Cats aren't exactly known for road adventures, but here's one who has ticked 12 countries off her bucket list in the last three months. Her owner Martin Klauka quit his logistics job in Germany and bought a motorcycle to embark on a cross-border travel to Dubai. He set off from Rosenheim, Germany on August 24 on a Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin bike, but he wasn't alone.
Meet his feline travel buddy, Mogli, who he rescued from the streets. "I was in Morocco on a road trip in March 2017 when Mogli walked up to me. She was about two years old, frail and malnourished. I decided to take her with me to Germany on my bike. It was better than leaving her on the streets to die. She was so sick her tail had to be amputated," the 31-year-old said. Mogli survived that road travel and since then she has been a part of Martin's every other trip. After a three-month adventure covering 12 countries, the duo finally set foot on UAE on December 3. Their route included Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Iran, in that order. "The reason I took this trip was because I wanted to change my life. My life was about working from Monday to Friday like most people. I wanted to do something memorable so that when I am 80, I don't look back and say that I have spent all my days at work. I wanted to do something that I am proud of when I am older. I also wanted to challenge myself," Martin said. "I didn't know where I was going and what I was going to do. Most importantly I didn't know if the princess AKA Mogli would stay with me throughout the trip. She could just run away and find a better place." Mogli is no less a thrill-seeker than her owner though she prefers fast rides on highways to bumpy roads, Martin added. "Mogli usually sits in the tank bag in front of me. When I drive fast, I partly close the tank bag so that she can come out on her own terms. Once I get to 60 or 80 km per hour, she goes back into the bag and chills there. She even sleeps inside. In Iran at one point I looked inside and she wouldn't even look up anymore. She just slept." However he said it wasn't always easy to have a cat on-board. "There were many complications. I lost her a few times and got really worried. I kept looking for her for hours. Also if you have a cat, many hotels don't let you in. I have been kicked out of so many restaurants and stores. Sometimes I had no choice but to smuggle her in as I couldn't keep her waiting outside," he added. In Dubai, the duo is going to stay for a few months to earn enough to hit the road again. They plan to continue their road trip to India at the end of the summer of 2018. When asked what he learned in his journey, Martin laughed, "I guess the word for 'cat' in many languages. Also we met so many amazing people in our journey. Whenever we were in trouble, we always found people who were ready to help us, even though they thought I was crazy to take this trip with my cat. Some even wouldn't let me pay for the fuel." As for Mogli, she's a cat with many tales to tell. Be it fast rides or bumpy roads, she travels with her human through every adventure together. You can follow their adventures on Instagram: @motomogli nilanjana@khaleejtimes.com
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