South African pilots participating in the VintageAirRally are making their way home in old-world style‚ as they prepare to fly over the Tanzania National Park this week. The air rally flies across Africa‚ from Crete to Cape Town‚ over 36 days for a charitable cause. The mode of transport required to join the journey is any aircraft built before December 31‚ 1939.“Following in the footsteps of the pioneering flights in the 1920s – we’ll connect some of the most beautiful and evocative points in Africa. Flying low along the Nile from Cairo to Khartoum‚ past the highlands of Ethiopia before the plains of Kenya and the home of African aviation in Nairobi. Then off again past Kilimanjaro into the Serengeti – and on to the spice island of Zanzibar. After a short pause to enjoy the Indian ocean‚ we continue‚ crossing Zambia to Victoria Falls‚ before continuing to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Our final days take us across Botswana and into stunning South Africa – to the Cape‚ journey’s end‚” the rally's website says.A photo posted by VintageAirRally (@vintageairrally) on Nov 27, 2016 at 7:34am PSTasExperienced pilots from various countries including South Africa‚ the United States of America‚ Germany‚ the United Kingdom‚ Canada‚ Botswana and Belgium will take on this mechanical challenge. So far 72-year-old pilot Maurice Kirk has already gone missing - organisers believe Kirk's aeroplane suffered an engine failure and he was forced to land in South Sudan last week. He is reportedly safe.This week the aviators are expected to depart from Wilson Airport‚ Kenya‚ past Mt. Kilimanjaro to Arusha‚ Tanzania. They will then fly over the country's Ngorogoro crater‚ where pilots will land on a dirt strip before enjoying a game drive and a smart dinner.Bushcat landing today on a dirt strip in Nairobi National Park during the VintageAirRally. Weldone Team Bushcat! @Team BushCat @MagicalKenya #africa #kenya #rallyPosted by Vintage Air Rally on Sunday, November 27, 2016According to the rally's Facebook page‚ the crews are currently in Kenya‚ and while they're up in the air‚ they will be doing some good deeds.One of the initiatives the rally supports is seed bombing‚ where the aeroplanes scatter seeds over hard-to-reach terrain."The seeds are encapsulated in a mix of fertilizer‚ insecticide/animal repellent and‚ perhaps a few acacia seeds – creating a ‘seedbomb’. They are moistened a few days before the drop‚ to start germination‚ and then scattered across areas inaccessible to hand-planting projects – fighting the deforestation that is becoming a very serious problem in Africa‚" the rally's website says.On Monday organisers posted photographs of the seedbombs the pilots will drop for the aerial reforestation of parts of southern Kenya.The rally's crews are also fundraising for Birdlife International and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund.Last week the 40-plus participants were detained in Ethiopia for allegedly entering the country's airspace illegally.The crews had their phones confiscated and slept on the floor of Gambela Airport until the mix-up was resolved‚ according to rally's Facebook page."Eventually‚ after almost 3 days of investigation‚ the Ethiopian authorities realised that it was a genuine mistake and the VintageAirRally was permitted to continue to Kenya‚" the organisers said in a statement.The crews are expected to enter Johannesburg around December 12 and end their journey in Cape Town on December 17.The organisers had not yet responded to a request to explain how the detention of the crews in Ethiopia may affect the rest of the rally's itinerary at the time of publication...