I'm driving my Unicat around the world via Australia, SE Asia, China, Mongolia, Russia, and Europe starting this fall. Unicat type vehicles travel often in S. America as well. Yes, it has been in Morocco and Mexico. Regarding your subtle allusion to Mexico, when we got stuck in a (non) dry lake, 2 Mex. Army Hummers helped us get out along with ~8 soldiers. We offered payment; they refused.
As far as parts of Africa are concerned, it doesn't matter whether you're on a bicycle, motorcycle, beat up Landcruiser or whatever; it's trouble. Incidentally, the vehicle of choice to steal/hijack in the Sahara for the AQIM types is a 60, 70 or 80 series Landcruiser.
For us old f*rts it's nice to have a bed to sleep in and a potty to do your thing into.
I think your comments are generated by something other than experience.
Charlie
PS: "Hard to repair"? I'd rather search a spare part and service for a Mercedes or even a MAN than a Ford or Dodge outside N. America.
Actually my
opinion comes from experience. Having traveled a fair amount ovrseas and yes even a drive to Panama and back. So,
my opinions do not come from experience?
By all means go for it! You certainly will have an adventure and after the trip can report back your experiences so other people can enjoy the trip you take and perhaps learn from your expeirence. You may very well not experience any issues at all on your trip. Then again....
And I think it is great to do an around the world trip in a Unimog, on foot, by bicycle or in a TLC. I am also very well aware people do overlanding in extremely high dollar vehicles. Just because people do things though doesn't mean I or others will think it is a good idea or agree with it.
Any vehcile on the road that is not available locally will be difficult to get parts for. Yet, with the internet, credit cards and international phone calls you can have just about anything drop shipped to you anywhere in the world. It is still going to be easier to get a part for a USA vehicle that is fairly common production shipped to you than it will be to get some Unimog parts. Not to mention the tool kit you need to reapir a Unimog compared to say a 60 series TLC. I have had parts shipped to me while outside the USA on a trip and repaired my vehcile myself. So yeah, I am speaking from experience not just blowing my horn.
I wasn't so much implying theft of the vehicle so much as you are a HUGE target for bribes, petty theft and common scams. It is well known the military in Mexico and many other countries is going to treat you well and ask for no money. My own experience is the same. It is also well known that the corruption is in the local police who will try and take you for as much as they can. If it looks like you have lots of cash they will try to get you for as much as possible. My knowledge of this comes from personal experience driving outside the USA. Driving into the 2nd or 3rd world in a bling $600k truck is like having a neon sigh on it that says...I HAVE MONEY AND LOTS OF IT! To people who would want your money that makes you a target. To the average person it just says, there is a rich guy, his washing machine in his truck costs more than my entire family makes in a year. In my mind, driving a $600k vehicle to a very poor part of the world is kind of like spitting in the face of the locals. It is flanting your wealth to people who struggle to survive day to day. To me it is disrespectful of the local poor communities and culture.
Are locals in these poor 2nd & 3rd world countries going to be curious, friendly, treat you well and even be outgoing to interact with you? Of course. By nature poor people are evry friendly, it has something to do with being happy with what you have even if it is next to nothing. That is a whole different topic though.
There was a time (20yrs ago) I used to dream of a Unimog camper and driving it around the world. That was before I had done much traveling at all, I was young and naive.
It seems to me what people miss the most out of other peoples posts is that the person is expressing their opinion. My opinion is that driving a $600k truck around the world might be an adventure but may not be such a great idea. There are far better ways to do it and much cheaper ways also. Not to mention what you could do with the $600k beside buy the expedition 4wd mansion on wheels. Heck man just 10% of the cost of the truck could do wonders for a poor community in the 3rd world! Once you have actually seen children digging through the dump to survive...well, you just can't think that a $600k truck is good thing to drive through their country.
I am not telling anyone not to do a trip in a $600k vehicle but I am stating my opinion on the subject, which is based on my experience.
