Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Crossing Continents: Africa Wrap-up and Lessons Learned

Transcript

Crossing Continents: Africa Wrap-up and Lessons Learned · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your host,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Scott Brady, and I'm joined today by my co host
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Matt Scott. Now the tables are turned on me a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: little bit today because we're actually going to do an episode,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a wrap up episode on my crossing of the African continent.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: So we talk about my experience with the Nios Grenadier,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: if I had any issues with the vehicle, the things
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: that I learned, maybe the things that I would do differently,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: certainly the equipment that worked well for me, but more
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: importantly the lessons that I learned personally, the experiences that
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I had with the people that I traveled with, the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: mistakes that I made, and the lessons that I learned
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: from that. So this is an overview of the trip
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: across Africa, but there's also some other places that you
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: can find out more about the trip. So in Overland
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Journal magazine, we have the entire series of the Crossing
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of Africa going into the magazine. There's several installments already
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in the back issues, so if you subscribe, you'll be
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: able to continue to get those Crossing Continent updates in
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the magazine, and then we also on our YouTube channel
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: our Expedition Portal YouTube channel. We have the entire Africa
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Crossing series, so it includes taking delivery of the vehicle
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in the UK. There's another episode on how I prepared
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the vehicle for the trip. It's forty minutes of every
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: single bag that I brought along, all of the equipment,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: why I chose what I chose for the crossing of Africa.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: And then we've got multiple installments already up on YouTube
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and eventually they'll all be there as well, so please
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: enjoy those additional installments on Africa and my conversation with
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Matt about crossing Africa. And special thanks to Overland Explorer
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Vehicles also known as OEV for their generous support of
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: this week's podcast. The OEV is one of the most
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: respected camper builders in our industry, using premium four season
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: construction and the highest quality components to manufacture can rampers
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: capable of traveling around the world. The Overland Journal podcast
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: host Ashley Giordano uses one of their trade model pop
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: up units on their Tundra for traveling throughout Europe and
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Northern Africa. From the composite panels, aluminum exoskeleton and even
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: their own aluminum tray beds oev is built to last
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: your next overland journey.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's so good to be back.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I've done a couple podcasts now since returning, but get
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a sit down to chat with my buddy now.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to talk Africa today, and I think
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: it's important to what we're doing with this one as
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: we're talking about the entire things Cape Town to Djibouti
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and all of the adventures in between. And also I
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: guess we're going to start with building the car.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, talk about how the car performed. My overall impressions,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: because again the trip wasn't sponsored by Anios. We paid
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: our own way, so they basically provide there. They gave
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: us an extremely generous long term loan of the vehicle
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and so I'm beyond grateful for that. But the goal
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: with that was that Ineos was very confident that the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: vehicle could do it. I was very curious to see
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: if it could. So it was a great melding of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: motivations between Ineos and myself in overland journals. Yeah, so
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: we were able to get access to unit number three
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two, So it's about as early early.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: It's about as early as you can get in a
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: production variant of the car. And yeah, we started in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the Durban and it had a couple thousand kilometers on it,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: most of which I put on it in the UK.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I guess you actually the journey really started
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: in the UK, because it did. You had the vehicle
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: in the UK for a week or two.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I drove it around, drove it to the coast, went
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: went and saw like mac McKenny, a bunch of great folks,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and just really put some miles on it. And then
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I also had the time to take it to it's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I think it's called the mill Brook Proving Grounds, which
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: is a sister proving grounds to the Milford Proving Grounds
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: for or GM. It was designed to work pretty much
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: in the same way, so very very effective testing ground
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: for fl drive vehicles and of course high speed cars
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and sports cars.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: And everything else like that.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: But it gave me the chance to really run the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: vehicle through the paces. I also was able to spend
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: some time with some of the product engineers to really
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: make sure that I understood how all of the systems worked. Yeah,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: because there are some things that you need to be
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: mindful of, like just usually around button pushing and stuff
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: like that, but I was able to really have some
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I had some failed hill climbs and some deep mud.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: And all that other stuff.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Deep water crossings with it as well, so that was
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: really helpful. And then drove it to the Grenadier Pub,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: which was technically the the beginning and what will be
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the end.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: So cool. It's a really nice place actually because you've
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: been there. I've been there like ten times now.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So the last time that you were at the Grenadier Pub,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: did they still have all the scaffolding on the outside
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: or was that down yet?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to think. I was there last time. I
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: was there with my buddy and.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it had scaffold all over it when I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: was there for the start. So it'll be fun to
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: get there, like after it's been repainted.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It's tucked back in a little alley, dead end alley.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So and it's still very popular with the locals. It's
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: becoming more popular now that it's got a bit of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: cachet to it.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really cool. The food's actually pretty good.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I was surprised by that was the first time I'd
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: ever had beef Wellington.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, they're known for their Well, let's take.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: A fairly well cooked steak or roast or whatever they use,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and then let's bread it and fry it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: And that was like, No, that was good. I like
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: English food, but it's maybe not something that I would
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: eat every day. I think that would be there's something
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: very special about pub food. Yeah, it holds a very
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: sentimental place in my heart. But I don't know if
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: I could eat a lot of fried like to be
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: fair though, like typical American foods also pretty shit. Yeah,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: not very good. Oh, cheeseburger steak. You wouldn't want that
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: every day. You wouldn't want that. Just thank God for Mexico, Yes,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: thank God for immigrants bringing like spices, otherwise we'd be
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: eating like nineteen fifties Dwight Eisenhower. So you started there,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: you put the did you ship at row row or
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: in a container?
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Was actually roll on roll off because it as what
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: would be classified as a new car.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, cool.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: So it actually went on the same boat that other
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: grenadiers went on to go to South Africa. And it
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: was cool actually when I picked it up in Durban,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: because I went to like their main processing center in
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: this place called Campa Down and I roll in there
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: and there were hundreds of Grenadier's, which was just like
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: lines and lines of Grenadier's. That was actually the first
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: time that I recognized that the rear springs on the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: car that I was driving was very different from their
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: springs that were on the cars in Africa. So we'll
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: talk about that in a little bit because it was
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: something that we ended up changing on the vehicle. But yeah,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I also didn't want to overmodify the vehicle. I didn't
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: want to complete the trip and someone say, oh, of
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: course it did it. Because you had a lift and
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: you put thirty thirty five on it or whatever stuff,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you could remove all of the modifications that were done
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to the vehicle, which were literally just bolt on accessories
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: for storage and for sleeping.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: You could remove all of them in about forty five minutes.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: So there was a.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Roof rack which was essential for carrying fuel, and then
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: there was a platform in the back that was essential
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: for sleeping inside the car. And those are the only
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: two modifications done.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Cause you had a petrol or gas powered far and
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: then you brought I think it was like two Jerry cans.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: YEP and two eighteen liter Giant loop fuel bladders, okay,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: and that was enough for me to for those that
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: are listening, like, a key consideration around remote international overland
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: travel is that you want to have a vehicle that's
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: capable of a thousand kilometers of range. If you can
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: go a little bit better, then that's good. There are
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: places where you need more than that, like the Canning
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Stock route in Australia, but I think you want to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: be looking at that around one thousand kilometers of range,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: which if you look at like a seventy eight series
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: land Cruiser with the twin ninety liter tanks, wila, you're
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: there right from the factory. And so that's very common
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: to see those NGO Rest of the World vehicles with
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the capability of.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Doing one thousand kilometers of driving.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: And that it's not only just because oh I've got
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to go one thousand kilometers between fuel stations. It's what
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I experienced on the trip is that there is sometimes
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: just not fuel available period. So for example, in Malawi,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I had to go over a thousand kilometers one thousand
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and forty actually is exactly what I drove between fuel stops.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: You needed it, I needed it, but I didn't need
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: it all the time. Which is what that's the beautiful
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: thing about those fuel bladders is that otherwise I would
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: have had four jerry cans permanently strapped to the top
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: of the vehicle, whereas what I ended up with was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: only two jerry cans and then two of those rollable
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: fuel bladders.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Interesting. I think we have to be balanced with the Grenadier,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and from my perspective maybe one of the areas that
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: could have done better was fuel range.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: True, and it needs to just be an option. So
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: for example, like also to within the scope, if you
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: were to compare a Prato to a Grenadier or a
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: standard issue two hundred series land Cruiser to a Grenadier,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: they all have the exact same size fuel tank, but.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: They have the ability of auxiliary fuel tanks. That's right.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: That's where the key comes in is just making it
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: an option or maybe in part of a package to
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: have somewhere around get it up to around one hundred
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: and thirty Leaders, And one hundred and thirty Leaders is
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: actually what you get when you purchase a seventy six
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: series land cruiser with the tank, the bigger tank, and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: it's just a single one hundred and thirty Leader fuel tank.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: So I don't really think that you could get one
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty leaders into the stock location because it
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: actually already hangs down a little bit low. The one
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: skid plate that was beat on the Grenadier was the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: fuel tank skidplate. It never failed, I never had a
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: puncture or anything like that, but there's nothing straight about
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: it anymore on the underside, and there's no powder coating left.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: And that's just because of miles and miles and miles
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: of mud and ruts and deep sand. It was just
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: constantly scraping on that skid plate.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: I think one of the things with extending your fuel
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: range in the aftermarket is that it is, at least
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: in the United States, technically illegal on a gasoline vehicle.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: So with a diesel, you can throw these big honking
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: aftermarket fuel tanks in them and it's completely fine because
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: diesel doesn't evaporate, right, Gasoline much lower rate of yeah,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: much lower. Yeah. Gasoline evaporates pretty quickly, and there are
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: you know, evapp containers, there are controlled emission systems tied
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: to the size of your fuel tank, and you cannot
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: permanently store fuel even in a transfer capacity. It has
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: to be a temporary fuel storage so that's where you
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: see people using Jerry cans or whatever. Like that's fine
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: because it's considered temporary. You know, with all of these
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: long range fuel tanks that you see being sold in
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the US, you know, just know that like off road
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: use only, their off road use only. It would be interesting,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: but I believe the last time I looked it up
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: it was a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars EPA fine. Sure,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: similar to deleting the emissions on a diesel truck or
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: something like that. To have that available would just be
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: like maybe the chef's kiss on top.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: It would be nice for most people that are going
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: to use the Grenadier in the USA, having ninety liters
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: is going to be plenty. Yeah, and it's interesting. One
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: of the things that I observed was that the rated
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: fuel economy on the vehicle isn't great, but I was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: able to get much better than that in all conditions.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: But when I was in Malawi, for example, I was
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: being very careful to drive slow and smooth, and I
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: was getting like eleven liters per hundred k, which is
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: over twenty miles per gallon. Yeah, it's just and at
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: times even a little bit better than that. So because
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the grenadiers is such a squared, squared off body, it
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: really is affected by higher speeds. So if you just
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: keep at lower speeds, you'll be shocked at how much better.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: The fuel economy will get. That was my experience. Yeah,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: so you did a front Runner roof rack. Yep, you
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: did some drawer just like a platform in the back.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: That's right, an aluminum platform that was It was a
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: custom thing. They may offer it in the future front Runner,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: but they were just very generous and helpful and put
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: one of their engineers on helping me do that cool
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and they welded it out of aluminum. The frame was
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: only eight kilograms. There was a little bit more weight
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: in the wood top. It was carpeted for kind of
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: comfort and for appearance, and then it was hinged so
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: that way you can fold the sleeping surface back on
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: on top of the load surface and then actually use
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the rear seats. So I kept it where it was
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: multi use just in case we needed to do that.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: I slept in it dozens and dozens of nights, including
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: many nights in a row at the Daibouti border. But
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: and then yeah, front Runner boxes slide underneath.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just those little I think they're actually like South
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: African ammo cans that they've.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Very similar and four of them fit underneath, had the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: kitchen stuff, had some spars and some tools.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I like your approach on this trip with sleeping
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: inside into the vehicle so cheap. Like on all the
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: stuff that we've always done, you generally end up paying
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: for camping because depending on where you are at, if
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: you're in a desirable area, game park or whatever, you
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: generally want to be in a fenced area and that
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: comes with cost.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: That was one of the most memorable and incredible camping
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: experiences of my life was to get one of these
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: special camp sites and you just there's no fence, there's
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: no bathroom. You pull up underneath the acacia tree and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: surrounded by wild animals and.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Clear lions are like raccoons. I don't know if I
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: would do that.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: And I'm so proud of Tavia because she was like, okay,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I know, Yeah, she didn't have a passport until the trip,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and her first stamp was from South Africa. And she's
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: just an amazing nurse. She all day long, she takes
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: care of medically fragile children, so that's why she's so
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: good for me. But it was just incredible to literally
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: throw her in the deep end and she thrived and
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: admittedly even for me. Like being camped in the middle
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: of the Serengetti when it was time to try to
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: go pee in the middle of the night, like you're
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: taking your flashlight and all his eyes everywhere you point
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the flashlight. So I grabbed my masse I Warrior club
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and I got out of the car and I moved
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: my way very closely to the vehicle around to the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: other side and open the door and stood there like
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Massi Warrior style, like what I would have done. I
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: have no idea, but I felt like at least I
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: had my club. You wanted to have a chance, So
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: it was pretty cool.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: I think the sleeping inside of the vehicle's cool, prefer it.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Everybody has their own method. I chose to use a grenadier.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: You can use a bunch of different vehicles for the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: same trip. I chose to sleep inside. Some people like
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: roof tents, some people like campers, some people like trailers.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I don't like trailers in Africa because you've all seen
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the videos of elephants charging.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: That big bull elephant in South Africa just killed somebody.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: So that's the reason why I don't use trailers in
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Africa is because so there's times you got to back up.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: And there's a cost to all of it per night.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Roof tents require they don't all require roofracts anymore. Most
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: people do have roofracks, do a roof tint, and if
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: we're talking us dollars, but you just spent probably five
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: grand decent roof tint, and even a decent roof tint
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: after so many nights like they do. They are a
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: consumable item. They get left out in the sun, they're
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: mounted on the top of the vehicle, it's.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Whatever, and they affect fuel economy. They affect vehicle handling,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: which is the reason why I don't typically run them.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: And I'm so happy that I slept inside the granityarp.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I would say somewhere around twenty five to thirty percent
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: of the nights I slept inside the vehicle, and I
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: loved it. It became my little home. The last night
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: that I slept in it in Djibouti, it was an
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: emotional thing to think, this is the last night and
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be sleeping in this car in Africa
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and it was just awesome. I used the Melville and
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Moon bedrolls, which are perfect for that. I had two
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: of them back there. They have a little canvas cover,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: they have a liner on the inside. They have a
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: fairly thin pad, so if you're really sensitive to that,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: you may want to make an adjustment. All I did
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: was just I took a moss Ie blanket and I
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: rolled it up and I rolled it out.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Awesome product. Let's talk about the start of the trip.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: So we drove from from Joe Berg through the Cedarberg
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: stated at this incredible place called bakronsh with Ozzy. Yeah,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I met Ozzie Sweet. Yeah, Oh that's so great. Ozzy's amazing.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: That's very charming guy.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah. He took me off for Drick Styles in Cape Town.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic. He's awesome.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Helicopter in they do helicopter in its own thing. It
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: is very rustic. You got to walk to the shower
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: in the bathroom as part of your thing. But it
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: also is perfect. It's important to know that it's perfect.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I just I loved it. It's incredibly beautiful. There are
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Cape Leopard there, Baboon, there's Aboriginal rock Art.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: It's just incredible. It's actually a really good one to
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: follow on Instagram. I think it's literally just at Bakrons
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: b A k R A n Ass And then also
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: speaking of Cape Leopards, follow the Cape Leopard Trust. Yeah,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: so cool. It's a really special thing.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's a way to give back, it's a
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: way to help maintain Like by staying there, you're helping
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: to keep this place wild. And it's all built from
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: locally sourced materials. So a thousand years from now, no
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: one will even know that anybody was there, other than
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: some maybe some the remains of a couple walls.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Cedarburg. And here's the really cool thing about
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: this Cedarburg. You can fly into Cape Town direct now
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: from the United States. I flew from Newark for example,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: overnight flight really well timed. You could spend a couple
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: of days in Cape Town, which is a lovely city.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: It issues kind of everything that you've heard about South Africa. Ye,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: we went to this one place for dinner and I'm like,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: am I in Monacotown special some wineries and then you
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: can rent a car in you know, half a day's drive.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: You're in the Cedarburg. That's right.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Then it's a little bit higher elevation, so the weather
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: was really nice. South Africa in general, it's just a
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: huge study in contrasts. And if you're an adventurous person,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: which some days I ascribe myself to be, it's the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: place for me. Like if I was to live anywhere
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: else in the world, it would be in Africa and
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I would probably have to decide between Ken in South Africa.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. South Africa has its challenges, but so many advantages too.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And it's very affordable. Yeah, and do not look at
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: property and America.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: It's like, for less than you would spend on a Tacoma,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: you'd have your own on a wild game farm, your
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: own cottage. Yeah, and Starlink works there now, and it's
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: just to be so set, ye, be so set. But yeah,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: South Africa is awesome. And then yeah, we came into
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Cape Town. I met up with James at Melville and
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Moon awesome guy. And they put some seat covers. They're
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the official seat cover supplier for the Grenadier and they're
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: going to be available soon.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Not to give you the extra plug here, but but yeah,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: so through if you go through adventure imports you're going
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: to be able to get access to Melville and Moon
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and Melville and Moon seat covers for the Grenadier and
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: a bunch.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Of other vehicles. I try to stay away from that stuff.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: The sea covers were so good. It is the The
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: seat covers are great. We're going to bring in the furniture.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: We're going to bring in all the bags. It's a
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: near luxury brand in South Africa. It's very cool.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: I don't have it with me here, but I bought
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: this rollable chessboard to have on the trip with all
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the little chest pieces and it's like the size of
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: a hydroflask water bottle. In South Africa. It was around
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: thirty five bucks, maybe forty bucks. I don't remember because
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I don't always do the conversion right. Yeah, So that
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: we got the seat covers installed, a spare tire cover,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: which I'm not a huge fan of spare tire covers,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: but this one I liked with the way that there's
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: this plastic cover that I already don't like on the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: rended Eer, I think it actually works.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Maleville spare tire cares a little bougie.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: You see them on the nicest cars. The nicest areas,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: and that's probably true.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: It is nice to just not have a completely dirty
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: mess of a rear tire. Yeah, and you're also keeping
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: it out of the sun too, So from oh and
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: then we also grabbed a intflate. When we were in
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: South Africa, you met no, they were not able to
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: do that. They tried very hard, the timing didn't work.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: So I actually went to I believe it was a
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Megaworld and or something like that Safari center. Is that right,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Safari for a mega World, It's probably it. It was
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: either that or a Safari Center. One of the others
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: is where I went. Grabbed the intoflate and a couple
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: other little pieces that we needed to finish stuff up.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: But even like the fridge was a twenty five liters
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: fine for the whole trip. I ran red arc Solar
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: to keep things running when I was in camp. It
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: was all very simple, but most of.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: That stuff in your luggage. So from Cape Town you
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: then started working your way of the NOD.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: We did, I believe that is correct, but we focused
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: on getting to Capagolis first, so we wanted to get that.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: We want to get the true southernmost point of Africa,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: not for any reason other than Joe hadn't been there
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and it seemed like a fun thing. I've been there before,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: but it just was It's like a fun, ammonial place
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: to start from. So went there and then continued up
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: the East Cape all the way up into Mozambique.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: I just couldn't believe how beautiful that was. Yes, I
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: spent some time in Port Elizabeth and north of Port
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth in January. February went to another really cool camp
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: called the Ford Outpost actually with James from Melville and
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: they're a long standing farming family in the area. Some
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: of their farmlands have been converted into this Sabulia Game
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Reserve and you can stay at this Ford Outpost. That's rustic,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: really cool, really special, like you feel like you're camping
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: but you have Yeah, there's a bathroom and nice and
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: some stuff. There's a lot of Safari tense, really nice
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Melville furniture and everything, and they're just Ford Outpost on Instagram.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: That's a really cool one. But that whole area you
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: just it's like driving through the central coast of California's
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: incredible with no people.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's incredible and great food. Yeah, you're staying in
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Airbnb for forty bucks a night. It's world class, yeah,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: but it's also totally affordable. You got to invest the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: money to get there. But I've taken flights back and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: forth to South Africa maybe two dozen times now, and
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I've flown as cheap as twelve hundred bucks. Yeah, round tripped,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: So you can find deals on a flight.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Travel is generally expensive. Flights are generally expensive, but there
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: are those places in the world where you can closs
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: some of that back. Even just traveling in the United
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: States has become very expensive.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: You're going to spend three times more on a Best
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Western here then you would spend on a lodge, like
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a nice simple lodge.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Scott and I were together and Johannesburg, and I think
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: it was end of January, Yeah, and it was like
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: two hundred and forty dollars to stay at the four
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Seasons with this beautiful included breakfast that we've done when
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: we've stayed there before, two hundred and forty dollars these days,
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: like it gets your Hilton and anywhere somewhat. This is
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: the most desirable place in South Africa. Like I know that.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to say, oh, that's not no money,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: but for what you're getting. Yeah, that's not even in
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: the airport Hilton anymore. Yeah, it's really great value. It's
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: the US dollar is really strong against the rand. So
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: it's a great time to travel to South Africa and
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: check out the stuff that ex Overland is doing too.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: And they've been they're back in South Africa again. They're
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: doing another trip, another cool loop. Check out their content
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: as well. It's just like super inspirational stuff and there's
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: plenty of technical driving to do, forward driving where you're
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: in low range, you got the lockers on and there's
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: baboons jumping on the roof of your car. It just
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: it's as cool as it gets. I know you can
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: go too, maybe on this trip, but no, you could
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: spend ten lifetime. I could move to vind Hook. Yeah,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: so let's move on to Mozambique. Yeah.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: So Mozambique is really about the beaches and you can
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: do everything from a yoga retreat to a surfing camp. Yeah,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and everything in between.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Seems like a lot of South African's vacation they do
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: in Mozambique. And I have to say, of the entirety
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: of your trip, where I was getting the Fomo that
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: was Mozambique. For me, that's where I was definitely like
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: jealous because it just looked fantastic.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: There was a local fisherman that came by at one point,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: but it was just incredible and a challenge, a vehicle
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: challenge and a navigation challenge. We used Garmin Navigation because
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: of Tracks for Africa.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Tracks for Africa is.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Available as an app, but you only really use that
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: for planning or as an extreme backup because it's not
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: very good.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: It's like a glorified PDF.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: There's some fairly good information in there, but what you
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: really want is a Garman and you want their detailed
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Tracks for Africa maps preloaded. You can also buy it
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: online and then uploaded into the device, but then you
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: get incredible detail, so like even in Mozambique, which the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: thing to know is a lot of these countries have
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: had intense conflicts, so you cannot be you cannot just
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: assume that you can go anywhere or that it's safe
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to go anywhere in Africa because most of these conflicts
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: are recent and that it includes mining of areas. So
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: we were driving along and it was like on the
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Tracks for Africa map, it doesn't show this on Google Maps,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: but it sure shows it on Tracks for Africa of
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: like caution mind area, like don't leave the track, stay
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: in the track that you're in, don't go off to
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: go take a Wii. Maybe don't have a Yeah you
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: may not have a Wi anymore, Yeah, exactly, But it
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: says it right on the Tracks for Africa map of
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: mines in this caution mines minefield. But it's just really
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Tracks for Africa is incredibly valuable and it's always updated.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of user supplied track data, so the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: tracks are always fairly accurate, and they're usually still open,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: so like they do a good job of removing stuff
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: when they need to or adding stuff when new tracks
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: are available. So with a larger screen you really have
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: good detail and you can, like in the case of Mozambique,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: we chose to take very obscure coastal tracks. All four
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: will drive, all low range, all deep sand. We drove
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: for days that way. Wow, it was a dream. Yeah,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: it was awesome, and it was awesome to do it
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: with Joe, and Joe's a great photographer and great friends,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: so it was cool just to hang out and do
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that stuff together and then he took off because he
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: had some other trips he had to do out of Tofu,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and I just continued on my own through northern Mozambique
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and into Malawi, did all of Malawi by myself, and
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: then drove, you know, through Tanzania to Dar Salam, and
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: that was interesting. When you travel solo, you learn a
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: lot about yourself and it gives you time to reflect.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: I listened to about eight hundred podcasts. Paula laughs at
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: me because of she's what were you listening to on
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the whatever the podcast was on some medical topic, like
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I listened to a lot of peter Atiya and it's
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: like some obscure ApoB LiPo protein.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: That I was listening to.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: But I find that stuff fascinating and it keeps my
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: mind engaged while I'm just.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: I'm on more podcasts than I have ever listened to it.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Everybody has their different thing, so I like it just
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: to turn through audio books. And another audiobook that I
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: listened to on that trip is called The Comfort Crisis,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: which I'd recommend people listen to it as another great book.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: But it was just nice to have that time. But
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: also it makes me realize that I'm really not a
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: great solo traveler. I don't love it. I did it
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: because it needed to be done, and I learned some
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: things about myself and I was able to have that
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: kind of quiet, reflective time that I probably did need.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: But it isn't my preference. Some people like to do that.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: I give Dan Greg a lot of credit. He's done
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of miles by himself, so he's much better
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: company to himself than I am, clearly, But I prefer
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: to have people that I love with me doing things
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: that I love. So that's my preference.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: But I learned that I always think that I want
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: to travel solo, and then I'm like a night away
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: from Laura.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: What sucks because she's such a great travel command. Yeah,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: and you guys travel so well.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we know how to bicker.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I've never seen you guys actually bicker, though usually it's
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: some hilarious little jab that she has thrown your direction.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: But she holds me the task on things, which is good.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: No.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: I think the key to where I'm going with that
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: is the key to us traveling so well together, is
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: that if something is on one of our minds, if
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: we're not having fun or we think something is just
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: overrated or whatever. Like we're very vocal about it to
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: each other. We have no problem of communicating. That's key, Yeah,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: because I think a lot of the issues with speaking
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: to other couples that travel together, a lot of the
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: issues come down to the one partner not trying to
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: let the other partner down. You're really unhappy, you have
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: to just be like, I don't like this, then you
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: make a change. But that's why you have an overland
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: vehicle is if this road really sucks, drive to another
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: road or and some all of us have change your area.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: All of us have good instincts, and Laura has particularly
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: good instincts. You've shared the story in Australia we shouldn't
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: go down this road and you did anyways.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: And my earth Romer thing.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And for me traveling with Tavia, it was just
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: because she is so you know, open for adventure and
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: really resilient. It was more like I needed to just
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: be checking in, like how you doing, Like one hundred
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: percent of the time she was fine. But to your point,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: it's good to check in on your companion.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you just communicate, right. I think I'm not trying
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: to offer relationship advice, but yeah, generally, if you communicate more,
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: it is better than a communicating less. That's true. To
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: think that that's so true, probably solid advice. Yeah, so
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: I was glad to be done with that solo section. Yeah.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: So your solo section.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Was northern Mozambique, all of Malawi and then basically I
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: crossed Tanzania the first time.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: So you went to Dharas solon. Yeah, that's right.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Malawi is it is really beautiful and the people are
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: incredibly beautiful. It's one of the poorest countries in the world,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: and there are challenge that come along with that, but
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: not challenges that would necessarily ever affect you as a
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: traveler because the people are so beautiful and open and kind,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: and there's just very low instances of any kind of
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: violent crime. There's some petty theft that can happen, but
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: just really genuine sweet people. Lots of really happy, joyous
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: children playing.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: In the lake. You talk about that a lot. Yeah,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: And the only thing that comes to my mind is
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, not having money and there's some unfortunate things,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: but happiness is happiness, And I see a lot of
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: really miserable tablet kids in America.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I agree, and you don't see any miserable kids in Malawi. Yeah,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: I didn't see any miserable kids. I saw a lot
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: of them jumping and playing and making improvised soccer balls
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: or whatever version of play that they and they had
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: time to play, and the adults had time to play
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: with the kids too. They took work very seriously, but
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: when they had gotten enough food for the day or
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: a fish or whatever, they were done, and then they
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: were all hanging out and playing because nobody had a
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: smart or very few did. It was really interesting to
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: see that. I found the country to be awesome. I
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: think it's too little. Visited one of the roads that
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: I took from the border down to the lake. It
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: was all paved and I was like, I want to
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: be on a GS right now, or on a Ducati
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Desert X or something like that. I want to be
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: on an adventure bike on this road because it was awesome,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Like it was one of the coolest twisty turney, like
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: you couldn't hang it out there because every corner was
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: had a little surprise, but it would be really.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Fun on a MOTORCYCLEE interesting.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: That was one thing that I noticed. To continue on
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: the topic of things, that I noticed about the car.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: The engine is fairly small displacement at three liters, and
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: it is an incredibly efficient engine, so it's very smooth running,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: very efficient engine in the sense that there's very low
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: friction within the motor, so when you're in a low
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: gear and you're trying to rely on compression breaking, which
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: compression braking will be at its best in a gas
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: motor US you have an exhaust break in a diesel.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: But I was surprised by that the compression braking was
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: not as good as I would have wanted it to be.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: It really ran through the rpm, so you could actually
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: get up close to redline just trying to hold the
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: vehicle back.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Interesting because the grenadeer is heavy.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: It's a heavy car, over five thousand pounds, so that's
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of weight. So when you're going down these
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: steep declines, you either have to go very slow so
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: that there's not enough momentum happening so it can hold
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: it back, or you need to use the brakes a lot.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: So I was glad that the vehicle actually has really
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: good brakes. I never got the brakes hot, but I
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: used a combination of compression braking and a lot of
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: breaking because the engine didn't have enough compression braking.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: By listening to this podcast and subscribing to the Overland
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Journal magazine, you're supporting our employee own and veteran owned business.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Impartial reviews and in depth content like this would not
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: be possible without your support. If you enjoy the podcast,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I think you'd really love the print magazine as well.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: And one of that subscription price goes back into creating
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the content like you're listening to right now. And as
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: a special thank you for your loyalty, we're giving twenty
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: percent off any subscription. It's a three leter BMW engine,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: so it's just designed to have so little friction and
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: it's probably the way that it manages compression breaking through
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the combustion cycle. But it just doesn't have a lot
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: of compression breaking. It's not that it doesn't have any
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I would say, it's thirty thirty percent less than what
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: I would No, it's a thirty percent less than what
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I would want it to be. Okay, Yeah, I mean
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: the car is so good. I got to say something.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: It's like I got to be really open about anything
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: that I experienced in the vehicle.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: The other thing that.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: People talk a lot about is that is the dead
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: pedal on the right hand drive.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: People are like cutting them out.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: You can see why I can be sympathetic to why
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that would be a concern for some people. But I
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: actually it never bothered me. And I'm six', one, like
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: it literally never bothered. Me but WHAT i realized was
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: a lot of TIMES i just take my left foot
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: AND i curve it back towards the, Seats so that
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: might have been why it was. LESS i was less
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: observant of. It but THEN i would be intentional, about
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Oh i'm going to use the dead pedal today and
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: get some. Feedback AND i never really felt like it
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: was that. Bad is that turbo or? Transmission, yeah the
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: exhaust is it runs right through that, recess which is
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: why the dead pedal is taller on a right hand
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: drive than it is on a left hand. Drive so
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the complaints don't exist typically from the left hand drive.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: Model that's. Fascinating so let's talk About. Tanzania, so, yeah
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: you take a little. Break you flew back home after
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: really just transitting From malawi to dar from WHAT i, Gather,
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: yes that's, Right tavia comes back with.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: You, Yeah Vands bar Into, Zanzibar South. Africa, first we
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: spent a couple of days there overcoming the jet lag
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: and going out to dinner With stanley and folks from
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Front runner and good friends THAT i have In South.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Africa and then we flew To. Zanzibar Sandsa bar is.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: Cool oh, YEAH i think flying Into. Zanzibar, Actually i'll
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: say it's flying out in a little bush plants out Of.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Zandsbar the ocean is so, beautiful And zanzibar culturally is
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: a little, different like it's its. OWN i don't want
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: to call it a nation, state but it's an autonomous region.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: And it is very unique. Culturally it would have been
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: occupied heavily By arabs throughout. History the place that we
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: stayed right across the little bay was The sultan Of oman's,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: palace the remains of, it because that was also a.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Palace the place that we stayed was in the. Palace
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: parts of the old palace were in the little compound
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: that we.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Stayed were you In Stonetown, No we were north on
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: the coast quite a. Bit, yeah BECAUSE i didn't Really
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: we walked Around stonetown and hung out AND i had
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: to and had some drinks like it was. Cool BUT
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: i think their biggest tourist attraction is The Freddie Mercury.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Museum, yeah but it's also really important if you're there
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: and you have some, time is to go to where
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the slave trading. OCCURRED i think it's really important for
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: people to experience that and with a great degree of
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: humility around like the human suffering that happened in places like.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: That so that is a part of the history of
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: that place was slave.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Trading, yeah that's the reality of human, history that's.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Right but it's also got a lot of other history
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: there and a Heavier arab. Influence it's more of A
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: muslim culture there, religiously and the people are. Incredible it's
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: just a very vibrant. Place so we stayed in this
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: nice little resort and it was less than two hundred
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: dollars a, night or maybe it was two hundred and
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: eleven dollars a night or something like.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: That, YEAH i think we spent like one p. Eighty,
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: yeah like The Park, hyatt it was very. Affordable it
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: was our. Honeymoon of, COURSE i didn't feel bad spending
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: night you.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Shouldn't you, shouldn't and we decided to instead of flying
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: From zanzibar To Dar, salam because The darsalam airport is
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: in this it's ad a weird.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: Spot it's difficult to get, there Just international terminal and
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: it's like a fifteen minute.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Walk there's a lot going on. There so we had
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: to pick up the car In, darsalam so we decided
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: to take the. Ferry it was, awesome but like the
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: process of getting the taxi to where you get the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: tickets from the, ferry that was all. Fine getting like
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: we found our way into the ticket, thing that was all.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Fine but then it's like a. Gauntlet once you've got your,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: ticket you got to walk the streets with all your
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: luggage and there's all these people trying to take your.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: Money may not steal your, money take your money by
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: let me carry your bag or let me show you the,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: way or all these fix all these air quote. Fixers
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: AND i could see the PLACE i needed to go,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: to so that was. That And tavia is like trying
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: to basically hold onto my belt because she's. Small she's,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: tiny so she's like trying not to get lost in the,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: crowd And i'm trying to make my way through the.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: Crowd it was right out of An Indiana jones. MOVIE
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: i loved, it AND i look back and she was
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: again she was like in, it she'd making it. Happen
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: but you could tell this like this is a whole new.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Experience so it was really fun. Though and then the
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: ferry was.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Beautiful it's a beautiful part of the. War the water was.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Beautiful and then you get Into Dara salaam in the
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: port on the other, end and then you're back into
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: the chaos and the insanity of all. That and then
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: we found an uber and next, thing ten minutes, Later
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: i'm at The grenadier dealership and there's the.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: Car so, yeah back then from there you went you
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: worked your way To. SERENGETTI i think you guys went
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: through like a.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: RuSHA we started by going up the coast BECAUSE i
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: was really interested in that whole. Region there's some new
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: national parks along the. Coast it's one of the few
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: places in the world where you can see elephants going
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: to the. Ocean so that was really. Fun and it
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: had been very, wet a lot of. Raining so then
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: now parks were, Challenging like you got your low range diff,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: lock don't get stuck with all.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: The lions and stuff like.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: That so, yeah there was one point When tavia was
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: driving AND i could, tell like the way that the
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: road was leaning and where the mud puddle was and
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: everything that we were going to slide into this mud,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: puddle AND i just said go and she immediately did.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: That she went like to the floor with the throttle
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: and the car just launched through this muddle and it was.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: DEEP i could feel the car going in and we
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: would have been stuck for sure if she had hesitated
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Even and then the next, thing the rear end's coming,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: around so now she's counter, steering.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: And then it's spinning the other.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: Way we did about one hundred meters going all versions
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: of sideways and came out the other end just fine
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: and very that's. Right it was a very muddy grenade.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Here but she the whole thing that was going through
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: her head was, like don't get, stuck because like then
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: you're winching with in lion ter lion and the hyena.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Territory so sometimes found upon it.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: All have been a good, Story i'm, sure but, yeah
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: so that was really, neat and then able to go
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: into some of these smaller little towns and villages that
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: again had that Heavy arab, influence but also some influence
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: from The germans and also some influence from The, british
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: and it was.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: A lot going on there that was really.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Cool so it was you could get old coins from
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: all the different people that were in charge for whatever
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: one hundred years.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: That they stayed in charge. For it was totally.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Fascinating and then we made our way up To, kilimanjarrow
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: which was one of my goals was to get was
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: to actually drive around the northern side Of.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: Kilimanjaro very. Cool, yeah how did you like?
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: That it was nice because it's very little, traveled so
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: there's just not.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: A lot of coming from the. South they. FLIGHTED i
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: think it's either A RuSHA kilmanjaro airport their own now.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Right so they're really tourists tend to be focused on
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: they're either Climbing, kilimanjarrow so they're not really doing an overland,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: thing or their goal is to make it to A
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: RuSHA or To serengetti or to ngre And goro some
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: version of. That But kilimanjaro is massive and driving around
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: it took days because it's so. Big we had about
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: a fifteen minute window when we could see the summit
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: AND i got some, photos so that was really pretty
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: lucky with. That and then we did a really cool
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: overland route on the north side Of, arusha and we
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: were the only vehicle that we saw the entire. Time
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: there was motorcycles every once in a, while, donkeys people,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: walking but we were the only vehicle that we saw
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: the entire. Route really, interesting challenging, terrain washouts and all
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: kinds of. Stuff and it was actually the one point
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: where we. Had the only damage that we did to
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: the vehicle the whole time was we were doing this
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: really steep silted climb and there was just a rock
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: hidden in the silt and it hit the steering damper
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: and the steering damper hangs a little bit low on
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: the front axle and it has a metal cover that
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: goes over the shaft to keep the shaft from getting
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: damage or from causing leaking within the. Unit and it's
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: interesting because it actually didn't nothing failed other than there's
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: a couple of little tack welds that hold that cover
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: in place and oriented and aligned properly with the body
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: of the, shock and it broke those little. Welds it
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: didn't fall, off it didn't slide off or anything like.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: That that was the one thing that we damaged on
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: the car doesn't even have a door ding in.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: It, yeah and that's. Interesting and sometimes you, see particularly
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: with The steerian, stabilizers that a lot of them have
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: switched a plastic, cover like The man for. EXAMPLE i
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: think that's a better. CHOICE i actually thought it was,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: cheesy but NOW i realized maybe that's actually because it.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't it would have just either broken off or they
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: went back to.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Shape, yeah and again that's the only time we hit
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: it the whole. Route but there are some other just
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: some Aftermarket now there's some Fox shock options that actually
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: sit it up a little higher and then it has a,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: boot a rubber boot over the. Shaft so there's other
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: options that you can go, with or you can even
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: order A billstein one if you, want if you like
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: to stay With, bilstein that just doesn't have the cover on.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: It so then you worked your way Towards, serengetti which is,
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: yes it was. Incredible we hit in Goren goro. First oh,
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: yeah and Gore grol's on my.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: List, yeah so we stayed at a little tented camp
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: just outside of the. Park we actually stayed there for
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: a couple of days because we've been doing a lot of,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: driving driving hard to get to the next, place driving
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: hard to get.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: So sometimes that's really, important like sometimes you need to
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: soak a place In.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Yep and SOMETIMES i need to get work done, Too
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: SO i do a little bit of work every. Day
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: that allows me to stay up most of the time
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: with emails and general. Communications but THEN i need there's
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: other TIMES i just need some deep, work SO i
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: need a couple hours to get a project done or
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: some writing or. Something SO i was able to do,
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: that AND i do that once or twice a. WEEK
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: i try to have an extra night at some, place
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: and then the next day we drove right into In
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: gore And. Goro and this is the one thing we
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: talk About africa being very. Affordable one time that it
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: becomes very expensive is when you're doing self drive in
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: the national Parks tanzania and In. Kenya so it was
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: about fourteen hundred dollars and we only spent twenty four
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: hours in the, Park.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: So you, have, sir got a bad. Deal i'm, joking
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: But i'd spend it. Again but it is a lot of.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: Money it's a lot of money BECAUSE i was driving
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: a foreign registered. Vehicle tavy AND i were both, foreigners
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: so we had around two hundred dollars each for the
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: entry park entry fees for us as, Individuals, like that's
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: what you would pay when you were.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: TRAVELING i had. Know, again, yeah it was all part
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: of the. Deal it was all part of the.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Deal but then you have to spend two hundred and
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: sixty dollars a day to bring the vehicle into the.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Park but then we chose to do The ngor And Gora,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: crater which is, separate so that was another one hundred
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: and sixty dollars a, person plus another two hundred and
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: something dollars for the, vehicle and it all added up
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: to about fourteen hundred, bucks you, know for twenty four.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: HOURS I i.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: And AGAIN i would pay it. Again it's just that's
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: the one point where you're, like it's no longer Of.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Africa And i'm not saying that even the value doesn't
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: line up because it was one of the most incredible
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: wildlife Experiences i've ever. Had that's really. Special it was super.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Special but you just you don't want to be. Surprised
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: you don't want to be surprised and they'll happily take
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: your amex like it's just, yeah you can put it
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: on your credit, card but just be aware that it's
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: going to be expensive when you use your own.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: Vehicle, yeah so you enjoyed the self, DRIVE i prefer.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: It there are a lot of reasons not to do self.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: DRIVE i think That i've done enough game drives now
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: with guides that NOW i do enjoy the process of
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: doing it.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: Myself BUT i think if.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: It's your trip of a lifetime To, africa don't even try. It,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: yeah go with somebody who can spot ten times more
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: game than you.
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: Can it's not A i mean there's the spotting of,
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: it but then there's the speaking Of, yeah the local,
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: LANGUAGE i. Believe ah so, Hely, yeah that's. Right you.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: Know the if you've ever been on game, drives the
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: radio chatter and what they're really talking about is where
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: they're seeing. Stuff they all work together and they're, like just,
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: lovely make sure to tip them. Generously we were able
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: to just see so much, Stuff like we spent six
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: six days back to back doing game. Drives but we
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: got to The Marra river and it's because he Heard
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: he told, Us, hey there's a potential for. Crossing the
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: guys think that they're gonna the bees are gonna, go
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: and it's we pull up and crack a beer and
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: then boom they. Move and people wait weeks sometimes to
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: see that kind of, Stuff like that's maybe where you're
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: gonna with the self, drive if if this is that
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: trip of a.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: LIFETIME i just learned to watch where the other game
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: vehicles are, driving and then if they're all, congregated the
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: REASON i just drive over there looking at drive over,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: there AND i, LIKE i try to be cool and
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: not getting their way or wait my turn or.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: Whatever but then there's a bridal lions or. Whatever it
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: was just.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: Incredible And tavia spotted the only rhino that we saw
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: on the, trip and.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Right you saw that In go And, goro.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: And then she just really wanted to see an, elephant
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: WHICH i get in, hindsight you think about The Big
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: five and you think about lions and all that other,
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: stuff and those are all, awesome never to take anything
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: away from, it but in my, experience there's nothing like an.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Elephant there's just absolutely nothing like an. Elephant AND i.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Understood and, LIKE i get. IT i know why you
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: really want to see.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: One so when we finally got to hang out with
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: elephants right down, there and then eventually during some of
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the other self, drive we were all alone in parts
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: of the serengetti just down this dirt. Track here's here's
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: an entire group of elephant that are just all like,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: babies running around with twigs and, Trumpeting and we just
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: got to sit there for twenty minutes.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: And watch this all. Unfold so it was a Incredible
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: elephants can also be, yeah. Assholes you gotta be. Careful.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: NOW a lot of it depends on how they've been,
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: treated because elephants have an incredible. Memory so if they
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: live in an area where there's not been a lot
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: of poaching and there's not been a lot of negative
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: human interaction for a long, time they tend to be pretty.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Chill BUT i remember being In cadepo in Northern, uganda
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: WHERE i think they were not treated well for a long,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: time and they were incredibly. Aggressive they'd see the vehicle
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: coming and they would start as soon as they saw,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: you they'd start charging interesting and that was WHERE i
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: learned to back up really, quick because, yeah they're coming after.
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: You wildlife conservation is super important it's something THAT i
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: really care. ABOUT i would say check out The Tusk.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: Foundation that's an important. One they do a. Lot they're
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: very well. RUN i spent a couple of days and
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: maybe with the founder of that and just lovely, people
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: a lot of really good people behind. Them so if
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: you've got a little extra coin in your, POCKET i
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: do think that there's actually a tangible result happening through
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: these wildlife. Charities they really care and there's a lot
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: of smart people that come from finance, backgrounds business leaders or,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: whatever and this is what they dedicate themselves, to and
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: nobody's trying to get rich off of. It they're generally
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: just trying to.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Help and all the way up to the governments really
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: care about their national. PARKS i, Know i've never Experienced
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: i've never experienced any version of a request for a,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: bribe any kind of. Corruption i've never experienced that at
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: any of the national parks In tanzania and In.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: Kenya, yeah when we were In, tanzania there's only it
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: was DURING covid and there's only a couple people on the.
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: Lodge we see this huge procession of vehicles motorcade and
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: they get a little closer those a little flag on.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: It we ended up spending several days at this lodge
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: with the president Of. Tanzania oh, nice which was. Fascinating
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: but SHE i believe she was the first female president Of,
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: antonia was filming a documentary about The serengetti and its
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: importance and. CONSERVATION i think it's important for all politicians
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: to see their country's natural. Beauty that's. Right roosevelt was
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: a great. EXAMPLE i would encourage people In washington to
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: before they want a strip mine and for whatever version of.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Pilfering it was really cool to actually see.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Them yeah care and that's What, yeah that's what those
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: are the great stories About roosevelt is they they would
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: the conservationists would actually like bring extra animals that he
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: would be so overwhelmed that he would sign off on
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: this these big chunks of. Land so they found a,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: way but it made a big. Difference. Yeah So tanzania is,
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: great and it was also starting to flood, there so
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: that was. Exciting we had some bridges that were either
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: flooded over or washed, out so we had to be
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: really creative around our route and, take you, know take
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: a few risks at some water crossings THAT i felt comfortable.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: With, yeah that's. Right so you just you really got to,
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: be you, know on your. Game, yeah.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Exactly and then we went To Lake victoria and this
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: was cool because we again we just found. IT i
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: think it was just On airbnb and just felt like
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: this little lodge where it's built over these wetlands and
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: you had to walk on these elevated platforms and the
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: little huts are elevated and throughout the night here the,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: hippo you, know their feet coming through the, mud and,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: yeah it was just.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: Awesome don't mess with. Hippo they'll kill. You they'll kill
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: you quicker than anything else there for. Sure and then
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: you were In. Kenya.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah and then we drove Into kenya and the one
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: thing that was really neat that happened there is we
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: connected with this Fellow grenadier Owner ahbed And abbed was
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: actually the first one to take delivery of A grenadier In.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: Africa.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Cool and we went and we drove up to this
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: place Called Lake, ellis which is over eleven thousand feet
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: On Mount, kenya and it was. Challenging there was one
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: route we were taking we had to turn around because
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: it was too many trees down and we had to
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: come back around the other. Way it was just it was,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: awesome like low, range rear dip, locked like, challenging awesome four,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: wheeling and then you camp on the shore of this
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: eleven thousand foot high mountain lake with the peak of.
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Mountain it's just, yeah it's like the stuff of. Dreams
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: it really, is and it's so accessible and there's just nobody.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: There like the whole time we were, there we ran
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: into one vehicle of high lux and this guy was
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: bringing up A european tourist that wanted to do some day,
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: hikes and that was. It that was the only person
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: that we encountered the whole time driving around On Mount,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: kenya which is just like one of the coolest overland
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Routes i've ever.
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: Done africa's, special it really, is.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah and it just keeps this whole Eastern it was
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: WHY i decided to do The eastern route as opposed
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: to The West, coast BECAUSE i wanted to experience all
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: of these. Things it's not to take anything away from
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: The West, coast but that wasn't my. Objective my objective
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: was to go From Southern africa To Northern africa across the.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Equator and cross the, continent but also to see the
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: things THAT i wanted to, see which Was Eastern. Africa
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: so it was just so special And nairobi's. Incredible it's
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: definitely like the tech, hub the tech heartbeat Of africa
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: is happening. There Ja, shapiro who is a longtime member
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: Of Expedition, portal a good. Friend he's running these little
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: tech incubation centers out Of. Nairobi his podcast was on
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: a couple months. Ago you can listen to. That Jay,
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: shapiro incredible, guy and there's just a lot of incredible.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: People and that was WHERE i Met Jonathan, jensen who
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: you guys have heard on the. Podcast he works for
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: The State department and awesome guy and we had him
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: on the, podcast so listen to. That but he was
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: just extremely helpful when we ran into challenges later on
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: in the. Trip It's ethiopia and, yeah and the last
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: TIME i was In, nairobia the main focus was how
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: DO i get the vehicle Into.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: Ethiopia so it took me. Weeks it took me.
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: Four months, overall two months of really serious work and
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: then three weeks of getting paperwork going back and forth
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: to The Ethiopian embassy In. Nairobi so it was just
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of logistics and it costs over a THOUSAND
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: us dollars to get all the, permitting and then all
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: of a, sudden one DAY i had it LIKE i
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: had the documentation THAT i needed and everything was, approved
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: and Then Brian bass flew. IN i did one last
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: little journey With abbit And jonathan where we went up
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: To Lake. Turkana that was a really interesting trip and
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: it was the closest THAT i have ever been to
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: a band a tree THAT i was aware. Of so
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: when we were driving up To Lake, turkana which banditree
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: happens in this area when there's a lot of cattle,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: rustling it's Wild west, stuff it's Wild west bandit, Tree
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: it's very Wild. West And abid's phone just like starts
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: blowing up the one time he gets.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: Signaling and the.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: People that we had stayed with the night before were,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: like there's bandits in the. Area there's been multiple. Attacks
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: we just want. You and we went through this region
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes after someone was.
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: Robbed, wow who was that?
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Close, again in those, situations it's important to keep your
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: wits about. You these kinds of. Interactions they are looking
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: for financial. Resources they're not looking to kill, you but they.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: Will they're not looking to take your, car especially like
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: if you're driving a granite Or what are they going
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: to do with That, Nothing.
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: It's just like throwing smoke signals up to come get. Me,
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: yeah they what are they going to do with that?
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Car? Nothing they can't sell, it they can't part it.
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Out there's one of one in the, country and this,
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: case there's only a couple of them in the. Country
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: so if those things, happen give them what they ask,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: for don't, resist and then chalk it up as an
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: experience and get on your. Way the thing that people
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: get into a lot of trouble with and there was
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: A uk service member who two weeks prior had been
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: killed because he fought back during one of these roadside.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Robberies so this is not at all to make anyone
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: think That kenya is. Dangerous there are areas Of kenya
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: that are well known as being, dangerous and we happen
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: to be in one of. Those the rest Of, kenya
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: it's not an. Issue this one particular region Around Lake
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: turkana does have some. Challenges so it was really interesting
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: to we get to the next checkpoint and we were that.
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: Close.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: Heck and THEN i got to pick Up Brian bass In,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: samburu which was, awesome AND i just love traveling with the,
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: guy and he was going to be the perfect fit
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: for trying to figure all this stuff out With ethiopia
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: And jibouti and just his experience as an, archaeologist as an.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: Anthropologist he's a great, driver just someone THAT i. Trust
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: so it got to pick him up at the airport
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: and next week we're bombing our way up Into ethiopia
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: and like sure, enough it. Worked like it took a
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: couple of, days but then we were across the border
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: And ethiopia was incredible and we go into real detail
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: on that in this other. Podcast But ethiopia was truly,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: incredible huge diversity of. Culture they were never fully conquered
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: by a foreign, power so it retains a lot of
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: that Original african culture where it's not been influenced heavily
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: by a conquering.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: Nation, yeah and The italians that's right on the. Coast.
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah but and it was also the one the first
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: time that An african army beat A western army was In.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Ethiopia that's pretty cool that empowered a lot of nations
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: to be, like oh, wait maybe we can fight. Back
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: so there's a lot of history. There that's a lot
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: of early human history, there very.
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: Early human civilization thrive.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Too, yeah and you can see, why and there's just
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: so much. Diversity AND i just had an incredible. Time
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: and then again because these are covered in a lot
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: of detail in these other, podcasts but Like ethiopia was
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: a highlight of the trip for, me and then we
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: got Into, djibouti which that's going to be on a
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: future podcast as. Well, actually by the time you listen to,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: this when you'll already have heard. It But djibouti was,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: Incredible like it was just it was days and days
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: detained at the, border AND i don't regret a moment of.
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: It it was all.
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: Awesome it was an incredible, Experience.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: Like what's going. On i'm, like are you? Okay it's
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: a dead goat next to, me that's the. Truth, yeah, Right,
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: yeah we were.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: Close we were close to chewing on cardboard because we
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: were starting to run out of. Supplies we never ran
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: out of, water but we were starting to run low on.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Food so, yeah pretty. Interesting i'll break my podcast. RULE i,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: KNOW i don't listen to us talk, either BECAUSE i was.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: Here it was just so uncomfortable to listen to us.
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: TALK i know exactly overall the trip it's. Been it
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: was a twenty year goal to cross all seven, continents
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: and it's interesting WHEN i got to the other end of.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: IT i do feel a lot of, gratitude is WHAT i.
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: FEEL i don't feel like this overwhelming sense of accomplishment
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: because there's nothing special about. Me anyone can do these
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: things if they put their mind to it and they
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: invest the twenty years to make it, happen or can
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: be done in less. Time but there's nothing unique about.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: Me there was nothing unique about any of the. Vehicles
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: it can be done by, others and it will be
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: done by. OTHERS i think started off as an effort
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: to do. Something to be the first to have done
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: it is certainly something that was more. Egocentric whereas WHEN
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: i finished the, trip it wasn't so much the. Accomplishment
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: it was the. Experiences it was the people THAT i
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: met along the. Way it was the Things i've learned
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: about myself that ended up being the greatest. Reward so
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: it wasn't THAT i accomplished this fancy, thing which is
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: silly in, Hindsight but it's more THAT i was able
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: to see so much of the world and to do
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: it with people THAT i really cared. About from the
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: trips THAT i did With Greg miller And Kurt williams
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: And claycroft And brian and you and all these other
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: people THAT i was able to tavia and traveling around the,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: world that was the stuff THAT i took away from
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: AND i was also at the end of. IT i
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: was just genuinely impressed by the. Vehicle brian AND i
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: we drove up to The gulf Of, aiden right there
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: at the entry to The Red sea The Indian. Ocean
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: we'd crossed the continent Of africa twenty thousand kilometers and
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a single mechanical failure of the. Vehicle we
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: didn't have to bring in anyone from anious to fix.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: Anything we never had any warranty work done on the.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: Vehicle there wasn't a single light on the, dash and
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: it had completed what was a very arduous trip without any.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: Issues so that to, me that was WHAT i wanted to.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: KNOW i wanted to. Know they say that The grenadiers
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: built For AFRICA i wanted to prove that was actually the,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: case and in, hindsight it is the. Case it's built
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: for that, continent it's built For North. America it'll do.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: It it looks like a pretty special car went around
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: AND i kind of fell in love with.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: It, Yeah, so BECAUSE i was so excited that a
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: new car company was coming out making cars just for,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: us that it's easy.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: To have a lot of.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: Bias SO i tried to be as reserved AS i.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: Could but by the end of, IT i was, Like,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: YEAH i really love this. Car i'd really fallen in
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: love with it because it had done everything THAT i.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: Wanted very scotty. Car it is a very scotty, Car
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: like it's a defender that. Works, yeah, exactly that's so.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: True all of the little modifications we, did they all
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: worked perfect.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: From WHAT i. Understand when that car drove Across, africa
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: and that's factory, tires it did the same. Car you
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: can GET bfgh, everywhere all trains on. IT i think
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: that there's maybe an, argument, yeah like That grenadier is,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: expensive but when you look at like the true cost
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: of buying something from one of these, adventures add it all,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: up like it's not that.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: Expensive it's not that expensive and it doesn't need anything
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: to go do. It the things THAT i added was
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: BECAUSE i needed extra, FUEL i needed a place to
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: mount some max, TRACKS i needed a place to.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: Sleep and that was.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: It, yeah like an afternoon like we talked about of.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: Work so it was pretty. SIMPLE i had in from the.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: FACTORY i know that.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: We've talked about this, before but the availability of these
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: like factory overland vehicles is AND i think from my,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: end just know that you don't actually have to mess with.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: Them that's. Right like in a podcast that should be out,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: soon we talk about this WHERE i remember lifting my
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: first land rover and oh my, god it's thirty two inch.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: Tires jeep comes out with something that has thirty. Threes
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: now and then it's, oh it's gotta have thirty. Fives
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: they come out with something that has thirty. Fives oh
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: it's got to have thirty. Sevens ad puts thirty sevens
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: on it and then people start asking. Forties you don't need, it.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah but if you want, it you can get. It
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: if you want, it you can get. It, yeah it's
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: a it's. Available. Yeah So africa was an incredible continent
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and we've got the YouTube series has. Started we've got
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: two episodes. Out there'll be a third one out by
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: the time everyone hears. This we were able to accomplish
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: the goal of being the first in history to take
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: a vehicle crossed all seven.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: Continents so it's. Fun, well, well it's a big. Accomplishment.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: Great i'm grateful to have been able to see all
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: the things along the. Way, yeah and there's really nothing
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: else that comes to mind around the, vehicle but there
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: were some pieces of kit THAT i really enjoyed along the.
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: WAY i think, that you, know having a smaller fridge
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: is something people should. CONSIDER i only use a twenty five.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: Liter fridge and it was enough Five dometic or it's
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 2: A dometic twenty five leader one of those now, too
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: and just still surprising how much you can fit in.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: It it's a lot.
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: Smaller WHEN i just shipped the. Vehicle it fits between
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: the back seat and the front. Seat it just drops
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: right into the little footwell there and so it's not
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: visible when you're looking into the back of the. Car
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: that kind of impressed me Because i'd always run bigger.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: Fridges the tracks For, AFRICA i think is another thing
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: THAT i had a takeaway on that was really. Good
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: The Garman. WATCH i had A Phoenix Garman Phoenix watch,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: sapphire and it was actually a really great accompaniment a
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: little flashlight and the. Flashlight i'm, like that's the goofiest
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: Thing i've ever, Seen but THEN i used it every single.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: Day could use your, phone that's, right.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: And the flashlight is right there on your. Wrist it
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: can be in the middle night going to go, pee
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: you're looking for, rain spiders on the floor or, whatever
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: and you don't see the. Flashlight it's not like it's
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: some appendage on the. Watch it's just a little band of.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: LEDs SO i really like the watch was great for the,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: trip and it allowed me to track my. Sleep SO
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: i find that to be really important for me WHEN i.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: Travel it's to stay on top of good sleep because
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: THEN i drive, Better i'm, Safer i'm more mentally, Alert
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: i'm able to better handle stresses along the way WHEN
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: i get good, Sleep SO i really made that a.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: PRIORITY i did The melville and moon seat. Covers they
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: held up really well on the, trip so that was
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: something THAT i thought was pretty. Cool the sleeping system
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: was really great, overall just being able to sleep inside the.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: VEHICLE i Brought max tracks. Along Another GRENADIER i was
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: with got stuck and they're trying to talk about the
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: wench and do this or. Whatever i'm, like, guys let's
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: just take three. Seconds it was like. Done so it
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: was so. Fast SO i was really GLAD i had those,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: along even THOUGH i never needed to use them in anger,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: myself but they were nice to have.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: Along so. Yeah and then just having.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: The basics of, tools the basics of tire, repair that
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: gave me a lot of confidence BECAUSE i only had
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: one spare never used. It, well that's another interesting. THING
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: i think this is more than, luck more luck than anything.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: Else but during all of these, circumnavigations all these continental,
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: CROSSINGS i used be of Good rich. Tires AND i
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: don't think THAT bef Good rich necessarily makes the best
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: tires on the. Planet it just so happens THAT i
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: USED bef Good rich for all Of itanned wasn't, planned
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: and other Than, antarctica we had to.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: Use some specialty.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: Tires BUT i actually WHEN i rolled up To, DJIBOUTI i,
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: realized Like i've never had a flat with a with
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: A bf Good rich tire crossing all these continents AND
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: i was, like it's going to happen right here In Juwbouti,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: city right on my, way and it. DIDN'T i ended
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: up finishing the, trip so crossing six out of the
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: seven continents WITH Bef goodrich not a single flat for
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: the entire, Time so that's. Cool so some people are
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: very distracted. Drivers so if someone gets a lot of,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: flats if you watch their driving, behavior they tend to
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: not pay attention that close to things in the, road
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: or they tend to like move or they're on their.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: Phone they tend to be really distracted, drivers so they
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: tend to get really close to the edges of the
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: tracks and they tend to have more flats that.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: Way in, GENERAL i could see on some of this
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: stuff In australia where you're, properly, ye properly out.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: There, yeah that could be and it would be. Easy
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: it would have been easy for me to throw that
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: on the. REFRAC i had space for a second spare
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: on the refract just in CASE i needed.
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: It oh and one last.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: Thing we did change out the rear spring on The
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: grenadier In kenya In nairobi to what is the current model.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: Spring so the vehicle THAT i took delivery of had x,
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: spring and In africa they delivered wy, spring and now
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: In america and pretty much everywhere where else they deliver Why.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: Spring SO i upgraded from the spring that was in
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: it to a new. One it's about thirty millimeters taller
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: and it has a little bit more load, capacity so
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: the vehicle sat better with a full. Load so anybody
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: who's body, grenneddeer you don't need to upgrade the. Spring
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: it already came with. It the one THAT i, drove
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: since it was so, early didn't have, It so that
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: was the one change THAT i.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: Made throughout the. Trip it's pretty, small, yeah and it
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: wasn't a failure with Very i'm not going to call
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: them pre, production but it's pretty close like it was
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: a media car from. It but it just shows their
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: commitment to making a great. Vehicle cool to see feedback.
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: Already, yeah so that Was we could talk for hours About,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: africa but it was just a joy to do.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: It we'll be sure to check out all of the
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: other more detailed podcasts on the segment the Same Good.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: Overview hopefully this will encourage people to go see this wonderful.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: Continent filled with wonderful. People AND i know you're thinking
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 2: About africa. SOON i always want to go To. Africa,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah i'm going to get. Out we're going to stop
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: recording this. Podcast i'm gonna look at. Flights maybe here's
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: How i'd love to end. It africa is not that
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: hard to. Do it from the outside seems very hard to.
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: Do it is very well set up for. Tourism i've
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: never had any issues there safety, Wise but the reality
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: is that you may not be doing a massive, trip
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: but particularly Southern, africa you can fly into any major
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: airport and there are, dozens if not like more than
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: that of Rental. Safari they call Them safari cars, usually
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: and they're fully, Outfitted like we rented one In namibia
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: for a, month AND i mean it had the, cups
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: it had the, plates it had the, knives and it
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 2: was all nice. Stuff and you can just Go, yeah
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: you don't even actually need the expensive. Ones like, genuinely
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: if you want to plan less and you're a little
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 2: apprehensive of camping in foreign countries or, whatever rent a
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 2: High lux and go rent A, fortuner like you don't
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: need to overthink. It we would just drive, Around oh
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 2: where are we going to go? Tonight? Cool where are
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: we going to stay? There you, go it's meant For
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: it's a. LOT i don't want to pontif. Go, no
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 2: it was. Easy it was so. Easy it's more work
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 2: to find camping in The United states ON I overlander
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: and oh where AM i going to camp? Tonight or
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 2: this or that or? Whatever, like it's just it's, easy
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 2: go do.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: It, yeah there's nothing THAT i did on this trip
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: that was particularly. Difficult it's accessible to. Everyone you may
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: not have the time or you may not currently have
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: the resources to do, it but nothing THAT i did
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: required you to be an Uber overlander at.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: All, yeah and as we've, said once you get, there
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: it is for at least For, americans it is more
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: affordable than you would. Think. Thanks, yeah it was a good.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: One like you got to interview. ME i like. That heck.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: You we thank you all for, listening and we'll talk
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: to you next.
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: Time