Jump to content
  •  
Advertise here

Recommended Posts

On 12/8/2018 at 9:04 AM, desertdude said:

Strange. I know many, ok a few who have taken their SUVs for long African overland trips without issues they would have faced if they had taken any car. And how does one expect to do a overland trip in a sedan anyways? Btw the post says road trip not overland, but by seeing how bad road conditions in many African countries is a sedan even for a road trip doesn't sound too suitable.

I've nothing but SUVs or Trucks do over landing trips in Africa, or anywhere else for that matter

Only issue I can even think of is it being a petrol instead of Diesel.

Love to hear why SUVs arn't a good choice for an overlanding vehicle for Africa

I never mentioned sedans- I said "rent a suitable vehicle", which is invariably a diesel truck. 

Sure, you can do a road trip in Africa with an SUV- provided you don't venture too far (50 -100 km) from major centres. The roads around most major cities are generally in reasonable condition, but  anything beyond about 100 km or so from a major city (and considerably less in some cases) becomes an overland expedition to the next major city. 

If you don't want to do cities, any distance between two points in Africa is an overland expedition, and especially so in central Africa, where nobody has been able to build permanent roads- or railways for that matter. However, large sections of the Trans-African Highway system (the parts of it that run around the edges of the continent, at least) have been paved and/or upgraded during the past ten years or so, but there are no guarantees that any part of the Trans-African Highway system will remain paved from one year to the next. 

If you ever end up in washed out section of the road system in the dry season, when big trucks have reduced it to series of deep trenches that can be deeper than a meter, and run for tens of kilometers, you will find that the limited suspension articulation of an SUV- any SUV- will leave you crested on these trench tops every few meters. Then again,if you ever end up in a washed out section of the road system in the wet season, you need to be in a group of at least four trucks to get through meter-deep mud traps that can run for tens of kilometers. If you can get past the dozens of big trucks that have been bogged down for months in a track that is barely wide enough to allow two ox-carts to pass each other, that is. 

In fact, a few years ago I had to abandon one of my expedition grade vehicles in such a mud trap because there was no way to get it out of the mud from behind an 18- wheeler that had sunk into the mud up to the top of it's wheels, and from in front of another 18-wheeler that had followed me into the mud trap before the other vehicles in my expedition could follow me in. For all I know, both trucks and my vehicle are still stuck there. 

So, no, SUV's without proper 4-wheel drive, low range, winches, lockable diffs, rated recovery points, and at least 28 inches of suspension articulation in Africa are not  good idea if you venture away from the big centers.

Edited by treks
  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

really don't know if its allowed or not but this will be helpful and sheds some light as they do such stuff regularly 

https://expeditionportal.com/top-10-used-overland-vehicles/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well @treks covered it all with his nice experience in the African continent.

Long travel suspension reminds me of Fast and Furious 6 where they throw modified car from a plane into Caucasus mountains

I actually wanted to say so many things initially but deleted to not to be too negative on the first post

  • People keep daily driver separate and weekend warrior separate for a reason to have the best of both the world and plus backup car for work if weekend warrior get hurt
  • Mixing above 2 is just borderline acceptable (at your own risk) so adding third criteria to do an overland expedition to Africa in your daily driver is simply pushing your luck to extreme
  • For the expedition, 4x4 need a lot of prep and modification to suit the country you are visiting and spending so much money on one-time expedition is far more than renting a ready vehicle for a week or a month of an expedition
  • With so much modification, stiffer suspension, weight and PATHETIC aerodynamic you drive that as a daily drive will kill your back, deaf your ear and spend too much on petrol and maintenance. I had a Nissan Patrol that has been very well modified by the previous owner with so much underbody protection, stiffer suspension that I can do desert tracks at 120 km even, but on road, it was horribly uncomfortable that I use to stop at every 50 km to stretch my back.
  • Renting vehicle will give a peace of mind that all such mods have been tested and proven in Africa, then you are modifying your 4x4 in Dubai where everyone will say oh yes oh yes to all option to make money and might break a lot of parts on the first bump in Africa - as per treks explanation of 1 meter dug up track - phew
  • Like (+1) 3

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well you really don't have to go so far out in the bush or those overly used tracks I know two people who did an overland trip in Africa and both in Range Rovers. One a P38 and one a L322 both V8 petrols and they made it safely back here. 

I was actually thinking of buying the modified L322 when he wanted to sell it. It was very nicely done.

Overlanding in Africa is a very popular trip nowadays and a lot of peeps from Europe are doing it on the regular in their 4x4s very few do it in their unimogs or trucks.

Lookup up 4xoverland channel on YouTube. That guy has been overlanding in Africa since the early 80s and always in a 4x4.

Yes I watched documentaries and even the last episode of The Grand Tour previous season where tracks are exactly how he explained them but apparently it's not always the case otherwise no one would be overlanding in Africa in 4x4s

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And yes it wiser to split your 40 to 50 budget in to two separate rides but with something like a LR3 Prado and Land Cruiser there really is no need as they were made to perform these multiple tasks, smooth city cars and highway cruisers as well being able to play off road.

Most of the trouble people get into off road is their own fault and/or lack of experience and/or poor maintenance of their vehicles. 

Ofcourse shit happens, and any car can breakdown on or offroad. Gaurav how many times your Land Cruiser broke down in the desert?. One from what I can remember, diff gave up the ghost and had to be towed, how many times did my discovery breakdown, once out of no fault of my own. I drove Land Cruisers on safari almost everyday for a decade and only twice in that many years did it breakdown. 

So if you stay on top of things and keep your wits about offroad. You can easily have your cake and eat it too

 

  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even if there is a remote possibility of such dug up tracks, I wouldn't advise anyone to push their daily driver thousands of km away from home. And why over-using your daily driver for 2-year mileage in one month, when you can rent. And maybe that's why that guy has sold his L322 after that trip as it must be running low on remaining healthy life

  • Like (+1) 1

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, desertdude said:

Well you really don't have to go so far out in the bush or those overly used tracks I know two people who did an overland trip in Africa and both in Range Rovers. One a P38 and one a L322 both V8 petrols and they made it safely back here. 

I was actually thinking of buying the modified L322 when he wanted to sell it. It was very nicely done.

Overlanding in Africa is a very popular trip nowadays and a lot of peeps from Europe are doing it on the regular in their 4x4s very few do it in their unimogs or trucks.

Lookup up 4xoverland channel on YouTube. That guy has been overlanding in Africa since the early 80s and always in a 4x4.

Yes I watched documentaries and even the last episode of The Grand Tour previous season where tracks are exactly how he explained them but apparently it's not always the case otherwise no one would be overlanding in Africa in 4x4s

 

There are two Africa's- one where people can do quick, two-week long  runabouts in Range Rovers around a few cities, and one where you can get some real off-road driving experience over the 20 000-odd km "route" from Cape Town to Cairo and points further north via central Africa, where tracks can change and/or disappear overnight.So, did these guys do any actual off-road driving, or did they keep to the popular and reasonably well-maintained tourist routes, the same routes the people who load European students into modified 10-ton trucks use? Or the routes people use to cross the continent on Chinese-made scooters?

Of course it is possible to cross Africa in any direction- people do it all the time, but whether you are successful or not depends on you experience, your skill, the vehicle you use,the number of people and vehicles in your party, and not least, on the amount of money you are willing or able to spend on the trip.    

Documentaries? Meh- they never show the real stuff- like experienced drivers in expedition grade vehicles taking three days to do 40 km during the wet season. After all, who wants to be shown getting stuck every couple of hundred meters? Or remain stuck for the week or more it can take for the mud to dry sufficiently to recover a vehicle? Off course, going into central Africa during the wet season is just stupid, but I was forced to abandon a vehicle there because the monsoon season started three weeks early- as it happens sometimes.   

A proper north-south continental crossing can take up to eight months if you really want to see and experience the continent, and I have yet to see a Range Rover, and particularly a petrol Range Rover survive eight months of real off-road driving.   

  • Like (+1) 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, treks said:

Or the routes people use to cross the continent on Chinese-made scooters?   

 

Superb comparison, damn hilarious

5 minutes ago, treks said:

Documentaries? Meh- they never show the real stuff- like experienced drivers in expedition grade vehicles taking three days to do 40 km during the wet season. After all, who wants to be shown getting stuck every couple of hundred meters?  

 

So true

6 minutes ago, treks said:

I have yet to see a Range Rover, and particularly a petrol Range Rover survive eight months of real off-road driving.   

 

🤣😂

  • Like (+1) 1

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, treks said:

 

There are two Africa's- one where people can do quick, two-week long  runabouts in Range Rovers around a few cities, and one where you can get some real off-road driving experience over the 20 000-odd km "route" from Cape Town to Cairo and points further north via central Africa, where tracks can change and/or disappear overnight.So, did these guys do any actual off-road driving, or did they keep to the popular and reasonably well-maintained tourist routes, the same routes the people who load European students into modified 10-ton trucks use? Or the routes people use to cross the continent on Chinese-made scooters?

Of course it is possible to cross Africa in any direction- people do it all the time, but whether you are successful or not depends on you experience, your skill, the vehicle you use,the number of people and vehicles in your party, and not least, on the amount of money you are willing or able to spend on the trip.    

Documentaries? Meh- they never show the real stuff- like experienced drivers in expedition grade vehicles taking three days to do 40 km during the wet season. After all, who wants to be shown getting stuck every couple of hundred meters? Or remain stuck for the week or more it can take for the mud to dry sufficiently to recover a vehicle? Off course, going into central Africa during the wet season is just stupid, but I was forced to abandon a vehicle there because the monsoon season started three weeks early- as it happens sometimes.   

A proper north-south continental crossing can take up to eight months if you really want to see and experience the continent, and I have yet to see a Range Rover, and particularly a petrol Range Rover survive eight months of real off-road driving.   

See not every ones idea of a overland African trip is doing the Cape to Cairo trans African highway A two to three week crossing of the bush, camping out in the open is enough for them. Or Even North African Desert crossings are also very popular, in Morocco, Algiers. specially with the French as it just a short ferry ride away and everyone there speaks French.. As you might know Africa is not all bush and jungle.

And as for your snarky -_- Range Rover comments, this guy did 200,000kms in the African bush in his V8 range rover 
 



 

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry @desertdude Range Rover Classic was totally different animal than any of the other Range Rover ever produced with tons of electricry, sensors and endless faults.

Those were the days when they have actually won Dakar Rally for 2 years.image.png

  • Like (+1) 1

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of use