Ireland to Capetown 2019. Mercedes 1988 814 7.5 tonne
 

Hello All.
Planning a trip next year from Dublin Ireland to Tankwa national park just above Cape town.
We will be running a converted Mercedes 814, 6 liter horsebox pulling a 4 meter trailer loaded with sound and stage equipment.
It has been 15 or 16 years since going on a trip of this magnitude.
So their are some things I feel this would be the best place to ask about.
What would anyone with experience be considered the best route?
Stick to the coast of go in land at some points?
Also visa and borders situations.
Are there problematic borders visa costs.
Carnett de passage for vehicle, is this required and for where.
One thing which I am not sure if it is on the forum somewhere already is the fuel costs for diesel in the different countries on the way down.
I think thats a decent start to my questions I hope some of you can take the time to share your knowledge with me on.
Thanks in advance

BTP

Is this the correct section of the forum for this post?

Is this still good info for 4 wheels?
 

I have just gone through this post and wondering if anyone has experience that may be updated compared to this.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-without-89519

Any new info highly appreciated.

So you can't buy or rent stage and sound equipment where you are going, you've looked at the value of shipping it to CT,RSA, and you've had your truck and trailer on a weighbridge and are confident all the roads, ferries, and bridges will cope?

Hi Budric.
The stage is actually a custom-built stage that we are taking.
But the finish point is just part of this trip.
We are currently pulling things together to make this a documentary.
We could ship but it's all about the journey there.
We are hiring a lot of equipment when we arrive but also intend on doing gigs on the way down.
I'm curious what other experienced overlanders think of the capability of the mentioned truck and trailer set up making the trip successfully.
No weigh bridge treatment yet but have checked ferries etc and all seems managable.

I think towing the trailer will give you some grief, but I'm pretty sure you know that. It's going to make your route through the smaller towns tricky, and hard to find "nicer" camping places. Even the extra cost on the ferry to get out of Ireland could be an extra €500 or more.

As to the route down Africa, That's the million dollar question, I'll be watching this with interest.

And yes, you are probably in the right place on the Hubb, but as you've discovered there are not as many 4x4 folks about.

Best of luck with it!
Merv.

Hi Mervi,
Yeah, I'm surprised at the lack of 4x4 heads now. I used to be a member here back in 09 when I 1st started looking for an overland vehicle. It was much more inhabited then.
I'm aware of the added expense, with the trailer and challenge. But we have a crew of 8 coming along to share the costs and the hardships of getting stuck!
We've actually had to postpone the trip for a year as I was supposed to be back in Ireland no readying the truck for said adventure. Unfortunately, I am stuck in Thailand dealing with their ever efficient bureaucracy.

The Expedition has now evolved into a fly on the wall documentary that will follow the madcap crew down for 11 weeks rather than the proposed 7.
No chance I would have been able to reconvert the truck by march.

I am a bit concerned about taking a 2 wheel drive 7.5 tonner all the way with trailer, but that all adds to the challenge of the trip.
If we weren't intending on doing gigs on the way down I wouldn't need the trailer. The intention is to gut my truck and give it more room for storage and less comfort. Without losing all the auxiliary components I have already installed. Hopefully, this will help with weight distribution and we will just camp outside the truck instead.

I am interested though if anyone can answer this question. I wish to change my tyres for off-road tyres. I am thinking of something with a larger diameter than the road tyres that are fitted. But in doing this. How much work if any would i need to do with the gearbox etc?
I'm mechanically minded but have never done this sort of swap before.

Plus anyone who has up to date knowledge of any of the borders down the west coast would be massively appreciated.
Has anyone gone through Guinnae and Sierra Leon borders or have these area become too dodgy. It would have to be very dodgy for this crew to be put off.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Shipping a 7.5tonner from SA
 

Has anyone ever shipped a &.5 tonne truck from South Africa to Europe?
Trying to find info on this seems bloody hard

Cheers

BTP

Interesting plan. Definitely not for the faint-hearted :thumbup1:
Travelling with such a rig I'd rather consider the eastern route. Also politically and safety-wise the east is less problematic. For a 2x4 the roads are much easier to travel. Infrastructure is better etc.

Egypt seems to be a pain in the neck, so a friend of mine is thinking about shipping his vehicle to Port Sudan to bypass this bottleneck.



Anyway, what made you aim for the Tankwa NP? It is hardly known, even in South Africa. It is one of the smaller NP of S.A., but with beautiful landscape, so also the surroundings. The whole area is "Off the beaten track" regarding tourism.

BlackTarPirate,

The road is mostly paved from Morocco to South Africa except for a section between Gabon and Congo. Just make sure you are crossing that section during the dry season and you should be fine.

Patrick

True, but the route through Nigeria is a pain in the neck..... Lots of road blocks - mostly illegal.

Hi Vaufi,
The reason for heading to Tankwa park and the actual spark that turned this into a road trip is a 7-day music festival called Africa Burn. It's part of the Burning Man series of festivals. I applied to have an area there with a stage as that is my work. Stage-production, visual arts, event promotion etc.
I bought my truck in Ireland about 4 years ago with the plan to go back on the road in Europe and Africa but ended up moving to Thailand. So it's been sat for the last two and a half years while I have been here. So I decided to float the idea with some friends I have met on my travels to see if they fancy this adventure. Everyone was very energetic about the idea and I am itching for a decent road trip again. So now the wheels are in motion to make it happen. Doing the documentary was an afterthought that now has become an integral part of the trip. As we are also intending to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention globally. As unfortunately, it's becoming more and more prevalent in our world today.

So the long and short of it is MUSIC. One of the best medicines in the world when your feeling down.

BTP

We're definitely not phased with having to deal with bent officials and roadblocks. Most of the crew have dealt with sticky situations like them at some point in our travels.

Thanks Patrick.
That is what I was hoping to hear. My self and one other are pretty capable at off-piste driving and getting stuck/unstuck. But this trip is more about putting on gigs in different countries rather than testing our resilience and driving skills.
You think a 2wd 7.5 tonner can manage that part of the route?

BTP

If you cross into Nigeria near Lagos, you will be stopped a lot.
You just need to cross at a border a bit more north.

On the Congo side, they were working on the road going north from Dolisie toward Gabon in 2017. With time that off road section is just getting smaller and smaller.

I don't have a picture of your 7.5 tonner truck. I don't know your ground clearance. If you want to be totally safe, just cross in the dry season and bring a few chovels and hand picks. The road may have some deep ruts and holes from the rainy season. Level the road when needed or just hire locals from villages if you don't want to do the work. It is a nice win-win situation since they have no jobs. To keep things simple, you select on guy responsible of all the others. You pay him only at the end and he divide the money with others(less trouble for you). He can hire as many people as he want. Select which village on your map where they will get paid. Bring some rhum, some might prefer to be paid with that.

You probably have already plan something for dealing with importing your music equipment in another country. If not, I would prepare some letters with many "officials stamps" listing the equipment and write that it is mandatory to bring them all to south Africa. And also write that in the exceptional case that one item is to be taken away from your truck you need at least the personal info/photo (prepare some papers for that) of 3 officials to show to your embassy. It might stop some officials looking at taking stuff from you.



Patrick

Thanks all for the replies so far.
The picture is much clearer for me now.
As for the ground clearance on the truck. It's not the greatest at the moment for this sort of trip. I intend on removing or altering the belly boxes I have and chopping the back end a bit to improve this. Changing the present tyres for offroad tyres.
Pondering on the advantage if there is any of changing the rear from twin wheel to singles. As I feel it may reduce the possibility of them getting clogged up with mud and lessen the possibility of wear if we have to drop the pressure right down for any terrain that requires it.
We will be leaving Ireland at the start of February to arrive for the middle of May. So I think we will be hitting some rain on the way down.

BTP

In English AND French :smartass: And check the visa regulations for Angola. Quite a hassle....


By the way, if you arrive mid May you'll be late. The festival for 2019 is from 29/04 to 05/05.

Haha, yeah I meant mid-Aprill, but we're not heading until 2020 for the next one with this trip.

Will have a look at Angola. Thanks.

BTP

BTP,

Keep an eye on Gabon. If things go wrong there, that could mean a lot more mud if you have to cross from Cameroon to Congo directly.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/20...detat-au-gabon

Patrick

Here's a couple of pics of the truck that will hopefully get us there.
Intend on getting rid of the belly boxes, raising the water tanks and fuel tank if necessary to improve clearance and taking a wedge of the back from the rear arch.
Off-road tires, winches front and rear. Pondering whether a switch up in suspension would be worth it.

Attachment 21892

Attachment 21893

Have you considered going for a larger truck and then no need for the trailer? I'm guessing you aiming at the 7.5t as can drive with a car licence, but something larger would give more space and comfort, and probably less strain on the transmission. From a spares point of view, are there many similar vehicles along your route or are most trucks larger?
Just a thought. Good luck. Sounds like a good adventure.

Aah...just seen photos. Guess too late to change truck....oops.

Music on the road
 

Hi BTP

Well why make things easy?

99% of you trip will be black top or gravel, the rest could be tricky! Some bigger harder tyres would be good, and getting rid of the low mounted boxes.

Don't bother with electric winches, just get a big turfer and some non stretch winch rope, you can then pull at any angle.

Hobo used to take artic units down so it can be done.

Good luck.

Bruce