Driving his 1988 Mercedes-Benz into Nuku'alofa was more than a just a holiday for Gunther W. Holtorf from Germany, who is aiming to achieve a mention in the Guiness Book of Records for driving in every country in the world.

Since he and his late wife Christine left Germany in 1989 they have driven the light blue, four-wheel drive, 300 GD Mercedes-Benz across six continents and many island nations.

During the past 23 years the Holtorfs have visited Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. They have also driven their van to all the 22 countries in the Caribbean and to eight Pacific Islands countries, including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, American Samoa, Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga.

At the end of 2011 the Holtorfs had clocked up a total of 780,000 kms in their Mercedes-Benz.

Although Christine died in 2010 from cancer, Gunther is continuing their adventure world tour with the remaining countries to be visited in 2012. This includes Japan, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam, Angola, Comoros, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and Sierra Leone.

"In 1989, our intention was to tour only Africa, but then we looked at the map, and asked ourselves, what about the Americas?" Gunther said that he has a home in Argentina, and Spanish is his second language. He said that that was how their whole world adventure tour was mapped out, they would finish one continent and then decided to do the next. In the Americas they tour the whole two continents "from Tierra del Fuego in the southern tip of Chile, throughout the whole of South America, through Central America, the United States of America, Canada, and to Prudhoe Bay in the northern coast of Alaska," he said.

The Caribbean he said was just as difficult as the Pacific Islands, because they had to ferry their car from one island to another. He said that it was very frustrating in some of the Caribbean islands countries, because they could see the island but there was no regular ferry service going there.

Gunther said that his van, was the only vehicle that had been driven to all the 22 main islands in the Caribbean. They also visited Cuba. But one problem with island hopping in the Caribbean, and the same in the Pacific islands, he said was that "Governments are not prepared to welcome a visiting vehicle, but they are well prepared to welcome a visiting yacht."

After touring the Caribbean the Holtorfs shipped their car from South America to New Zealand, and then Australia.

Gunther said they traveled both countries extensively during 2003-2004.

Gunther said before Christine died she asked him to continue on her behalf. "So I am just trying to complete the tour. Our son joined me for certain sectors of the trip. I am determine to finish the tour. I have done 95%".

Guther said that they do not have a sponsor, and their whole adventure is self financed, but he said that at the end of their trip this year their van will end up at the Mercedes-Benz Auto Motor Museum in Stuttgart, "the biggest automotor museum on earth, and they want to have the car as a permanent exhibit. They also want to enter the car into the Guiness Book of Records."

Gunther, an aviation engineer, said that it is still the same Mercedes-Benz that they started with in 1989, "same vehicle, same gear box, same paint job, except for a few touch-up in parts."

Preventive maintenance

"In aviation, you do everything on the ground before you lift off; and in aviation you change the parts of aircrafts before they start to break, and the same I do with this car. It is a little more expensive when you change a part that is still running, but knowing that it is already at the end of its life. Preventive maintenance. I change parts before it reaches the end of its life span. And that means over the years we never had a major break down. We got stuck in the mud and in the sand, but we did not get stuck with the car because of any maintenance problems."

Gunther said that he reconfigured the back of the car by removing the back seats and turning it into a sleeping quarters, and an extension where they could cook.

Being a self contained vehicle is also part of the security measures while traveling in foreign countries and in isolated locations. Gunther said that throughout their whole adventure they always slept in the car, or in hammocks tied to the car.

They had never ever experienced any threat with physical violence. "Don't paint the car with things to attract attention, and we do not have a page in the internet to tell the world about us, we just want to drive in and have a look and drive out. When we enter a city or a town I make a point that we don't drive through a street twice."

Gunther said that part of his security measures was that he always avoided having quarrels with officials. "If there was a confrontation, as in some instances unavoidable, we always parted with a handshake."

One of the highlights of their driving adventure was when they were allowed to enter North Korea. Gunther said that a visit to North Korea was only possible with an invitation from the Great Leader, Kim Jon Il. He was certain that their Mercedes-Benz was the only foreign vehicle that had ever been allowed to enter North Korea. Gunther said that they witnessed extreme poverty in North Korea.

Gunther has also driven through the war-torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gunther said that Tonga was the last of eight Pacific Island countries that he had visited since August 2011.