Importing your 4x4 into South Africa (Duty Free)

Hi folks, if you are reading this, you are either about to embark on an overland trip, taking part in one or just about to complete one. Either way, if you are a returning South African (like my wife) we want to share our experience of importing our 4x4 (Land Rover) duty free into SA after our London to Cape Town trip 2010/11 Latest news / About us - Langebaan Sunset - Stonehenge UK to Cape Town SA - 2010/11.  [This process is likely to be the same for a motorbike or truck traveling on a Carnet]


We offer the following summary / check list for any returning South African citizen that has a foreign registered vehicle and wishes to import it into SA free of duty. There are several things that you need to consider BEFORE you set out as there are some items that need to be addressed in your departing country before you set out on your journey if you want to avoid a lot of hassle when you get to South Africa. Even though there are various guidelines available on this process, things "on the ground" are often different and even our clearing agent in Cape Town had to jump through a few hoops.

The Adventure Travel Film Festival 2012 - Preview

Hosted by Austin Vince and Lois Pryce, the UK Adventure Travel Film Festival is a must for the 2012 diary.

The Adventure Travel Film Festival

Here's a sneak preview which the team have created to entice us to participate in the 2012 event:

Rough Guide to Richard Trillo

Richard Trillo - Author

Taking a good travel guide book with you on your overland journey is mandatory. A good travel guide book can remind you that there are often remote locations that are easily accessible with your own vehicle and worth the visit.

I recently stumbled across the author of The Rough Guide to West Africa and The Rough Guide to Kenya on the internet.  Richard Trillo, author of the two books mentioned above and author of First-Time Africa keeps various blogs and his twitter account active with various updates to his books, and interesting commentary via twitter.

Richard Trillo's Amazon Bio:

I first went to Africa in 1977, with a vague idea that I could hitchhike all the way to Timbuktu from my family home in the New Forest. I left with a friend, with $100 each and a copy of the Michelin map. No guidebooks, no mobile phones, not much sense. We got to the fabled city, and home again, largely by good luck and the kindness of others, having learned what a visa is (a hard lesson when you're already half way across the Sahara and the embassy is in Algiers) and what malaria feels like. Back in the UK I went to university, got a degree in sociology, and later went to London University's School of Oriental & African Studies to do a Master's Degree in East African Ethnography and Linguistics.

Africa Orbital

A fantastic photograph from the Africa Orbital team - Western Sahara (Nov 2010)

Back to Broke...

Oisin Hughes

Combining a travel blog, with good video is a tough job to do when travelling overland. Carrying the equipment on a BMW GS makes it even tougher.  For one Irish overlander, Oisin Hughes, his world trip offered a fantastic insight into motorcycle overland travel - his humour, his desire for remote locations and his personality made for a fab reading experience.  His video below sums up the experience.

Gosh, we are dirty...

Planning for your Trans-Africa overland adventure often focuses on the largest aspects of the trip, namely, the vehicle, the route options, the equipment, and so the list goes on.  Sometimes the attention to the daily detail is missed in the planning and you only start to realize it when you start your trip...

Take for example the daily roads majority of us prefer to travel on:  unpaved gravel and sand roads.  Fun to drive but they have a fundamental flaw - dust.

Africa Overland: What the Hell are we doing here?

What the hell are we doing here?  Might be a question you have asked yourself on your overland adventure...
Authors Murray Gough and Peter Travers turned there late 90's Trans-Africa adventure into a book and video titled "What the hell are we doing here".  It's a fun read highlighting one of the last routes from North across Central Africa and into East Africa prior to political turmoil that changed the route South.

The DVD can now be found on YouTube:

Ural Sidecar Overland

I spotted two Urals Motocycles on the Hume Highway heading from Sydney to Canberra today... prompted me to dig through a few of the archives to find the past and current Trans-Africa trips with an Ural.

The Ural Sidecar is an icon of motorcycles, especially the sidecars.  Fully equipped, with a reverse gear and a spare wheel mounted on the sidecar, it looks the part of any overland adventure.

I first encountered an Ural when a Dutch couple, Mullie and Nobile headed North from South Africa.

Book Review: Cape Town to Cairo in a Beach Buggy

Fancy a trip to the beach in a beach buggy?  How about an overland trip from Cape Town to Cairo?

In December 2010, Adriaan Rossouw headed North from Cape Town to his ambitious goal of Cairo, and Berlin.

His self-published book, Cape Town to Cairo in a Beach Buggy, was digitally published on March 2011.  I was looking forward to reading his story after his brief posting on the internet back in 2010.

I fully recognise that we all have dreams and plans and sometimes those plans don't fully work out.  This is just the case for the author and his beach buggy.  To title the book, Cape Town to Cairo, and then in the opening paragraph state the destination was not reached left a huge dent in my desire to read the book.

The book turned out to be no more than daily blog entries about his drive through Southern Africa.  There are no character references, no history about the land and no interesting stories retold in the book.  The author certainly had interesting times with the beach buggy but no elaboration other than the bare minimum.  Rather frustrating for the reader as this left me wanting to know more.

Recommendation:
If you are an overlander or a beach buggy fan, you will be left wanting more than this book can offer.  Credit does go to the author for publishing his ebook and hopefully this will lead to many other overlanders doing the same.

Links to the book:
Amazon UK kindle

Beach Buggies Overland
One of the first internet reported overland trips in a beach buggy took place a few years ago.  Tom drove South from Sweden to South Africa in his red beach buggy and documented the trip in his DVD "Adventuress Wanted".

A must read: Into Africa by Martin Dugard

"Dr Livingstone, I presume?"

Preparing for your overland trip takes on many forms... vehicle preparation, visa research, talking to other overlanders and of course, reading.

Personally, I spent hours reading overland guides, country travel guides, overland travel stories and the history of Africa.  Here is one recommendation that every overlander should read:

Into Africa by Martin Dugard is the epic adventures of Livingstone and Stanley.  The author writes in a gripping way that keeps you entranced about the lives of these two legionary explorers.

I was prompted to reread 'Into Africa' after the 1871 (140 years ago) diary of David Livingstone was republished.  This unique work used impressive technology to decrypt his writing due to faded ink and bad handwriting.   Read more on the UCLA website: Livingstone's 1971 Field Diary

Google Earth Land Rover in Morocco

When I spot an interesting looking vehicle, I often wonder who is driving and where they are heading to... This Google Earth image of a lone Land Rover Series II heading South in Morocco prompts me to ask those questions again...

I wonder who was driving, where were driving to and if the Land Rover is still being driven daily...


View Larger Map

Overland Trip Budget Planner

How do you budget for an overland trip?  That's a tricky question to answer and a question that majority of overland trips don't event attempt to answer.  Nick from Langebaan Sunset attempted to provide a full years worth of budgeting from his recent UK to SA trip.  It is worth visiting his website to get an insight into the costs.

Budgeting and planning is often the most important aspect of any trip, however, the multiple countries and currencies often play havoc on budget planning.  Francois, a member of the Overland Forum, kindly created this spreadsheet which allows for multiple countries and currencies to be integrated into a budget.  It's a fantastic tool which will be very useful for planning.

Here is the link to the Google Group page and the link to download a copy: Overland Forum - Overland Trip Planner.

Sunset over Zambezi

July 2005 - Sunset over the Zambezi river

The sunset above was the perfect ending to another day in Africa.  Later that evening we clambered aboard a dusty Land Rover and headed out with a few other guests for an evening game drive in the South Luanda park. Shortly after departing the park gates, along a dusty track, an African Spotted Eagle Owl swooped over us.
Our driver slowed the vehicle to a halt before explaining that in his culture, an African Eagle Owl was never a good omen. If he was on his own, he would turn the vehicle around and head back to camp.
We listened in awe as he told the story and started to ponder his thoughts an hour later after not seeing any game. 90min after the Owl had swooped we spotted one lone Hyena. The promised evening game drive turned out to be a taxi ride around a game park.

Perhaps, in hindsight, we should have listened to the omen of the African Eagle Owl and turned the vehicle around...

Overland eBooks

I must admit that I have a passion for my Amazon Kindle - I read a book, and then very quickly skip onto the next.  This little ebook reader is fantastic and a must have for any overland trip as it can contain your whole library.    Owning one prompted me to investigate if any overland related ebooks were available:

Here's a list of the books I found (links to Amazon UK).  There are not as many as I had hoped, including no ebooks from author Chris Scott (Overland Handbook).  Most of the older titles are not available which I would have thought would have been easy to do.

What the hell are we doing here
Malachite: a Journey in Africa
Lonely Planet Africa
Jupiter's Travels
Lois on the Loose
Red Tape and White Knuckles: One Woman's Motorcycle Adventure Through Africa
Running With The Moon: A Boy's Own Adventure - Riding a Motorbike Through Africa
Tuk-Tuk to the Road: Two Girls, Three Wheels, 12,500 Miles



More Kindle Overland Books
Here is a link to additional Kindle Amazon UK books.
Amazon UK Bestsellers in Africa Travel (Kindle)
General Africa Travel

Updated: 26 January 2012
The world of overland digital ebooks is constantly growing which has resulted in this blog post being outdated in a very short period. Keep checking the digital ebook websites for the latest updates. One last thought: be sure to support our fellow overlanders through the purchase of their books...

Lagos to London - 1973

Vehicles, technology, and people have changed across the decades.  However, the one familiar trait is the need to use a vehicle, a bit of technology and to travel.  In 1973 Brian M left Lagos, Nigeria heading for London, UK.  His Land Rover Series II 109 was loaded and packed... the route simply headed North and finally in Algeria and across the Med to Europe.

The photo below is linked to Brian's additional photos he scanned from slides:

Brian M - 1973 Overland

Brian mentioned in an email the reason the bonnet was open:

I do indeed remember why the bonnet was open a lot :-) Most picture opportunities were at stops, first thing in the morning was always a good time. You'll see that from the shadows. We checked fluids, hoses and belts every morning, as well as having a look around the vehicle checking that all was OK. 

One picture shows shorter shadows, so was closer to midday. We had two stops for problems, one for a stop due to loss of power. We stripped the carb and found the float bowl was full of sand, due to the wonderful oil bath "air filter" standard in those days :-) A good clean out and all was well again. 

The other stop was when the fan cowling fell off, onto the fan. The speed nuts has rusted through ! The Land Rover had spent the previous 14 years working in tropical rain forest for a wildlife documentary company. Still, it gave us a huge fright, as it made a huge racket ! You've never seen anyone de-clutch and switch off as fast as I did ! A great relief to find it was only the cowling making a break for freedom :-) We simply took it off and put it in the back, checking the belts and hoses were undamaged. 

It was scary until we saw there was no serious problem, as we were midway between Tamanrasset and In Salah, about 590 miles if my memory of the Michelin map is accurate. A long way to walk if it was a blown engine, which was my first thought as the noise started. Whew :-)

Otherwise, we had no other vehicle problems in about 12000kms (road distance) and 29 days.

Just for interest, the mountainous scenery is mostly on the scenic drive around the Hoggar Mountains, when we had a trip up to the Hermitage near to Tamanrasset.

More stories to follow...

Camper Trailers... Good Idea?

Have you realized the benefits of a camper trailer yet?  Have you thought about the benefits of keep your vehicle independent of the campsite, free to explore without the hassle of packing the rooftent and kitchen away?

I have pondered the benefits of camper trailers for a number of years and have patiently waited for more Trans-Africa overlanders to adopt the concept - yet only a few have.  More in a following blog about overlanders that used camper trailers.

The Camper Trailer market in Australia is huge - every type of trailer is available - from the basic on-road version to fully ruggedized offroad version, complete with independent suspension and brakes.

Here's a slightly different concept (Tvan) that I spotted towed behind a Land Cruiser 80 series, which lead me to YouTube to investigate further:

Personally, I think I am tempted by the concept especially now that 'Toddler J' is on the scene.  I need more space for kids toys!

Let me know if you have experienced a camper trailer and what your thoughts were.  In the next blog, I will highlight a few trips that used a trailer as part of their overland expedition.

Additional Reading:
Here is a link to a website which used a trailer: http://bit.ly/trailermods

You packed what?

I was recently reviewing my equipment list I used for my BigSky Adventures Africa overland trip.  The list had plenty of items on it which got me thinking about the kit that I should have left behind...

One of the most obscure items I packed, which I only used three times, was a little photo printer.  The idea was to take photographs and then print them out for the people we met.  The idea was fab however the fact that the printer was stashed deep in the bowels of the Land Rover Defender meant that we only used it on those few occasions when we were camping.

Another obscure item I packed was a traditional three-legged Dutch oven or potjie-kos pot.  My idea that I would be able to use it daily to cook with passed us by as we tended to use gas or charcoal for cooking.  The gas hob was quick & easy whilst charcoal (when available) was excellent for cooking roasted vegetables or the usual BBQ.

The last item on my list which I thought was pretty useless were two hiking backbacks. Initially we had throught that we would use them to go on various treks, however they proved to be cumbersome to pack due to the straps and size.  We used them once...

Here's a link to the original equipment list...  Let me know if you think of things that you packed for some obscure reason!

Land Rover Expo - Sydney, Australia

The annual Land Rover Expo was held on Sunday 25th September in Castlehill, Sydney.  The weather forecast predicted rain, just like a UK Land Rover Show, however the tropical rain did not deter the few Land Rover owners that Australia has.

Land Rovers are scarce in Australia - esp. if you are looking to purchase a Series vehicle so I was keen to see what the show had to offer.

The few Land Rover Series vehicles that braved the weather where in showroom condition.  A credit to the owners for looking after the vehicles in such detail.

One of the Series II Land Rovers on display was an ex army Ambulance.   I liked the Safari roof that was fitted to the vehicle.

There were a few expedition prepared vehicles and a few trade stands offering expedition kit. A company called Mulgo had a few Land Rover 130's for viewing.  The tilting roof added that extra comfort for those long overland journeys.

There were a few camper conversions, the most unique was the modified Discovery II:

Camper mounted on a Disco II.

In summary, it was a real pity that the tropical rain caused such havoc as the event hosts had prepared a good days outing.  The goody bag has some useful reading material and the trade show owners kept their enthusiasm.  I am already looking forward to next year...

Additional photos:

South Sudan - Overlanders needed...

It's interesting to see world maps change as new countries and new borders begin to emerge.  The most recent is South Sudan.

Mashable, a social media website, picked up on the Google Maps story and how people petitioned to get South Sudan recognised on Google Maps.  Read more: http://t.co/LPzfg9FT

I am eagerly looking forward to reading about the first Overlanders that venture into this new country.  The possible route might be heading North from Uganda or West from Ethiopia.  
Time will tell if it is even possible to get a tourist visa.  Exciting times though!


View Larger Map

Six months of silence...

It's a daily occurrence for my mind to wander onto the topic of overland travel.  Random thoughts populate my head as I glance at someone's overland prepared 4x4 driving down the road, or a photo on my laptop computer.
Yet, over the last six months, I have not managed to put my thoughts to this blog. The primary reason was the move to Sydney, Australia with my family.  There was an overland route planned yet the timing did not work out so 24hours of travel in airports, planes and taxi's safely landed me on a new continent.  The amount of admin and time needed to move a family to a new continent is unreal.  It has been six months of hard work with little thought for anything else.

So, what's next... Over the next few years, I will be exploring the best of the Australian outback, and her tremendous coast line.  The Africa Overland Network site will continue (currently over 1000 trips listed) and the Overland Live podcast will resume in the late Autumn (Northern Hemisphere).

For now, I shall leave you with Google Maps route from London to Cape Town...  I think we need a volunteer to contact Google to let them know that the route proposed is not quite possible in today's political climate.

Book Review: Overlanders' Handbook by Chris Scott

"Be prepared", the motto of the worldwide Scout movement, is very appropriate to overland travel.
One of the tools available to 'being prepared' are books and especially the series of books written by the English author Chris Scott.  His latest book, Overlanders' Handbook, offers an excellent insight into the world of overland travel.

My copy of the book arrived on Saturday morning - no.34 signed by Chris Scott.  I must admit I was rather excited and scanned the huge volume reading paragraphs, drooling over photos and living the memories of the trip reports.

Would I recommend this book to those that have already completed a trip:  absolutely! The book covers every topic imaginable and will inspire you to pack your vehicle and head off in a new direction.
This is a must buy for those people thinking of an extended overland trip - it will help you to keep motivated during the long months of planning.

The Overlanders Handbook website lists the following subjects covered in the book.
• Planning, preparation and documentation
• Vehicle choice - from a regular 2WD car or van to an AWD truck
• Overlanding with children
• Outfitting a vehicle for long-term travel
• Guidelines on building your own motorhome-style cabin

• Life on the road: borders, wild camping, money changing, scams
• Off-road driving and recovery techniques
• Navigation using maps, GPS and common sense
• Short- and long-range communications
• Travellers health; a comprehensive resource on the road
• Travelling with dogs
• Vehicle troubleshooting and repairs
• The last word on intercontinental single-vehicle shipping
• One-page Overlanders' trip summaries
• Continental Route Outlines for Africa, Asia and Latin America
• Notes from the Road from people who've been there and done it

My overland trip was pre-family - I now have a child and a dog so was excited to when I noticed that travelling with dogs and children were included in the book.

Links:
Overlanders Handbook Website
Amazon UK - Overlanders' Handbook

Website Content - Make it interesting!

Have you thought about the content you will be posting to your overland website?
In this blog post, I provide my thoughts on overland website content and provide a few examples of websites which I think work well.  This compliments the website tools article and the audio podcast recorded in 2011.

One of the benefits that I have managing the The Africa Overland Network is that I get to see a lot of website design and especially the type of content generated.

Here are a few thoughts that I have on content:

Who is your audience?
Is it your family and direct friends or are you aiming on reaching the broader audience?

Are you planning on sharing information to the current or future independent overlander?

If it is, consider the following information:

• Organise your journal per country, per date, which makes it easy to find specific country information
• Categorise your preparation phase into topics like vehicle, paperwork, finances, medical etc
• Detail your route information with maps, route planning and if possible GPS track logs. Consider supplying GPS logs to Tracks4Africa

Overland Live Webcast - Overland website content

What type of content do you look for on an independent overland website?  Vehicle & route information, Family  & friend updates?
I have listed over a thousand independent overland websites over the last decade of managing The Africa Overland Network and have watched as the website design has become more creative, yet the content has remained the same.

On Sunday I will be hosting the next Overland Live webcast.  This session will be different as it will be an open microphone event.  I will be encouraging the participants to discuss website design, content, the audience and what works & doesn't when bandwidth is an issue whilst travelling.

Please join the session on Sunday if interested.  Register and Login details here

Podcast - Overland websites

The latest Overland Live podcast (Episode 03) is available for downloading.   This week we discuss Overland website creation - selecting your audience, hosting your website, digital content, and social media.  A must listen if interested in creating your own overland website.

Read the Show Notes for more information and the MP3 download.

Santana - a Land Rover Alternative...

The image of a Land Rover Series or Defender, dusty from the plains of Africa, conjurer up expedition images. The ruggedness of the vehicle, the availability of expedition equipment, plus the notoriety of their reliability make choosing a Land Rover as your expedition vehicle a tough choice.

The Santana PS-10 (image from dr-uf-loitsch.ch)

But what about an alternative?  Keep the shape, but change various elements to improve on performance, reliability but leave majority of the bodywork - Introducing the Santana PS-10.

Help for Heroes evening with Charley Boorman

The Long Way Round ; The Long Way Down ; Race to Dakar - all these titles link one person together: Charley Boorman

I was fortunate enough to attend a fundraising event in aid of the charity 'Help for Heroes'.  The guest speaker for the evening was Charley Boorman and the event was hosted by Vines BMW in Guildford, UK.

Snakes of South Africa - a Facebook page

One of the members from the Overland Forum ZA posted this facebook link.  The page is all about Snakes of South Africa.  I thought it was a fantastic way of sharing knowledge about snakes and helping to identify the snakes.  Here is the link to the Facebook Page.

Please comment if you have any Facebook favourites.

Podcast - UK 4x4 Overland Travel Show

On Sunday 13th February 2011, I attended the inaugural UK Overland & 4x4 Travel Show in Warwickshire.  The show had a good mix of traders showcasing the best in overland equipment.  This ranged from overland vehicles, 4x4 trailers, equipment and various tours on offer.

I met up with a few of the traders and asked them a few questions about their products and the overland market.
Here is the podcast from the show...
Podcast download link (right click to save as)

I interviewed the following people:

• Simon Ward-Hastelow from Land Rover World
• Paul from Footloose 4x4
• Mark from Touring Gear UK
• Matt from MattSavage.com
• Kevin from Mudstuff.co.uk
• Leslie from Intrepid Campers
• Sam Watson on behalf of MyWay Tents UK

Additional Photos:

Overland Photography

Quite a few people have emailed us about our approach to photography on the road, the kit we use and hints / tips on taking photographs.  Instead of sending separate emails we thought we would share with you our own experiences and thoughts on this subject.

Podcast - Langebaan Sunset

Langebaan Sunset

Planning for your Trans-Africa trip?  If so, then you must take time out to listen to Nick Bradshaw (Langebaan Sunset) share his experiences to date as he reports live from Northern Namibia during the inaugural Overland Live podcast.

Nick and his wife Vicki left the UK in May 2010 driving their Defender 110 South.  During this podcast, Nick touches on their route, Africa's hotspots, the vehicle & cooking setup and their alternative route to Angola.

You can download the MP3 audio podcast via the Overland Live website.

Share you GPS data with Tracks4Africa & help those that follow you

Hi Folks,

In the second of our posts from "the road" (NW Namibia to precise) we at Langebaan Sunset wanted to put out a general call to action to the overland community about how you can help improve a very valuable resource.

Tracks 4 Africa has been building a complete GPS database / map for Africa for the last 10 years.  It contains many thousands of way points, tracks and routes.  For anyone traveling across Africa its a valuable aid to your trip and a very useful means for finding places that don't exist in guides or simply helping you navigate the path less traveled.

North Africa with Toby Savage

The most recent Overland Live webcast featured the well known author and film maker Toby Savage.

A copy of the live session is available on YouTube and available via Overland Live (MP3 & Original Webex).

A pause to remember...

When the day gets tough, I often take a pause and enjoy a trip down memory lane... 

Here's a photo from my overland trip in a Land Rover Series II.  She looked the perfect overland vehicle but she was as stubborn as a donkey and as noisy as a tractor.  But I loved every moment of those four months!

Namibia in a Land Rover Series II

Crossing the Congo – Alternative route in detail

Hi folks, my name is Nick and I am traveling with my wife (Vicki) from the UK to Cape Town in a Land Rover Defender 110. We started from the UK in May 2010 and hope to be in Cape Town Aug 2011, you can read all about the trip at www.langebaan-sunset.com.  Martin Solms kindly invited me to contribute to Overland Live and so we thought as our first post we would offer information regarding a lost route, a theme that Martin recently reported on.

Well we made it from Gabon into Congo with no problems - just 100 miles of sand and a short drive down to the capital, Brazzaville.  We had been in Brazzaville for a few days and began to think about options for crossing the Congo River. In summary, the Brazzaville Kinshasa ferry crossing is expensive and involves a fair degree of haggling, hanging about and hassle.  Some fellow travellers recently reported being held at the gates and missed their ferry, had to pay port entrance fees with others paying for expensive disinfection charges, cranes and various forms of “help” etc …  in all it seems that you will be lucky to pay less than $100 with most people being charged approx $150 for a 4x4 and 2 people (bikes obviously get charged less).

A Jeep, A Sportsmobile & a Ford Bronco : Driving Arizona

In my mind, the vehicle brand names associated with overland adventures include Land Rover and Toyota.  However, in the States, the name Jeep stands out as an overlanders choice.  I was rather sceptical - surely a Jeep could not compete a Trans-continental trip like that of a Land Rover or Toyota?  I have been proved wrong.

Photo courtesy of Scott Brady

I have been fortunate enough to travel to the States for a work conference and to take a few days off to meet with Scott Brady from Expedition Portal and the Overland Journal magazine..  Scott kindly invited me to tag along with a group of keen overlanders from the Expedition Portal.  The plan was to tackle an old trail on the outskirts of Prescott, Arizona.  Our vehicle for the day was a Jeep Rubicon fitted with BFG mud terrains.

Tea Time

Throughout my BigSky Adventures trans-Africa trip, each day presented itself with a new set of challenges and new horizons to explore.  Our day's routine would consist of de-camping in the morning, driving, exploring and eventually the days travel would start to slow down as we started looking for that bushcamp spot.  The location would generally be off the road, tucked away in the bush.

The first chore that needed to be done, almost ritually, was to park the vehicle on level ground, open the back door and put the kettle on the boil.
The chairs would be opened, the tea pot and mugs dusted off and a single bag of our best Yorkshire tea would be added to the pot.

The whistle of the kettle indicated the water was boiled, and the tea would start to brew.  The days tension would slowly evaporate as the perfect cup of Yorkshire tea (in the middle of the African bush) was sipped slowly as we reflected on another incredible day in Africa.

Breaking the Cycle

Breaking the Cycle.... I have been following this overland cycle trip for the last few months.  The unique aspect is that the cyclist, Kate, cycled from Senegal in an Easterly direction towards Somalia. You can read more about here website on The Africa Overland Network website.

Overland Live Webcast

The concept of the Overland Live webcasts is to add a face and voice to the many fantastic overland websites.  I have now finished two live sessions, with a good selection of guests lined up for the future.

Nathan and his postie motorbike called Dot

I am excited to announce a new guest: The Postman.  Nathan Millward had the idea to ride a motorbike from Sydney, Australia to London, UK.  The bike he chose for his Asia trip was an Australian Postie Honda 110cc motorbike.  His website, The Postman, was a huge success during his trip and his forum page (on ADVRider) attracted around 800 000 views.  As a result, he was requested to write a book, aptly named 'Going Postal' which is being published as we speak.

You can register on www.overland-live.com for Sunday 23rd January's live session.

Needing Inspiration - Just talk to an overlander...

I have just spend the last hour talking to Andrew and Anne about their overland trip across Africa.  After the call, I was on a high.  It just reminded me that overlanders love sharing the passion about Africa, independent travel and the joys of being on the road.

Looking for Inspiration? Just talk to an overlander!

Overland Live Webcast - Lost World Expedition

Just a quick reminder that our next Overland Live webcast is scheduled
for Sunday 9th January.

Our guests this week are Luis and Lacey and their current trip across
the Americas.  It should be an interesting talk as the couple are
still travelling in their Land Cruiser.

You can register for the event here: http://lostworld.doattend.com/

Plus read more about their trip: http://lostworldexpedition.com

The webcast requires a broadband connection and will take place at
7pm GMT.



You can listen to a radio interview in which Luis participated:

Expedition Portal - Vehicle Selection

Need some additional reading on selecting the ultimate overlander and vehicle preparations...
Here are two articles by Scott Brady which are worth reading:

1. Selecting the ultimate Overlander
2. Vehicle preparations for overland travel