The "Bus number 7" project
"Bus number 7" is a multicultural project; its goal is to get acquainted with different cultures and deepen the liaison between people of Europe and remote and nearly forgotten lands. "Bus number 7", a refurbished and converted articulated bus started in January 2008 for her first journey to the heart of Africa, the capital of Mali, Bamako. This was the first time ever an articulated bus crossed the Sahara. After one tough month and 16,000 kilometers the bus successfully rolled into the finish in Budapest.
The brains behind this concept and the organizers of the project are three "Bamako veterans" who participated and accomplished the 2006 and 2007 Budapest-Bamako rallies. The organizers were searching for a vehicle not particularly optimal for the desert terrain but a rather spectacular one to travel to Africa and show the world a real inter-cultural cooperation. "Bus number 7" was a decisive team of the 2008 Budapest-Bamako run.
The bus took tons of gifts on board primarily for a school which operates in Kalabankoro, the poorest suburb of Bamako and the community living there. The organizers already supported this school in the previous years. Also, the crew of Bus number 7 surprised local communities with clothes, stationery, toys and medicine in several points along the route. The charity goods the bus carried were sponsored by caring individuals and companies who cooperated with the organizers of Bus number 7.
The Hungarian and international media
payed special attention for the project and the crazy adventure. Dozens of articles, TV, radio and press interviews were made to introduce Bus number 7 to the world. This encouraged the organizers to start the huge rolling charity and entertainment center to Africa again in 2009.
The everyday saviour – Catering bus in the desert!
Bus number 7 has a new concept for the new African journey.
Copying the style and the less romantic image of the past one-and-only state catering service of the '70s and '80s, Bus number has decided to serve the passengers i.e. the participants of the rally. All the goodies they could get in a canteen of a railway or bus station will be available!
Bus number 7 will be the party bus of Budapest-Bamako 2009, the crew will throw big big parties for the exhausted participants after a hard day in certain official camp sites... but ad hoc parties are also possible on the way. We'll have cold draft beer, wine, and all sorts of spirits, soft drinks, chocolates and candies, just like in a regular bus terminal. In the evenings we'll project movies and make a dance parties in the desert!
Part of the services of Bus number 7 will be free for the participants, some other goods and services will be available for a certain fee. There is only a minimum price, no maximum. Everyone can pay in any local currency and the crew will offer the amount for the charity fund defined by the lead organizer of the rally.
Why "Bus number 7"?
"Bus number 7" is an "institution" itself, it's a public transport artery of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Everyone knows its route who ever visited the city. Some of the vehicles transporting tens of thousands of passengers every day on this route are the same type that the crew of "Bus number 7" will navigate to Africa.
Budapest-Bamako - history of the Great African Run
