The Comradery of Overland Travel

Overland travel in Africa has a number of 'merge' points along the myriad of roads.

Richard, Sophie, Wynand & Talia

At these meeting points, the grapevine is abuzz with travel news, route planning, reports of other overlanders and the usual hearty fireside conversations. The excitement of sharing stories with other overlanders and the serendipitous meeting along a rural road, campsite or website has a unique effect of keeping the travel passion alive.

I was reminded of this after reading four current blogs written in October 2013, all with a common theme of Tanzania. Each blog referenced meeting up with the other overlanders...
It started with Arno & Elize mentioning time spent at 'The Farmhouse' in Iringa, Tanzania.

1956: Pretoria to London by Karrier Gamecock Bus

Bessie Rutherford - 1956 Africa by Bus route

"Retief carefully set the compass at a point where the Niger River made an obvious bend – the compass was now our only way to navigate. We drove and drove. After days of endless yellow sand, we began to wonder if we’d ever see our families or our country again. One day we came across a heap of bones. We had been told about this landmark – the skeleton of a camel – and it meant we were still on course." 

In 1956, Retief and his wife Bessie, led a group of South African's from Pretoria to London. Driving two Karrier Gamecock buses with Rootes engines, the groups of travelers headed North...

Graces Guides describes the Rootes engine as a two stroke diesel marketed with two horizontally opposed piston in each of the three cylinders. More on the engine here

You can read all about the trip, written by Bessie Rutherford, via the Go! website: Across Africa by bus.

BESSIE RUTHERFORD & KOOS DE SWARDT PICTURES SUPPLIED

Following the early explorers...

Mick O - Sunset: Thomas bluff

Mapping new routes and exploring new areas is certainly a thing of the past... but retracing those footprints of early explorers hold as much excitement today as it did a hundred years ago... especially if it's in conjunction for an old diary and old maps.

Here is an example from Australia: Mick O - In the footsteps of Carnegie

An African example is Kingsley Holgate... he has followed in the footsteps of many of the early African explorers.

Reading the blog of Mick O has got me thinking... perhaps the next overland adventure I undertake should be in the footsteps of those early explorers.

Kingsley Holgate books are worth reading:

Bright Continent - Nigella

When offered the option of driving someone's prized overland prepared vehicle, do you gracefully accept or decline?

Photo by Bright Continent

Anton Crone, photographer and blogger from Bright Continent recently blogged about his experience with an eggshell blue Land Cruiser called Nigella...

“She’s yours,” he said, and after bashing my way out of the passenger door, I took the controls. She bucked, she bolted, she tried to throw me out, but the driver door was stuck too. She was no kinder to Paul who began looking for an ejector button. He was too kind to state the obvious: Nigella hated me. Her temperature was rising so I handed her back to the one man who knew her. But by then, like most men scorned, I had fallen for her. You see, it’s not just the rejection, it’s the places these wild girls take you.

Anton Crone had explained beautifully how owners and their classic 4x4's form a bond on how to treat it other.  The owner learns to be in sync with every rattle, clank and crunch whereas the new driver needs to learn from scratch and often never has the time to fully appreciate the pleasures of driving an old 4x4.

You can read Anton Crone's blog via Bright Continent and follow him on Twitter.

The Overlander, Francis Birtles

The word 'overland' and 'overlander' today represents a term associated with travel.  The current overlander is someone who enjoys the journey as much as the destination.  Someone who takes advantage of a vehicle to reach remote locations, solitude and adventure.

Francis Birtles - 1st London to Singapore attempt

A hundred years ago, the word 'overlander' meant something totally different.  It was a job title.  People built their careers as an overlander.  The author Warren Brown describes the early overland cyclist:

"Overlanders were a particular strain of adventurer - part endurance rider, part explorer, part athlete, part bushman and, because of the  mind-numbing and potentially soul-destroying loneliness and boredom, part philosopher".

The overland cyclist and motor car adventurer were on collision paths.  The former were being pushed to the backpages of the broadsheet media whilst the motor car claimed the front pages as new trans-continental records were being established.  Towards the end of the 1920's, overlanders were pushed to the back pages as the dashing aviator thrilled the world with flight.

The Map Experience

You simply can't beat a paper map...  Enjoy the following fun video:



Original posting by MapPrinter.  Thanks to @HemaMaps for tweeting about it.

Additional Reading:
Tracks4Africa - Paper & Digital

Trip Report - Abercrombie River National Park

Held together with Duct Tape, the 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser 60-series, fitted with the 4.0L diesel engine, had clocked over 700,000km.

Toyota Land Cruiser 60-Series

Its leaf suspension flexed as it kept pace with a new Jeep Rubicon mounted on 35” mud terrain tyres as we traced fire Trails around NSW Central tablelands Abercrombie River National Park.  Gazetted in 1994, this park protects the largest intact patch of open forest in the area and offered us an exciting weekend away traveling the steep fire trails and exploring the various campsites.

Western Sahara Convoy - Departing Tuesday and Friday!

Have you ever needed to wait for an overland convoy, anxiously completing endless paperwork and passport checks simply to continue your overland adventure?

Bike Brothers - Convoy

Today, there is no need to join a convoy to complete your trans-Africa overland adventure.  The closest gathering of overlanders, in a very loose sense, is a convoy on the Wadi Halfa route.  Twenty years ago, it was a very different story.

A convoy had transitted about six weeks before but nothing had happened since. Some people had been waiting the full time - Under African Skies

After four days of paper work we can join the convoy that will take us to Mauritania. It is an international group of travellers. Germans in a Unimog, Australians in a Land Rover, Spanish in an old Peugeot, Dutch in a very old VW bus and we on our Suzuki motorbikes - The Bike Brothers

What a fantastic experience the convoy was - Hujambo Africa

Welcome to The Atlantic overland route heading South through Western Sahara towards Mauritania.
It is worth noting that this was not the primary route South during the early 1990's, with majority of overlanders opting for the route South across Algeria and into Niger.  It was, however, a route gaining popularity especially after Algeria closed its borders mid 1990's thus forcing overlanders to keep West along the Atlantic.

In this blog post, I highlight a decade of commentary on the route.

Notorious Overland Routes: Nigeria to Cameroon

As overlanders, we generally love the challenge of tough routes.

BigSky Adventures

We love finding alternative ways around political conflict zones and sometimes even those unnerving border crossings.  As overland travelers, we will always find a way.  Sometimes though, there is only one way...

Welcome to the notorious Ekang, Nigeria to Mamfe, Cameroon road...

A few quotes to set the scene:

18 hours after crossing the border in Cameroon we eventually reached the town of Kumba - David Priddis

Reports from other overland travelers said that it was bad, very bad - Tale of Two Travelers

Too describe it as a road is misleading. It is a track hacked through the jungle by locals and others desperate to pass - Adventurous Spirits

Report: Sydney Overland Meetup

How do you recover an overland prepared Land Rover Defender from a muddy river?

@davidpriddis

Sounds easy, doesn't it?  Well, how do you recover it when the clutch plate has disintegrated and the vehicle has no gears?

Hosted by Daniel (Expedition Centre), the 1st Sydney Overland Meetup attracted a like-minded bunch of overland enthusiasts who were keen to hear the stories, like the one above, from fellow overland travelers.

David Priddis was our first guest speaker.  He is a veteran overlander having completed a trans-Africa (Defender 200Tdi) and recently Asia and The Americas in his Land Rover Defender TD5.