What is the Buffalo Run?

The Buffalo Run pits teams of maniacs in a 10,000 km jaunt from London down to Cape Town, facing on the way, every kind of pitfall as they cross some of the most challenging terrain on earth, and all this, in a bunch of beaten up old bangers that wouldn’t look out of place in your local scrap yard.

Covering over a third of the lands surface, teams are without the comfort of any support crew or indeed even a fixed route, entrants are left to their own devices to decide how best they should try and get there and not all will make it.

Why would anyone want to do it?

Good question. Why would anybody want to go off in to the great unknown crossing the vast emptiness of the Sahara, maybe followed by the impenetrable jungle trails of Cameroon, Gabon and the Congo, without back up, and in a beaten up old banger whose better days were when Wham were still making the charts. Well maybe you find that in today’s sanitised world, your life is somewhat lacking in the adventure department. Maybe the thought of being herded up with 30 other tourists, viewing ‘interesting things’ through the safety of a coach window, doesn’t cut it for you anymore, maybe, instead of simply observing, you actually want to be part of the adventure

If this sounds too familiar, then step forth the brave and the foolish, the mighty Buffalo Run is here.

Raising money

As well as good old style adventure, the Buffalo Run is also about raising heaps of cash for deserving African charities.

When entering, each team pledges to raise a minimum of £500 for the charities involved. Where possible we encourage teams to really go for it and be creative in their fundraising in order to try and smash this amount.

This year we will be raising money for Afrikids, a Child Rights Organisation which works alongside indigenous communities in Ghana to improve the quality of life for rejected and vulnerable children.

To find out about the truly incredible work they do visit the Charity page

Is it for me?

If you want safety guarantees – stay at home
If you want any kind of guarantees – stay at home
Should you pine for creature comforts – stay at home
If you want someone to bail you out when the poo hits the fan – stay at home
If the thought of being completely lost in the Namib Desert, miles from civilisation and in a car that seems to be held together only by gaffa tape and coat hangers terrifies you - stay at home

Should, however, the idea of raising money that will make a real and dramatic difference to the lives of many African children appeal, combined with the immense satisfaction and enjoyment gained from traversing a 1/3 of the worlds surface in a clapped out old banger with absolutely no back up, through parts of a continent not yet listed on maps, when all your mates said that you’d never make it, then you may have just found your calling old boy.