Written by Rowan Dixon
Into Africa 50
Africa is a continent often heard about in the press, but rarely for good reasons. Over its long history it has been home to some of the earth's most powerful and beautiful empires, and the greatest minds to ever walk the planet. It is home to beautiful animals, huge deserts and stunning coastlines. Unfortunately over the past 400 years this incredible continent has gone through incredible hardship and suffering, triggered by external forces, as well as from within. I am not a historian, nor a political expert, or politician, I am however someone who has always dreamt of Africa, and has wanted to see the continent (or as much as possible) from the ground, not behind the curtain of the western media or politics. In the summer of 2019 I was at a friend's BBQ; university exams had finished, and we were celebrating what would hopefully be a fantastic summer. Little did I know that I would meet a guy called Neirin that evening, and that 6 weeks later we, along with a mutual friend of ours called Scott and a medical student named Orla, would be heading to North West Africa in a 2002 90 series Toyota Land Cruiser, christened Lennie the Land Cruiser. This is the story of an incredible adventure which was planned in just 6 weeks, which took us through beautiful mountain ranges, across deserts and minefields, and into the tropics of Senegal and The Gambia, all on a shoe string budget.
dfhidfhidfhidfhidfhidfhidf Scott and I are both petrol heads, but neither of us owned a car that we would be able to take us on our 17,500km journey through northern Africa. After extensive research we decided that the best vehicle for the group would be a 90 series Land Cruiser, and headed to Manchester, with just 4 weeks until our planned departure, to pick one up. The 90 series is a very tough, medium duty 4x4, loved by many in the UK for their reliability and practicality, however, we would be running close to the GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) of the car, so ordered some OME suspension from France, and installed it over a long weekend in Scotland, with the help of Scott's two spaniels, along with a roof rack to help carry our equipment. Many overlanders love to fit rooftop tents, fridges and drawer systems to their vehicles, however this really isn’t necessary and can add thousands in costs. In total we made 3 modifications to the 90 series, the aforementioned OME suspension, roof rack and some BF Goodrich KO3 tyres. This is all you need (if your vehicle is newer you don’t need the new suspension) to have the trip of your life, and what a trip we had!
THE MUD LIFE MAGAZINE
