My 4x4 Africa overland trip in numbers
February 05, 2007This page lists some numbers for my 8 month and ca 43000 km long solo overland trip from Estonia to Namibia in 2006 (from this ca 5000km crossing Europe). In Africa I passed the following countries: Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Cabinda (Angola), Congo Democratic Republic, Angola and Namibia. I drove mostly secondary roads and tracks, where possible.
Unfortunately my travelogue is only available in Estonian language, but you can browse it for photos.
FUEL COSTS
Total fuel cost for about 43000 km route was about 2700.- EUR and total average fuel consumption of my Defender 90 300TDI was about 9l/100km. Highest was in Mauritania, where on desert pistes it was about 14l. But I drive slowly and small roads, for most people it is probably some more.
Average diesel fuel cost (EUR per litre) by country:
Europe—1,0
Morocco (this is total for both Morocco and Western Sahara, it is more expensive in Morocco and cheaper in Westers Sahara)—0,61
Mauritania -- 0,72
Mali—0,86
Burkina Faso—0,89
Ghana—0,66
Togo & Benin—0,71
Nigeeria—0,54
Cameroon—0,83
Gabon—0,59
Congo—0,53
Angola—0,29
Namibia—0,74
VISA INFORMATION
All visas obtained en route (approximate prices in EUR and where obtained). I’m Estonian, so other nationals may need less visas.
Mauritania—20 EUR, on border, plus 10 EUR for “stamping car papers”.
Mali -- 33 EUR, Nouakchott, Mauritania (10000 UM)
Burkina Faso—43 EUR, Bamako, Mali (28200 CFA, 3 photos)
Ghana—23 EUR, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (15000 CFA, 4 photos)
Togo—15 EUR, on border (10000 CFA)
Benin - 15 EUR, 24h transit viisa on border (10000 CFA) + 18 EUR visa extension in Cotonou (12000 CFA)
Nigeria—46 EUR, Cotonou, Benin (30000 CFA)
Cameroon—80 EUR, Calabar, Nigeria
Gabon—53 EUR, Yaounde, Cameroon (35000 CFA, 1 photo)
Congo—76 EUR, Yaounde, Cameroon (50000 CFA, 2 photos)
Congo Democratic Republic—76 EUR, Yaounde, Cameroon (45000 CFA + 5000 CFA for “express service”, 2 photos)
Angola-Cabinda—Angolan embassy in Pointe-Noire refused to issue me Angola/Cabinda visa because my passport was almost full and they kept telling me they need page that is completely blank from *both sides*. I had several completely blank pages but none was blank from both sides. Begging nicely did not help (BTW, they speak Portuguese only). I had to fly back to Estonia to arrange new passport, leaving my car in Pointe-Noire, Congo. While in Europe, I succeeded in getting Angolan visa in Paris, 30 EUR for 5-day transit visa. They refused to give me longer or multi-entry visa. Actually they did not want to give me any visa at all, but I kept telling them that my car was in Congo. :) Also I needed new visa to get back to Congo, that I did get easily in Paris for 110 EUR (express next day service, usual 4-day service is EUR 55, 2 photos required). Once in Cabinda I visited immigration office to ask about getting new visa for main Angola. They made a copy of my passport and after some waiting, they told me that I did not need any other visa to enter main Angola. Also they told me that this 5-day transit visa is good for both Cabinda and Angola. That sounded stupid but they kept saying that.
Angola, 80 EUR, Matadi, Kongo Democratic Republic (5-day transit). Now in Matadi I went to Angolan embassy and they indeed told me that I need new visa for Angola. However, they refused to give me longer non-transit visa and at the end I was happy I even got this transit visa. Exiting from Congo Democratic to Angola gave several hours of hassle as I had two passports now (Congo Democratic visa was in old passport). After hours of hassle and saying “not possible” they ended the problem of 2 passports by clamping them togeter with paper clamps.
Namibia, 28 EUR, Luanda, Angola (30 days, 2 photos, 30 USD, friendly service, asked nicely and got visa the same day). Exiting Angola I got fined for overstaying my 5-day transit visa and nobody cares that considering poorest roads in Africa, it is not easy to cross Angola in 5 days (if you need to stop in Luanda to make Namibian visa). :)
Namibia visa extension, 16 EUR, Windhoek immigration
South Africa, of course I had planned to drive all the way down to south but amazingly South African embassy in Windhoek refused to give me visa to South Africa. They told I’ll need to apply in my home country or in Europe. Hahaha, what a surprise! So I ended my trip in Namibia and shipped car back to Estonia from Walvis Bay.
ACCOMODATION
I slept in the bush in my rooftop tent whenever possible. From 8 months I slept 65 days in paid camping places and hotels, costing total 665 EUR.
CAR PROBLEMS (DEFENDER 90, 300TDI 1997)
1) Main headlight switch melted (common problem due to bad design and genuine part is ridiculously expensive at about € 100.-)
2) Rear Koni shock absorber broke. Probably my fault as I put too much torque on top nut plus used stiff red PolyBush, so the shock had too little sideway play. Don’t use red PolyBush, these are too rigid and put too much stress on other parts.
3) Brake vacuum pump died, causing loss of brake power.
4) Worn out propshaft joint (needs frequent lubrication in dusty conditions).
5) Some bulbs, mostly rear.
6) One destroyed tire (no other flats).
7) Lost all engine oil when driving due to loose oil cooler pipe connection. Glad I noticed that rear window was hmm… oily! On some reason oil pressure warning lamp did not illuminate. And of course I had spare oil jerrycan with me, but it was empty! It was full all the way but not on that day, as I just a few days ago put new oil in and so far had not found good oil on sale! Two lessons learnt—visually inspect your engine every morning for leaks and *always* carry spare oil. :)
Warning about Land Rover Windhoek: After passing Africa with my own maintenance I decided to let Land Rover main dealer in Windhoek (Namibia) to do some work, as their workshop looked really nice and big. The result was that they messed up my finely running engine by changing valve clearance to too small, so that the vehicle lost a lot of power. Also on some reason they “washed engine” without asking me, topped up axles with different oil (I did not order that) and power steering fluid was replaced so that everything was wet and dipping. It was very sloppy work and of course they asked a lot of $$$ for that shite. Lesson learnt. ;)
TOTAL COST
It is difficult to say exact total cost of the trip but it was close to 10K EUR including shipping car back from Walvis Bay, Namibia to Estonia (in container). The shipping was more expensive than I expected and was close to 3000 EUR if I remember correctly. I have now learned that shipping from South Africa is cheaper and when shipping from Namibia, container will be shipped to Shouth Africa first, that is why more exopensive?
ADVICE
Here is some advice if you are preparing for your first Africa overland trip:
Water. Situation with water is not too bad. Despite having ceramic water filter with me, I did not use it and mostly drank tap water. I did not catch any diseases (I hope!) from water and water cans after the trip seem to be as clean as before. Definitely they are not green and smelly inside as some overland books may suggest. So perhaps water quality is now better that it was 10-20 years ago. Many new deep wells have been made, mostly by international aid organizations. But of course if you drink Evian at home then forget Africa. :)
Tires. M/T (mud) tires are not required and probably BFGoodrich A/T is better for this kind of African trip. I had tubeless BFGoodrich M/T tires and I did not get any serious punctures. I lost one tire with a loud bang in Angola due to 8 cm cut in sidewall, though. It was a piece of broken leaf spring on the road that cut it. Other than that I got 2 very small nail punctures that leaked very slowly.
Carnet de Passages. I got my Carnet de Passages document from German automobile club ADAC. Despite me being from abroad, they were really prompt and helpful in responding my queries. I had to pay 5000 EUR deposit plus 250 EUR service fee and recived my deposited money back then I returned the document.
WAYPOINTS
You can download some GPS waypoints (in GPX format). These are some campsites, places I bush camped, embassies etc., from Ghana to Namibia.
Cute chameleon crossing road in Namibia.