Sand Ladders (or similar) for sand.
Waffles for mud, rock & sand as bridging may be needed in muddy or rocky conditions.

North to south through Africa you will get mud, rock and sand, so an easy decision (except for the weight consideration).

Waffles had me out of this situation in 2 minutes with a minimum of fuss:

http://www.roamingyak.org/morocco/im...ndy_stuck2.jpg

:)And errrrr......... how did you end up like that in the first place?

Spare wheel on the bonnet and the deception of the midday sun with the (small) river bank looking exactly like the river bed. Out to the right of the vehicle where I was looking was much less of a drop ;-)

Was quite a surprise when the front of the vehicle dropped a couple of feet with a loud crunch!

waffles it was!
 

Well, since I started this thread we've successfully made it from Henley on Thames to Cape Town, and the waffle boards performed excellently. Obviously our driving was so good we very rarely got stuck! :whistling:

Yep, that midday sun can be a bugger!

Just out of interest do most of you guys tie sand ladders onto the vehicle when you use them? The idea being that you don't need to stop soon after getting moving again to retrieve the ladders and can keep the momentum. Cheers

Yes, I mount mine one each on the side of the landy - on the big flat side panel (as low on that as you can get, and near the front).

Two square hooks and a mount for a bolt that has a padlock hasp welded on the end of it (you can't undo the bolt without undoing the padlock)

Cheers, dj
(listening to the cricket!)