Online presence
The good thing about the Internet is that it makes the world a smaller place (some might say that's a bad thing) but it does allow you to share your experience with people, share knowledge, stay in touch and provide links to forums and other sources of information. It also gives you a central point for friends, family and travelers to visit and see what you are up to. We used 1&1. They are the UK's leading hosting and website company. For approx £30 you get an "Instant Website" package which includes a website domain name of your choice, an 8 page website, email, guest book, feedback forms, CGIs, online software to build your website and 24/7 support. You can then upgrade as you see fit. I have been impressed with the service so click here if you would like to check out 1and1 latest deals.
Planning - Be Realistic & Flexible
Time - Most of the people we have met spent approx 12 months (minimum) planning and researching their trips but in reality it appears to be more like 2-3 years. Its hard to make comparisons as a rule because no one trip is ever the same. For example we have met people who are pretty much driving back to re-settle and have set fairly strict time lines to do the trip, while others are taking a longer period of time and have a much bigger travel plan in mind. The one thing that appears common is leave lots of time for jabs, visas and paperwork, especially the Carnet ! Also, during the planning phase for this trip our circumstances changed so we had to be flexible. In the 18 months preceding the start of the trip we decided to get married, sell a house, finish building a house, Nick changed jobs and we had to pack up our belongings and decided to emigrate to South Africa / get a residency visa.... all this on top of planning for the trip itself!!! To say we were busy was an understatement but we did it all and its all been worth it..
Budget & Costs for 2x People 1x 4x4
mmmmm - this is the BIG question and perhaps the one we spent several months researching. The costs below include EVERYTHING we spent on the trip once we started traveling. There is a real lack of data on this so put together a document that covers our budget and spending, you can download it HERE. As basic breakdown of what we spent is shown below. From our experience for 2x people and 1x 4x4 you need to be thinking of somewhere between €45-€60 per day for EVERYTHING for a year in Africa, and that includes being able to "relax", have the odd night in a hotel, enjoy a variety of tourist experiences, buy gifts, eat a healthy diet and treat yourself to the odd "blow out". Our full budget report can be downloded here.
We had set an original budget of €45 / day and found we were on target for that by the time we reached Northern Namibia. North, West and Central Africa were relatively cheap. The chart below gives you a feel for the spending we incurred for the whole year. Southern Africa is a lot more expensive and if you want to do tourist "stuff" it starts to add up and so we started to deviate away from the planned budget. This is even more so if you hit the school holidays or want to visit some of the famous / popular parks. We ended the trip after 366 days with an average spend of €58 / day. For people traveling on foot, by bike, motorbike etc...budgets will vary from ours and will also vary for different regions of the world. Africa is not as cheap as you might think.
Types of budget Vs Type of overlander
During the year we met a lot of people and a few overlander folk doing similar trips to ourselves. We did hook up with some of them a traveled some sections together but most of the time we were on our own. We found from these experiences that the people appear to fall into 3 main types of budget:
1) Minimal Budget <€40 / day
People whose trip is dominated by an extremely small budget with very little if no contingency - these people tend to spend most of their time doing things on the cheap and when the cash runs out the trip is over in what ever country they happen to be in. They tend to be traveling without proper paperwork, a vehicle that needs constant attention or repairing and day-to-day activity seems to focus on finding the cheapest source of food or hanging around back street garages haggling for something to be welded or scrounged. There is little if no spare cash for gifts or tourist related activity and when you hook up with them you tend to find that you quickly become a surrogate contributor towards the things they don't have (after a while this becomes a real pain and very tiresome). We also found they tend to be poorly equipped and are not really set up to travel off-road without support. Sadly, and whilst its not a universal observation, we did note that their budget had a major impact on their trip, how they traveled and also (in the case of 3 couples we met) their attitude to other people they came into contact with. There seemed to be a strange (competitive) focus on who can travel the furthest for the least amount of cash, which in our view, is not what the trip is about.
2) Realistic Budget €45-€60 / day
This group of people have a budget that has sufficient cover for a range of activity on the trip including site seeing, tourist stuff, gifts and contingency for vehicle repairs / things going wrong etc.... They tend to be well prepared with a reliable vehicle and have sufficient equipment to travel remotely / off the beaten track without support for extended periods of time. The trip can accommodate some changes along the way and pace of travel is slower and more relaxed. Accommodation tends to be simple and realistically priced with a focus on camping / bush camping with occasional stays in hotels / eating out as a treat. The end date is fixed or flexible and the budget will see them through to the end.
3) Money No Object Budget >€60 / day
This group of people have a massive budget that has sufficient cover for pretty much anything. They can change their plans at will and can afford to stay in top end camp sites / hotels on a more frequent basis. They can undertake more expensive site seeing / tourist stuff and have a pretty large contingency for vehicle repairs / things going wrong etc.... They tend to be very well prepared with a high end vehicle and have sufficient equipment to travel remotely / off the beaten track without support for a considerable period of time. Pace of travel is very relaxed. Have the ability to eat out regularly and the end date is flexible.
We would welcome feedback on the above budget comments and your own budget plans. If you have gathered any spending data please send it to us for an article Nick is working on for Overland Live.
Pre-Trip costs
- Base vehicle cost in 2006: 10-12 year old Defender 110 with 100k+ miles (unmodified): £3k - £5k. We note that you can pick up some good deals in the LRO / LRM magazines as people appear to off-loading vehicles at discounted rates - so happy shopping.
- Basic (new) overland vehicle equipment, preparation, labour & VAT: £10 - £12k
- Mechanical work, service, MOT, misc repairs, labour & VAT: £2k - £3k
- CARNET depends on the value of your vehicle and where you go - expect paperwork to cost £250 (ish) and depending on the security an extra £300 to cover this.
- Visas, medical, paperwork, misc administration £2k
- Medical insurance: £500 for 2x people (1 year)
- On the road budget - see above budget breakdown and spending profiles.
- Other big costs: We sold our house and imported the vehicle into SA when we arrived. This means we did not need 2 x flights home or shipping costs (this could cost approx £3500).
- Importing a car for a returning South African on a one way trip like ours costs about £500 (ish). We will post a full breakdown on this HERE soon.
- If you rent out your house furnished there will be admin costs etc ....while you are away and additional storage costs if you rent it out unfurnished that could add another £1-3k to your cost base, especially if you have to pay to store items.
We have heard a couple of accounts where the trip was a nightmare because things went wrong in a big way!! e.g. $2000 to get a tow for a broken down car in Central Africa, paying $500 for your vehicle NOT to be fixed at a back street garage and on top of that having your laptop nicked while it was in the garage. It seems expensive at the start BUT finding parts and getting things fixed if there are MAJOR mechanical issues along the way is not easy in remote parts of Africa. So spend money on getting the car fixed up before you go.
Vehicle
We decided to go for a pretty standard vehicle (Land Rover Defender 110 300 TDi) with standard equipment with a few extras. When we got the vehicle we both had full time jobs, very few tools, no garage and very little spare time, so we got help with the vehicle prep from Foley and R&E Land Rover. In retrospect we would have spent more time on the interior and are now in the process of making changes based on what we discovered after 1 year on the road. We cant over stress this.......what you spend now, you save later!! we have seen people spending over £50k - £100k for high spec 4x4s and trucks..... we were not in that league. We had plenty of time on our side as we are trying to get exactly what we wanted and to get familiar with off-roading, mechanical issues and equipment before we departed. From a vehicle safety point of view we are NOT compromising (Vicki lost a very dear friend in an accident in Namibia) so we spent a little more on things like a cab roll cage and the normal / basic vehicle upgrades. Our view was if you roll your the car the trip might end there and then and you can forget about all the time and effort you spent worrying about saving a few ££ here and there......it all adds up but some basics are inescapable.
Why Land Rover?
Well, if you are thinking about a trip like this you quickly find out (from overland sites, forums, books and vehicle specialists) that people have their pet favourites and debates rage about what vehicles you should go with, Land Rover Vs Toyota appears to be the most common debate but there are some strange and wonderful modes of transport being used to cross Africa ranging from walking, Penny Farthing, camel, 2CV, ambulance, tractor, as well as some pretty full on 6x6 vehicles / high specification trucks with integral quad bikes and radar !!! Either way, the choice is a personal and practical one with your destination and budget playing a big part. We plumbed for the good old Land Rover and after some research chose to go for the Defender 110 Hard Top 300 TDi. As a quick note here - the naming of the Defender marque is a little confusing to newbies like us so here is a summary on which ones are which:
• 2.5 (1984 to 1986)
• 2.5 T/D (1986 to 1990)
• 2.5 Tdi 200 series (1990 to 1994)
• 2.5 Tdi 300 series (1994 to 1998)
• TD5 (1998 onwards)
Many overland sites and books recommend the 200 or 300 as the best, later model choice as the TD5 is a more complex electronic beasts. Also, these models are still "electrically simple" and parts easy (ish) to find (although on the road we found this easier said then done) famous last words eh!! Words of caution seem to focus on the Land Rover gear box, timing belts, clutch slave cylinder (ours failed) and under-body condition. There is also debate about available power from a 2.5L engine and dust in turbos - but we decided that there is never going to be an "ultimate" vehicle for this trip and there is a certain romance associated with the Land Rover - ask us that when we are stuck in the mud in Gabon and its 35'C and the Mosquitos are biting (turns out we got stuck in the mud in Cameroon and it was 40'C this was mainly due to the tow bar fitment getting stuck in deep trenches etc... We recommend you REMOVE this before you reach Africa). Remember, the bigger the vehicle, the more restrictive it can be on small tracks and off-road sections (especially in jungle).
So we named our Land Rover "Dassie" (a Dassie is a South African, rock crawling hamster on steroids) is a 1997 Reg, Ex-Environment Agency vehicle that was bought from a nice chap called Steve who bought it from The Land Rover Man for a trip to Morocco and Europe. When we took delivery it had 133k miles (not 100% service history) but was in pretty good order. We had it checked by a local Land Rover dealer who pointed out a few normal faults, like seals, gaskets and oil pipes as well as the universal leaking door!! But the body work was OK and her belly was pretty much rust free.
Before (bought state)
After - Initial prep
So what did we do??
The vehicle had already had some preparation performed like bonnet cross plate, side cross plate, running boards (very useful), roof rack, side awning, rear ladder, rear work light and wooden centre storage box. The engine seemed sound enough (no blue / black smoke) and there were a few very small oil leaks - although we have subsequently found that one of the bearings had gone in the back axle (Salisbury Axle). In terms of interior, there was no preparation and we had a blank sheet of paper to work with. The roof rack had to go (not strong enough) and all the wheels wheels / suspension were upgraded. We broke the work into 2 sections:
1) Mechanical work by Foley Specialist Vehicles
• Service including new air, fuel, oil filters
• New oils all round
• New steering box
• New Radiator
• Fuel sedimentation / prefilter fitted
• 4 x new brake discs & pistons
• Remove ERG & new down pipe
• New cam belt & kit
• New P Gasket
• 2 x rear hub assemblies and drive shafts
• 1 x front left hub assembly and drive shaft
• New drop arm BJ
• New drag link BJ
• Remove sump, new seal
• 2 x ball joints
• 1 x steering UJ
• Repair to seat
• MOT
2) Vehicle equipment list & usefulness
There was a fair old bit of stuff to stick on Dassie !! We got quotes for both supply and fit from 3 leading UK overland preparation companies. Now who you choose is up to you, but we ended up going for Foley Specialist Vehicles They were prompt to respond, offered very sound and honest views on our trip, our needs and problems we might encounter. They have a lot of experience and were able to point us in the right direction. We would highly recommend them. Its approx. a three to four week job for them to kit out the vehicle with the items below. We had discussed doing some of it ourselves, but to be honest after a lot of research, especially with respect to safety and not having the right tools, knowledge, a ramp / garage / inspection pit and much spare time because Nick did a lot of travel with work we decided let the specialists do it !! ;-) A full list of what we had fitted and its usefulness on our trip can be downloaded here.
Fuel consumption & Repairs on the road
Along the way, we logged our fuel consumption and to make sure that the vehicle was running in an optimal way. We corrected the total mileage from the ODO Vs the GPS and so we estimate that our average consumption was somewhere around 27-28 mpg.
All or fuel cost data can be downloaded HERE.
MPG summary data for whole trip
Summary of economy & costs
We never ran out of fuel and we averaged 83 miles per day although we had rest days and clearly did more than this on long drive days. In terms of repairs, we only had one serious incident that occurred in Namibia, and that was the alternator bearing failing and so we were brought to a stand still. Luckily parts are easy to find in Namibia and we were towed to a campsite and had a new alternator sent to us in the post. 2 days later we were on the move again. We also had the front wheel bearing replaced and the wheels re-aligned in Namibia. This also involved having a new left front stub axle fitted. All other repairs were minor fixes to a fuel line leak and upgrading the rear springs and replacing the rear shocks (we burst one).
A summary document on the repairs will be inserted HERE soon.
Servicing on the road
The great thing about most of Africa is that even the smallest of garages or bush mechanics have inspection pits or ramps that allow you to do your own servicing (oil, filter changes, greasing etc...). We stuck to the normal service schedules and also greased the UJs / Props regularly. To help us keep tabs on this we created a service schedule table that we kept in the drivers cab area. It allows you to quickly check mileage and work out what needs attention. This is a good idea for extended overland trips. An example of ours is enclosed below.
Navigation, Maps, Guides & Books
This is is a complex area as there are many "gadgets" you can take BUT they have to serve a useful purpose and you need to know how to use them. We are going to take a range of maps as well as a Garmin GPS, a set of binoculars and a Silva compass as we want to be able to use both methods to get about and "know" where we are - rather than relying on a GPS until it fails!!! We will be using the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx. Its a very rugged / waterproof (it floats) unit that has a colour screen, map and way point capability with auto-routing. It can store 1000s of way points and has track back facility. It also has a barometer and altimeter and has trip time, speed and odometer functions. It is shipped with a base map of the World and Trip and Way Point Manager software (Garmin Road Trip if you use Mac). It links to your laptop via a USB and has mini SD cards for extra memory. The key advantage with this unit is its dash mountable and can be used hand held for walking. You can buy a range of more detailed maps for it for a range of uses depending on your needs. For more details go to the Garmin site and check out the unit there.
We took the Michelin National Series for Africa: 746, 741, 745 - A MUST BUY item!! Gives you a good "macro" view of where you are going and they help with high level route planning. We used a plastic hiking map pocket to carry / protect our maps, this was a good investment and really helped prevent us from destroying the map with dirty / wet hands etc.... We also put a compass in the pocket and marked a scale on the cover - BTW we used the compass a lot! Especially handy when trying to help an angry German understand which way is North when we were lost in the desert!!The National Geographic Adventure Atlas (which has maps, stats and guides within it) is pretty big / heavy - but covers things like the Game Parks and things to see along the way. Worth taking and great to use with kids as it has lots of great pictures in.
Guide Books
• Bradt Africa Overland - GOOD overview but forgot to pack it!! Ooooopps
• Vehicle Dependent Expedition Guide by Tom Shepard - Good but a bit techie (did not take)
• Africa on a Shoe String by Lonely Planet - Not very good - too vague / not detailed enough
• We found Rough Guides / Lonely Planets to be poor value - out of date, lacked detail
• Sahara Overland by Chris Scott - GOOD VALUE and useful for North Africa
• Haynes Manual for Land Rover 110 Defender - GOOD INVESTMENT
• PDF version of Land Rover workshop manual - GOOD and FREE
• Travel Health for Africa (pocket book) by Lonely Planet - MOST read book of trip & good value!
• Various pocket language guides - Worth getting to help you get by and break the ice
• Bradt guide for Namibia, Bots, Moz - By FAR the BEST guides we bought, expensive but detailed
• Jan Jouberts 4x4 guide to Namibia - VERY GOOD VALUE if you want to go remote in Namibia
• The Tracks 4 Africa map series for Southern Africa is highly recommended
• First Overland by Tim Slessor (London to Singapore in the 1950s!!) - Good non fiction read
• We also picked up a couple of books on Land Rovers and Green Lane Driving in the UK.
• There are also a load of tips, down loadable files and guides on various topics located on various
Overland websites (see links pages).
Communications
Again, this is another area where it's gadget heaven!! We are adopting a pretty straight forward approach that will involve using this website as the main hub (not really going to update it too much on the road) and use a selection of simpler media to remain in contact personally or on a wider basis.
• Internet cafe / WiFi = Email, U Tube, Blog, photos, website updates along the way etc, probably did this once a month as we were not so bothered about regular updates.
• Old mobile phone from UK for texts and emergency calls. Ended up losing phone in B Faso and never missed it. Only starting using local sims when we got to Southern Africa.
• Twitter - we used this linked to the SPOT. The "text location" capability for brief updates to Twitter linked to Facebook from SPOT was what we used the most.
• Personal communications - 2 x Motorola short range radios for use between vehicles - hardly used them and when we did, the other people were crap and so we only used them when in remote country on steep ground to navigate routes in rocks etc....
• SPOT GPS Messenger (see GPS pages) to send location data and simple messages - BEST investment and used daily. Works well until Southern Africa. VERY handy for emergency too.
Next time we travel we will focus more on using Twitter via SMS. Blogging is a pain in the arse and being able to send a simple text that lets everyone know where you are and how you are doing is the simplest and most cost effective way of communication. The SPOT device was also good for real time location.
Weather & time of travel
We have been working on a detailed weather plan so that we miss the hot times and the wet times. We quickly concluded that this is a HARD task for Africa!!! We are starting in Morocco in September but plan to spend a month there so will be heading South proper Oct / Nov onwards. This is not a conventional time to hit Africa - most people plan for January / February. That said, all you can do is plan to minimise peak heat and peak wet periods. We know that in Cameroon and Gabon we will hit rain and MUD - so you just have to accept that getting hot, wet and stuck in mud will happen!!! We got all the weather info off the Michelin Maps and constructed our own Excel planner covering monthly peak (average) temps and rain fall. We then ordered the countries in the direction of travel and tried to work out a route (avoid blue and high numbers). There are several season planners (some interactive) on a few of the travel sites check the The Hubb for more info. In summary, and like us, other people have made their own planners to suit their needs, some include animal watching and best time to visit parks etc..... they are worth checking out.
Personal equipment & packing list
We are allowing ourselves 1 x small box each for personal clothing. This is approx 30cm x 40am x 20 cm deep. Other ad-hoc items will be stored in our cargo net behind our heads (we use this a lot). Needless to say - you can always carry toooooo much stuff and we know from our shake down trip that we will be keeping it to essentials only - but we still took too much stuff - first timers eh!
• 1x Trangia stove with gas and petrol burner - used all the time
• 1x COBB BBQ with stir fry and baking rack - Highly recommended but bulky
• 1x 10 L fuel can for petrol - 10 litres of fuel last 9 months
• 1x 0.6L fuel can for Trangia
• Camping pots (various)
• Storage boxes for cooked food / meals on the go - used a lot with fridge
• Plastic knives forks etc…..SPORKS rule!
• Ammo box liner for kitchen stuff - pain in the arse storage wise
Power on the road
• 1 x aux 12 Volt battery (deep cycle)
• 1x Split charge relay (RS Marine kind)
• 1x 40 Watt solar panel for topping up aux battery
• 1x solar control unit
• 1x Caravan hook up for 220-240V AC power from mains (when available)
• Adaptors various (took loads)
• 1x polarity tester for mains hook up
• 1x UK plug gang
What we learnt - Solar panels are highly inefficient - 40W panels should yield 3.3 amps but in reality only gives 1.1 amps. We are going to upgrade this when we get back to 90W minimum. The fridge is the main draw (2.5amps) so you need at least this going back into the battery. For long term bush camping / remote from power sites, the solar panel is great for keeping battery topped up. A fridge bag helps keep the cold in and power needs down. The solar control unit also helps you over charging or draining your battery - a VERY useful thing to fit. The caravan hook up for 240 volts AC power was used a lot - and if you pack adaptors on the scale we did (!) you can use it to help run the fridge and take the strain off the battery. Batteries take a hammering on your trip so look after them!
Health & Vaccines
This is a pretty simple exercise - Visit your GP / GP nurse and discuss your plans. They will be able to help you understand what jabs you need and offer travel advice. They will also have access to your vaccination records, handy as Nick lost his little book years ago ! We quickly realised we needed stacks of jabs over a course of approx 7 weeks!! So don't leave this to the last minute!!! Check out the MASTA site and visit your GP / Nurse. They can login to the MASTA system and you can plan your route - it then generates a list of vaccines you need. By the end of it you will have an up to date vaccination record and a Yellow Fever Certificate which is must for traveling in Africa, especially in Nigeria and when you get to Southern Africa.
One thing its worth doing is getting your blood typed - if you have ever given blood (like us) you will know this is on your blood donor card. It sounds dramatic but this is quite useful because if you need blood in a remote area you will know who can donate to who. In our case, Vick can donate to Nick but not the other way round (sorry Vick). See this link for info on this subject. The big one in Africa is Malaria, we plan to take Doxycyclin (daily antibiotic) with a separate treatment (Malarone) should we get Malaria. A doctor friend of ours also has a couple of spare Malaria test kits which we will take. We plan to get our Malaria pills in South Africa before we go (much cheaper)
Medical Kit
Our medical kit is made up of some old First Aid kits Nick has had for years and we also bought some additional stuff from Nomad. The key new bits we got were 2 x Sterile Kits for remote travel, the independent travel kit, dental pack and the BSES kit. We then combined all this into easy grab packs. We also got a small book on first aid and health advice for travel in Africa. The kit we have assembled is shown below and is easy to pack away. A full listing of everything we took and how we used it can be downloaded HERE
Visas, insurance & paperwork
Boring but important, we plan to get visas as we go as most people do this. We will monitor websites such as the HUBB for any specific issues that may arise as we go (e.g. Mauritania / Niger / Mali / Lybia have a few issues right now), but that's the general plan. Most of the sites in our links page have copious amounts of data on visas. We will be getting local 3rd party fire and theft insurance for Dassie as we go and a world personal travel health policy for the both of us from Travel Nation (£498 for both if us for 1 year). We have heard this company is very good if things go wrong medical wise and as this is the most serious consideration on a trip like this we decided to go for them after hearing good stories from another set of travellers - one of whom nearly died and needed Medivac to UK from Ghana.
We plan to take a stack of passport photos (75) and some A4 summaries covering:
• Personal details (translated into French)
• Vehicle details (translated into French)
• Medical kit and drug list (with letter of approval from GP)
CARNET & DVLA Notification for UK cars
A Carnet de Passage en Douanes is an internationally recognised Customs document entitling the holder to TEMPORARILY import a vehicle duty-free into countries, which normally require a deposit against import charges for such vehicles (generally countries outside Europe) as follows;
• Africa - needed in most countries - helps avoid fines!
• Australia/New Zealand
• Far East
• Middle East
• Recommended in South America
The Carnet is available to anybody normally resident in UK. Non-residents should apply to the motoring club in their country of residence. See RAC site for more info. We paid for a Bank Guarantee from 1st Direct - easy to set up and costs £280 for 1 year. To be safe we used our Carnet in every country we went to except Morocco. Carnets are now needed for Mauritania and Senegal. We did meet people traveling without a Carnet and even fake Carnets - risky! Getting it stamped is not always mandated in every country and things are always changing BUT we recommend you insist and get all the stamps (in and out) for every country. It serves as proof when it comes to the famous African question "do you have anything for me?" i.e. a bribe. You may find that you have to actually "help" the customs guy fill it in, quite a fun experience. Its also worth considering letting DVLA (for UK only) know that your vehicle is not on the road. RAC can advise on the proforma letter you can send them to make sure you don't get fined!!
International Driving Permit
If you're planning to drive a car abroad you'll need an International Driving Permit (IDP) for certain countries like Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria & Southern Africa. We got asked for the permit in the countries and it simply negates a fine if you don't have it. This is in addition to your UK driving licence (and a useful second ID) which you also need to take with you if you're driving and/or hiring a car abroad. To be eligible for an IDP you must:
• Have a full UK driving licence (not provisional) covering the type of vehicle you're planning to drive abroad - be a permanent resident of the UK
• Be 18 or over.
• You can't get an IDP with a foreign driving licence unless it's an EU driving licence and you're resident in Great Britain (see this link for more info).
• An IDP is valid for 1 year.
• You can only get an IDP 3 months in advance of needing it.
• You can't get an IDP issued retrospectively.
• There are 2 types of IDP (1949 and 1926) depending on which countries you visit, e.g. Nigeria and whilst you have to look hard to see the difference in the licences, your average Jo at the checkpoint will probably not check BUT again, if they do, expect a small fine if you don't have both.
• We got ours at Dover Port AA hut on the day we left for France - check their website for opening times and ring them to check just in case.