Yesteryear Planes Take Off from Crete for VintageAirRally

Twelve vintage biplanes took off from the Greek island of Crete on Saturday, November 12, headed for South Africa as part of the VintageAirRally charity rally Crete2Cape, which recreates the pioneering age of African aviation in the 1920s.

The classic ’20s and ’30s planes, including the one “starring” in Oscar-winning film Out of Africa, manned by teams from 18 countries, among them the US, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and Britain, will attempt to fly 12,800km to South Africa following the route once laid out by Britain’s Imperial Airways, linking Britain’s colonies in Africa.

The journey, to go through Sudan, Ethiopia Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Egypt, where the planes touch down at the Great Pyramid of Giza, is expected to take 35 days and the planes will make 37 stops en route before their arrival in Cape Town.

A first of its kind, the five-week VintageAirRally aims to raise public awareness and resources for the conservation of vultures. Follow a crew’s adventures and support them to save vultures on Nature’s Clean-up Crew.