The World's Longest Road Trip

In 1989, Gunther Holtorf decided to leave his job at Lufthansa and go on an 18-month trip to Africa behind the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz G-Class. During the trip, his plans changed somewhat, and he decided to keep travelling. He just came back home to Germany after being on the road for 26 years.

While the numbers from this trip are interesting (900,000 kilometres covered, 215 countries visited…) the whole journey is filled with small anecdotes: the man entered North Korea and Cuba (with the personal approbation of Raúl Castro), he caught malaria five times (he compares it to a bad case of the flu), he got rid of the A/C in 1991 and gave it to a Kenyan mechanic, he had to have another key made in Saudi Arabia because the original was wearing out…

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The little 1988 Mercedes-Benz 300GD (nicknamed Otto) held up remarkably well: it never had a major breakdown, and it is still on its original engine and transmission. However, the truck had to be rebuilt when it rolled onto its roof after a miscalculation in a turn.

Gunther Holtorf is now in the Guinness World Record book, and says he plans on putting his mechanical talents to good use by restoring old cars. As for Otto, he will now reside at the Daimler Museum in Stuttgart.