By a small Fiat Panda from South Africa to Kenya. It is not a bet, that of Dennis Pesci from Brescia, a 50-year-old police employee with a passion for adventure travel, but one of many dreams realized.
Dennis arrived a few days ago in Malindi, where he has a home, after leaving Johannesburg on July 21 and traveling nearly 10,000 kilometers, zigzagging through South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania and finally his beloved Kenya.
With him was his friend Helene Danesi, a pediatrician from Rome who took advantage along the red earth roads and the few paved ones to meet and visit dozens of children.

It is the trip's creator himself who tells Malindikenya.net how this idea came about.
"It's a passion I've had for a long time, and after founding an association, "Winged Victory," which deals with solidarity through the organization and promotion of these special trips, I began to actively engage in social work, for example, with several expeditions to bring aid to Ukraine. Then came the idea of preparing a Fiat Panda, with the help of an experienced mechanic, to take on Africa."

Dennis explored it with his small 4x4, Italian pride, in two stages: the first time from South Africa he visited nations renowned for their safaris such as Botswana and Namibia, while the second was a bit tougher and more touching because it covered poor and problematic countries. The 50-year-old from Brescia felt "the road make his heart beat," as Claudio Baglioni sang. Images and impressions that will remain forever.

"The most desperate country is Lesotho, but Mozambique is the one that seemed the most dangerous to us," says the Lombard traveler, "there first we broke the radiator and slept in nothing with our small tents, then we ran out of gas, right on the border with an area of frequent terrorist incursions. A truck driver stopped with a man armed with a rifle on board, and for a moment I thought it was over. Instead it was in self-defense, and after taking us to refuel, the truck driver advised us to follow him, to avoid ambushes on that stretch of road."
A Panda, after all, does not go unnoticed in Africa, where you expect only big off-roaders and transport giants.

"Apart from Mozambique and apart from the fact that the police were always stopping us because of the unusual vehicle, it was an adventure in contact with the wonderful African people," Dennis admits, "everyone approached our car with curiosity and smiles and wanted a picture together. In the end, everything worked out for the best, and certainly the safest and most peaceful country of all remains Kenya."
Dennis Pesci's Panda also brings material benefits to the people he meets on the road: food and medicine, as well as visits from the pediatrician on this recent expedition.

"I want to do more and more," he explains, "through the visibility of the trips, which are totally self-financed, the photos on social media and the stories, each time I manage to raise some funds that I like to allocate to organizations that deal with solidarity full-time.
This time the choice fell on Muyeye's "Mama Anakuja" Children Home in Malindi. The South Africa-Kenya pandering marathon ended with the delivery of groceries to Roberto Vernocchi, son of the unforgettable Mama Liliana, who now runs the children's home dedicated to her memory.

But the charitable adventures of Dennis Pesci and his Panda do not stop there.
"I am ready to leave again, soon, for Iran, where equally enchanting places and beautiful roads await me, and also situations where lending a hand will be important. I hope to be able to go overland via Sudan, which at this time, however, is undergoing the last skirmishes of a civil war. If that is not possible, I will ship the car from Mombasa to Jeddah and then...off to another heartbeat...to the rhythm of the engine of a Fiat Panda.