1960 - Ken Campbell

Ken Campbell

John Carroll writes:

He set off on 09.11.60 from Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (near the Congo border) with a chap called Joe Thwaites as co-driver (so the 80in was already 7 years old) and drove through Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Italy, France and England and arrived in Solihull on 03.01.61. Co-driver Thwaites went home to Rhodesia from Tunisia but the bit that I like (and I know Toby Savage will) is that the duo folded the screen flat in Uganda and it stayed down until Campbell put it up in Dover in the January cold!

Source: Facebook via Jack Quinlan, Scott Brady & Toby Savage

1953: Heading South & Heading North

In 1953, two Land Rover Series I vehicles completed a trans-Africa overland journey.  The LR Series I was only 5 years old and had recently had a major upgrade:

In 1952, it was decided to have the four wheel drive engage automatically when the low gear range is selected. This was performed with a simple dog clutch mechanism that would be used on all later Series Land Rovers. The gear box was also slightly re-designed to handle the more powerful 2 litre engine that was introduced at the same time. Source: LR History

Heading South
The Beak Family

The Beak Family - 1953

The Beak family (The Great 1953 Trek) departed the UK on the 22nd January 1953 and arrived in Rhodesia on 15th March 1953. Their daughter, Diane Stuckey, has managed to find archive photos and diary logs from their trip so worth visiting the website and reading about the family.

Heading North
George and Joy Adamson

George and Joy Adamson - Land Rover Series I - 1953

The couple left Nairobi on the 21ar March 1953 and traveled through Uganda, French Equatoria (now DRC, CAR & Cameroon), Nigeria, Algeria and eventually into Europe.  Here are a few interesting extracts from the book:

We were strongly advised not to take a trailer and warned that if we did, it would certainly have to be abandoned in the sands of the Sahara.  Although I have no love for trailers, I had had plenty of experience with them under desert conditions and felt confident of getting through.  In the event it turned out that the trailer was an infernal nuisance, not because any difficulties in negotiating the desert, but owing to broken springs, burst tyres, a broken coupling and the trouble of parking it when passing through cities.

Joy Adamson - 1953

 The drive through the Congo and part of French Equatorial Africa tended to become monotonous as the practically the whole of our route ran through the vast Equatorial forest where visibility was limited to the road ahead and a few yards on either side, only occasionally relieved by rivers. These we had to cross by ferries, some powered, others, which consisted of dug-out canoes with a platform lashed across, driven by a team of paddlers. Source: Bwana Game by George Adamson

Land Rover continued to expand its global reach and so continued people's enthusiasm to drive overland around the globe.

Additional Reading:
Expedition Land Rovers through the generations
1955 - UK to Singapore (First Overland)
1956 - Two Overland Expeditions
1959 - Cape Town to Cairo

1956 Overland Travel

Peter Townsend

1956  - One overland expedition ended and two began...
The Oxford and Cambridge Far East Expedition had just completed their epic London to Singapore in two Land Rover Series I.  Michael Marriott & his wife set out for Australia two-up on a NSU Prima Scooter (Blog by Michael Marriott) and Group Captain Peter Townsend began his overland expedition around the world by Land Rover.

Internet Forums - Love 'em or hate 'em

The overland and 4x4 world is full of them... love them or hate them, internet forums are here to stay.  Regardless if you are an overland enthusiast, a Land Rover or Toyota Fan, there are more forums for you to join and threads to read than time allows. Some are very active, some are dormant so here's the top 19 internet forums...

What makes a successful forum?  Timely topics, active users and good moderators.

I took time to actively search out the most popular Overland forums (vehicles & motorbikes), Land Rover specific and Toyota Land Cruiser forums.  Here's the list (details below) I generated and the number of registered users per forum, number of threads and posts per thread.  Congrats to the Toyota Land Cruiser Forum ih8mud for being the only forum to list active users. Two additional forums are worth mentioning: UK GSer and ExplorOz : Both charge a membership fee.

Internet Forums - Registered Users

Unique Toyota Land Cruiser 79 Series

I knew that Land Rovers had a tendency to be radically modified until I came across these two Toyota Land Cruiser 79Series.

Toyota Zone, the magazine for Toyota owners in South Africa, published two articles with links to the unique Land Cruisers below...  Be sure to click on the photos to read the full articles on the Toyota Zone website:

The Collins Family Land Cruiser Camper

Schalk and Retha Kruger - Six Wheel Land Cruiser

Land Rover Ambulance - A neat alternative!

Land Rover Defender Ambulance

Overlanding in a warm climate is ideal and offers the benefits of living outside your vehicle but often the overland route is not across the plains of Africa and rather rambling over the Mongolian Plateau.  In that scenario, having an overland camper is perfect.  When the foul weather rolls in, you can quickly and easily hibernate in the camper away from the rough weather.

 I had just returned from my Trans-Africa trip so was in no position to make an offer on this nicely kitted Land Rover Defender Ambulance which I spotted for sale in 2006. I am not sure who the current owner is - if you do know, please get in touch.

Thirty Thousand - Film Review

Why do you travel overland?  Is it to claim a title of completing a continent overland?  Is it to explore cultures? Or simply to surf uncharted waters along the West coast of Africa?

This is exactly what three Australian surfers did in 2010.  Andrew, Richard and Tristan equipped a Toyota Land Cruiser troopy and headed South searching for those uncharted surfing waves along the West coast of Africa.   The emphasis of their trip was not the overland travel, rather the surf.

I managed to squeeze into a packed cinema to watch the premier of their film which has been launched on DVD as well.  The film is only 50min long but keeps you entertained as the crew head South highlighting a few surfing spots along the West coast.  Majority of the film is focused on the surf which will appeal to all surfers, however, it has just enough content of the African continent to keep you watching.

Adventure Travel Film Festival - Australia 2012

The Adventure Travel Film Festival 2012

Exciting news... the Adventure Travel Film Festival, hosting by Austin Vince and Lois Pryce is coming to Australia.
The event dates are Friday 24th February to Sunday 26th February 2012.  The event will be held in Bright, VIC.

Be sure to watch the Film Festival preview as it is a sure way to excite you and make you want to attend!

Africa Overland Vehicle Choice - 2011 Statistics

The main focus for the Africa Overland Network is to link past, current and future independent overland websites.  As a result, the website has captured journey time, primary route and vehicle choice. It is currently the most updated website dedicated to independent overlanders.  As a result, the statistics on vehicle choice and travel time tell an interesting story.

Leading up to 2010, the Land Rover was the preferred vehicle of choice for the overlander.  There were a number of reason why Land Rover was the preferred vehicle:  Majority of trip started from the North and headed South across Africa.  The cost of equipping a Land Rover was generally cheaper in the Northern hemisphere due to the availability of spare parts, overland accessories and certified mechanics.
Toyota was catching up - with the cost of the vehicle, availability of spares and accessories, the landscape was changing... The Toyota Land Cruiser was becoming affordable, and offered an alternative to Land Rover.
You can read all about Land Rover vs Toyota in the 2010 report: Which Overlander?

Big Changes in 2011
This year has been an interesting one... two big highlights have occurred that are worth mentioning.

London to Cape Town in 10 Minutes

Happy New Year folks!

As part of a look back at our Africa Overland trip, we compiled a 10 minute film that offers an insight into the road conditions you are going to face if you travel the West Coast / Central African route towards South Africa.  From the deserts of North Africa and the lush greens of West Africa to the mud of Cameroon and rain forest of Gabon, this video has the lot.

 You can down load the GPS track and way points for the entire route at our GPS page

                                               London to Cape Town in 10 Minutes Film

We did a fair bit of off-road driving as well as main roads so the video has a mix of road types for you to see.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we did driving it!

Safe travels!

Nick
www.langebaan-sunset.com
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