George Adamson Nairobi to London Series I
The Land Rover Series I in which George Adamson, the Kenya game warden later famous for Born Free, drove from Nairobi to London via the Congo, Nigeria and Algeria, leaving Nairobi on 21 March 1953 — a journey he described in his 1968 memoir Bwana Game.
History
George Adamson, senior game warden of Kenya's Northern Frontier District and later, with his wife Joy, the raiser of the lioness Elsa, made a long overland journey home on leave in 1953: leaving Nairobi on 21 March he drove a Land Rover Series I across Africa by way of the Congo, Nigeria and Algeria and the Sahara to reach London, an early example of the trans-Africa route later followed by countless expedition Land Rovers. He told the story in his memoir Bwana Game (published in the United States as A Lifetime with Lions). The source, a survey of Series I expedition vehicles, records the journey and dates from the book but has no photograph of Adamson's car; the queue's supplied image shows a different, South African-registered Series I.
The registry's model therefore follows the queue's brief: the Cambridge expedition Series I recoloured sand with Nairobi-London lettering, jerrycans on the wings and body sides, and a roof piled with bedrolls, boxes and a tent.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Rover Company (Land Rover Series I)
- Manufactured
- Series I of c.1952-53
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- None recorded (privately equipped for the journey) — no builder recorded
- Engine type
- Rover 2.0 L four-cylinder petrol (Series I of 1953)
- Production run
- 1
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- Kenya
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Series I
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 86″
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- Land Rover Series I expedition vehicles — Overland Live (George Adamson's 1953 Nairobi to London drive from Bwana Game) ↗ — Overland Live (Martin Solms) (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://overland-live.blogspot.com/2010/09/land-rover-series-i-expedition-vehicles.html https://overland-live.blogspot.com/2010/09/land-rover-series-i-expedition-vehicles.html ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T11:04:43.769Z · status: researched