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I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place. The countries there are consistently in the top 20 most dangerous places to visit,
by overcast 10y ago
I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place. The countries there are consistently in the top 20 most dangerous places to visit, and placed on do not go lists. Definitely takes a special person to deal with all of that, on top of all of the obstacles they ran into. Looks like they could have avoided most of the transportation issues, by investing in a true land rover type vehicle, instead of a heavy behemoth.
- codeduck 10y agoAn old truck is a vastly more practical vehicle in Africa than a landrover - LRs need a lot of maintenance, whereas trucks generally just keep going. The only major mechanical issue they had was caused by dirty diesel, and if they'd had some sort of pre-filtration setup they could have probably avoided this. Their major issues were simply down to the weight of the vehicle and poor route selection.
- georgespencer 10y ago> An old truck is a vastly more practical vehicle in Africa than a landrover - LRs need a lot of maintenance, whereas trucks generally just keep going. This sounds like received wisdom. Is there any evidence to support it? Why would one believe that a land rover's engine requires more maintenance than the average engine found in all the aggregate "old trucks"?
- codeduck 10y agoThere isn't much direct evidence, no. Publications like https://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/7A814B01-5B83-4C27-A1F9-8B051E4294D6/0/HBETve.pdf https://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/7A814B01-5B83-4C27-A1F9-8B0... stress types of vehicle which are recommended / not recommended. The reason I made my original statement is that old, frequently ex-military trucks and old busses form the backbone of a lot of central and northern africa's transport networks, and the local mechanics are incredibly ingenious and experienced at performing "bush repairs" or fabricating spares to keep them going.
- jschwartzi 10y agoI would add that old vehicles aren't built to the same tight tolerances as newer vehicles. This makes it a lot easier to bodge together repairs for them, which makes them more maintainable by said bush mechanics.
- overcast 10y agoThey are the backbone, because they are cheap leftovers. They are very resourceful people for what they have access to. I'm guessing if they had modern trucks, and modern roads, for the same costs of the old hand me downs. They would probably use those instead. Cuba I'm sure is also ready to give up those old cars they've been keeping alive by now.
- michaelt 10y agoTop Gear is not by any means a reliable source of motoring journalism, but they do have a series of videos [1] which make a 1988 Toyota Hilux look very durable. At least if you have a mechanic with a "basic set of tools" on hand. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk
- tim333 10y agoI've traveled a bit in Africa and in my experience the Land Rovers are temperamental and the well off locals all drive Toyotas, often Land Cruisers.
- harlanlewis 10y agoBeyond Top Gear, the hilux is the standard light cav for irregular armies around the world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle) http://www.newsweek.com/why-rebel-groups-love-toyota-hilux-74195 http://www.newsweek.com/why-rebel-groups-love-toyota-hilux-7...
- sam_pointer 10y agoI can supply some anecdotally. I own two vehicles with reputations for running after neglected or minimal maintenance: a 1966 VW Beetle and a Land Rover. The more correct way of characterising both would be that they will continue to run and function without ongoing maintenance (the proper level of which is way above a modern vehicle) until they break in a spectacular and often terminal way. To attempt to answer your question, I think the general implication is that "old trucks" are designed for high maintenance intervals whereas Land Rovers, especially as used by the military, are designed to perform a function for short intervals with the long-term aid of a logistics chain.
- georgespencer 10y ago> "old trucks" are designed for high maintenance intervals I find this fascinating. To a layperson like me all combustion engines seem like they must be uniform. Thanks.
- HeyLaughingBoy 10y agoNope. Not even close. I have a 2001 Nissan Xterra that's been sitting in my driveway for almost 4 years with a blown head gasket because of the combination of lack of spare time, other available vehicles that I could drive, and the complexity of disassembling the engine to remove the heads. The seats and hatch area are now full of engine parts and I still have to finish taking off the passenger side head. Contrast that with my 1987 Toyota pickup: I would have had the entire job done in a weekend with time to spare.
- ahartman00 10y agothink notepad vs ms word. imagine if you had to debug one of them...
- vacri 10y ago> until they break in a spectacular and often terminal way One bloke had his Citroen die in such a way in Africa... and had to rebuild it into a motorcycle to get out of where he was http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168061/French-electrician-stranded-Moroccan-desert-rebuilt-wrecked-car-motorbike-drove-civilisation.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168061/French-elect... https://m.thevintagenews.com/2016/05/18/emile-leray-built-working-motorcycle-broken-car-citroen-2cv-escape-african-desert/ https://m.thevintagenews.com/2016/05/18/emile-leray-built-wo...
- davidcollantes 10y agoWhile I agree that more evidence on the claim that LRs are needy, the truck they bought wasn't an average one.
- nck4222 10y ago>Their major issues were simply down to the weight of the vehicle and poor route selection. Which could have been solved by using a landrover instead.
- overcast 10y agoSo all of those national geographic shows I see, where they are tearing through the jungle in land rover type vehicles, they should trade it in for a giant military diesel?
- Minanda 10y agoThe large variety and number of Land Rovers in daily use all over Africa would directly contradict you.
- jrcii 10y agoAs someone who spent a lot of time in Congo -- you also don't get the full picture from the media or even State Department statuses. In the example of Congo, the problem area is limited to a couple towns versus a country that's the size of Western Europe combined, and even there it's pretty infrequent. To go by what you read, the whole country is in constant chaos.
- overcast 10y agoI will agree the media like to blow a lot of things out of proportion. But you can not deny Africa has some serious problems that outsiders just aren't exposed to in any form daily. I'm glad you had a positive experience, but downplaying things has the opposite effect.
- point78 10y agoWith your methid of thinking the US should never be visited because of Detroit, Baltimore and Chicago.
- wil421 10y agoRight, because those cities have genocides and civil wars going on from time to time.
- CPLX 10y agoWell... I mean...
- ythl 10y agoThe USA is a police state where gun deaths exceed the rest of the civilized world combined.
- knodi123 10y agoThat's cartoonishly exaggerated. The gun homicide rate per 100,000 is 3.43 in the US, and 37.16 in swaziland. We have a big population in the US, of course we're going to have more of lots of things. But in terms of disease, violence, and vulnerability to official corruption, the US is way ahead of africa as a whole.
- fitzwatermellow 10y agoA much safer alternative would be circumnavigating Australia. By land via Highway 1 (the world's longest continuous road at 15,000 km). Or by sea in a luxury super yacht ;) https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/21421/circumnavigating-australia-a-beauty-of-a-voyage https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/21421/circumna...
- overcast 10y agoAustralia road trip has been on my list of a loooong time. When school is paid off in a year, it's going to the top.
- sickbeard 10y agoI dunno man. The wildlife in Australia scares the shit out of me
- oska 10y agoThere is very little to worry about there. Having your car break down or get bogged in a remote location is a much greater danger, but one that lots of tourists ignore.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- enraged_camel 10y agoUm, Australia is home to some of the most poisonous snakes and spiders on the planet. And outside of major cities, they crawl into people's homes and cars on occasion.
- mb_72 10y agoAustralian here. What you say is true, but avoid long grass (snakes) when out walking and check under the toilet seat (spiders) before sitting and you'll be fine. More importantly, make sure you look up constantly when around gum trees to avoid sudden and violent drop-bear attacks. The exact number of deaths and injuries caused by drop-bears is keep secret by the Australian government to avoid putting off tourists, but could well be more than zero.
- mtw 10y agoThis is in the "adventure" category not in tourism.
- robeastham 10y agoYou seem to have missed the point here. A Landrover does not a mobile home make. How are they supposed to live in a Landrover comfortably for 19 months?
- overcast 10y agoCamping up top. Google landrover camping.
- codeduck 10y agoCamping in Africa sounds amazing, right up until there's a hyena sniffing around the other side of the tent canvas. Then it's not so much fun any more.
- maxerickson 10y agoYou've missed their meaning. https://www.drivesouthafrica.co.za/images/home/slides/landy-camper_1.jpg https://www.drivesouthafrica.co.za/images/home/slides/landy-...
- codeduck 10y agoNo, I know what it looks like. A hyena will hop up onto the bonnet of that landrover and sniff / gnaw at the canvas up front, and if there's something inside it wants good luck.
- RogtamBar 10y agoHiding a 12ga inside a car bodywork is easy peasy lemon squeezy and slugs from that reliably put down grizzly bears, which are I believe the toughest land predator currently in existence.
- fps 10y agoTrying to cross international borders legally with a firearm for self-defense is really difficult if not impossible. If you talk to Overlanders or international ocean cruisers, almost none of them carry weapons. Trying to sneak or bribe your way across a border with a weapon is a pretty serious crime. [1] http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-65646.html http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-65646.html
- sangnoir 10y ago> I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place. This generalization is so broad as to be useless (akin to "America is a racist, xenophobic place"). Africa is 54 countries and 1 billion people and countless cities and neighorhoods, painting with a broad brush is unhelpful. Only a handful of countries have active conflicts or instability, it is easy to avoid them on a trip such as this one. [Edit] Here's a fun game that was featured on the Daily Show: see if you can you tell if a photograph was taken in Africa or the US[1] 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHO1a1kvZGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHO1a1kvZGo
- overcast 10y agoSure, you can cherry pick it however you like. They also circumnavigated the entire continent in an old truck. Which means the likelihood of running into something not so pleasant, much greater.
- pyre 10y agoTo be fair, this is about travelling across Africa rather than visiting a specific locale, that makes it more likely that you will need to pass through some of these "dangerous areas". Much as the other commenter here was mentioning getting robbed in Philly.
- sangnoir 10y ago> To be fair, this is about travelling across Africa rather than visiting a specific locale Africa is really, really huge - it has almost 4 times the landmass of the contiguous US. Avoiding specific locales is pretty easy.
- overcast 10y agoNot when those places are the ones people want to be. Yes clearly driving out into the middle of the desert, or on top of the highest mountain, probably low risk from the populace.
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- nojvek 10y agoWith Africa and I guess a number of other places around the world, being white helps. You can feel a difference of how they'll treat a white person. It can be the opposite too, being overcharged. I know I'll probably get bashed with comments.
- wyager 10y agoAccording to several friends who travel or do charity work in Africa, being white makes you more of a target for robbery. It makes sense; they know you probably have note money than the locals, so they're going to approach you accordingly, whether that means being nicer to you or targeting you.