It replicated the various range of forces known to be encountered in air-to air guided missiles. This was seriously needed as existing testing involved vehicles circling tracks of simulated roughness.
This had too many uncontrolled variables. It also subjected test drivers to unacceptable kidney and other damage. There was also a non-concealable agenda. I had an ambition to travel throughout Africa whilst it was still just politically feasible to do so.
The astute department head felt it was an excellent idea, but not one that the company could financially support. Mobil Oil offered to provide seriously needed political assistance plus fuel and oil for the entire expedition. The British Army supplied about kg of experimental dehydrated food that proved excellent. Many other organisations assisted.
All this was welcomed as I had next to no money left over for the trip. Anthony was an ex de Havilland engineering apprentice but, following a stint as a mica miner was then despite being only 23 a police inspector in Mombasa Kenya. Also with us, initially, was Rex Yates, an ex de Havilland trade apprentice. The QL Bedford was designed, just prior to WW2, as a versatile off-road military vehicle able to carry three tonnes virtually anywhere.
With a fully laden weight of seven tonnes, the QL was gradually coerced into motion by a 3. Whilst a fully laden QL makes an overladen oxen-drawn timber wagon seem like a Ferrari, it had the extraordinarily low bottom gear ratio of Even a minor gradient would slow it to walking pace but, given enough time, a QL could virtually climb the side of a house.
Ours was the rare QLR version. It was built in early as an emergency aircraft runway control centre but was never used.
It had a superbly made coach body that was ideal for our intended purpose. The QLR had a massive centre-mounted winch and a 12 volt, amp dynamo the size of a large garbage bin. Both, plus a huge air compressor, and front and rear axles were driven by separate power shafts from the huge centre mounted transfer box. The spacious but very heavy metal body was heat-insulated, with opening windows protected by sliding bullet-proof shutters. We converted the rear into crude living quarters.
The QLR originally had two litre fuel tanks and we added three more the same size, plus five 20 litre jerry cans. The resultant litres about 1. We carried litres of water of water another kg. Cooking was via a couple of paraffin-fuelled Tilley pressure stoves. Internal lighting was 12 volt electric. The planned route was through Europe to Gibraltar, across to Tangiers, along the North African coast to Algiers, and then south via the Atlas Mountains and across the Sahara to Kano Nigeria , and then south east across to Maidugari.
This had to be changed to the South African border at Bulawayo because of virtually impossible visa requirements. From there toward the Sudanese border, then back track to cross Africa east-to west just north of the equator, then to Kano, and back across the Sahara. Our biggest problems were political — not mechanical or geographic. There was a war in Algeria through which we had no choice but to travel.
Further, the Mau Mau were only too active in Kenya, and there were minor skirmishes in the French and British Cameroons. But we were in our twenties back then — hence still immortal. It was initially of some concern but, by then, had turned into a full-scale war.
Obtaining permission involved two months in the Paris Surrete battling French bureaucracy was not helped by my grossly mangling their language. It was permitted conditional on our driving in Algeria only during the curfew permitted 9. We had also to travelling in army conveys when ordered. We had to stay within police or army compounds at all other times. Whilst in Algiers we stayed within the heavily guarded main Mobil depot. The Parisian flics however less than grasped the Newtonian consequences of 75 kW and or so Nm pulling 7.
This was the only route south and thus vital to both sides. We heard gunfire but were never attacked by the fellagha who eventually won — gaining independence. We made it to the military camps each night, where we had memorable dinners with French Foreign Legion officers who had previously abandoned us. We stayed for a few days in a small semi-safe town to pull the cylinder head off to grind in the exhaust valves and their seatings which turned out to become an ongoing chore and eventually reached the Saharan oasis of Ghardaia without undue incident.
There, we were obliged to have the QLR inspected and certified for solo desert travel; and to have our Saharan driving permits validated. With formalities cleared, we entered the Sahara: the largest desert in the world.
It is larger than the whole of mainland USA, has spectacular gorges and a high mountain range the Hoggar near its centre. Most is stony desert. There are areas of massive dunes and a difficult kilometre stretch of soft sand on the southern part. Apart for rare explorers, complete crossings only began to take place after WW2. It later became bituminised all the way to Tamanrasset but the road was destroyed by land mines a few years ago. The southern part however has extensive expanses of sand that are just passable early in the morning using very low tyre pressures , but virtually impassible after noon.
It also has very soft bulldust-like patches kilometres across that are not driveable except by a rubber caterpillar tracked vehicle. The art, as we learned mostly on the return trip, is to detour around these soft areas — rather than attempting to go through them.
As this may require deviating from the route by 50 km or more, to hopefully find firmer going, there is an essential need for careful navigation. With few oases a long way apart, the Sahara is sparsely populated. We did however encounter two groups of Arab traders, each travelling the 10, plus km return journey from Lake Chad almost into Algiers , with a hundred or so camels.
They serviced various oases with spices and very much prized salt along the way. They told us that each return trip took up to three years!
Camels apart, there was little other traffic: a few heavily armed French Foreign Legion patrols, and about a dozen convoys a month, each of three or four vehicles. Only army-authorised 4WD trucks, such as ours, were allowed to travel alone. La Societe Algerienne des Transports Tropicaux ran a heavy passenger carrying truck between Ghardaia and Tamanrasset once every 14 days or so. There they learn that while most forms of travel broaden the mind, expedition travel cracks it wide open.
Overlanders can get off the beaten track to unspoiled regions where the tourist is unknown, where traditional cultures survive untouched by the Western world. Above all, they can experience the overwhelming joy of truly self-sufficient exploration ; the empowering, liberating thrill of setting out to do something a little bit amazing — and discovering that they can.
The 4x4 expedition has more to offer than most forms of travel , but it also presents some of the greatest tests. Package tourists pay a company to anticipate all their needs and backpackers find local people to satisfy their requirements — but expedition travellers depend solely on themselves. For independent overlanders, deprived of the safety nets of Western life and the tourist circuit, every day is a step into the unknown. It sounds daunting, and it is: when the only certainty is uncertainty, you can never expect to feel completely in control.
Yet with this uncertainty come enormous benefits: the buzz of independent discovery; the excitement of coming across something unplanned, unexpected and marvellous. If the practicalities detailed here seem intimidating, then absorb the underlying theme: that a year-old, mechanically-incompetent guy from Slough drove 50, miles to South Africa and back in a disintegrating, year-old Land Rover — and loved every minute.
So maybe you've got a dream; a hankering to feel the freedom of Africa. If so, you know your next move: to 'act your dream with open eyes, to make it possible'. If my experience is anything to go by, it might just be the best experience of your life. The ultimate African expedition, of course, is the journey from Cairo to the Cape. After a period during which wars in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad and Sudan blocked this route, it now carries a steady trickle of 4x4s.
True, the Congolese and Angolan conflicts force drivers to head down the east coast through Kenya and Tanzania, while the Algerian insurgency precludes east-west travel across North Africa.
Yet the Cape to Cairo route is, fundamentally, open. Many of those new to expedition travel, however, prefer to ship their vehicle to South Africa or Namibia, where the roads are tarred and the language is English. Breaking themselves in gently, they then travel through Mozambique, or Botswana and Zambia, to Malawi. From here, the road runs north to ports in Tanzania, Kenya or Djibouti.
A sensible option, this route offers a travel experience of gradually increasing intensity , with the option of finding a container ship if it all gets a little too challenging. The best way to learn the art of expedition travel — and it's certainly not a science — is to set off on an expedition. Yet some skills are prerequisite: it would be extremely foolish to leave without a basic knowledge of off-road driving techniques, recovery, mechanics and navigation. All these skills can be easily learnt in Britain.
Many off-road centres, such as the Land Rover company's 'Experience', offer training in 4x4 driving and some also run courses in vehicle recovery try Tuff Trax, , or David Bowyer, In terms of mechanics, drivers need a good grasp of the basic principles.
Introductory courses can be helpful, but the best way to develop understanding is to do it for real: drive your 4x4 at home for a while , find a friendly mechanic and carry out all the essential maintenance, repairs and preparation yourself. As for navigation, you need only the skills of a prudent hillwalker: the ability to read a map and to use a compass and GPS Global Positioning System.
What a wonderful demonstration you have made of how we who are lucky enough to have the means can still have a wonderful travel adventure with much less impact on our climate.
The sooner the world goes electric with the electricity from renewable energy, the better! Hi Arkady, awesome post! Super jealous you got to road trip through Africa, looks like you had an amazing time. I'd love to spend some time there. No problem. We've also made it a featured story on the homepage, congrats! Tim Rodie. Marcus Tomczak. Alessandro Renesis. Rachael Hogg. Robin Ho. Arkady Fiedler posted in Electric Explorer. Play video. Join In Want to add something?
Comments 39 Popular Latest. Martyn Stanley. Arkady Fiedler. Patricia Pedrosa. Aurelie Saboureau. Darren Cassey. Post sponsored by. Tim Rodie All Polls. Marcus Tomczak Engine Economics. Alessandro Renesis Tuning Community. The easiest way to enter Africa with your own car or motorcycle is to cross from southern Europe to Morocco aboard a car ferry and then take it from there.
The obvious main barrier to travelling this way is the Sahara, most of which is problematic at present. At the time of writing, most trans-Saharan routes were off limits to travellers due to simmering rebellion and banditry, although the Western Sahara route from Morocco to Mauritania via Dakhla was considered safe.
Other potential barriers to getting around Africa by car or motorcycle include the cost of hiring a barge to transport your vehicle from Egypt into Sudan; and either war or the nonexistent roads of the DRC or both. For a multitude of other options and inspiring tales from those who've made overland trips present, future and past, check out the website of the Africa Overland Network www.
If you're keen to begin in East or South Africa, it can be expensive to ship your vehicle all the way to Mombasa or Cape Town — it may work out cheaper to fly there and purchase something once you arrive. South Africa in particular is a pretty easy place to purchase a car — either from a dealership or from a fellow traveller who has finished with it. Handily, cars registered in South Africa don't need a carnet de passage for travel around Southern Africa, but you will need to have an international driving licence, your home licence, vehicle insurance and registration, and you will have to get a new set of plates made.
The AA of South Africa www. Travelling around Africa by motorcycle is popular among hard-core motorcyclists, but road conditions vary greatly. Remember also that many drivers particularly truck drivers are either unaccustomed or disinclined to taking two-wheeled transport into consideration.
Motorcyclists, especially those with newer model bikes, should also, where possible, be self-sufficient in parts.
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