We have called her home for the last seven months and she has finally been passed onto her new owners, who are looking forward to her guiding them back up towards Kenya over the next few months. If there is one recommendation I could give to any overlander thinking of doing a similar adventure to what we have done going overland through Africa, it would be to buy a Toyota Landcruiser above any other 4×4. What is the reasoning behind it? Let me spell it out for you.

Toyota are the most common vehicle anywhere in Eastern and Southern Africa

You have the advantage with a Toyota. When times get tough (and I can guarantee that they will) not only are parts available in every country, at any time of day, bush mechanics can pull apart and repair almost any part on a Cruiser. The rival 4×4 on this continent is the Land Rover Defender, but no word of a lie, almost 95% of locals and travellers that we have met on our journey have voted Toyota.

Our experienced with broken roof racks, blown clutch cylinders, leaf suspension, and water pump failure all occurred in the middle of nowhere. Whether it was atop the Zomba plateau in Malawi, the desert savannah of the Serengeti, or the mountainous ranges of the Drakensberg the local mechanics have always had us up and running in a few hours, each time, every time.

Toyota’s hold their sale value

South Africa and Kenya are the two countries most recommended to purchase a 4×4 prior to your intrepid adventure through the ‘dark’ continent. Both countries have ample supply of vehicles of varying ages, quality, and price. Out of all of the vehicles we had the pleasure of test driving or inspecting the Toyotas (between the ages of 1980 and 1996) held their value at resale. With any purchase you will generally lose a small amount on its resale, especially if you include all of the gear you aquire during your trip, but for the most part your initial investment will be returned if you are able to advertise the resale and close a deal in either Kenya or South Africa.

Note that at the moment South Africans cannot ‘legally’ import a vehicle (which means convert the foreign registration to South African) but individuals are more than willing to purchase and use on their farms or jump the Botswanian border and register it over there. An import duty of around ~20% is applicable there.

Toyota engines, especially older more hardy engines, will run for 1,000,000 kilometres

Although the 1 million figure is slightly metaphoric, the older Toyota engines are built strong, solid, and will run forever. With general maintenance and care the engine will need minimal work done in order to keep it in top condition. Our trip across Eastern and Southern Africa called on us to replace a few work parts such as front propshaft, wheel bearings, and similar items but after 15,000kms of African ‘roads’ it is to be expected. All of this, yet no work needed on the engine. Experience speaks for itself here.

So to sum it up, we will be handing Helga over to her new overland owners once the cash clears, and then we start the planning for our next adventure…

Starting in Spain over 7 months ago, we had a solid trip itinerary planned out for when we made it to Southern Africa with ‘Helga’, our Landcruiser. Shortly after Christmas in Cape Town we were hoping to scoot up through Springbok and across the Namibian border, with dreams of driving the sands of the Skeleton Coast. But with the Christmas cheer and pending New Year celebration making us a little home sick, we have decided to head back towards the Drakensberg to spend time with friends. It looks like Helga needs to have her injectors and plugs looked at anyway so we are also taking advantage of our mechanic in Durban being open over the New Year’s period and have booked her in as well.

We left ‘Helga’ with Rory from Rorys Garage in Pinetown, Duban, and took a rental car to drive up into Underberg to spend New Years under the shadow of the Sani Pass of Lesotho. It is a massive shame but  we have decided to miss Namibia and Botswana this trip. With only 2 weeks to drive through them (if we didn’t need to have a few things repaired on the car) we would have to rush through, driving around 400kms per day. Its not our style to drive everyday and not having the chance to soak in the culture and atmosphere that enbodies both Namibia and Botswana alike. Sadly, its something we will need to explore on our next visit to Africa.

So instead, once we have ‘Helga’ back we will be driving up into Sodwana Bay to dive one of the most talked about sites in Africa, and then into Lesotho to explore the mountains and culture of the Basotho people.