Mountainshak Adventures turns two today!

What a journey the past 24 months have been. It started way back in 2010 while sitting in a windowless office in Washington DC… in fact I sat in the same windowless office, working 18 hours a day, for 78 days without a break.  I can only imagine that I consumed my own body weight in ‘beef jerky’ and ‘soda’ as the yanks like to call biltong and coke!

The only escape from the dull days of creative writing were the breaks spent with ‘Josh-the-yank’ and ‘Dom-the-pom’ staring at the 5m x 5m map of Africa that served as wall paper to the boardroom…  It is there that the concept of the Put Foot Rally was first born, and like all thing in life… all that was needed was a bit of encouragement. Josh and Dom warned that the time would come to give up my job and move back to Africa and ‘make shit happen’! They were right!

Little did I know that it would only take a month until I’d give up my high-flying job and instead of dreaming  of returning to South Africa for the Soccer World Cup….  I’d actually have a flight booked, my clothes packed… 78 days worth of salary in my pocket. Fortunately just enough dosh to start a company and put the Put Foot Rally plan into action! The rest as they say… is history!

Today, 23 March 2012, we have a tiny office in Cape Town, but really our company is built around the 100-strong family of 2011 Put Foot Rally veterans, a whole new soon-to-be-family of 240 future 2012 Put Footers, our partners, our ambassadors and our friends! Not to mention our new recruit Sebastian “The Adjutant” Davies who is heading up our next major social adventure X Man South Africa!

So onward and upward it is then… climb aboard, for those of you already part of our adventure, thank you, and lets keep on rocking! Always rememeber “The road goes on forever, and the party never ends….”

I guess the movie ‘Blood Diamond’ alluded to it best…. that being born and brought up on the red sands of Africa, no matter how hard you try to get away… Africa will call you.    I believe the same holds true for anyone thinking of coming to Africa… the lure of this incredible continent is more than just mystery and beauty. What attracts people to our land is what lies in our people, the soil, the animals, our will, our compassion for one another, our hardships and our ability to never give up!

“Happy Birthday” to our company Mountainshak Adventures, here’s to living ‘Life Unfiltered’!!!

*office closed as of… NOW!  Birthday beer time!  Have a great weekend!

All the best

Daryn