Traveling the "World in Slow Motion" With a Three-Wheeler

Traveling the "World in Slow Motion" With a Three-Wheeler
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Have you ever thought of putting together a team and embarking on a journey aboard tuktuks, mopeds, bicycles, or any other means of transportation whose speed normally doesn't exceed 50km/h? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. A new trend is emerging: traveling the world in slow motion.

But what exactly does it mean?

"The easiest way to explain what we mean is included in this phrase: it's just like the difference that exists between Fast Food and Slow Food: would you rather have a hamburger in 5 minutes, or a steak while sitting at a table sipping a glass of good wine? The world in slow motion means taking your time, observing what you see and participating in what you're documenting," Ludovico de Maistre of the Taurinorum Team, said.

Click and drag to navigate the 360º photos and videos.

This team of Italian travel enthusiasts organized the ApeWay 2015 expedition spending the last month 'slow traveling' across Ethiopia under the motto that slow and steady wins the race. The purpose of the travel was to promote the legendary Ape Piaggio three-wheeler in the Ethiopian market and to raise awareness about road safety.

Roads bring growth--and death. According to the UN, each year in Ethiopia, road accidents kill more than 3,000 persons and injure more than 8,000. In the country's capital city, Addis Ababa, a person dies each day from road accidents. ApeWay 2015 handed out over 5,000 bracelets and hundreds of high visibility reflective T-shirts to locals: a small contribution that could save many lives.

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Believe it or not, in Ethiopia, language was not an issue.

"Travelling with an Ape Piaggio is the best way to start a conversation," Ludovico explained. "When we stopped along the road, people usually looked at us with a puzzled expression at first, but after a few seconds they would become curious of our story. Encounters generally ended with a laugh or a high-five."

If Ethiopians are used to seeing tuktuks in city areas, they are certainly not accustomed to finding an Ape on dirt roads in the middle of the Mago National park, and certainly not driven by "faranji" - foreigners. Participants dedicated much of their time trying to explain the purpose of the trip to locals. "Communicating the logic of what we were doing certainly was the main challenge with the World in Slow Motion concept. But it was also the best thing of the trip," Ludovico said.

Ethiopia: First Impressions.

Seven participants were selected among hundreds of applicants. They all brought specific skills to the table ranging from photography to anthropology in order to produce a "docu-reality" film. Innovative gears were used, such as the new spherical camera Ricoh Theta S which captures the entire 360° space with a single shot, and the Lytro, the first high-end camera to harness the entire light field, retaining the richness and depth of a scene.

The friendliness of Ethiopians helped the team overcome the cultural shock and feel at "home away from home". "I must admit that I was feeling more at ease than I thought I would," Federico Sattanino, expert in 360º photography, said. "In a sense, they [Ethiopians] are similar to my fellow contemporary Roman citizens: they simply live and let others be". Just upon landing in Addis Ababa the team was welcomed by the Ethiopian dry season: rain.

"Apparently it was the first time in 7 years that it rained that much in November," Federico explained. Yet, the Ethiopian government called for international assistance to help feed 8.2 million people after erratic rains devastated crop yields, earlier this year. "The visual stimuli were overwhelming," Federico continued. "Swarms of children running along the streets, wooden scaffoldings wrapped around buildings under construction, and traffic jams which equal those of Rome and Milan put together".

Anthropologist Marta Lodico felt Ethiopia is a place where modernity and tradition stick together inharmoniously. The mud hut coexists with the satellite dish.

Diving into the local culture, Federico learned that time truly is a relative concept to human beings, whose perception greatly differs depending on culture. "A tribesman of the Banna people told me (translated by our guide of course) that they don't really care much for knowing how old they are because frankly, even if you knew how much time has passed from your birth date, what could you possibly do to stop it from passing?"

"When in Rome, do as the Romans".

If there is one thing people should know about traveling and exploring different cultures for the ApeWay 2015 team is to leave home any kind of prejudices. "Any encounter can bring you an enriching experience, and in general we believe that the old saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans" is the key to truly experience a different culture. This doesn't necessarily mean you will like it, but you might at least understand and learn to respect the culture you are in".

Link to ApeWay 2015 Google Maps Street View Images.
All Photographs (c) Adriano Filippi. All 360º Photographs (c) Federico Sattanino.

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