Trip Preparation

Route | Navigation | Timing | Visas | Insurance | Carnet de Passage | Medical | Mechanical | Off-road Driver Training | Personal

There is no understating that an expedition such as this requires vast amounts of preparation - definitely more so that we envisaged at the beginning! It is nevertheless all part of the experience and lots of fun.

Thank goodness for the internet though as this makes the process so much easier. Starting as relative novices, we have had to learn a great deal about all the multi-faceted aspects of the trip - mechanical to technological, legal to medical.

Outlined below are some of the key considerations. We will continue to update this as we progress with our trip preparation.

:: Route

There are basically two routing options through Africa – west coast or east coast. These are largely dictated by political events, such as wars, or practical considerations such as the existence of roads. There are also limited options for crossing from the west to east coast. This has to be done either through Chad and Southern Sudan (not advisable at present owing to the conflict in Darfur) or much further south from Namibia.

Our choice has been the west coast route. This is mainly because it is French-speaking and it has always been Catherine’s dream to tour the French-speaking world.

The west coast is known to be a challenge for those "qui ne parlent pas Francais" comfortably. It is especially important to be able to gather on-the-ground information such as routing advice and therefore being comfortable in the local language is extremely beneficial.

The west coast route also requires overlanders to travel through many more countries than would be required of the east coast route. This has implications for visa costs as well as the hassle factor of border crossings that can often result in days of additional waiting time.

As for me, I just wanted to be able to travel through Gibraltar to visit Patagonia’s steak restaurant one last time before we left Europe. For this reason, the west coast route was a no-brainer.

The only other issue with the west coast route is that visas for Angola are currently very difficult to obtain. Angola is unavoidable and the only practical route around would be to ship the vehicle from Gabon down to Walvis Bay at great expense. We have heard from recent overlanders that options are improving and at last report, a 5-day transit visa was obtainable in Matadi just across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We’ll just have to keep an eye open on this one. We remain positive for now.

:: Navigation

Navigation will be a key element if we actually want to end up in Cape Town. We’ll be using both a GPS and a good old-fashioned map and compass.

While GPS is the easier and probably more convenient option, it should be considered as a supplement rather than a replacement for good reliable maps.

Our primary maps are the Michelin National Maps (scale 1:4 000 000). These map out the primary roads across Africa. There are three available:

• National Map 741: Africa - North and West
• National Map 745: Africa - North East and Arabia
• National Map 746: Africa - Central, South and Madagascar

We will probably supplement these with other regional/local maps of areas where we intend spending more time.

Our GPS unit is a Garmin Colorado 300. This is a intended as an outdoor, hand-held GPS. While this does have auto routing capability, we chose this above a standard car sat nav as it has far more rigorous mapping and navigational capabilities.

We will be loading the Tracks 4 Africa (www.tracks4africa.com) GPS maps which will provide a vast array of up-top-date, safe and eco-friendly routing options. In a nutshell the T4A concept is fantastic and will be hugely useful on our trip. See their website for more information.

:: Timing

The timing of a trans-Africa expedition is also a critical consideration. Get the timing wrong and you could hit the rainy season and end up spending vast amounts of time digging yourself out of muddy trouble.

We researched the rainfall and temperature patterns and basically decided that we needed to get through central Africa by April/May when the heavy rain starts. We hear that this can often make roads treacherous and impassable.

We also want to make sure we get the last rays of summer in Europe before we leave. Hence we have decided to leave in  mid September.

Below is some climate data that we have collated from the internet showing temperatures and rainfall that we can expect.

Celsius	Average Minimum Temperature													Average Maximum Temperature
Place	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Holland	1	2	3	5	9	12	14	15	12	9	5	3		5	5	8	11	15	17	20	20	18	14	9	6
Lyon, France	1	1	3	5	10	13	16	15	12	8	3	1		5	7	11	14	19	22	26	26	22	16	10	6
Geneva, Switzerland	-1	-1	1	3	7	11	13	13	10	6	2	?		3	5	10	13	18	22	25	25	20	13	8	5
Firenze, Italy	1	3	4	7	11	14	16	16	14	9	6	2		9	11	14	18	23	27	30	30	26	20	14	10
Valencia, Spain	15	16	18	19	22	26	29	29	27	22	18	15		5	6	7	9	12	17	20	20	17	13	8	6
Gibraltar	11	11	12	13	15	17	20	20	20	16	13	12		16	16	17	18	21	24	27	27	26	21	18	16
Marrakech, Morocco	6	8	10	11	13	16	20	20	18	15	11	7		17	19	22	23	26	30	36	36	32	26	22	18
Nouakchott, Mauritania	15	15	16	16	17	18	19	20	21	19	17	15		23	24	25	25	25	26	26	27	28	28	26	23
Saint Louis, Senegal	17	17	18	18	20	23	25	25	26	24	20	17		28	30	30	29	28	29	30	31	31	32	32	30
Bamako, Mali	18	21	24	26	26	23	22	22	22	22	20	18		31	34	36	38	36	33	30	30	31	33	33	31
Bobo, Burkina Faso	20	22	25	26	25	22	22	21	21	22	21	20		31	33	35	35	33	30	28	28	29	32	32	31
Accra, Ghana	25	25	26	26	26	25	24	23	23	23	24	25		30	31	31	30	30	28	27	26	27	28	30	30
Porto-Novo, Benin	24	27	30	31	29	27	26	25	25	27	26	24		24	27	30	31	29	27	26	25	25	27	26	24
Lagos, Nigeria	26	27	27	27	26	25	24	24	23	25	26	26		27	30	30	28	28	26	26	26	25	26	28	28
Douala, Cameroon	24	25	24	24	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23		30	30	30	30	29	27	26	26	27	27	28	30
Libreville, Gabon	25	25	25	25	25	23	23	23	23	24	24	25		28	29	29	29	28	27	26	26	26	27	27	28
Brazzaville, Congo	22	22	23	23	22	20	19	20	21	22	22	22		29	30	30	30	30	27	26	27	29	29	28	28
Huambo, Angola	18	19	19	19	19	17	16	16	18	20	20	19		18	19	19	19	19	17	16	16	18	20	20	19
Windhoek, Namibia	20	18	17	15	11	8	7	10	15	17	20	21		28	27	26	25	22	20	20	22	26	27	29	30
Francistown, Botswana	21	20	19	16	12	8	7	11	15	19	20	20		29	28	28	26	24	21	21	25	27	29	30	28
Lusaka, Zambia	20	19	19	17	13	11	10	12	17	20	20	20		25	25	25	25	23	21	22	24	28	29	28	25
Blantyre, Malawi	20	19	18	17	15	13	12	13	16	19	20	20		28	27	27	27	25	23	23	26	28	31	31	28
Moshi, Tanzania	17	17	18	19	18	16	15	15	15	16	17	17		33	33	32	29	26	25	25	26	28	31	31	32
Nampula, Mozambique	23	22	22	21	20	17	17	17	19	21	23	23		28	28	28	27	26	24	23	25	28	30	31	29
Pretoria, South Africa	19	18	17	14	10	6	6	9	13	15	16	18		27	27	26	23	21	18	18	21	24	25	26	27
Source: www.worldclimate.com

:: Visas

Visas are a significant trip expense. With one of us being on a South African passport though, this should reduce some of the cost.

There are two approaches – get all the visas before we go, or get them en route. We are thinking of a hybrid approach getting the first 5 or 6 before we leave and arranging the rest as we go. This will give us slightly more flexibility should we want to alter our route.

Many African visas are also valid from the time of issue (not entry into the country) which can make time schedules quite tight, especially for the countries further south. As noted above, Angolan visas are particularly difficult to obtain at the moment but we understand that this situation is slowly changing.

We found very good visa information at the following sites:

• For UK citizens – British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• For SA citizens – Department of Foreign Affairs

:: Insurance

Vehicle and Medical

We are still investigating insurance options. This will cover both vehicle insurance and medical insurance. We have been directed towards Campbell Irvine who apparently do both. We’ll update this page with our latest research when this is sorted out.

Third Party Vehicle Insurance

Third party vehicle insurance in African countries is a legal requirement and must often be bought at border posts. For Southern and East Africa, the COMESA Yellow Card scheme is insurance that covers multiple countries and covers third party liabilities and medical expenses. I think there may be similar schemes for West Africa but not certain as yet.

:: Vehicle import considerations

As we will be taking a vehicle into numerous countries, we obviously will not want to be paying import duties each time.

This is overcome by the Carnet de Passage en Douane. This document is issued by motoring organisations worldwide allowing the temporary importation of a vehicle into countries without payment of customs duties and taxes. The document guarantees that if for any reason the vehicle fails to be re-exported, the issuing club will pay duties liable. The RAC is the only issuer of this document in the UK.

Practically this means that we’ll need to pay an up-front deposit and will need to be stamped in and out of each country in order to claim the deposit back at the end of the trip.

Should we decide to stay in SA and keep the Land Rover, we’ll have the option of following the SARS vehicle import procedures. Given that we will have owned the car for a year before entry into SA, and intend on using it for personal use, vehicle import duties will not be applicable to us.

More information can be found on the RAC and SARS (see DA 304 A) websites.

:: Medical

Vaccinations

The best and most recent medical travel advice can be found on the NHS Fit For Travel Website (link).

The following jabs are recommended for travel in countries that we plan on visiting:

• Hepatitis A (plus booster)
• Tetanus
• Diphtheria
• Poliomyelitis
• Typhoid
• Yellow Fever (plus certificate required for entry into most African countries)

The following are recommended but not essential. Given the duration of our trip we’ve decided to err on the side of caution and have them.

• Cholera
• Hepatitis B
• Meningococcal Meningitis
• Rabies
• Tuberculosis

We’re both reasonably well jabbed up from previous trips so there were only a few new ones and boosters that we need. However, one of the bonuses of living in Peckham is that most of them are available free through our local surgery. We understand that this is not common.

The only ones we needed to pay for were Yellow Fever (through our local surgery), Cholera and Rabies (both through Nomad Travel in Victoria). These were unfortunately the most expensive!

Malaria

Above all other dangers that we will be exposed to, we see Malaria as our biggest concern. It is extremely dangerous, especially in parts of West Africa, so we are not taking any risks on this front.

We are due to have a proper consultation shortly but will most likely go for Doxycycline or Mefloquine (Lariam). However, these need to be tested prior to use as side effects can vary.

The other option is Malarone. This is the best prophylactic on the market as it has almost no side effects, but it is very expensive and is also not recommended for extended periods of use. Therefore, this is not an option.

Another bonus of living in Peckham is that our Malaria tablets will be free for the entire trip!

We have heard of alternatives such as Vitamin B and garlic that are supposed to prevent mosquito bites. These have been medically proven to have no effect and are just old wives tales. Perhaps they’ll be recommended by the South African Minister of Health. Maybe we'll just resort to using our solar shower when leaving countries that are affected by Malaria!

We will of course be taking anti-mosi repellents and mosquito nets for night time. We’re not taking any chances on this front!

In addition, to the preventative medications, we are also looking to take some test and treatment kits.

There is an excellent Malaria page on www.traveldoctor.co.uk covering all you need to know about malaria.

Medical training

We did a two day first aid course through a company called Expedition Wise (www.expeditionwise.com).

We found this incredibly helpful and feel much more comfortable about the health aspects of our trip. Not only did we cover the basic first aid procedures but also general expedition considerations such as hydration strategies and advice.

Paul from Footloose 4x4 has also very kindly provided us with a detailed list of medical supplies that he recommends taking.

:: Mechanical

The vehicle and equipment probably required the most preparation. See our ‘Vehicle & Equipment’ page for more details on the work done to the car and equipment bought.

Given that we are placing so much reliance on our vehicle to get us to Cape Town, I went in search of a course where I could learn some basic motor vehicle maintenance skills. In honesty, while I am an confident metalworker and reasonably mechanically minded, I’ve never really ventured under a bonnet and I felt this was a particular area where some time and investment were needed.

Quite amazingly, I stumbled upon the City of Westminster College which is just 15 minutes walk from where I work in central London. They offer a 10-week evening motor vehicle maintenance course. It was perfectly suited and has given me the grounding I was looking for. Thanks to Dale and Paul for your excellent instruction.

For me, the main objective for the course was to understand the car in a bit more detail and skill myself up to the extent that we can keep the Land Rover running smoothly throughout the duration of our trip. In reality, if anything went severely wrong along the way, such as gearbox or engine failure, we simply would not have the equipment and machinery even to fix it. Therefore, our approach is prevention rather than cure. For everything else, there’s MasterCard, prayer and the satellite phone.

:: Off-road Driver Training

We did a one day off-road driver training course with a company called Protrax up in Corby (www.protrax.co.uk). These guys were excellent. The owner Vince is clearly very passionate about Land Rovers and our personal one-on-one tutor Ray was just brilliant.

We turned up and subsequently discovered that it was actually part of the official Land Rover Experience. In addition, as we booked directly through Protrax and not Land Rover, it was half the price which was a real bonus.

We used their vehicles at the start to learn the basics of off-road driving. They then tailored the day at our request to include some basic recovery training, i.e. winch and hi-lift jack use.

The day passed too quickly but we feel we are at least comfortable with the basics. We've got a whole year to practice now.

:: Personal

To date, we have largely been dealing with the practical aspects of preparation, which of course, has been lots of fun. A more psychological aspect, however, is the personal preparation.

This trip will be more than just a two week holiday with the knowledge of a comfy bed and a warm shower ready and waiting for us in the not too distant future. This is expected to be a demanding eight-month working holiday. Sure it will be fun and we will have some amazing experiences, but we need to be realistic and appreciate that life will not always be that comfy.

Spending a long time away from family and friends will be especially tough. Equally tough is the fact that this trip may result in our permanent departure form the UK which will of course mean leaving so many special friends behind.

These emotional aspects also need to be considered as part of the general trip preparation.

However, we feel that this is our time to go and we want to seize the opportunity before finances become stretched and the produce of marriage make projects such as this all the less feasible! So happy and sad we’ll be, but ensuring we spend lots of time with family and friends before we go is probably the most important aspect of our trip preparation phase.

(Last updated: 24 August 2009)