In May 2007, in close co-operation with BMW Motorrad, a husband and wife team from Touratech undertook the world's first adventure motorcycling journey on the new BMW F 800 GS. Together with the BMW G 650 Xchallenge – which had already been tested earlier on a journey from Canada to Mexico – the two riders set off on their journey around Lake Victoria, Africa's biggest lake.
The trip covered 5,087 km of sand, gravel and mud, from the white sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean through the Masai steppe in Kenya, the savannah of Tanzania, the green mountains of Burundi and Rwanda, around the extinct Mt. Elgon volcano in Uganda and back to Mombasa.
The team consisted of Herbert Schwarz, who was testing some accessories (which were developed by Touratech) under extreme off-road conditions, and Ramona Schwarz, who accompanied him to document the trip in photography and film. Together the pair produced thousands of photographs and many hours of film.
Travelling independently with a tent, they had plenty of amazing encounters with the locals. Throughout their travels, the travellers witnessed African joie de vivre and hospitality everywhere they went. The visit to the world's last surviving mountain gorillas who live in the Virunga volcanoes of Rwanda was one of the many highlights of this trip.
The cover of The End of The Rains DVD
What distinguishes this latest film from earlier Touratech films is its strong documentary character. Ramona and Herbert Schwarz shot all the footage for this film themselves. It shows a realistic picture of a strange and fascinating Black Africa. The two captured images on the roadside and of daily life. Topics such as the genocide in Rwanda and the poverty are also brought closer to the viewer with sensitivity and understanding.
The End of the Rains is available to purchase on DVD for €20.00 and will be released for sale in March, when BMW’s F 800 GS makes its debut in Motorrad dealerships across Europe. The DVD will soon be available to order from the www.touratech.de website.
Wherever the F 800 GS went, people wanted to touch it
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