After the first adventurous expedition in Australia, the convoy of McCormick tractors slowly crossed South Africa covering almost eight-thousand kilometers at not more than 50 km/h on BKT tires

 Produced by ID-ENTITY, Xtractor South Africa was followed by over 3 million users online and, thanks to cooperation with Amref, enabled a large vegetable garden to be created for the community of Ephraim Mogale, as well as a football pitch in Sebokeng, a suburb of the city of Johannesburg

During the forty-nine days after their departure from Cape Town on April 3, the Xtractor expedition participants succeeded in travelling the length and breadth of South Africa on board of four X8 and X7 Series McCormick tractors with BKT Tires, in search of nature as they carried a message of friendship and humanity.

Conceived and directed by Roberto Pinnelli and Luca Noris and produced by ID-ENTITY, one of Europe’s foremost Groups as to the creation, production and management of digital communication contents and services, the docu-reality reached the end of its adventure in Pretoria, last May 20.

The tractor convoy had covered almost eight thousand kilometers in often adverse conditions, travelling through deserts, crossing the savanna with its magnificent animals, along the coast and beyond the verdant Drakensberg escarpment, always accompanied by a large following on the social networks. Three million people followed the adventures of the tractors in over 50 video-clips posted on Facebook and Youtube, and enjoyed the colors and wonders of South Africa in the hundreds of photos uploaded to Facebook and Instagram.

Besides terminating the adventure journey, the expedition also targeted on contributing and collaborating with solidarity to the South African community. Thanks to cooperation with Amref, McCormick Tractors, BKT Tires, GETAC, Fcf Forniture Cine Foto and Motorola Solutions Italia, Xtractor was able to conclude the two humanitarian initiatives that the organizers had set out to achieve: ploughing a large field for the community of Ephraim Mogale, where Amref has a clinic for mothers and their children, and levelling a piece of ground in the suburb of Sebokeng, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, to provide over one thousand students from the Khutlo Tharo school complex with a football pitch for matches and other physical activities. Two opportunities for celebrating with the young South Africans, who were able to meet the Italian expedition participants and receive footballs and lots of other gadgets donated by BKT as gifts.

In addition, the inhabitants of Ephraim Mogale and all the medical staff will now be able to put to good use the 5-thousand tomato, onion, spinach, beetroot and sweet pepper seedlings offered by the expedition organizers and begin cultivating the big vegetable garden that only powerful tractors like the Xtractor machines could have created. This poor community of laborers, most of whom immigrants from other African countries, had been waiting for some twenty years for the funds that would enable them to till the ground for sowing.

Reaching the end of the journey was as slow as it was breathtaking. Spearheaded by volunteers from the Carabinieri Corps at the top speed of 50 km/h, the explorers crossed the Kalahari desert and ventured into the immense Kruger National Park, where they saw herds of buffalo and elephants, but also leopards, lions and the rare rhinoceros (the so-called Big 5), besides many species of birds and other animals. It was in the savanna of the Kruger National Park that the expedition tractors were surrounded by a pride of “affectionate” lions and were charged at by an elephant before crossing the KwaZulu-Natal, the Zulu kingdom, where Gandhi began the non-violent struggle that finally ended in the passing of many laws against the racial discrimination of the local Indian population. The expedition also had to face the steep gravel road of the Sani Pass, one of the world’s most well known off-road tracks, and pushed on into the Drakensberg mountains. A journey of a lifetime at the slow pace of the tractors and of nature’s own timetable, accompanied by a really special entourage: 15 reporters from different specialized European journals focused on subjects ranging from tourism to agriculture and engines, all ready to recount the journey and its discoveries.

Xtractor was also a journey within a journey: star-rated chef Ilario Vinciguerra joined the expedition along the way and cooked a very Italian risotto, but enriched with the flavors of South Africa. An original dish, but one that represented the symbol of integration between two distant cultures.

See the more significant photos and videos of the docu-reality again, plus the as yet unpublished footage and shots on:

https://www.facebook.com/XtractorMcCormick/

https://www.instagram.com/xtractor.tv/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_6ZlpWUKEwC_Jw0GSkucag

After the first expedition in Australia and the second one in South Africa, stay tuned to find out where the tractors will be heading on the third Xtractor expedition.