9 cars. 90 legs. 3500 miles. And a scrappy group of intrepid travellers with hearts of gold.

Every year a team of adventurers forego the traditional Boxing Day turkey sandwiches and sales shopping and set off from Plymouth in a convoy of robust old bangers for the Dakar Challenge. This journey crosses through six countries, crossing the length of the Western Sahara and ending in either Banjul, The Gambia or Bamako, Mali. This year, Legs4Africa was the official partner of the Dakar Challenge, encouraging drivers to stick a few legs in their cars and drop them off in hospitals along the way!

So in early December, before Father C made his rounds, some very special boxes made their way around the UK to their respective drivers, filled with feet, knees, stump socks, connectors, one big ol’ roll of foam, and a partridge in a pear tree!

The trip wasn’t without its little snags along the way, what with border controls and vans getting stuck in the sand, but after just over two weeks the boxes were delivered safely to their destinations: the mobility centre of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul, and the Saint-Louis Hospital in Senegal.

Thank you to all our rally drivers for helping us get hundreds of life-changing prosthetic components to The Gambia and Senegal, and a special thank you to Julian and Hillary Nowill for making us a part of the adventure!

Hey, traveller! Did you know that we deliver to 16 countries across Africa? Check our full list here https://www.legs4africa.org/deliver-a-leg/ and see if you could make your trip even more memorable with some legs in your luggage!