the next phase of your expedition. Wishing you all the best for rest of the journey. May Allah bring you and family and the Johnstones back to Khobar safe and sound.

Thanks. -Karim (Dhahran)

Dear friends: It was a real pleasure to read the Arab News article about your trip, and to access your web site. I work at the information office of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington DC, and I passed the article on to my colleagues, who all wish you good luck. These colleagues include several Sudanese - who will be anxiously following your trip - as will my husband and myself. You see, although I am Scottish by birth, my husband, El-Tom Babiker, is from Sudan, from the town of Kamlin on the Blue Nile half-way between Khartoum and Wad Medani - and, we lived in Al-Khobar from 1977 to 1990 - and: we've done part of your journey in reverse. In 1972 (before we had children) we drove from Lusaka to Khartoum (when the asphalt ran out in Isiolo in northern Kenya). And talking about asphalt, when we were in Sudan this past January, we made a road trip to Port Sudan - and were told that the "road" to Atbara (which we'd hoped to take on the return trip) was impassable. Tom knows the track from years ago, and he says there are no towns or villages on the way, and the terrain is really bad, so if the road has not yet been properly tarred, we would advise against trying it. At least check with truck drivers in Port Sudan (there's a check point just south of the city where truckers congregate). If the road is still impassable, you will have to go via Kassala. Another heads up: there has recently been an increase in skirmishes along the Port Sudan - Kassala road, with attacks by the Beja Congress and the Rushaida Free Lions, and retaliation by government forces. In January, we had an unexpected overnight stay by the side of the road because the army had closed it. I very much admire your spirit in attempting this trip, and I wish you every success. I hope your 45 days are enough - and that you don't experience delays ....By the way, on the tarred road south from Khartoum to Wad Madani, you will pass our farm, which is about 15 miles past Masseed. Unfortunately, my husband is in Canada at the moment, or he would have insisted that you stay over on our land, which is between the highway and the Blue Nile at a place called Tekela Rufa'a .....

We'll be rooting for you! Alice Umbarak

Assalaamu Alaikum W.W. Dear Brother in Islam. My name is Raffick Ali. I am a Imaam in local Musjid, i.e. in Estcourt, in the province of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. I learnt about your journey through Arab News email. I saw you Malaika and Buraq on the web site. I hope and pray that Allah Ta'ala makes your journey safe and comfortable for you. Please visit us if you can when u come to S. Africa. Like to hear about your experiences.

Jazaakallah Khair Raffick

Good luck and have a wonderful , safe journey. Enjoy every minute in Africa especially South Africa.

God will lead all the way. Thoko

I am an Aramcon and just read your wonderful article in the Arabian Sun. I came back to my office and thought I send you this message to wish you a wonderful trip. It just sounds great and wish I was part of the convoy. As you can see from my name, I am Zimbabwean but have lived in the UK (Manchester) since May 1968. I plan to retire to Cape Town in 2008 and have 2 properties there on the Atlantic Coast. I will watch your progress with interest. I shall be in CT about 14th � 17th Sept. and go back to an International Conference in Planesburg National Park, Johannesburg.

Have fun and safe trip. Michael T. Mashingaidze..

i read an article in Arab news about your journey. I wish u all the best in your mission. Also offer my congratulations in advance for performing Umra. Wish u safe journey and good health through out journey and also pray for good relations among u all.

Allah Hafiz Farooque

Dear Waheeda.This is Salma.I met you at Zarina Ziamond�s house.I left Aramco two years ago.I read about your adventure on the internet in Arab news.I wish you and your family a safe journey and all the best wishes.

Allah Hafiz. Salma Khadim

AS SALAAM ALAIKUM I envy you guys and I wish you and the rest of the crew best of luck my DUA for your safety .. Will follow Inshallah.

Best Wishes Yassien Mahomed

Dear Mushtaq, It was great to see the articles about trips in the Arabian aun and arab news. I am also following it up on your website. If you even need anything, please let us know.

Stay in touch, Tahir Bukhari

Well I had just come upon an article about your expected journey from arabnews.com and kinda taken away for a while with your wild adventure. I find it completely out of mind, yet cool. May Allah almighty protect ya all and you guys have the safest journey. I will be checking the website from time to time for updates.

 Best Regards Abdul Kareem Shaik,  e-media Art Director

Dear Mushtaq& team members, It was a great beginnign for me today as just in the morning when i was browsing the internet to check for daily news to know the global changes in the world and to find some news from my country India. I clicked on arabnews, i came across your column"Alkhobarto capetown". It seems to be really interesting and when my mouse pointed on it i could never stop myself by clicking it " oh my god!" i just cant beleive myself. I mean in my life i never heard of such stories. However i heard stories of Australian who drives her ship and completed her longest journey and made some records but your adventure seems to be more excited and when i browse through your website i felt as if i am also a part of your team. I was just imagining the places and how the atmosphere would be, May Allah brings your journey safely...Ameen. It is really a good experience of life and surely as you quoted in your website the Ayah of Al-Quran "Surah Al-Ankabut :20" it really encourages every muskim to have such wonderful journeys in order to see what the almighty Allah has made for us in this world. However i cut short my mail and i congratulate you from the deepest of my heart and your team for this journey and i pray from ALLAH that this journey be safe, secure and i surely would like to meet you personally when you are back in Kingdom. Also let me know your team members and their interest in ths journey. Congratulations once again and have a great first day of your journey and keep mailing me your experiences everyday if you can by mail. My best wishes for all your team members.

Regards, Mohammed Rafiuddin Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

may ALLAH make your journey safe and enjoyable.as IQBAL said , sitaron se agay jahan aur bhee hain , i pray that this successful trip may allow you to take on many more journeys in future.

FARRUKH.P.BUTT AL-KHOBAR

I read about your plans on the net and visited your site. Great!! Keep it up. I wish both the families very best for their journey. May Allah help you in this endeavour.

Arshad Sabir Toronto Canada

All the best to you all. The very best. May the road be smooth, the people gentle, the authorities at the borders not too much annoying, �.. and that you always sleep under a roof of stars.

-- rui kasimiro, Portugal

Salaam I wish to take this opportunity wish all of you a safe journey. May Allah keep you safe from all harm and hardships and make things easy. We will be making dua for all of you Inshallah.

Abdul Jabbar

Safe trip... May Allah guide you and keep everybody safe on your journey... The Dadoo Family....