OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
The drive to Livingstonia was slow, but absolutely beautiful! The most part of the road winds between part of The Great Rift Valley and the views are breathtaking! Mzuzu town is perched on the mountains at 1200m altitude, and driving to Livingstonia takes you all the way back to the Lake, and then up another mountain. As we started descending,…
Part 3: A gentleman is defined, not by the distance he keeps from his own, internal wildness, but by his ability to scrub up afterwards. Iconic (Photo: RWH) Having left all chance of contact with the outside, Dan and Alki dropped off the edge of our map and headed to the border of the Congo. Here are some of the…
In 1956 the French left Morocco after 44-years of occupation but recent times have seen a new invasion; from the Southern Spanish Ports they come in their thousands, a campervan cavalcade marching to a victory of sunshine and low-cost campsites. Throughout natural history, species with the means (ie-wings) have wisely selected to spend their winter months in the sunshine of…
A good few nights wild camping and driving quite quickly we stayed one night in a rather expensive campsite in Hotel Huanchaco Gardens Hotel. It was OK. I’ve posted some photos. For the price is could have been better but it was quiet so probably worth it.I might not have mentioned the attempted robbery in Puno in Peru. Well We’ve…
Patagonia was tough on us. As were the mountains and deserts of Northern Chile and Argentina. It has been even tougher for others, we have had American friends roll their Toyota on the Caraterra Austral and English friends in a Land Rover who lost, basically, the entire rear axle before plunging down an embankment on the Tierra del Fuego road.…
Currently we are 10 days into the trip and enjoying it, we have done around 2,000 miles and the car has averaged around 35 mpg, no problems yet fingers crossed. Overall, Germany we drove through quickly, maybe we should have visited more sites, but plan to revisit on the way back, Denmark was dull much like England, sweden and Norway…
We arrived late in Letaba on Friday because of the long delay at Skukuza workshop. Arno decided to drive the Hilux in 4×4 because the vibration that we heard at the front right wheel then stops. We were lucky to get the very last campsite against the fence. As normal, the hyenas came at dusk running up and down the…
Way back in 1962, British director David Lean choose the dusty town of Ouarzazate and its surrounding area to film his epic movie ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. Lean recognised the potential of the area as a unique and versatile film location and inadvertently started the small dusty towns long love affair with Hollywood. Ouarzazate and the smaller UNESCO World Heritage site…
The next day we drove to Nkhata Bay. My cousin, Lea, recommended Mayoka Village describing it as heaven. And I quote, “Seriously, Shannon, it is heaven!” SOLD! We headed to Mayoka Village and were a little disappointed because they had no camping sites for cars, their dorms were full and their rooms were a bit out of our budget. But…
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I learned the term “rubbertramp” in the movie Into the Wild. Alexander Supertramp is considered a “leathertramp” because he travels by foot, while a couple he met along the way call themselves “rubbertramps” because they travel by car. Whether traveling by foot, car, boat or plane, tramps find themselves stopping and staying wherever they choose for however long they want. …
We needed to get back to the mainland so we had to wait for the ferry until 4 pm. They load it like a jig saw puzzle and we ended up sealed in. The nice thing about the delivery guys is they off sell their wares so there are lots of snacks for the 2-hour ride. This huge diesel delivery…
Right now we’re spending our time in a hotel in Odense, Denmark. We had a little stroll in the city center, it was very busy due to a concert in the towns square, so a lot of drunk kids hanging around. The trip through Germany went ok, we went to one of their beer shops that Scandinavian people like to…
We went to buy some fresh greens at the Food Lovers Market in Centurion but also to say our goodbyes to Eretha. It was very cold so we did what we had to do, give Eretha a hug (several) and a kiss and then we were on our own. Such a nice drive to Malelane, quickly in at the Malelane…
We collected Visas, Carnet de Passage, International Drivers Licenses, Renewal of RSA Driving Licenses that we were waiting for, making 10 fold of photocopies of EVERYTHING, etc.etc. Then we had to pay final Telkom Bills, Municipal bills, cancel ADT, pack the last things and say goodbye to the children and eventually, off we went! Even Bella were saying goodbye And…
Saturday, the day before we left for the Kruger National Park, we invited Willie, Annette and Cora for a farewell braai at Naas & Heleen’s house. Liena were also invited and it felt as if she is part of our family now. She flew to London on Monday so in a way it was her farewell braai as well. Eretha…
Part 2: Iganga Hospital is a 200-bed district general hospital run, and largely funded by the government. It has male, female, paediatric and maternity wards, an outpatients department, pharmacy, laboratory, x-ray, ultrasound and an operating theatre. The gate opened straight out onto the main road and once inside there was always a great crowd shifting around the white buildings. Clusters…
Norfolk England 10th May 2013 Windspeed 35mph Temp: 6*C Hello all our loyal followers! We are back again in sunny England after 6 months back in OZ whilst Tin Can froze through the English winter in a hay shed somewhere in Bedfordshire. Tin Can’s wintering place- a hay shed! The plan is to do some touring around the UK and…
So we set off on Tuesday, it was a very strange feeling but now is time for a few pictures as we’ve been on the road for a couple of days. All in all I can’t believe I’m going to be away from home for so long, it feels like I should be turning around heading home now… Firstly leaving…
Malaria really is a HORRIBLE thing! Even between the fever and cold chills, you just feel like crap! I had few side effects from the medication other than nausea and tinnitus, but it still wasn’t pleasant! It was also terrible timing because we had SO been looking forward to Lake Malawi, and I was feeling so sick that I could…
After the very hectic running and driving around period in Pretoria, we relocated again to Johannesburg. Eretha and Vin took us for a farewell (Pretoria) dinner where we had a lovely time with the two very overworked children. Thank you guys We appreciate the time you made to spent with us in your very busy schedule and between deadlines. The…
The Ethiopian Embassy gave us a card with the date when to collect our Visas. The date was Friday 26 April 2013. The Sudanese Embassy said “any day after Thursday”. So we in our wisdom decided that MONDAY 29 April 2013 will SURELY be the date to pick up the Visas. But no…..Sure the Ethiopian Visas were ready after SIX…
The problem with Machu Picchu is its a clear as mud how to get there and what stuff costs. So…. Drive to Santa Theresa and camp in the little campsite. Camping is 5 SOL but they do have some rooms for the same price. Location on our MAP. The next day in the afternoon get a Taxi from Santa Theresa…
We’ve carved away the biggest parts of our to-do list. Now we’re facing four months of staring at its stringy carcass, and I, at least, am longing to pick the bones clean. Thematically appropriate image. CC, attr. Patries71. Most of the items that remain are mundane but onerous. I think the best way of approaching this sort of thing is…
Part 1: Children on the DRC border March 13 2013 Six feet in a drumroll syncopate with the downpour, rasping on broad-leaf snares. In an instant, we meet under haphazard semaphore, tumbling shrieks cut short. Each of us receiving a face; a frozen, flash photograph; glossy and sleek, panting clouds. Charging steep, you lead the game. Mouth set in mirth,…
I know which I’d rather have…..can you guess…. one of them is so cheap and they other not so much. After one of them you feel full and the other your wallet is empty…. After leaving La Paz we stopped in Copacabana and camped in the beach. Henning stayed in the most expensive hotel in town as always. He…
We were supposed to go camping with the children the previous weekend. The weather changed dramatically and we all decided that it will be better to stay at home. The nice thing about that was that we had very good family time with Eretha and Vin while it was pouring outside nonstop for 24 hours. So this Friday we, Naas…
We went shopping for a Compressor. Arno made a huge study of about each and every Compressor in the whole Universe. We finally bought the ARB Compressor at Voetspore’s 4×4 Megaworld. Thank you Francois!! The happy man with his compressor The paperwork for the Ethiopian Visa is really impressive. Each time there is another letter to write! Because we do…
Driving in Morocco is hazardous in many ways and off-road driving on the ‘piste’ even more so as we discovered when we hit a large field of Fesh-Fesh! “Fesh-Fesh, what is Fesh-Fesh?” I hear you cry. Fesh-Fesh, as the Arabians call it, is the by-product of thousands of years of erosion; sand that has been worn down from it’s granular…
We’ve been in Oberland too long and should be leaving tomorrow. We’ve finally been caught up by Henning and we’ve had a meal and a drink. He’s been filling us in on his adventures in both Africa and South America. He’s having the time of his life same as us. He’s not met many travellers so it must be a…