vehicles modified outside their original manufacturers specification are banned in some countries, and it will come in in others, so soon you probably won't be able to mod your vehicle

Relying on the local Toyota dealer in the depths of Angola to fix your all singing all dancing electrical everything landcruiser is probably folly, they will have neither the equipment nor the expertise as their versions of the vehicle will be very different, and of course, you can't actually use your SAT phone to drag it there to get fixed! You either do a bodge yourself to get it there or try and organise local recovery.

I would rather use a vehicle I have a chance of fixing myself, or that a local mechanic can fix, rather than freight something thousands of miles to be fixed like the Guy I heard about a few years ago who had to low load his rangerover several thousand miles when the immobiliser played up.

In the developed world there will be no more basic 4x4s made. public opinion and political pressure from environmentalists won't allow it.

But not to worry, in a few years the Chinese will have tarmacked Africa and you'll be able to drive there in your Toyota Pious. Those bits that do require a 4x4 we'll be banned from anyway by the environmentalists thanks to the idiots that treat other peoples countries as their own personal rally stage.

I was somewhat dismayed to read an article in Ride (I think) about an off road trip to Morocco with a group of Italian Bikers who thrashed around the countryside at high speed showing off to each other their prowess at pulling wheelies.

But hey, I guess all the sweets they threw at the local kids made that alright eh!!

Great work guys, thanks for the positive publicity

Travel now, because in 20 years time there will be a Tesco and mcDonalds in Timbuktu with a queue of campervans in the car park and the only trips into the desert will be with licensed tour companies