Dave and Cath's African Adventure

The following is a series of blog posts detailing the adventures of Dave and Cath on their African journey.

Join them each week as their story unfolds.

These Joburg city slickers chose the Toyota Land Cruiser 70 (Pickup) as their vehicle of choice.

Submitted by Dave on Sun, 26/10/2008 - 20:20.

The Journey Begins

This is the first of a series of blog posts retelling the adventures of two city slickers travelling in Africa.

It all started innocently enough over a bottle of red wine one Thursday evening. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Sun, 26/10/2008 - 21:36.

To put this all into context I will need to tell you a little more about us. At the time of our decision Cath was 26 and I was 29. We were both very much city dwellers, with little or no camping experience other then a few sporadic forced school outings and one very gentle paddle down the Orange River whilst at Varsity in the Cape a number of years before. read more »

Land Cruiser 70 Pick-up (Before Conversion)

Submitted by Dave on Sun, 26/10/2008 - 21:56.

The Vehicle

But now I’m skipping ahead, as at this stage in our story we didn't even have the vehicle (although we knew from the start exactly what we needed to get).

When travelling into Africa there is only one machine guaranteed to do the job well and with a minimum degree of fuss – perfect for the complete mechanical misfits that we were – the diesel version of the Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Pick-up (aka The Beast). read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 31/10/2008 - 11:18.

The Conversion

After much discussion, deliberation and window shopping we were slowly able to piece together what we thought might be required for an overland trip such as the one we were contemplating. This was not an easy task, given (as I mentioned before) that the amount of 4x4 and camping experience that Cath and I had probably wouldn’t have filled a thimble. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 31/10/2008 - 12:27.

Shopping

Of course buying all the other camping and survival paraphernalia that would go into the Beast was another matter entirely as you can’t just go to one shop for all your requirements. Once more we turned to the pages of 4x4 and camping magazines, books and blogs of those who’d already done a trip like ours and anybody willing to spend a few minutes telling us what they thought were essential items to bolster our knowledge of what lay ahead. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 31/10/2008 - 12:36.

Leaving Joburg Behind

By the end of June, and with the completion of the Beast's conversion having severely delayed us, we were finally able to start packing all that we had bought in the previous months. This proved to be impossible undertaking, one that I doubt even Hercules could have completed successfully had they been one of his 12 Labours. As a result of the abandoning of my extensive lists, we had ended up buying so much stuff that a large portion of it had to be left behind. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 09:50.

Test Run – Albert Falls Dam

Our first camping test run was with Cath’s folks at Albert’s Falls Dam. It was a very pretty spot that overlooked the dam and it gave Mike and Norma a chance to see the Beast all set-up and us a chance to test that we knew what we were doing and that everything was working as it should be.

Needless to say, the set-up of the roof top tent and extension proved to take far longer then the quick demonstration we were given in Joburg. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but not knowing exactly where what went it probably took us about an hour longer then it should of. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 10:23.

Modifications

We spend the next few days in the workshop at Mike’s paving business – National Asphalt’s workshop, enlisting the help of Conrad, Ed and Floyd to make a number of changes and improvements to the work already completed in Johannesburg to the Beast.

Most of these changes were really just to make our lives that much easier and to give us a bit more space to cater for our ever growing pile of boxes. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 10:57.

Electrical Disaster

With all the changes that we’d had made to the car in Hillcrest completed, we were on our way back home to pack the last few bits and pieces before heading on up the coast toward Mozambique when disaster struck. read more »

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 10:59.

Finally, We're Off

About three weeks after getting to Natal we were finally ready to leave South Africa and get stuck in to our adventure. Although now behind schedule, the delay had given us the opportunity to get used to the Beast and to grow more accustomed to the concept of African Time – something we knew would soon become a way of life for us (singing "Always look on the bright side of life, de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum"). read more »