Kathmandu, October 9:

Four Venezuelans of the ‘Hummer Expedition’ are on wheels to explore the grandeur of nature. Travelling in a Hummer H1— an American sports utility vehicle (SUV) — the four-member team entered Nepal through Lumbini three days ago and are now in Kathmandu after a visit to Pokhara.

The expedition, which started out from Chennai, India on September 5, is on a 60-day-tour to explore various parts of India, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, and attempts to cover over 50,000 km on road.

The team consists of Dr Enrique Suarez, the navigator of the team, Angel Bajares, the photographer, Pedro Castro Amare, a journalist and the team leader, Tony Velasquez.

“Nepal is famous for adventure sports. Venezuelans know about Nepal but most of Latin Americans are unaware of this country, home to the tallest peaks in the world,” said Velasquez.

The expedition was exploring the most interesting places in the world, and Nepal, being rich in tradition, culture and natural beauty, the team could not skip it from its itinerary, said Velasquez, adding that the diverse communities in Nepal would add to their documentary.

“The main objective of the expedition is to make a documentary film that will cover people living in different altitudes. We are trying to capture all the diverse communities of Nepal into a film and are looking forward to broadcasting it through various television networks,” he said. Velasquez said the documentary would help people know about Nepal.

Good Year India, one of the sponsors of the expedition, organised a reception for the expedition team in Kathmandu today.

Primarily designed as a ‘war vehicle’ for the United States soldiers, the Hummer is bullet-proof, equipped with night vision equipment and has a GPS system installed.

The first expedition of Hummer team was to Alaska in 1997. Since, the expedition has explored La Amazonia and Los Andes in 1998, African Sahara in 1999, Australia in 2000, South-Western Asia in 2001, Venezuela in 2003 and their recent expedition took them from the South Pole to North Pole.