The least reliable car in the world

I was in Germany two weeks ago to buy myself a car, but getting a car turned out to be more dificult than expected. There were two main problems. Firstly, the 4-5 days I had for getting a car were simply not enough. Secondly, I didn't quite know what I was looking for.

We were a team of three to go and get a Africa-car. My brother in law, Mparany, who would get the car  when it came to Madagascar, my father, who is our sponsor, and the one with the most experience in buying cars, and me, who would drive it to Madagascar.

Within the team we had a wide range of suggestions on what to buy. The Peugeot 505 Dangel, the VW T3 Syncro, the Nissan Terrano II, the Mercedes G, the Toyota Land Cruiser (Prado) or even something like the VW Iltis were considered. All of these cars turned out to have a common drawback. They were not possible to get in a good shape for 8000 Euro, witch was our budget, or they were impossible to get at all.

The 505 Dangel. A fantastic car, but unfortunately almost impossible to get.

At this point our attention was drawn to the redeemer. A car we had ruled out quite long ago because of it's unreliability. The least reliable car in the world - the Land Rover Defender 110. It turned out that the Defender had almost all the qualities we needed. It is extraordinary good-looking, perfectly good for African roads, big - and possible to get for 8000 Euro. It has of course drawbacks, like the fuel consumption and the comfort, but one does not go to Africa for comfort.

The Defender 110. What a great looking car!

When we got to this conclusion I had one day left in Germany and all Defenders that looked promising on the web were hundreds of kilometers away, so we decided to wait until September with buying one. Out of this you might come to the conclusion that I went to Germany for nothing (at least if we single out the car deal), but I didn't. I'm very happy that I had those days in Germany, and consider the most important job as done. I have found out what car I want.

So now I'm looking forward to September. My trip will be a little delayed because of the time it takes to buy a Defender, and the time it takes after that, to finish all the paperwork, but I am confident that with some patience it will all be settled. A big thanks goes to my dad and Mparany, for helping me and encouraging me. It wouldn't have been half the fun to go looking for a car alone (as I will have to in September)!

A long way to go

Hi, and welcome to "A Journey south".

First, "A Journey South" isn't a very good name. Quite informative, but not very good. Therefore I hope some of you creative-minded readers could come up with better suggestions.

Since this is the first post on this blog I would like to give you a brief introduction on what this blog is about.

The whole thing emerges from a dream I have had for a long time. A motorcycle-trip through Africa. The motorcycle has been exchanged with a car, and after a close look at the map, I see that not only Africa is to be visited. I will actually use almost half of the time in Europe and the Middle-East.

Using a car, rather than a motorbike, means I can and will have visitors who join me on some parts of the road. Two of them are my friends Sigvart and Andreas, who will join me in Tanzania and Malawi, but I'm not really sure they know where Malawi is.
Since others might be in the same position, I have made two maps, that show the countries I intend to pass.

Red countries are to be visited. 

I hope these maps give you some impression on where I'll be going. Drawing was never my strong side.

Now, for those of you who know some geography, you will notice that these maps don't show all the countries I intend to visit. They give the impression that Turkey shares borders with Egypt. Sadly this isn't the case, and I'll cross Syria and Jordan, inshallah, on my way to Egypt.

It might look as if I have the route all figured out, but that's not the case. I hope that I won't have to make any changes due to political reasons, but especially in Europe, I have every possibility to alter my route. In the southern part of Africa, I could visit Mozambique or Lesotho. So if you have been to any of the countries I intend to, or could visit, I would be very grateful to get a comment or an e-mail (hanstsoa@yahoo.com) with recommendations of places worthy visiting. I most likely know about the big tourist attractions, but if you know something off the beaten track, it would be faboulous if you shared it

So this blog is about a Journey from Norway to Madagascar, passing 28 countries and between 30 and 40 thousand kilometers. The trip will start in September, and if all goes well, I will arrive in Madagascar at the end of April.