If you intend travelling off the beaten track, you should be familiar with your vehicle and be equipped to act as your own bush mechanic, especially if you intend travelling solo. Pete Barber did a bush mechanics course prior to our recent seven month solo return trip from Cape Town to Ethiopia and also learned a lot during the journey, which he gladly shares. Continue reading Bush mechanic notes for solo overlanders
Category Archives: Preparing for a trip
Canopy and add-ons
It’s no wonder ‘Africa ready’ 4×4’s are in such high demand and that the rental companies do such good business hiring them out. It takes knowledge and experience, in our case both gained through generous advice, to determine what you need, where to find it and then plenty of time to get it all done.
A few hours spent at the 4×4 outfit centres in Cape Town showed us that there appeared to be two ways of fitting out a vehicle and that the sales staff was quite happy to advise the unlimited budget option. We preferred to look for more cost-effective solutions, avoiding the brand names wherever possible. Continue reading Canopy and add-ons
Choice and preparation of the vehicle
We are standing over in Nairobi at Jungle Junction for a few days to catch up on washing, computer work, servicing the Hilux and replenishing our pantry. So it is the ideal time to post an article about the preparation of our vehicle for this trip.
As this would be the first 4WD that either of us had owned, we thought long and hard about our requirements and were grateful for all the advice that was so generously given from experienced owners. Continue reading Choice and preparation of the vehicle