East Africa Trip 2020

Get the information about routes, trips or just get plain inspiration
Johann 1984
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by Johann 1984 »

Hi Oetie,

I have the DVD's. Had them since forever because I knew the day would come for me to embark on something similar. I didn't even own a 4x4 when I bought that set.

I have thought about trying to connect with the Voetspore team and ask them for their advice regarding the route and the vehicle choice.

Having said that, I realise that they have commercial interests and loyalties to oblige to. So, I am wondering if I would take their advice as objective. Surely they won't badmouth Nissan if they sponsored them for an 3 or 4 trips.

The vehicle will require servicing somewhere yes. Having been to Dar Es Salaam, I know that they have a reasonable size Nissan dealership that can do the service, alternatively, Nairobi. One has to calculate the Km's carefully I suppose.
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JoshJ
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by JoshJ »

You should go and speak to Francoise or Johan @ voetspore. Please go with your Patrol. They love Patrols. They will give you haunest advise on travel quiries for it is part of their business. Trip advisement. They wont nessesary give you their huanest opinion of what car is best.
They did most of the mods on my white 3.0CRD. And could not stop ranting about what a beast it is. And how comfortable it is on overland trips and and.

For me when it comes to your Patrol. Their is no car that is breakdown proof. There will always be away out. You must just keep an open mind. You must have some faith that all will be ok.

Take basic things like fanbelts and filters. Oil. All different tipes required for you cars engine, diff oil ext.
Take 1 extra front shock and 1 extra rear. Screw, nuts, washers. Basic tools. Some ductape. A extra spare if you want.

Install a madman and boost guage. Drive with causion. Dont speed on bad roads and just bash through things. If you havent had the injectors serviced. Do that maybe 5000km's or so before you go. Never mod or repair anything days before the trip.

You will be fine.
Being alive is a Blessing!!

Regards,
Joshua
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Tinus lotz
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by Tinus lotz »

So after all this who wants a loaded 4.2 na ? To slow the trip wil be bad becouse you going to battle to do 50kmh down a mine shaft .....and leaf spings ?? Stick to the patrol
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by mvcoller »

I did this trip in a 1995 Venture 2.2 GLE with LSDiff in mid 1996 towing a modified road trailer.

The roads are tarred (some with lots of potholes) from here all the way to Arusha in Northern Tanzania and bad dirt roads from there to Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti.

We only went for three and a half weeks and turned around at the Kenyan border to come back home because the kids had to go back to school. In our group there were two vets who took the one guy's wife's Jetta to go there and back. They turned back in Dar-es-Salaam.

Route there was through Eastern Zimbabwe, into Mozambique, then Malawi, all the way up the western side of Lake Malawi into Mbeya in Tanzania, all the way to Dar-es-Salaam where we left the vehicles at the Catholic Cathedral while we caught the ferry to Zanzibar for 4 days.

When we got back from Zanzibar, most of the group went home from there and we continued to Kilimanjaro, Ngorogoro into the Serengeti conservation area. It is VERY EXPENSIVE THERE!! It cost us about R2000 per 24hr period to go into the conservation area, down into the crater and to camp in the conservation area. And that was in 1996!!

We had to hotfoot it home, so we went back via Arusha, Moshi-, the A14 and the A7 (via Morogoro, Mikumi National Park and Iringa) as we were told the route home via Dodoma was flooded and extremely muddy and impassable by vehicle, especially the section next to the lakes towards Iringa.

At Mbeya we did not go south to Malawi, but continued south west into Zambia. We travelled through Zambia (spent two nights in Zambia, two nights in Zimbabwe) and then back home.

The trip home took five days, with virtually no stops for sightseeing or holidaying.

The round trip was about 8500km. With all the potholes the best speed to travel was about 80 - 90 kph.
Johann 1984
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by Johann 1984 »

Mr Van Coller,

Thanks for the awesome info!!! You are actually one of the people I really need to speak to. Dis your venture 2.2 survive, just for curiosity sake?

Ito the drama at hand, do you feel uneasy taking your 3.0L Patrol on such an adventure? Have you ever done so? If so, any crisis or problem experienced?

Really looking forward to your reply.

Keep well

Johann
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by mvcoller »

The Venture went like a dream, broke on leaf spring on the trailer. I got two 10mm think leaf springs off a Peugeot Bakkie in Karonga in Northern Tanzania on the way up, fitted them under the standard springs, we completed the tour trouble free from there.

I took spare fuel filters, oil filter, a whole set of shocks, fan belts, radiator hoses and needed NOTHING.
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by mvcoller »

Just to settle something:

When in East Africa, I saw many more Patrols than I saw Cruisers. The only Toyotas that were plentiful were the old SFA models, but I must admit that the new IFS models had not come to market yet.

At the time (I don't know about right now) the UN across East Africa only used NISSAN PATROLS.........
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Tinus lotz
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by Tinus lotz »

Jy sien ....die UN verstaan ...... :wink:
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by gupster »

Hi Johaan, in the UK at the moment and so a 2 hour delay.
Some of my troubles were self inflicted, some were because my truck was from the UK and rusty and some were just wear and tear.
I shipped the Patrol in 2011 to Durban and did a lot of recce trips to see how I wanted it set up. Before finally leaving, I changed the filters etc, but would not know I had broken the diesel lift pump until I was in Mozambique and did a filter change there. Fortunately I was able to buy and fit a Toyota lift pump in a shop in Caia. On advice, I always prime the new filter with diesel so it does not take as long to pump the fuel. This came back to bite me in Guinea years later when I primed it with dirty diesel from a petrol station in Labe. Now on the West of Africa, the 3.0 is unknown and the mechanics there just shook their heads. However, the 4.2 D is everywhere because its the truck of choice for a lot of government departments. Its a long long story of my attempts to get back to the UK, but to cut it short, a friend of mine arranged for me to ship back to Durban from Conakry if I could get there and so I set off with my truck in limp mode just hoping I would make it. I had been to Conakry previously to try and get a visa for Senegal and hated the place and the roadblocks so when I got to Mamou, the choice of either getting back to the Ivory coast or Conakry, the Patrol seemed to have a little more power and I chose Ivory Coast hoping I would be able to get it sorted in Danane. The gods must have been smiling on me because going through muddy forests of Guinea the Patrol became more and more responsive and without that power no truck would have got through. I think by then, the diesel I had replaced into my tank from the 60 l I carried on the roofrack, was cleaning whatever was causing the problem. I have never been so proud of Nissan Patrol as at that moment.
Previously when I was in Jungle Junction, Nairobi, I decide to change the fan belt. The tensioner fell to pieces and although I carried a spare bearing, I wanted to replace the whole thing. The Nissan dealers had one in stock and I was back on the road. So before I left Durban I had read the Aussie reports on the 01 3.0 and was horrified, probably like you are now about its capabilities. 3 major things worried me, hand grenade, 5th gear breaking and chassis cracking over the rear axle. I had 5mm plates welded on the chassis over the back axle just in case. My problems however were rust in the radiator cradle which I must have had welded and re welded in about 5 different counties eventually welding an angle iron underneath the radiator to hold it up in place while in Angola. On the way to Bahir Dar from Addis, my 5th gear sheared so ending my east African attempts to get to the UK. My next self inflicted problem was after returning to Addis and removing the box to get out the broken parts, I poo pooed the idea of sealing the bell housing. On my return to SA, I drove through about 30 Ks of deep mud churned up by the trucks that ply that route, and about 100 ks N of Lindi in Tanzania I ended up with a slipping clutch. In a tiny village, on the side of the road, in the sand, 5 very helpful locals removed my gearbox, cleared the build-up of mud in the pressure plate, put it al back together and I was able to continue across the Unity bridge into Mozz and eventually back to Durban.
My travels started in 2011 and finished in 2015 crossing 27 countries with a few local trips like Bots, Nam etc later. I have owned a 4.2 Turbo Diesel Landcruiser here in UK but much prefer my Nissan. The only downside to them is the mistaken popularity of Toyota in Africa and so spares are not as readily available, but hey, you are not going to need them. Please rest assured that your truck WILL get you through.
Have Troll, will travel.
Johann 1984
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Re: East Africa Trip 2020

Post by Johann 1984 »

Respect!
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