When the going gets tough, the tough get going...

In mid-2010 an advert appeared in the South African Classic Car magazine regarding a classic car event to be called the African Odyssey 2011 soliciting interest from owners of pre-December 1972 vehicles for a trip from Cape Town to Cairo along the classic route envisaged by Cecil John Rhodes in his dream for a Cape to Cairo railway line. This event would not be a race to see who could reach Cairo the fastest but a trip visiting all the main attractions that the ex-British Colonial Africa could offer thus allowing for some rest and relaxation amongst the many days of long driving. The trip makes use of tar roads, gravel roads, desert roads and ferries across the Kariba and Aswan Dams as well as visits to the main capital cities along the route and major sites of interest such as Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe,  Shiwa Ngandu and Kapishaya Hot Springs in Zambia, the island of Zanzibar, the wildlife parks of Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater,  the underground churches of Lalibela and castles around Gondar in Ethiopia, the Nubian Desert of Sudan,  Luxor and the Valley of the Kings as wells as the Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza in Egypt (amongst many others). The duration of the trip is for about seven weeks and capital cities visited along the way include Windhoek, Lusaka, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Khartoum and Cairo and, while in Nairobi, the event will be entering their cars in the largest classic car show in Africa -  the 2011 Access Kenya  Concours de Elegance !

From the Old Wheelers Club of Namibia, Dave & Debbie Pineo and Ian & Val Gallagher took up the challenge and decided to enter the event. After long deliberations over a weekend outing to Stampriet, Cobus & Carmen van Wyngaarden and Steffen Goetz also decided to enter the event, thus producing the largest single country’s entry into the Odyssey – and so the hunt for suitable vehicles was on !

THE CARS

Ian's MGB GT (made in 1968)

Dave's Mercedes 280SE (made in 1970)

Steffen's Mercedes 280S (made in 1970)

Kobus' Mercedes 280SE (made in 1970)

THE STORY BEFORE

From the Old Wheelers Club of Namibia, Dave & Debbie Pineo and Ian & Val Gallagher took up the challenge and decided to enter the event. After long deliberations over a weekend outing to Stampriet, Cobus & Carmen van Wyngaarden and Steffen Goetz also decided to enter the event, thus producing the largest single country’s entry into the Odyssey – and so the hunt for suitable vehicles was on !

The Pineos had originally decided to use the 1958 Morris Traveller for the trip but common sense dictated that the small 1000cc engine would probably take a bit of strain trying to keep up (fully loaded) with larger cars with bigger engines and the Chevrolet Camaro did not qualify on the age limit – also it was deemed to be too low for the African roads and the 5.7 litre V8 would have made the fuel bill way too high ! In the end they decided to look for an old Mercedes Benz reasoning that the Mercedes reputation for longevity and reliability,  plus the existence of MB agents in most of the capital cities en-route would make Mercedes a good choice. Eventually a 1970 Mercedes Benz 280SE was found and purchased for the trip and the long haul of checking the car, preparing it and modifying it for the journey began.

Despite the small packing space available the Gallaghers decided to take their 1968 MG BGT (travelling minimalist is obviously their style), but the fact that the event organiser and leader is a mechanical expert who runs an MG workshop in Johannesburg may have influenced their decision.

Once Kobus and Steffen decided to join the trip they too decided to use Mercedes cars and eventually two other suitable vehicles were found – a 1970 Mercedes Benz 280SE and a 1970 Mercedes Benz 280S. The fact that the chassis and engines of these cars are identical to that purchased by Dave Pineo made sense, due to the fact that spare parts can be shared and because if each car carries two spare wheels it meant that six spare wheels would be available in the event of a disaster. 

("Czar"He is our mascot for the trip)

The process of preparing the cars for this trip has been a lengthy one – bearing in mind that none of us are expert mechanics, and that the event is the “old style” of African travel without 4x4, mechanical or medical backup following the cars,  it was decided early on to attempt to repair or replace anything that generally would be expected to go wrong on a 12 500 km journey (plus 1 500km to take the cars to Cape Town for the start). This philosophy was (and still is) that if nothing goes wrong other than the occasional puncture the trip will be a pleasure but if constant mechanical breakdowns occur the trip could be a nightmare. The reality is that anything can go wrong on a 40 year old car with little, or no, warning but hopefully if the usual gremlins surrounding drive belts, cooling systems, fuel systems, braking systems and suspensions are inspected and repaired as necessary the odds of a serious problem are reduced. However it remains to be seen whether Africa’s roads will prove this to be true or not – especially the infamous “Road from Hell” across northern Kenya to the Ethiopian border.

Uprated shock absorbers and heavy duty coils have been fitted to the Mercedes plus inflatable air bags inside the coils to cater for the heavy loads to be carried and the bad roads to be driven. Protection plates have been fitted under the sump and gearboxes and additional spare wheel brackets installed in the boots. Second battery systems have been installed with fridge/freezer units to make the long travelling days a little more comfortable and the camping nights in the Nubian Desert more bearable in spite the total ban on the consumption of alcohol in the Sudan !

The rest of the entrants on the African Odyssey 2011 are :

1957 MG Magnette                 Roger and Lorraine Pearce                               South Africa

1. 1968 Ford Mustang           Gordon Ketelbey and Peter Forsythe              Australia / Hong Kong
2. 1971 VW Camper              Ron Bellrive and Wendy Wilchynski                         Mexico
3. 1965 Triumph TR4A       Micheal Glueck and Paula Quigley-Gleuck                Germany
4. 1964 Volvo 122                        Chris Buckley and Sandi Webb                         Malawi
5. 1966 Peugeot 404                 Thor Allan and Sarah Henderson                       Tanzania
6. 2002 Mitsubishi Pajero                 David and Jackie Hall                                      UK
   
   (sweeper vehicle up to the Ethiopian border  - 1929 Chrysler had to be withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances)

After the event (and assuming that all cars reach Cairo) the Namibian vehicles will be shipped from Alexandria back to Walvis Bay in two 40’ containers – hopefully to a hero’s welcome at our club in Windhoek !

THE ROUTE

The original route of the African Odyssey 2011 passed through Windhoek and then on to Zimbabawe through the Kavango and Caprivi areas of Namibia (as shown in the map above). This section has been altered so that the cars travel from Cape Town to the Namibian border overnighting on the Orange River and then an overnight stop in Helmeringhausen before arriving in Windhoek for a dinner with the members of the Old Wheelers Club at the Windhoek clubhouse. From Windhoek the rally travels across Botswana (overnighting in Ghanzi and Nata) to Nwange in Botswana where a rest day enables participants to relax in Hwange Game Park or visit the Victoria Falls nearby. An overnight trip on the famous ferry across Kariba Dam in Zimbabwe will take us through to Zambia (overnighting in Chasima and Kapishaya Lodge, Mpika) and then via a Utengule coffee farm in Mbeya across Tanzania to Dar es Salaam and another well-earned rest as we fly over to the Ocean Paradise Resort on Zanzibar island for two nights (and a three day break from driving) ! From Dar es Sallam we travel to the heart of the game viewing areas around Arusha (the official halfway point of the journey) and the Ngorongo Crater, eventually arriving in Nairobi on 23^rd September for two days break, cleaning and servicing of the cars and attending the 2011 AccessKenya Concours de Elegance classic car show – a number of friends and family from Windhoek and Cape Town are intending to fly into Nairobi to join Team Namibia for a few days. We hope they will leave a few kg of luggage allowance for spare parts !

The second half of the journey moves into the rough stuff – over the equator at Nanyuki and past Mt. Kenya, Archers Post and Marsabit and into the rocky track trough the northern desert region known as the Road from Hell due to the suspension breaking road and the shifta bandits that roam the region. Upon reaching the Ethiopian border at Moyale the worst id over and we are back on tarred roads (albeit now driving on the right hand side of the road just to add to the confusion of overloaded trucks and buses along the route to Awassa and Addis Ababa. After four days in Addis applying for Sudanese visas (and flying up to Lalibela to see the amazing underground stone churches) the African Odyssey drives through the Ethiopian highlands to Bahir Dar and Gondar and then, following the Blue Nile across the border into Sudan and on to Khartoum – no beer or whisky at the famous British gunboat which is now part of the Nile Sailing Club in Khartoum, due to the ban on alcohol in the Sudan, but perhaps a cup of tea in the old British tradition. Three days (with overnight camping) in the Nubian Desert finally brings us to Wadi Halfa where we load the cars onto the ferry for the crossing of the Aswan High Dam to Aswan in Egypt. Now that beer is back on the bar lists the African Odyssey will no doubt have a party but the officialdom and hassle of customs regulations surrounding the importing of a car into Egypt (hence the four days in Aswan) will apparently test the patience of many a driver as the cars have to be inspected, customs forms filled out and temporary Egyptian number plates fitted with (no doubt) many palms having to be greased to assist the process! Once leaving Aswan the end is in sight as we travel on to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings for the compulsory and ancient Egyptian history lessons antiquities viewing and then on to the Red Sea town of Hurghada for two days rest and relaxation at the beach before the final push into the greatest traffic jam in the world in Cairo.

While time seems to be on our side the preparations are endless with the cars only forming part of the requirements – satellite phones, camping equipment, visas, shipping arrangements, foreign currencies, insurances and Carnet de Passage documents all have to be arranged in between the normal working day ! Hopefully by the time we get back to Namibia it will have all been worth it !

The "Team Namibia" with our "Support Team" (Mr. G and  Mr. P.    :-)