Stonehenge to Cape Town 2010/11: West Coast / Central Africa route - 366 days

[Langebaan Sunset]

Hi folks

We are new to the Exp'Portal. We just completed a 48,361km trip from the UK to South Africa in a 1997 Land Rover Defender 110 hard top. It was a honeymoon and emigration rolled into one to start a new life in Cape Town.

Read about our trip here Site includes our prep, costs and links to photos and videos etc..... We hope you like it.

Highlights included:

• Highest 4x4 traverse of the High Atlas, Morocco
• Getting lost in the Morccon desert near Algeria
• Crossing from Mauritania to Senegal at Rosso (yes we did Rosso)
• Beautiful Ghana
• Crazzzzy Nigeria
• Real mud in Cameroon
• 100 miles of sand in Congo
• Crossing the Congo River at Pioka - 3 "challenging" days in Central Africa
• Tsetse fly madness in Northern Angola
• Remote deserts of Namibia
• Sleeping with lions in Botswana
• Freezing Lesotho
• Reaching our new home in South Africa.

We are always happy to answer questions on any aspect of the trip.

Regards

Nick & Vicks
www.langebaan-sunset.com

 

[gjackson]

Very cool, and welcome. Can you post some pics? (You have some phenomenal ones on your site.)

cheers

 

[Langebaan Sunset]

Pictures from our trip

Hi Graham

All our photos are hosted here

Our videos are located here

We attach a couple of pics you might like;

​

Nick & Vicki
www.langebaan-sunset.com

 

[Christian P.]

hey, great to see you here! It looks like you should be back on Overland Live?

What's happening to the Defender now? Maybe someone should drive it back to UK...

 

[Langebaan Sunset]

what next

Hi Christian,

Thanks - glad you like our site / pics etc....

I am working on a new pod cast for OL Live that will go up soon. We are also working to put more data on our site.

In terms of the Land Rover - she is getting a REALLY BIG spring clean, new roof tent and we have kitted out the rear so we can sit in there, with improved storage and new lay out - see pic below. We also have 2x rescue dogs that need to be transported so its all change!



We have no plans to do another trip as yet as we are settling into our new life in SA and have imported the car. We will however be going on small trips / holidays in Southern Africa. We would love to go back to Southern Angola and also some of the remoter parts of Botswana.

We will post more info on our landy improvements soon.

Regards

Nick

 

[Langebaan Sunset]

Update on our website

Hi folks,

we have updated our website with more trip information, key areas covered are:

• All our waypoints (camping, costs, embassies, visas, borders, things to see etc...)
• Route - planned and actual
• FAQS page
• Budget data for 1 year on the road
• Mechanicals and fuel economy
• Medical kit taken Vs medical kit used
• Weather information

Visa listing and full GPS track data coming next.

Regards

Nick

 

[haven]

Congratulations on the successful completion of your trip! The fact that you are already talking about the next trip shows how much you enjoyed the last one!

Many thanks for the thorough budget information. £45-£60 per day for two people is $75-$100 USD. I also appreciated the advice to spend money servicing and preparing your home-on-wheels prior to departure, if only to avoid a budget-busting repair during the journey.

How often did you find it convenient to have the capability of a big heavy 4x4, versus a lighter pickup? I imagine a truck like the Toyota HiLux would be ubiquitous across Africa.

 

[Langebaan Sunset]

Hi Haven

Thanks for the comments - small correction to make - we have "no" plans to do a similar trip for a long while (I corrected the grammer in the previous post) as we have just emigrated and so settling into our new lives in SA.

I am glad you found the info useful - we still have more to upload - so keep watching the thread.

SA is a great place to have a fully prepped 4x4 / Land Rover as there is some amazing / wild scenery and countries to explore right on our door step. In terms of a 2nd form of transport - we would only have a family car. We are importing the Land Rover for good and will be using it a lot now we are here. Its true that Toyotas are more common in Africa but Land Rovers are pretty common in SA and so you are well catered for.

We have made a few new modifications which we will post about soon.

Thanks

Nick

 

[KOOS BEST]

"Sjoe" Nick & Vicki , what a comprehensive report.

It's well written with exceptional detail.

To explain to someone the experience of African wildlife the way you did , is an awesome experience. There are just nothing nothing in the world that get close to Lion roaring over the African planes and a face to face experience looking into those golden eyes ,and the sound of Elephant tummies rumbling when walking past your tent.

May your new life in this Fauna and Flora kingdom be blessed with some "lekker" trips.

"Afrika is koning"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[trailsurfer]

Thanks for posting a link to your trip blog. Fantastic!

 

[Stoneseeker]

Very good pictures, thank you very much.
They always smile and the nature is magic.

Have you more informations about "Solar Sister Lamps"
and the project, it´s interesting for my work.

Thanks

Bye

 

[Martyn]

Just started reading the blog, I'm engrossed already. I like the trip budget, it's a must read for anyone planning an extensive trek.

Interesting insight into Overlanders based on daily budget. My wife and I have hitchhiked, traveled by bus, rented cars, and done long trips in 4X4 in Africa. Traveling "Overland" on a tight budget is stressful and in the end a negative experience. While doing the same trip by bus, rail, or hitchhiking, on the same budget can be rewarding and fun.

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Langebaan Sunset]

London to Cape Town in 10 Minutes

Hi Folks

As an update to our trip or if you are planning an Africa Overland trip in the near future 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. We started in Morocco in Sept 2010 so it was pretty hot in the deserts (48'C max shade temp) and arrived in Cape Town end of May 2011.

We managed to avoid most of the rains but still found plenty of mud in Central Africa. You can down load the GPS track and way points for the entire route at website

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