Meet the couple in their fifties who gave up their corporate jobs to embark on a life of backpacking and exploration. Louis Broodryk, 56, and his wife Kareen, 51, made the decision after realising how unhappy their work was making them. After years of planning and saving £20,000, they quit their jobs, bought a 4x4 car, and embarked on the adventure of a lifetime.
Their initial plan was to travel around their country, South Africa , and the wider continent for a year before returning to normality. However, after a few months, they realised their adventures would span much longer than a year - and decided to head to South America. Now, six years later, they're enjoying their travels more than ever - and don't plan on giving up any time soon.
Louis, from Cape Town, said: "The whole experience has been so special and we've learnt so much along the way. "With every country we've gone to, we've got to know the culture, we've tried to live a normal life in each place. We spend time sitting around with the local people and just talking - we think it's important to get to know the guy behind the corner store counter.
Everyone we've met has been so open and welcoming. "We want to keep going for as long as we can - we've agreed for five more years at the moment, then we'll see where we are. Because I'm disabled and in a wheelchair, I'm not sure what my health will be like in a few years - of course I hope to go on for a lot longer, but we'll see.
" The pair have travelled to over 20 countries. Highlights include scuba diving in Zanzibar; witnessing the biggest migration of bats in the world in Zambia; getting close to jaguars and giant anteaters in Pantanal in Brazil ; and exploring volcanoes and tropical hummingbird forests in Ecuador. While their adventures began in 2018, the idea was in the works for many years before.
Louis said: "We were both working in a very corporate environment in Cape Town. We had always loved travelling - we regularly explored parts of Africa and also went further afield on backpacking trips in parts of Asia. We realised how unhappy we both were in our roles - so in 2018, after years of planning and saving money, we decided to quit and began travelling permanently.
" Louis was a manager at an insurance company and Kareen worked as a credit analyst at a bank. Louis said: "We had good jobs with good pay but the stress of a corporate job slowly became too much. We wanted to have a healthier lifestyle with less stress.
We were also driven by a desire to travel more and to explore Africa more." The initial plan was to explore the continent for a year before returning home. In 2016, they bought a 4x4 and spent the next two years upgrading it.
In June 2018, it was ready for the road. The pair quit their jobs - by that point, they had saved 500k South African Rand, which is around £20k. They moved their items into storage, and rented out their Cape Town apartment to provide some additional income for their travels.
They make around 22k South African Rand (roughly £950) on their rental properties each month. Louis said: "The initial plan was for a year but as the year went on, we quickly realised it would be much more than that. "Some of the first countries we went to included Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.
We'd spend anything between a month and three months in each country." Louis has been in a wheelchair for 31 years - after he fell through a roof at university while helping a friend paint his house. He has a broken spine and is paralysed from the knee down.
He said there are some practical difficulties that come with travelling in a wheelchair but added: "I'm very independent and hate asking people for help. I have one working muscle in my top legs - so I can crawl and stand when I hold on to something. "In some of the countries we've visited, the people are so helpful - it's in their culture to try to help and assist as much as they can.
But I prefer doing things myself - it's been interesting seeing how people in different cultures react to the wheelchair." After a year of travelling, Louis and Kareen returned to Cape Town in 2019 - they planned to head to South America, however their adventures came to a standstill when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. They spent the lockdown in Cape Town where they worked for a bit - when restrictions eased, they got back on the road immediately and spent five months exploring South Africa and Namibia.
Louis said: "We spent time remote camping in national parks - it was so quiet during that time, there weren't many people around at all. "In March 2022, we were able to start travelling internationally again - so that's when we decided to head for South America." The couple own two properties they make rental income on - so they initially funded their travels through that.
Alongside that, they make money through a stock photo and video portfolio and a Patreon page - where subscribers pay to view their travel content. Louis estimated the pair spend around £1.5k a month on their travels.
They camp and sleep in their van as much as they can on the road - and only use hostels or Airbnbs when this isn't practical. When they arrived in Chile in South America, they bought a van - a refurbished ambulance - which they travelled the continent in. They spent two years exploring the continent and covered 50,000 kilometres in that time.
Louis said: "By far, the highlight was the people of South America. They were all so open and welcoming and just so generous. One of the most special experiences we had was seeing jaguars in Pantanal in southern Brazil.
"I think the country that surprised us the most was Ecuador. We spent three months there and I remember seeing volcanoes, high mountains which my wife hiked up, beautiful beaches, and tropical forests full of hummingbirds. It was incredible.
" The pair sold their van when they left South America and returned to Cape Town where they are spending a few months upgrading their 4x4 - before hitting the road again. Louis said: "We want to start travelling again later this year or early next year. It's quite a long process to redesign and upgrade the car.
"There are a long list of things in Africa we haven't seen, we also want to revisit a few places which we rushed through and only spent a couple of days in the first time round. That's the biggest thing we've taken away from our travels - it's better to take it slower, there's no point in rushing. "Now we have the experience, we'd say that if you have the time, never just spend one night in a place.
It's so much better to really explore and experience new places and new cultures.".
