FAR-OFF LAND Live life from afar. Eternal. Solitude. Take in the stunning icy landscape. The Landy provides sanctuary beneath a steel grey sky: a loyal companion and warm nest alike.
DRIVERIGHT ON THROUGH Forging paths where none exist. No mud hole too wide, no slope too far. As long as the engine is running, the Landy will bring you to your destination. And onwards again. Because life only begins when you’re on the road. Everything else is waiting.
FEARLESS Straight down. Whatever you do, don’t brake suddenly. Don’t ease off the rear wheel otherwise the back will overtake the front. You can trust the Landy, but can you trust yourself? At the foot of dunes, you’ll know more.
HOT METAL AND WARM HEARTS The Finns are to blame. They’re to blame for my love of crappy British cars. In 1965, Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen won the Rallye Monte Carlo with their Mini Cooper S and went on to repeat their success two years later. “They must be great cars to dominate the competition even though it has more than triple the hp”, I thought back then. But when I got around to getting a Mini 1000 with 36 hp (I bought it for precisely 6,666 Deutschmarks and it refused to start when it rained, of course), reality hit me like a tonne of bricks. One of my work colleagues at the time drove the same car. On rainy days, our boss had to use his Fiat to tow both Minis before we could finally set off for work. Wrapping the ignition coil in greaseproof paper didn’t make any difference, unfortunately. A roaring Speedwell exhaust was later added to the vehicle, revealing its
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PHOTOS HARALD SCHMITT, LAND ROVER
Many things in life become clearer with age. And that’s often when you find your way back to yourself. Harald Schmitt knows why the British ‘ready-for-the-scrap-heap’ hunk of metal has accompanied him throughout his life. And why his Land Rover reminds him of Tom Waits.
charm particularly when driving through an underpass or double de-clutching, which compensated for many of its downfalls. I can still recall that exact wretched sound. The drone was as loud inside as it was outside. It drove me to stuffing my ears with Kleenex during long journeys. The second flash hit me in Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe). I was there to take photographs as a young reporter for a story about black and white people living together in the former British colony. The rebels – or freedom fighters – had laid mines in the roads and fired at moving cars during ambushes. I was driven around by a strong-willed farmer’s wife who had a marked stubborn streak. My driver didn’t wear shoes and drove barefoot through the thick mud. The car was fitted with a generous roll cage to cope with the hidden mines littered all over the roads. Apparently, the vehicle would raise up and flip over in the event of an explosion. That’s what we were told, at least. We didn’t try it out. There were three of us in the Landy. Being the youngest, I sat in the middle. The floor plate got so hot during the journey that I had to raise my legs up to my ears. Never mind, still a wonderful heap of metal. I swore to myself that someday I too would own a Defender. Whenever I visited other countries, I always noticed Land-
TEXT HARALD SCHMITT
ys on the side of the road and it looked as though the farmers had run out of donkeys and decided to batter and neglect a poor car instead. Decrepit, missing parts, nothing at all seemed to faze this car. It always started – loyal to its master. A stray dog in godknows-where would have received better treatment. A desire to own such a car and unlike other people, to treat it well, was instilled in me. During a trip to South Africa, at some ungodly hour, my colleague Peter came up with the idea to set up a company. We wanted to make beautiful plastic moulds of ele phant shit and sell it to those who never want for anything. Hamburg, Dusseldorf, New York, the world; everyone was waiting for this very thing. We quickly settled on a suitable name: “The Royal Elephant Shit Company”. I could already see us buying two company Land Rovers and tearing
Harald Schmitt and his wife Annette next to Rih, the Defender 110. Harald is a photographer with six World Press Photo Awards under his belt who first gave free rein to his love of Landys in his old age.
through the African Savanna, collecting elephant waste. The next day, we found the idea lacking – to put it politely. Time passed and still no Land Rover to call my own. I drove around the region in my friends’ British cars: Spitfire, Triumph TR6 IRS and MG-B. For practical reasons, I had to make do without a Volvo, Saab or Mercedes. What a paltry existence – I just wasn’t aware of it yet. Three years earlier, I’d taken a long journey on the ‘Dagmar Aaen’, the sailing ship owned by sailor Arved Fuchs, a regular on expeditions. During that time, I drove some of the stretch from Hamburg to Lofoten in a Landy owned by Tim, my friend, a cameraman. He had his Land Rover Defender 110 with him to carry his equipment. We took turns driving. While one drove, the other was always on the deck of the ‘Dagmar Aaen’. While I was there, Norway’s nar-
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glued to the passenger seat. Only once, at 54 degrees Celsius in Sudan, was it so hot that she escaped to the shelter of the backseat. Then the lack of air conditioning became uncomfortably apparent. Lena, however, was not traumatised by this somewhat macho behaviour. In any case, Lena and Tobias are still together. On the whole trip, there wasn’t a single corrupt official or any dramatic situations – apart from the aforementioned bad-tempered elephants. Nevertheless, there was not a moment’s boredom. There were a couple of minor incidents,
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however. In Addis Ababa, someone tried to slit open Lena’s backpack. Where they failed, the packs of monkeys that roam the town were more successful. It’s not just daydreaming tourists who get caught out. “They’re clever,” says Lena. “A few distract you while the others pinch anything they can get their hands on.” That’s how Lena and Tobias lost their entire supply of German rye bread. A bitter loss in the land of flatbread. When the pair wanted to travel from Sudan to Egypt, they were involuntarily separated from their vehicle. Once a week, there is a ferry across Lake Nasser. But, it doesn’t take cars. Tobias and Lena had to rent a freight barge for the Defender. But that doesn’t take passengers. So the barge and the car set off without them. The couple then took the passenger ferry without the car. “We didn’t
Another side of Africa: Erta Ale – “the smoking mountain” – in Ethiopia is one of a whole range of fire-belching volcanoes. Its crater measures 256 meters in diameter. A natural spectacle of fearsome beauty.
7 tips for your Africa trip Keep it simple Lena and Tobias drove over 100,000 kilometres through Africa. They had no accidents, no breakdowns, and never got in any serious trouble. Their tips for your Africa trip 1. Don’t take any Defender more recent than the TDI, as it’s the last model whose engine functions without electronics and can be repaired in any workshop in Africa. 2. Dispense with all frills. Air conditioning, heated seats, auxiliary heating, electric windows, roof tent, sand plate, winches – they’re unnecessary, have the potential to break and weigh the car down. 3. Reinforce the wheel track, install a longrange tank, buy a spare battery and install a voltage transformer to provide you with 220-volt alternating current. 4. Buy an Engel refrigerator. Cools perfectly and will not break.
arrive until a few days later and were really worried about the Land Rover. We couldn’t bear the thought of it standing unattended by the harbour wall,” says Tobias. But their worries were unfounded: “The crew of the barge kindly waited for us.” When they finally reached the Mediterranean coast of Egypt and wanted to board a ferry to Europe, however, their plans were disrupted by politics. The Arab Spring had reached the Nile and the ferry company went bankrupt. What now? The next separation. Tobias and Lena drove straight across the Sinai Peninsula to Israel. From there, a car carrier transported the Defender to Italy. The couple followed by plane. So what have they learned from their extraordinary journey? One year on the road. 57,000 more kilometers on the clock, and hardly any serious problems, except with monkeys and elephants. A total cost of 70,000 euros, 70 percent of which consisted of national park fees. In exchange, any prejudices melted away. “If you think that in Africa you will get malaria and diarrhoea, eaten by lions and ambushed by bandits armed with machetes, then in our experience, you are completely mistaken,” says Tobias. On the contrary: We have discovered a fascinating continent with wonderful people and incredible nature.” ♥
CAR Model: Defender 110 TDI Year: 1997 Assembly: Unknown Location: Currently, Windhoek, Namibia Weight: 2,055 kg Power: 113 bhp
PEOPLE Name: Tobias Seiderer and Lena Klemm Birth year: 1974/1978 Birthplace: Geilenkirchen/ Radebeul, Germany Place of residence: Cologne, Germany Profession: Teacher/Secretary Passion: Travelling in Africa USP: Trans-African trip 2011–2012 (www.colognetocapetown.com)
5: Buy two dust-proof Zarges boxes. One for the kitchen, one for your sleeping bags. 6. Don’t take any spare parts; they are available everywhere in Africa. 7. Leave the 7.5 R16 wheels rims on – tyres for them are easily available.
Better together. Lena and Tobias travelled across Africa – for a whole year. There were more problems with political events than with the Landy. Their relationship survived the trip unscathed. They are still together.
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BLIND TRUST
“I still remember the very first time I saw it. It was an incredible moment,” says Martina, describing the instant she fell in love at first sight. “There it was in front of me, this striking car with spherical, friendly-looking eyes. ’Wow, what a stunner’, I thought.” Today, she says: “I could hardly take my eyes off it. I was hooked.” Instantly, she sprung into action. “I gathered all my courage and stalked up to it.” Her heart was leaping out of her chest as she finally approached it, and she was lost for words: “It’s like I was hypnotised.” When she gained control of herself, she heard herself say “You’re mine now.” The car seller, who in the meantime had approached from behind, cleared his throat in irritation and asked if there was anything he could do for Martina.
The long ferry ride was worth it. The Icelandic landscape of lava and ice provides the “110” with a giant playground for outdoor adventures.
PHOTOS MARTINA REHAGEN, THOMAS ERNST
TEXT MARTINA REHAGEN
Even a long and loving relationship can be put to the test. Because it’s all about trusting your partner and circumventing crises together. Martina Rehagen and her Defender have emerged from the mud as a stronger team than before.
“What a question. Wasn’t it obvious?” Of course he could do something for Martina. Get the papers ready and go, so that she could drive off the forecourt as quickly as possible with her new conquest. That was seven years ago, when Martina’s biggest dream came true. She became the proud owner of a black Land Rover Defender 110 TD4, a special 50th anniversary edition. Since then, the pair has been inseparable, and a formidable team. Initially though, there were no real adventures. Other than for the drive to work, taking the dog places and the occasional holiday to the North Sea coast or the Allgäu, the Defender had it easy. That needed to change. “Last year, we finally went on a major road trip together.” The first adventure holiday in a sixyear relationship. But would it really do this passionate liaison any good? “I just needed to know, because for all this time the Defender had never left the asphalt. I just had to find out if not only the Landy, but I was built for off-roading.” The test would take place in Iceland. Martina had always wanted to travel there. A childhood dream. And to do it in her own car, rather than in a soulless rental car. But how to you get a Defender to Iceland when you have only two weeks to spend there? After detailed research, the Defender was shipped from Wilhelmshaven to Reykjavik in a container. Its owner was already a little apprehensive about the idea. “I hope I will see it again,” thought Martina, and worried: “Hopefully it will not accidentally end up in Africa.”
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