Two graduates got stranded in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in Botswana when their Land Rover sank – and they had to walk 70km through the bush in Birkenstocks.

Todd Benney, 24, and Henry Harrison, 23, decided to drive across Africa in a 1994 Land Rover Defender last year.

Six weeks into the trip, they began their lengthy drive over the salt flats, but the engine started to struggle before they drove off a bank.

In the middle of nowhere, they tried to walk 30km towards a village for help, but when it got dark, they spotted animal tracks as they hiked back towards the car.

After walking for 14 hours over two days and around 70km- with Henry in Birkenstocks- the friends arrived and were able to get help from the emergency services to recover the car.

Todd, from Newbury, who studied sports management at the University of Bath, said: ‘You could hear the car going, going, going, then gone. It was completely submerged into the ground. We had already driven 35km into the middle of nowhere, and we couldn’t see any tyre tracks or anything.

He added: ‘We did not think we were going to get the car out; it just seemed impossible.’

The pals started their journey across Africa in September 2025 – driving through South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe before they arrived in Botswana.

They had planned to drive through eight countries in three months.

Henry, from Jersey, who studied engineering at Bath, said: ‘It was a drunk idea that just kind of materialised.’

The engine started to struggle at 15km across the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, and the car was making large inroads into the road before it sank, 35 km into the flats.

They had no service, but their maps showed a village about 30km away, and they decided to walk to the other side of the salt pan through the bush.

‘It got to like 6:30 pm and started getting dark, and we weren’t getting any closer. That’s when we noticed animal tracks towards the bush area,’ Todd said.

‘This is when we first thought f*** we’re in trouble; the only option we have is to walk through the bush and risk getting eaten alive or walking back to try and find the car.’

The boys decided to head back, using a screenshot of Google Maps to try and locate the car.

Todd said: ‘We started walking around for hours, thinking we were going to have to sleep on the salt pans.’

However, Henry remembered he had put the car’s location into what3words. The app was able to provide the exact coordinates of the car, which emergency services were later able to use.

Luckily, the boys had filled up a 20-litre bottle of water before they started travelling.

On the trek back, they ran out of water.

Henry said: “By the end, we were just dripping water drops into our mouths; it was boiling and there was no shade.”

After another lengthy walk, the boys found a guard station and were escorted to the police station and then the hospital to be checked over.

Henry said: ‘The police commander was asking us how we got out and how we escaped the animals. He said a couple got lost a year ago and they were never found.’

Henry said this put everything into perspective, about how much danger they were really in.

After three days, the car was finally recovered. Despite the Land Rover being submerged in salt for four days, the friends were able to continue their trip across Africa, seeing Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya – before returning on December 12, 2025.

Todd said: ‘At the end of the trip we sold the car in Tanzania to someone else travelling, and they drove it to South Africa and sold it to someone else. I really want to track it down for our next trip.’

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