Rhubarb
New Member
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- 86
Someone asked me a question about actually driving on African roads vis a vis some equipment, I thought other people might be interested too,
The key thing to remember about a winch and can be applied to lots of other bits of equipment (airjacks, etc) is that you're not doing this to go offroad - or at least you shouldn't be. The roads are bad enough as it s. It's a long trip and the idea is to finish it with you and passengers alive and well. The vehicle too preferably.
If you want to do hard technical sections of road then go to a park/farm that has them there are plenty in S.A. & Namibia and sounds like lots at home too. Your biggest enemies on African roads are potholes, corrugations, other road users and animals. A winch 'aint much help with any of them. If people are considering doing roads/trails where you might get stuck while in Southern/Eastern Africa then they're stupid in my opinion. Get there and get there safe. We'll be crossing Ethiopia during rainy season so we're cutting a big scenic detour as the roads are liable to be **** and unsafe. Again it won't be the roads but stupid nutter drivers and pedestrians that would be most hazardous.
On bullbars - mine is knackered, had it re-welded in Tanzania but I'd recommend it. Its that added protection from a stupid donkey/cow/buck that runs out in front of you. It happens - I've missed by millimeters before and they are big dense objects that'll wreck the car. My advice is get one - it might save you or your vehicles life.
Also buy the very best shocks you possibly can and accept the possibility you might still knacker them. I'd go on new bushes at a minimum of every 10,000km of road - I'm on set 3 after 22,000! You might find it cheaper to buy a set and take 'em with you.
Other bits of advice,
Don't drive at night
Don't drive tired - sometimes just 200km in 4 hours is more tiring than 600km in 8 hours.
Don't give yourself deadlines - you often end up enjoying a ****ty little town in the middle of nowhere more than a big attraction.
Don't overload the roof
Most of all don't listen to too much advice
I bought Rhubarb and left a week later with no offroad experience only having driven on tar in Africa. 6 weeks later I'd done Namibia/Zambia/Botswana/Zimbabwe. I got home and two months later left for England - you learn by doing easy enough.
The only changes I'll make to the car if I turn around and come back are a) an inaccurately named snorkel -
I put a new airfilter in in Dar es Salaam and emptied more than two kilos of **** out of it 800km later. Mantec is what I'll be getting - the Safari ones can make the problem worse - particularly if you don't reverse the intake to face backwards.
b) A basic rollbar
Again this is not because I'm worried about taking on tracks that are going to make the car fall over but someone sideswiping me, or an animal running in front making me swerve and hitting something. Also, I want added strength for the roof - in the Serengeti the corrugations were so bad that the 45kg of jerry cans on the roof vibrating have buckled it so much my girlfriend can't open the back door anymore. Mind you she is a bit small! On the subject of jerry cans I've only ever needed mine once - in the central kalahari. I run with them empty and the main and secondary tanks full unless I'm really concerned about a route. Mostly more trouble than they're worth.
The key thing to remember about a winch and can be applied to lots of other bits of equipment (airjacks, etc) is that you're not doing this to go offroad - or at least you shouldn't be. The roads are bad enough as it s. It's a long trip and the idea is to finish it with you and passengers alive and well. The vehicle too preferably.
If you want to do hard technical sections of road then go to a park/farm that has them there are plenty in S.A. & Namibia and sounds like lots at home too. Your biggest enemies on African roads are potholes, corrugations, other road users and animals. A winch 'aint much help with any of them. If people are considering doing roads/trails where you might get stuck while in Southern/Eastern Africa then they're stupid in my opinion. Get there and get there safe. We'll be crossing Ethiopia during rainy season so we're cutting a big scenic detour as the roads are liable to be **** and unsafe. Again it won't be the roads but stupid nutter drivers and pedestrians that would be most hazardous.
On bullbars - mine is knackered, had it re-welded in Tanzania but I'd recommend it. Its that added protection from a stupid donkey/cow/buck that runs out in front of you. It happens - I've missed by millimeters before and they are big dense objects that'll wreck the car. My advice is get one - it might save you or your vehicles life.
Also buy the very best shocks you possibly can and accept the possibility you might still knacker them. I'd go on new bushes at a minimum of every 10,000km of road - I'm on set 3 after 22,000! You might find it cheaper to buy a set and take 'em with you.
Other bits of advice,
Don't drive at night
Don't drive tired - sometimes just 200km in 4 hours is more tiring than 600km in 8 hours.
Don't give yourself deadlines - you often end up enjoying a ****ty little town in the middle of nowhere more than a big attraction.
Don't overload the roof
Most of all don't listen to too much advice
I bought Rhubarb and left a week later with no offroad experience only having driven on tar in Africa. 6 weeks later I'd done Namibia/Zambia/Botswana/Zimbabwe. I got home and two months later left for England - you learn by doing easy enough.The only changes I'll make to the car if I turn around and come back are a) an inaccurately named snorkel -
I put a new airfilter in in Dar es Salaam and emptied more than two kilos of **** out of it 800km later. Mantec is what I'll be getting - the Safari ones can make the problem worse - particularly if you don't reverse the intake to face backwards.
b) A basic rollbar
Again this is not because I'm worried about taking on tracks that are going to make the car fall over but someone sideswiping me, or an animal running in front making me swerve and hitting something. Also, I want added strength for the roof - in the Serengeti the corrugations were so bad that the 45kg of jerry cans on the roof vibrating have buckled it so much my girlfriend can't open the back door anymore. Mind you she is a bit small! On the subject of jerry cans I've only ever needed mine once - in the central kalahari. I run with them empty and the main and secondary tanks full unless I'm really concerned about a route. Mostly more trouble than they're worth.
