The Grand Tour: Massive Hunt 2019

Challenge

To facilitate multiple remote overnight camps and provision for 60 people as part of a large-scale production road trip through Madagascar.

Our Approach

Initially, we were contracted to advise on logistics and movement, coordinating a team of proposed local staff to facilitate camps at four locations along the coast, using boats to move between each site. With no equipment or crew in country to deliver at this scale, the Adventure Consultancy team stepped in to oversee the entire project.

Delivery

Having identified camp locations through a recce along the east coast of Madagascar, it became clear that the movement of camps and kit would be best handled by local boat operators. The roads were slow, single track and muddy, creating a real risk that camp setups would not be ready in time for production arrivals.

Following the recce, production identified no one in country capable of facilitating the actual camps, so Ant was engaged to plan each camp location, source all kit in the UK, and then pack and ship four tonnes of equipment to Madagascar by sea freight.

Pre-shoot, Ant led a team of 12 from Adventure Consultancy out to Madagascar to prep the kit, prepare a fleet of boats for transporting kit and crew, source refrigerator trucks to load onto boats for food storage, procure food and water for 60 people over four nights, and begin setting up camps one and two.

When production arrived at camp one, the Adventure Consultancy team had everything in place: sleeping tents and beds, marquees, toilets and showers, with our own chefs preparing all food fresh on site.

As production left each camp to drive to the next, the team operated a leapfrog system. One half would break down the previous camp and move ahead to prepare the next, while the other half facilitated the current camp. This process repeated across all four locations. On completion, the team packed up all kit for freight back to the UK.

Outcome

What started as a small advisory role for Ant quickly evolved into a large-scale expedition logistics challenge, requiring a full team of staff and end-to-end project management on the ground.

Key Results

This project became the foundation for our motto: "anything is possible with the right team in the right place." It was another example of working closely with a large local team, and that collaboration is what makes this kind of work so rewarding. Local knowledge makes everything more successful.