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For more than 30 years, world-renowned desert photographer, Michael Martin, has been travelling to the furthest corners of the earth in search of spectacular desert scenes. For 25 of those years, Martin has relied on a BMW GS to safely transport him and his equipment across some of the most punishing landscapes imaginable.
‘To me, the motorcycle seemed to be the ideal means of transport for going on my long-haul adventure travels to the most remote parts of our planet. Compared to a car, it is very light and agile, and small enough to travel even on narrow paths. It was thanks to the great enthusiasm of two BMW employees for Africa that my touring companions and I were able to set off on our dream motorcycle, the BMW R 100 GS. We were overjoyed, and then we even managed to convince Lufthansa to fly our machines to Nairobi free of charge. From there we started on our first big project,’ recalls Martin.
In 1995 and 1998, Martin went on expeditions to both the Nile and the deserts of Africa, now in the saddle of an R 1100 GS. In 2009, he began travelling for his new project, ‘Planet Desert’, on an R 1200 GS Adventure, which was created specifically to stand up to the extreme demands Martin placed on his vehicles. Even this sturdy bike was put to the test however, with Martin exploring not only dry deserts, but the cold and ice deserts in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Another BMW that could hope to stand up to these environmental stresses is the BMW X1, available from Lancaster BMW Milton Keynes.
Stephan Schaller, President of BMW Motorrad, said: ‘Michael Martin and the BMW GS have been a dream couple for 25 years, a combination that could not be any more successful. Michael Martin’s work is unique worldwide and the demands he places on his expedition vehicles impressively show you how well suited a BMW GS is for precisely this purpose. We are very happy that the partnership between Michael Martin and BMW Motorrad has been so successful for the last 25 years and look forward to continuing it.’