Overlanding and adventure tours
Overlanding and adventure tours
- Overlanding explained
- Kingdoms and Carnivals expedition diary
- Andi and Grant's Trans-Africa diary
- The Festival of the Desert
- 11th July 2006: Arriving in Cape Town
- 15th May: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
- 19th April: From Congo to Nairobi
- 23rd February 2006: Getting to Gabon
- 13th February 2006: Crossing into Cameroon
- 30th January 2006: Timbuktu to Ghana
- 23rd December 2005: Mali
- 15th December 2005: Mauritania
- 2nd December 2005: Morocco and Mauritania
- 6th November 2005: Morocco
- Trans Africa Expedition
- Pre-departure interview with Oasis Overland
- Pre-departure interview with overlanding gapper
- Overlanding the Silk Road
Follow an overland truck across Africa Crossing into the Southern Hemisphere"Well it has definitely been a long time since our last update! So much has happened and we have visited countries that really are not used to tourists, which has been a fantastic experience. From Gabon, we left the tar seal roads for single lane tracks, potholes, dirt, mud and water. The truck even did a day or two of rock climbing! Crossing over into the Southern Hemisphere, most of us on the truck had never done this by land and quite a few had never left the Northern Hemisphere. The countries we have just passed through being Congo, Angola Cabinda (little Angola), Republic of Democratic Congo and then into Angola Proper. All of the countries have been stunning, both in scenery and people. We had heard tales along the way to expect corruption and police and locals being rude; this could not be further from the truth. Beer, beaches, bathing and bridge jumping So what has gone on in the past month or so? Well, in the Congo we get our first sip of the nectar of the gods - Primus Beer. From rainforests to oil rigs, open grasslands to bathing on the beach and in rivers - some of us being more daring than others and bridge jumping. Jamie even took it a bit further and plunged from the firewood locker of the truck. As for snakes, we’ve seen a couple now! We've also been living the high life at a Yacht club in Pointe Noir, with the boys deciding to rig up their own boat to take out. Angola shows us our first tanks and helicopter crashes and we even saw gunshells, bullets and bombs on the side of the road. There are loads of washed out bridges and some of the towns are deserted. Buildings are riddled with bullet holes, but all the people remain positive and friendly in disbelief that tourists are coming through.  Reminders of home...Luanda was a big surprise, as we did not know what to expect. Again a Yacht club let us stay on their premises with beach on one side and harbour on the other. We thought Gabon was expensive, that was nothing. They had Nandos and also a Brazillian imitation of McDonalds, a meal deal $13 for a small burger, fizzy drink and fries. We stayed for four nights with most of the group amusing themselves with cards, beach and beers. Following the coastline was more than we bargained for. The tar road disappeared, quite some years ago, which explains why we did not see many vehicles and villages. Lubango was an unplanned stop over as Amelia gave us a scare with her Malaria, but she is fine and well and was looked after by a fantastic Dutch couple who lived in town and are building a new hospital. From Angola, we all look in amazement to the brand new tar seal road leading to the border into Namibia. Everyone is becoming a bit worried now as we enter Southern and Eastern Africa and start seeing other tourists and other overland trucks. They are worried that their private adventure is gone, but it is going to be great. Now we start seeing wildlife, doing daring activities and meeting other people. Going wild Into Namibia along the Caprivi Strip, we see two cheetahs in the wild. Then once in Botswana driving on the main road through Chobe National Park, we see elephants, giraffe, deers and wild dogs (Grant and I have never seen these in five years). We arrived at our first campsite that was equipped to cope with more than 30 people, with bar and hot shower and toilets. We all needed a good hot shower as we had not had one for 11 days or so.  Popping into Zambia and staying at Livingstone; rafting, microlights, helicopters, kayaking and jetboating were on the cards, as well as our group excursion to Victoria Falls, which was pumping out the water and spray. Grubby was our host and looked after us well. Leaving Livingstone we make our way up to Nairobi. By the way. we also saw a lion on the way up in Mikumi National Park! Now we sit in Nairobi, Grant working on the truck, and the rest of us with fat and full bellies contemplating a truck clean. Next stop is Uganda to go gorilla trekking, so will let you know how we go when we get back. Speak soon!"
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