January 2012 - My Final Post!

This is the final post for my trans-Africa expedition as my Landrover has finally made it home, in one piece, to the UK! 

And here is the final part of the story!  As you will remember from my last blog, after many hassles the Landrover was finally put in a rather rusty and battered container at the KPA Container Depot in Nairobi just before I flew back to England.  Once in it’s container it was taken by train to Mombasa and then shipped on the MV Northern Valour to Salalah in the Oman.  Here the container was transferred onto a UK bound ship which reached Felixstowe in early December and I was able to pick it up on Monday 5 December and bring it home.

The Landrover back at last in the UK!

I must say at this stage a massive thanks to Julie at Elite Shipping in the UK who did a wonderful job both shipping the Landrover to Capetown for the start of the trip in early July and bringing it back home again.  Not only was Elite’s quote the most competitive but their service was efficient and courteous.  Many are the stories I have heard of containers being broken into, vehicles stolen or damaged etc, but Elite did me proud.  I would recommend them to anyone thinking of shipping their vehicle overseas.

The drive 200 miles back to Wiltshire from Felixstowe was uneventful.  The Landrover went like the wind and I was home in five hours.  Then it was just a question of unpacking her and getting her booked in for a full service.  This took place just before Christmas and no damage or other problems were found.  In fact, Brian the mechanic who looks after her said he was amazed that she had survived such a long and arduous trip with no ill effects.  The only mechanical problem he found was that the mechanics who had serviced her in Zimbabwe had damaged the thread on the engine sump plug and had jammed it back in with plumbers tape.  I did not know this at the time and was lucky to drive the next 5000 miles without it falling out!

Let me end my story with some statistics for the journey:

Route     Travelled through 8 countries from Cape Agulhas (the southern most tip of      

                S Africa) to the Equator in northern Kenya

Duration   Three and a half months

Distance   Covered 9500 miles

Terrain     Included desert, bush, tropical rainforest & mountains (up to 8,500 ft)

Climate   Temperatures from freezing point in Namibia to +44 degrees C in Zambia. 

Rainfall    No rain in the first two and a half months.

Accommodation   Tents and sleeping bags

Vehicle Used    15 year old ex Thames Water Board Landrover, weighing 3 tonnes once fully loaded.  The vehicle engine used no oil throughout the trip and I never had to put water in the radiator.  We had no punctures either! 

Vehicle Spares  30kg of immediate spares

Fuel Capacity 144 litres carried in extended range fuel tanks and jerry cans

Food  Mainly tins with fresh supplements when near civilisation

Water Carried  44 litre vehicle tank and 20 litre ‘Lifesaver’ jerry can

Accommodation  Two tents with sleeping bags and camp beds

Protection   Two catapults and a base ball bat!

Thank you for following my journey through Africa and for supporting me in all my endeavours.  As many of you will know, I supported the UK registered charity Conservation Zambezi http://www.conservationzambezi.org throughout the trip and, at the time of writing, have raised over £4000 in generous donations given by you (the readers of this blog) and others for projects in Matusadona National Park in northern Zimbabwe.

Thank you!