Adventure Medic Staff Writer Hannah catches up with Steve Brennan, general surgeon and expedition doctor for Charley Boorman on his 10,000 mile lap of Africa. They talk Mongol Rallies, well-stocked Defenders, medicine on the road and winegums.
Tell us what you have been up to in Africa?
Day to day, I’m a Consultant General Surgeon in London, but last summer I had the opportunity to be medic to traveller and adventurer Charley Boorman, star of Long way Round and Long Way Down. After he had finished shooting Extreme Frontiers South Africa, we set off two weeks later on a 10,000 mile motorcycle around Africa starting in Cape Town, riding north and finishing about two months later in Johannesburg. I was the team doctor racing behind the bikers in a Land Rover Defender.
Which countries you have visited? Any favourites?
We started in Cape Town and headed north into Namibia, along the skeleton coast and into Angola. From there we took a right turn along the Caprivi strip and into Zambia. Then briefly into Zimbabwe, along to Malawi and then south into Mozambique. We travel the entire length from north to south before crossing back into South Africa and finish up in Jo’burg. Cape Town is amazing and certainly somewhere I could live forever but Mozambique is where you get a real taste of true deepest Africa. The people, the culture…
How did you manage to get involved?
About two years ago I did a trip called the Mongol Rally, where I drove a 10 year old NHS ambulance from Inverness to Mongolia. A similar trip to what Charley and Ewan MacGregor did in Long Way Round. After driving through Eastern Europe, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Russian and Mongolia I wanted to do another adventure. I met Charley Boorman at one of his shows in Inverness, got talking with his agent and one thing led to another and suddenly I was the medic for the team. All that Irish charm I guess!
What is a typical day like?
The group was about 20 bikers all on BMW 1200GS motorcycles and after a big feed at breakfast they all raced off to the next destination with Charley leading the group. My work usually commenced in the morning handing out hangover cures in the form of Stemetil, ondansetron, and tramadol. We then raced after the bikes in the two Land Rover Defender support vehicles. Usually every second or third day somebody came off the bike and crashed. Some were minor, some less so.
What kit do you carry?
The jeep was filled with about £5000 worth of medical equipment. We literally had a small A&E Resus in the boot. Oxygen cylinders, intubation equipment, stretcher, laparotomy tray, defibrillator, anaesthetic drugs, sutures, other drugs and 20 bags of Hartmann’s. (Of which we used four at the end of the trip)
Any hairy moments?
Not really, most injuries were fractures. Not ideal being a general surgeon but I was so glad I had done a middle-grade Ortho job in the past and had the basics. By the end of the trip we had treated a fractured clavicle, sternum, some vertebrae, wrists and ankles. Some significant chest injuries who may or may not have had haemo-pneumothoraces but, as with remote medicine, you don’t always have the benefits of a NHS hospital. In Malawi, the local hospitals had no X-rays so back to basics with clinical examination. The hairiest was probably when at the end of the trip a few of us rented bicycles and went into Soweto. Charley’s agent and bodyguard came off the bike and landed into a razor wire fence, slashing his wrist open. No time to get to Jo’burg General so we just dragged him back to the jeep and I sutured him up on the side of the road. Thankfully Billy has survived.
Best bits?
For me the best bits were in Cape Town, where I got to go on a simulated Vietnam Combat mission in a real US Huey helicopter. I bungee jumped off Victoria Falls bridge in Zambia (with Charley laughing his head off as I had to be pushed off the ledge).
5 things you wouldn’t travel without….?
I think ‘keep it simple’: Chapstick. Duck-tape. Sunglasses. Camera. Winegums.
Is it hard to stay objective when you know that keeping Charley well is what the production going ahead is reliant on?
This was a real concern. As you had 20 people, if one was injured and we got them to a hospital, we then had to move fast, patch them up and get going again or put them on a plane and Medivac them out. We were on a tight schedule and the team had to keep moving. We did have to leave one at an airport and keep going, as there was the 19 remaining bikers racing on with another crash around the corner. As the team doctor I had to be where I was needed most.
Any other trips in the pipeline?
I’ve just returned from Vietnam and Thailand but that was my honeymoon! Otherwise, I’ve just finished a trip to Gambia called Operation Hernia where a team of surgeons and anaesthetists flew back to Africa to operate on hernias all day long for a week. Hospitals with little or no equipment. This was led by Professor Andrew Kingsnorth, the hernia expert in Plymouth. Check it out on the internet as it’s a great way for trainees to do dozens of hernia operation in a short space of time. And its not just Gambia, you can do it nearly anywhere in the world.
Any courses you’ve found particularly useful?
I teach on Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and have done the Definitive Surgical Trauma Skills course (DSTS).
Best African food?
Nandos in Cape Town!
