You can write in your newspaper that we have met the friendliest people around the world in South Africa,” Audrey Mollal said. “We cannot describe the generosity, invitations and gifts we received.” Audrey, talking to Gans-Berg News’ journalist, is part of a family of four from France, travelling around the world. They love travelling and came back from a one-year trip through South America just before they started with this tour.
The tiny little house, almost like a Wendy-house, built on the base of a Mercedes Vario 512D, 1997 model (France registration number: BZ-746-TC), could not be missed. Sylvain (42) and Audrey (42) Mollal were first seen in De Kelders at Klipgat Caves where they enjoyed viewing the whales. They agreed to an interesting interview for Gans-Berg News.
The couple and their two children, a daughter, Anaïs (15) and a son, Victor (9), left their home in La Rochelle (Bordeaux) in Southwestern France almost three years ago. Sylvain was a Technical Sales Representative for 17 years in various companies in the building sector and his wife, Audrey was a teacher for 16 years. Anaïs and Victor study via Home Schooling during their trip ‘around the world’.
The name ‘Mollalpagas en cavale’ on their logo, has an interesting origin. “On the eve of our first motorhome trip to South America in 2015, we were looking for a travellers name – preferably in connection with our travel plan – the name of country, fauna, flora and the famous site of South America,” said Audrey. “We decided why not the domestic mammal of the Andes, the alpacas.” The couple then took their family name, Molla and combined it with the alpacas to get to the choice for their French logo: Les Mollalpagas en cavale (family name + alpacas + on the road).
Their desire to travel around the world is very simple. They want to live another way of life – nomadic – a little more in being, a little less in having. “We want to live a real family adventure, all 4 of us gathered 24/24, to sit down, to take even more time together to share and desire to discover other countries, other landscapes and other cultures,” Audrey said. “We also want to meet other life stories and other ways of thinking.” All this started 20 years ago with several travelling experiences when they developed a taste for travel – this time they decided to travel further to discover new continents. The start of their journey was then set for 8th October 2018 for about 3 years. “We left our ‘cocoon” in Charente Maritime after 17 years for 3 years of travelling to adorable tenants,” said Audrey.
Their vehicle is a Mercedes Vario 512D (1997) base with low mileage (88 000km) with which they have travelled for a year (37 000km) in South America between July 2015 and August 2016 (France registration Number: BZ-746-TC). A friend, Francois, designed and built their tiny little house on the base. Thereafter their travelling around the world could start! Some of the first countries visited, were: France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, Greece (by ferry), Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.
“As we made our way to Malaysia, we finally decided not to ship directly to Southern Africa but to reach India via Myanmar,” Audrey said. “From Mumbai, we had planned to take a boat to South Africa and then discover the whole of the Africa continent as initially planned.” But then came COVID-19 in March 2020 and the closure of all borders. Stranded in Malaysia, they repatriated to France, and they had their little house shipped to the port of Le Havre.
At the beginning of July 2020, they hit the road again to spend 6 months in Central and Southern Europe: Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. “Then, on a whim, we decided again to put our little house on a boat to find it a few weeks later in early February 2021 in Kenya,” said Audrey. “We set off to South Africa via Tanzania, Zambia and Namibia.”
From Namibia, they entered South Africa on 15 August 2021 where they experienced the wealth of flowers around Springbok and further on along the West Coast. Audrey said the flower trips were a breath-taking and unbelievable experience. After that, they spent some time in and around Cape Town. “Fortunately, a few hikes on the heights of Cape Town allowed us to burn some calories,” she said. “We also discovered the botanical gardens, enjoyed a wine route, an alpaca farm and adorable small towns in the Western Cape!”
The family plan to ship from South Africa for the return to France around February or March 2022 – 3 years after they left France.
“We enjoy the sea, whales and beautiful surroundings of De Kelders and Gansbaai a lot,” Audrey said. “But most of all we appreciate the kindness and friendliness of the people.”
Hardus Botha
