A century of Egyptology

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If you thought the number of badges on the Uhlík-bodied Imperia seen earlier this month was impressive, take a look at this prominent photograph. Now that really is an impressive collection of plaques and badges on a car, isn’t it?

The lady in front of it is Idris Welsh, who became better known as Aloha Wanderwell Baker. She sure knew how to go touring abroad. The picture was taken on her second world tour by car. Where she’d previously chosen a specially equipped Ford Model T of 1918 vintage when she was just 16 years old, this was a 1935 Ford Touring Sedan.

Car and Camera Around the World

Wanderwell visited over 80 countries and six continents, driving over 500,000 miles. Together with her husband Walter Wanderwell, she made a film called Car and Camera Around the World plus one about the Bororo tribe after being stranded in Brazil for six weeks. In 1932, Walter was shot and killed on their yacht in California. Later Wanderwell married another Walter — Baker — and continued her travels.

Egypt was one of her favourite places, and with 2022 marking one hundred years since the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, we thought it would be a particularly good moment to share this picture. Oh, and we found another shot from Aloha’s first visit to Egypt, with the following description from the explorer herself: “We drove onto the desert sands, our encampment on the back of the crouching Sphinx. Some of the crew slept, some still in town. Overhead trillions of stars; below, the Nile, oasis palms, distant hazy glow of Cairo, my feet on the colossal Sphinx, half-ridden in sand; above, the mighty Nemes headdress framed those sightless eyes. Setting up camp on the Sphinx at night was indeed incredible.”

Words Jeroen Booij. Pictures Alohawanderwell.com.

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