This section of my blog is about buying an older Land Rover Defender in Accra Ghana and restoring and outfitting it to explore West Africa. It replaces the separate overlandrover-westafrica.net which is no longer in service. The idea is to have a single blog covering thoe whole time I owned the vehicle.
This section will be of interest to the Land Rover community in general, especially to anyone completing or contemplating preparation of Land Rover as an expedition vehicle, to those who have an interest in planning and executing 4×4 overland journeys, or just to those interested in discovery and travel. To some extent the project will offer an angle of vision into West African society and culture. It will start in Ghana, which provides the setting for the procurement, restoration and outfitting of the vehicle and the planning for the journey and in time will, if all goes according to plan, take us through many other West African countries, following a circuitous route perhaps as far as Morocco.
Along the way I hope there will be opportunity to provide insights into West African life, its history, geography, culture, society and economy. Much of the insights will be through the lens of procuring and restoring a Land Rover in Ghana. Eventually the focus will shift from vehicle restoration and outfitting to the story of a journey, which is of course the core of the whole project.
The author is a Canadian development worker on a first posting in Africa, who has been in Ghana since 2009. I have lived, worked and traveled extensively around the world, but until now without visiting Africa. To a great extent the blog will tell the story of my own discovery of Africa, viewed through the lens of preparing for and experiencing an overland journey. Among overland journey stories what may be unique about this one is the fact that the preparation is taking place in Ghana, not in Europe, or in South Africa, which each have a strong industrial and service base which provides relatively easy access to products and services related to expeditions. In Ghana the market for related goods and services is much smaller, which will add a level of challenge to everything. At the same time, the very informality of much of the Ghana economy offers some strong points for the restoration project.
Navigation of the site will be made easier with knowledge of how it is organized. The site is divided into categories reflecting the stages of the project: planning, procurement, restoration, outfitting, travel, and demobilization. These categories appear on the right-hand side of the page. While these are roughly chronological, there will be overlap. If you go to any of these categories you will see the most recent posts at the top. To get to the earlier posts just scroll down tot the bottom and when you get there go to “earlier posts”.
Alternatively you can peruse historically by selecting a month to go to, also displayed on the right hand side of the page Like the categories, the the last post appears first and you just need to scroll to the bottom for the earliest posts. Again, watch to see if there are “earlier posts” at the bottom of the page.
As a final note, in addition to being new to Africa, to Land Rovers and to overlanding, which together to greatly increase the risks associated with everything, I am also new to blogging. That will no doubt be evident from this site. Hopefully I will be able to gain a greater mastery of the art of blogging and improve the site over time. Enjoy.
With the receipt of our shipment from South Africa last week there is suddenly a lot to do. Among the things we have is an ammo box drawer system from Frontrunner Outfitters designed to fit between the wheel wells of a Defender.
We had long planned to install this, but dithered about what material to use for the “floor” that it allows one to create across/between the wheel wells. We decided this week to go back to the lumber yard at Newtown for some 1/2″ plywood that we had at first thought was too expensive at GHC 110 ($65). The largest gap is only two feet and there is little weight that will go on this so 1/2″ thick is plenty. It may be we were looking at 5/8″ before, or maybe we just negotiated better this time, but we got a 4×8 sheet for the “real” price of $40. I took a sheet and a half so we have enough to put short but usable sides in between the wheel well and the window that we can bolt things to, like the fire extinguisher. I took all these pieces to Agoma, the fellow who had carpeted the front front and redid the ceiling and had him cover the plywood in the same carpet as the rest of the vehicle. It looks very finished, this really seems to impress the Ghanaians who see the vehicle. We also had enough plywood to create a raised floor behind the front passenger seat to hold the refrigerator.
The Front Runner drawer system gets bolted to the floor below and the floor above, which in turn is bolted to the wheel wells, so it is all very solid. There is abolutely no rattle. The Frontrunner design ensures the sliders sit solid and I added more soundproofing onto the wheel wells before putting in the upper “floor” across and along the top of the wheel wells. This is a somewhat improbable feature of my design – the cardboard I used to raise the `floor` between the wheel wells above the Front Runner drawer storage system. The cardboard actually comes from a pallet` that was used by the freight forwarder to load our our shipment of overland gear from South Africa. If the 2″ thick cardboard that the shipping pallet was constructed from was strong enough for that then they should be able to handle supporting our upper floor, and they add virtually nother to our running weight. With these as a cushion between the plywood upper floor bolted to the top of the wheel wells it is quiet – at least for a Land Rover.
In anticipation of hot sun and abundant rain Laura and I have decided some sort of awning to offer protection from sun and rain would be really nice. The Landy we rented in South Africa (see separate January 2011 post “Testing the Idea in South Africa”) did not have one and when it rained we were limited to sitting and eating in the small area covered by the fold-out roof-top tent that came a few feet off the side of the roof, if the tent was open. Better to have something that runs the length of the side, perhaps in combination with the tent.
Like all our outfitting needs, the challenge in Ghana is where do we get it from? There is no shortage of manufactured RV/4×4 awnings in the market, but not in the market in Ghana. We knew we were taking a shopping trip to South Africa to buy outfitting gear (see separate March 2012 post “A Shopping Spree Like no Other” www.overlandrover-westafrica.net/?m=201203) and there are a great number of manufactured options available, including a couple from Eezi-Awn, the South African manufacturer that makes the rooftop tent that we are buying. The problem with these is that outfitters tend to be bulky and heavy, do we really want another 20 kilos hanging off one side of the roof? We also need to make choices to keep shipping, and purchase, costs down. The manufactured awnings are all rather expensive, seem to start about CAD 500 and go up from there.
I have a better idea. Instead of going for one of the manufactured awnings I have designed one to fit our roof rack and am getting Paani the welder, who has now done more work on the Landy than any other single person with the possible exception of Opere the mechanic, to put it together. It was Paani who rebuilt the doors and the original body work and a number of things around the body.
My awning design is based on the existing roof rack, which is built of metal 1″ square. The carrier rests on 12 of these 1″ square vertical “posts” that sit in the gutter that runs long the side of the roof above the windows. I encouraged Paani to use the same 1″ square metal to design and build two flat right-angle triangles 6″ high x 5′ long. The catalogue of Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa Canada was the source for quality stainless steel 1″ piano hinge used to fasten these two triangles to two of the upright posts in the roof rack, 6′ apart. The triangles swing out from the carrier to right angles with the Landy and are held apart with a 6′ long bar, also created by Paani, mounted on the ends to form a square. A piece of canvas fitted with grommets then stretches over nipples on the top of the frame to make a tight, sloping 5’x6′ awning. To collapse it, the canvas comes off and goes in a bag and the triangle supports fold in flat against the roof rack. The end bar slips into long space beside the drawers on the cargo bay floor and the bag with the canvas gets thrown anywhere in the back. That is the basic design, there are a couple of subtle refinements that make it work. There is a 1″ thick piece added to one of the uprights so that the triangles fastened to it can hinge so it folds flat over the other triangle to close. A piece of velcro wraps around the triangles to keeps them tight against the side of the roof rack. If I may say so myself, it is a brilliant design, unfortunately there is not enough market to make it worth going into production.
6″ high triangle designed by Paani provide all the support requiredPaani with his finished product, complete with canvas bought in SA and tailored by Laura. The canvas comes down over the triangle but is folded up here to illustrate the structure.
The final cost turned out to be less than CAD 350, including Paani’s great work ($200), material for metal triangles and fittings($70), the canvas and tailor ($60), the grommets ($10) even the hinges ($10). This compares very well to the cost of any of the manufactured options. The small Eezi-Awn option lists on-line at $700, which of course does include the shipping to get it to Ghana. Another important point of comparison is the weight. The advertised weight of the small Eezi-Awn awning is 30 lbs (14 kgs), all the pieces of ours add up to 19 lbs (9kg). And best of all, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, it works very well. Using the grommets it fits snugly over the frame and there is no perceptible sag. It takes longer to set up and take down than a retractable awning but it is still pretty easy, and there are no moving parts to fail.
There were 4′ of the Lee Valley piano hinges left from the 6′ piece I bought, I left this with Paani so he can build, and sell, a couple more in response to the interest expressed by other Landy owners who have seen ours when they are visiting the shop.
After more than two months the outfitting hardware we had shipped from South Africa in March finally arrived in Accra in June. There were two risks that could have prevented us from getting out on the road for our planned mid-June departure. One was getting ownership and registration transferred legally; the other was getting the outfitting gear in time to install it. Both happened the same week, and both took much longer than they should have. The shipment is here only two weeks before our planned departure.
The glass is half full and it is possible to see this dream coming true. We now have a good set of Defender overland gear: a rooftop tent, a cargo bay storage system, jerry cans with mounting brackets, running and working lights, a solar power system, a deep cell accessory battery, a security box and various other miscellaneous items. The problem is the timing. We have one week to install all this stuff, and that is not going to be easy.
Francis and I raise a glass of Pro Seco to celebrate the arrival of the shipmentExamining the jerry can mounts with blue jerry cans and partially erected tent in foreground
I call the Chief Transport Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday to say I that I was interested in learning about the history of the vehicle I had bought, and that I needed a signature on a Form C transferring ownership from EPA. Of course he was rather suspicious about who I was and what I was after exactly, but accepted my offer to come by the following week to see him. His unease was perfectly understandable, he was only being professional. When I visitedh his small office in the basement of the EPA building with the copy of the letter I had from the EPA Director to DVLA asking them to transfer ownership, together with the picture I brought of me standing with the unrestored Defender with the EPA logo still on the side that seemed to help put him at ease. It did take some explaining why Mr. Andy had not come himself, but I just said that as a diplomat and ultimate owner of the Defender I was the one in whose interest it was to get this done in a legal and transparent manner. His primary concern was actually that the EPA markings had to be removed before he would sign the form, which also made sense. I did not have it with me so had to return a couple of days later. Mr. Orgle was delighted see the restored Defender and talked to me about an internal debate going on in EPA about the pros and cons of maintaining vehicles beyond a certain point. He sounded as if he was partial to the “sell it before it gets too old” option, while the Director apparently has a soft spot for a couple of other old Defenders they have and wants to restore them. Mr. Orgle seemed very impressed by the condition of the vehicle and when I told him how much I had paid to have the work done he took Opere’s contact info and said they might go see him. He then signed the Form ‘C”’, had me take his picture with the vehicle and we shook hands.
Armed with the signed Form C from EPA I returned to see “Sam” at DVLA. I needed four photos for the paperwork, which were readily available from a few photographers set up under trees around the DVLA grounds, and was treated to a long period in a cubicle with three women who were filling out forms, mine among them, asking me if I was married, and when I said yes inquiring if “mummy” would beat me if they took me home with them. After paying GHC 60 to a cashier I finally had the registration and the windshield sticker to prove it. They did not change the plates, which did not bother me at all as I rather like have plates that have the same number as the year of the vehicle – 1995. I inquired about getting diplomatic plates but Sam explained that this had to be done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which makes perfect sense. I just don’t know if we will have time to go through the process, although it would greatly reduce pullovers by police and facilitate border transfers.
After the initial discouraging visit to Sam at DVLA I was left with the command to return with Mr. Addy, the person from whom I had apparently purchased the Landy but whom I had never met. I was not confident it would lead anywhere but I called Gomez, who actually gave me a number for Addy, who I called immediately. I was unnerved a bit because the voice I got when I called Andy sounded just like Gomez, it was really wierd talking to this guy as Addy when I really thought it was Gomez pretending he was Addy. At any rate, he did say we could go to DVLA together, he suggested the following Wednesday morning, and asked me to call him when I was on my way and he could meet me there. That in itself is problematic because depending where he lived it could take well over an hour for him to get to DVLA so I called him well before I left and he said he was “on his way”. I had leaned that that “on my way” is a very elastic concept in Ghana, and could mean they are thinking about leaving an adjacent town soon, or that they are thinking about leaving soon and have three stops to make en route. It was also pouring rain that morning, and traffic was bad. Despite this I arrived at 8:30 and spent a very uncomfortable hour sitting outside Sam’s office alone, managing work email on my blackberry and wondering what I would do if Andy did not show. Until a husky, distinguished looking man sporting a colourful African print shirt came in. He did not smile, but acknowledged me right away, shook my hand and said “shall we go in?” We had to wait for Sam to finish with someone, during which time Addy was on his phone constantly. Then when we were invited in we sat down in two little chairs in the corner of the small office and watched Sam stamp some more other people’s forms and bark orders to staff for five minutes before he turned to me and said, “so where are we at…did we pull your file?” That would be the file we had been looking for for two months. He sent someone looking for it and while we were waiting Sam handed us each a sheet of paper that extolled the virtues of a fuel additive called “EXtreme”. When I asked where you get this wonder product he reached under his desk and pulled out a boxful of sachets and bottles. Mr. Addy and I both bought some, Addy said he would give it to his ‘engineers” to test and perhaps come back for more.
Both were absolutely professional and efficient from that point. Sam turned to Addy and said he was very pleased to meet him, that he had seen his name on many Form Cs. Mr. Addy explained that he turned over hundreds of vehicles in a year , and that in fact he had come to DVLA many times. Sam asked him what the ‘S’ for his given name stood for (Solomon) and asked Mr. Addy to please put his name in full on all the forms in future so he knew who he was dealing with. “Obviously you are a man of some status”. Sam explained that he wanted to execute both transactions simultaneously, from EPA to Addy and from Addy to me, and to do that he needed not only the Form Cs, but also a letter from Addy to DVLA saying had sold the vehicle to me and requesting the transfer of ownership. It was at this point that we learned that the signed Form C Gomez had given me was forged, Addy simply said, hey, that is not my signature, where did you get that? No problem, says Sam, we can do another now. Then Addy went off and said he would be back in five minutes with the letterSam needed to formalize the transfer to me.
At that point Sam said he needed to see the vehicle. I had not brought the Defender with me because I was reluctant to show it in the now quite impressive restored condition to anyone having some official role in the transfer unless I absolutely had to lest they see some advantage in slowing the sale. In this instance I had anticipated the possibility of being asked to present it and Laura was on standby to bring it and she had it on the DVLA lot in 10 minutes. Sam went out himself, in the rain, to confirm the chassis number located on the brake servo under the bonnet. By that time Addy had brought the letter that he must have had typed under a tree in the rain somewhere, signed two Form Cs and left. We still did not have an EPA signature on the Form C transferring ownership from EPA to Mr. Addy, so I quickly volunteered to get the requisite signature because I had some contacts there through my work, and because by this point I was so relieved that Solomon Addy was a real person with a sense of responsibility and a degree of interpersonal skills. It was my pleasure to go to EPA to do that part and save him the trouble. I could now see the light at the end of that long tunnel and would not have to throw myself from the rocks in the ocean off sewage hill.
I just realized I do not have a single post in the fifth category in this blog, the title of which I have also given to this post. The ultimate objective in this whole project is to use the seventeen year old Land Rover Defender we are restoring and outfitting for a sojourn into some of the countries that neighbor Ghana where we live now. The original idea was to perhaps go as far as Morocco, but we have decided that would take more time that we have, and it wold present some very difficult challenges with respect to what to do next with the vehicle. When I first articulated the project there was a category of “disposal” which was meant to cover what exactly we would do with the Landy once we had done our trip. After weighing all the options over the course of the past few months we have now decided:
we will not sell it in Morocco, which was option A. The rationale behind that option, and a variant of it of selling it in Spain or another European country, was to tax situation could get very tricky;
we will not sell it in Ghana, I am not sure we would get the money out of it, and we are rather keen on keeping it;
we will not ship it back to Canada. The would be the easiest and perhaps the most economical thing to do, the Canadians who sent there Defenders back to Canada did so on in confidence that they would be a good market for them. Unfortunately, Canada is not the most sensible place to own a 17 year old diesel vehicle designed for the tropics.
What we are now thinking of doing is to ship it to South Africa as a jumping off point for a tour of East Africa to discover a whole bunch of places we have not seen yet.
But before we do any of that we are going to discover some pieces of West Africa that we have not gotten to. Once the vehicle is mechanically ready and outfitted driving it to Mali is something we would very much like to do. I have a great deal of accumulated leave and we are hoping to be able to take six weeks in June and July for this.
The “dashboard ” of older Defenders between the drivers panel and the passenger door is notable for its very basic design. It is very much function over form, and the function is pretty basic. There is no “glove-box”, just a 4′ wide, open area with a 2″ high lip along the bottom edge to keep anything from falling out onto the floor. There are two large “ventilator control” levers used to raise the two 2′ x 4″ metal covers than run outside between the windshield and bonnet. There is a a simple switch panel in the lower central section of the dash that almost seems like an afterthought to hold the cigarette lighter and the switch for the rear windshield washer. As to where one puts a radio I was left guessing. Our vehicle must have had a radio and other electrical accoutrements at some point, the motley collection of wires that protrude from a hold in the bottom of the dash attest to that. Some of these wires go to speakers to the sides of the roof panel above the front seats, others go to the an elaborate electrical box mounted in the rear fender to house an external AC plug-in and outlets for accessories. The speakers were still installed, but were very worn out and we removed and discarded them when we redid the roof panel. All the wires are still in place.
Original dash, with basic oval panel for rear wiper switch and accessory plug visible. Note ventilator levers and vents under the upper dash
Our ideas for upgrading the dash range from creating and installing attractive hardwood “glove-box” doors that would hinge from the flat bottom lip of the dash to close under the top dash. This would add some visual ascetic appeal as it would conceal the open area. The downside is that these cover the vents that are designed to allow air to flow in (or, as James May of Top Gear jibed “just in case it isn’t noisy enough inside already”), but this is not such a concern when we have air conditioning. I have even purchased some mail-order hinges from a cabinetry shop in Canada (Lee Valley) that may work for the this, finding the hardwood here that is thin enough is proving to be more of a challenge.
However none of this addresses the problem of how to mount a radio. This vehicle must have had a radio, the wires are still there, as are two now-defunct 6 1/2 inch speakers mounted in the ceiling panels above the front doors on either side, but there is no evidence of where the radio might have been mounted. There are no holes that suggest there might have been a radio housing screwed in somewhere. However, none of this addresses the problem of how to mount a radio/CD player. No holes remain visible in any part of the dash that suggest screws were once mounted there.
We opted to get a console from MUDSTUFF, www.mudstuff.co.uk/index.shtml , a company in England that produces a range of aftermarket accessories designed for Land Rovers. The console is simply a plastic form that comes with a metal mounting frame and installation instructions. The user can choose whether they want to use the console to mount switches, meters, a radio, and the precise location of each. I ordered the console, a radio mount, an additional plug-in for AC power and some switches for lights and other accessories.
Installation was not terribly difficult, although it took longer than it would have if I had access to the tools I have storaed in Canada. I did bring a set of basic hand tools with me, which I have supplemented with a ratchet set that I purchased here. I am getting good use of all these, but I do not have any power tools. I had brought a set of light Black and Decker battery-operated tools, but the charger is not working here and it is only possible to get very light work done before the batteries expire. To install the console it is necessary to remove a section of the dash that requires cutting through a foot long section of metal. Getting the tool to do this proved to be the most difficult and time-consuming part of the project.
Original switch panel removed and dash marked for cut-out
I asked around to see who might have an electric hacksaw and ended up dealing with James, who is a contractor to the property management team at the High Commission where I work. James came by and quickly determined that a hacksaw was not going to do the job and we went off together last Saturday morning to a metal shop that had a “grinder”. This is a fairly heavy duty rotary tool that can be mounted with a range of different 4″ blades. It was noisy, messy job that took about 20 minutes and GHC 15 ($10), with another GHC 20 for James as fixer, a role which in addition to getting me to the grinder included some other drilling work in the console panel itself that he did with his own electric drill.
Dash cut out and console mounting frame installed. Note the A/C unit has been temporarily removed
At this point there is a bit of a sick feeling because all you have is a big gash in the dash and the panel that held the lighter and rear windshield washer switch is gone. From there is was more satisfying. The metal mounting plates for the console screwed into the area between the vent levers without difficulty. The vehicle has a plastic trim piece that runs along the top of the bottom front lip of the dash catch area that has to be cut. I had to stop in the middle of the installation to go up to Opere’s to borrow a simple hacksaw blade to cut the trim because I don’t have one of those either. It took five minutes to do the cutting but almost an hour to get there and back. I really miss my tools.
The biggest challenge was adapting the console and the air conditioning unit. Distribution of A/C in a Defender, at least in ours, consists of a 2-3″ high channel that screws snugly along the flat bottom of the dash. The MUDSTUFF console has a wide plastic flange e that is designed to slip between the A/C unit and the dash, which helps to establish a firm footing for the console. Unfortunately, I had recently had my A/C unit remounted complete with a screw right in the area where the flange has to go, which prevented the console base piece from slipping in. The amount of time I had to spend unmounting and remounting the A/C unit before I realized all I really had to do was cut the flange was incredible.
Console front with cut-out marks for switches and radio; original wiper switch and 12V accessory have been installed.
Cutting the holes in the console required some precision, and again the lack of tools was a pain. I could mark out the places for the radio, the switch plates, and the AC power converters (cigarette lighters), but cutting them out was more difficult. I was able to coax enough power from my B&D battery operated drill to cut round holes in the corners of the square holes for the radio and switch plates, but had to get James cut the lines to complete the job. With that I was able to mount everything into the console and install it. It is only a temporary placement of course , we don’t have speakers yet for the radio, or light to hook onto the switches yet, but the unit can be easily removed with three screws to get at the backs of the switches and the radio casing to complete the hook-ups.
Finished Product Installed with Radio and Switches
We still have to run the wires to the unit for radio and switches, but I am waiting for the lights from SA Africa (separate post coming on “a shopping trip like no other”) and we are still in the market for speakers, that one is getting to the top of the priority list .
Other project ideas for the interior front include the replacement of the vinyl-trimmed top of the cubby box between the front seats with a more attractive hardwood panel, and doors fro the dash from the same material. Then there are a whole list of things to do to make the cargo bay expedition ready. One of my biggest problems now is limited time. There is only so much you can do on weekends, I need to stop working long hours in the office, and using my vast stores of accumulated leave to devote to the Landy project.
Finished console with radio and switches for front running and rear area lights. Set up to accommodate two additional switches if required.
My reluctance to write anything about the challenges of getting the legal registration for the Defender was due to two things: fear and ignorance. First of all my lack of understanding of what was actually going on at any point led to a few mistakes and limited my ability to say anything intelligent (ignorance), and my gradually declining confidence that it was ever gong to lead to a positive outcome made me feel rather embarrassed(fear) . There were moments, indeed days, when I thought I had screwed up so badly that not only was our trip in jeopardy, but our ability to export the vehicle from Ghana at all, ever, was in serious doubt. I could have done fifteen blogs on this story, but they all would have been too depressing. Only now can I see the light end of a very long, multi-branched tunnel. I have used fictional names for many of the individuals in this story in order to spare anyone from embarrassment or other trouble.
We bought the Landy from someone named Gomez, to whom I was referred by Opere the Land Rover mechanic that runs the shop under the tree. I had put Opere to work to find us a fifteen year old Defender 110 that could be legally imported to Canada. (See separate post “We find our Defender”) I purchased the vehicle and obtained a bill of sale. Obviously I knew I would need to eventually register the vehicle, but that was not something that could be even contemplated at that point, first it had to be in a condition that was a) drivable and b) able to pass a basic safety check . It was a long way from satisfying those conditions a year ago.
After the first few months of mechanical and body restoration, when we got close to having a vehicle that would pass muster I asked Ruby, the admin person at the Canadian High Commission that deals with vehicles where I work what I had to do to register it. She asked if I had all “the papers”, and explained to me that “Form C” was of some importance. This is something that is signed between the seller and the buyer that contains certain specs on the vehicle, like make, model, year, and chassis number. No-one had offered that when I first bought the vehicle, and I was not keen on going back to see Gomez so when I was about to leave for our trip to Egypt last October I arranged for Opere to follow up with Gomez to get said Form C. When I came back Opere said he was having trouble with Gomez and that I should go see him myself to see what the problem was.
I called Gomez and learned at that point he was not the actual seller of the vehicle, but rather someone named “Andy”, his “brother”. Gomez said there was no problem, that he could get Addy to sign a Form C passing ownership to me. Laura and I went to see Gomez one Saturday, in his chair under the stairs at the front of a decrepit two-storey walk up retail/office building in Dansoman where we had bought the vehicle. He not only had a Form C signed by Addy and pictures of the gentleman, but the original of a letter sent from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the original owner, to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), attesting that Addy had indeed purchased the vehicle from them at auction and asking DVLA to transfer ownership. Said correspondence was dated March 2011, a month after I had purchased it from Addy, which struck me as a bit curious.
But finally after months of dead-ends, it appeared I was home free and could get the Landy licensed. At this point the brake lights were not working and these needed to be fixed before it would pass the safety so I did not pursue it until I got those fixed A few weeks ago I went to DVLA and entered another stage of the twisted path. I went to DVLA with Francis because I wanted a Ghanaian who knew how things worked and he knew someone there. This led to the two of us sitting in the office of a DVLA official, who we shall call Sam , watching him stamp other people’s forms and bark orders to staff. When he finally decided to give us the honour of his attention, he asked who had sold me the vehicle and if I knew him. The fact that I had the letter from EPA, pictures of Mr. Andy and a signed Form C did not impress him. He wanted to meet Mr. Andy before he would go any further. He lectured us about the risks of transferring vehicles that were stolen and said he did not have anything in his files about the sale of this vehicle. At one point he actually said that he if I did not like it I could go see his Director (who works in another location) or I could just return the vehicle to Mr. Andy and ask for my money back. Not an uplifting day.
By this point the prospect of throwing myself into the sewage laden surf on the rocks in the ocean off Accra has begun to look like a rather attractive option. I had by this time invested over ten grand in the vehicle but I had serious doubts this Andy fellow actually existed, a doubt no doubt shared by Mr. Alright. I was very suspicious that perhaps Gomez had stolen the vehicle and orchestrated a fictional vendor to clear himself of accountability. Would I be able to get someone to masquerade as Addy? Would I never be able to register the vehicle, and would I have to abandon it when we left Ghana?
Now that the restoration stage is pretty much complete we have to get serious about adding the things that will make our Defender usable for overland travel. This involves planning for and procuring a whole range of systems (see separate Feb. 2012 post “Planning the Outfitting Stage”) Unfortunately, there is really nothing at all one can get in Ghana for this, nor do any of our internet suppliers include much expedition gear in their offerings. We decided that the best way to deal with this is to go ourselves to South Africa to buy stuff Our trip to South Africa included the My Land Rover has a Soul Festival (see separate post “Woodstock for Landy Lovers”) and a side trip to Victoria Falls, as well as a few days exploring the amazing Blyde River Canyon in northeastern South Africa. But the real purpose was shopping.
South Africa is arguably the best source for expedition outfitting gear in the world. There are many manufacturers and many more distributors. We had seen some of this during our first visit to South Africa in 2010 (see Jan. 2011 post on Testing the Idea in South Africa) and were able to make a list of things we might want to pick up on a return visit. We made that return visit in late February equipped with a list of about twenty items we needed and another list of a half dozen stores/suppliers to look at. The latter ranged from big box camping stores like Outdoor Warehouse to excellent 4×4 outfitting specialist stores like Front Runner 4×4 or Safari Centre, as well as suppliers of specialized items like solar power systems or awning canvas suppliers. All the photos in this post are stock photos from the suppliers, our own stuff is still on a boat somewhere en route to Ghana.
Rooftop Tent: Our experience renting an outfitted Defender introduced us to the concept of a hard floor canvas tent that bolts to a rooftop carrier. (see Jan. 4, 2011 post, Testing the Idea) The roof rack that came with our Defender will accommodate this very nicely. There are a few tent products available from different places, ranging from South Africa, Italy, Australia, etc. This is the largest, (heaviest) and most costly piece we need so we invested a fair bit of time looking at the available options. After doing lots of research we settled on the Eezi-Awn Jazz tent, a first-class quality and tested product of South Africa. Weighing in at 55 kilos there is nothing like this really. Erects quickly and easily via a ladder that comes out from underneath the floor and fills our need quite nicely. This is what we had for our earlier test run in South Africa trip and we loved it. Now we own one.
Storage Drawer System. As we learned from our earlier rental, the design of the Defender cargo bay supports the installation of a flat floor between the wheel wells in the cargo bay which creates a 1′ high x2′ wide x 4 ‘ deep space and lends itself well to installing drawers that then open out the back when the cargo bay door is open. Frontrunner 4×4 www.frontrunner.co.za in Johannesburg produces a great drawer system using simple and affordable “ammo” boxes.
In the Defender we rented from Bushlore it was this system that they used to carry all the kitchen gear and some other miscellaneous pieces. We liked it so much we went back to Frontrunner and bought one. There are other makers of 4×4 drawers but we did not see anything that was as cost-effective. I was very surprised to see a review of drawer systems carried in the Winter 2012 issue of Overland Magazine did not even seem to acknowledge the existence of this South African product. This is likely because of the American base of that magazine, but I think they missed the best product.
Propane and Water Storage. One can buy jerry cans in Ghana but they are very expensive and they do not come with harnesses to mount them. We looked at various floor and wheel well fuel and water storage systems that Frontrunner or others make for Defender but decided these were more that we needed or could organize for and opted instead to pick up stock water and propane tank carriers designed to fit on the side and rear exterior walls of a Land Rover Defender.
Propane Tank Rack from Front Runner
Solar Power System: After some on-line research we decided that back up power to help ease the draw on the vehicle battery when parked is a worthwhile investment. Like so much to do with overlanding there is enough demand for this in South Africa to support a couple of specialist suppliers. The one we visited was Bushpower http://www.bushpower.co.za run out of the garage of a suburban house in Kyalami on the northern reaches of Johannesburg, only about two kilometres from the Frontrunner store and factory. The panels and related wires and switches are all imported, mostly from Europe. We purchased an 85 watt panel with mounting and cables, together with a dual battery monitoring system.
Lights: The front headlights on our Defender are not the brightest I have seen and our comfort driving at night will be greatly facilitated by additional lights. It is quite common for 4x4s to be equipped with an extra set on the bumper or roof rack. I had been looking at 70 watt Lightforce from Australia but the only place I saw them they were very expensive relative to other quality options. We opted for a product called KC, which I believe is an American company based in Arizona. These were recommended by the Safari Centre store in Centurion which carries a range of very high quality 4×4 products.
Because it gets dark at 6:00 PM here we also need to have an area light for meal prep and eating at night. We happened to notice one type in particular on the backs of three Land Rovers in parking lots our first couple of days in Jo’burg and when we saw exactly the same light in Frontrunner we figured it must be good so we picked it up.
Canvas for Awning: There are a number of roll-up awnings available in the market, including a range manufactured by Eezi-Awn tent producer. There is value in having something to provide protection from the sun and rain, but the manufactured awnings all seem expensive and require quite a bulky, heavy case that mounts permanently to the side of the vehicle. I came up with our own awning design (see separate Awning Made to Measure post for details) for which we needed some material. We thought of this when we saw a store that sells awnings for windows and decks and went in to have a look. As it turned out they did not sell material itself, but the helpful woman in the store referred us to a place called Home Hyper City near Pretoria, where she said we should see Uncle Joe. The store was the largest fabric store we have ever seen two floors the size of a football field, really incredible. We found Uncle Joe and explained what we were looking for to which he replied “oh, for your baakie?” A baakie is the term South Africans use to refer to what North-Americans know as pick-up trucks, but the term can also be used to refer to any 4×4. He led us to a row where they had a range of weights and colours of canvas and we picked up a couple of metres of canvas in two colours that will look good together and complement our own “baakie” quite nicely.
Miscellaneous: We bought a few things that were not on our list to supplement the miscellaneous items we had purchase in December 2010. A funnel, speaker wire, fastening straps, an ammo box for the roof with a water proof cover to hold sundry items like souvenirs purchased along the way, silicone spray for the awning, etc. When the shipment finally arrives in Accra we will no doubt be pleasantly surprised by things we have forgotten we purchased. It will be like Christmas, hopefully it won’t take that long to get the stuff!
By the time we were done we were glad we had bought the fridge and other outfitting gear the first time we came to South Africa from Ghana because after 3 days of nothing but shopping we had run out of time and had to go back to Ghana. The purchase of all these items came in the last few intense days of our time in Johannesburg, after our trip to Victoria Falls and the Blyde River Canyon. The most difficult part was arranging shipping. We had started the process weeks before we left Ghana through a company that brings things in to Ghana from South Africa and this led to a recommendation to rent partial space in a container to be sent by sea as an inexpensive option. It was indeed a very affordable option, unfortunately the Jo-burg forwarder we had been referred to turned out to be non-responsive and we had to go back to the original contact to try to get their attention and this led to referral to another forwarder. They turned out to be much more responsive, but it all took awhile to arrange and it not until our last couple of days in Jo-burg we had settled with them. We had to impose upon the Safari Centre 4×4 store in Centurion (between Johannesburg and Pretoria) where we bought the tent, second battery, lights and other accessories to hold all our things, not just what we bought there, but everything from all the suppliers, until the forwarder could come by to get it. They agreed to do so, and we delivered all our other sundry items to them the day before we left,on the understanding that the forwarder (Synergy) would retrieve it in the next couple of days. It actually took Synergy more than two weeks to get around to picking the stuff up, which also meant they missed the sailing of the boat they had initially said we could use. Thanks very much to the Centurion Safari Centre for helping us out in a jam.
Who ever heard of such a thing as a Land Rover Festival? But there it was, featured on the sheet on the counters or walls of the various overland outfitting shops we visited in the first couple of days in our recent trip to Johannesburg in South Africa. Apparently, part of the idea of the festival was to try to break the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of Land Rovers in a single convoy. An added incentive for us to attend there were a large number of suppliers offering on-site sales, including a “boot sale” which is the British/South African/I’m not sure where else equivalent of a flea market.
As shopping for items for the outfitting stage of our own Land Rover project was the main reason for our trip to South Africa, the opportunity to hang out with other Land Rover owners in what is arguably the world centre for Land Rover overlanding is not something easily passed up. Despite the attraction, the fact the so-called festival was taking place during the time we had booked for a 3 day trip to Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe, one of Africa’s premiere destinations presented no small dilemma. Victoria Falls is a place that I have wanted to get to for a long time and we had decided to priorize our time for Vic Falls in what may be our last trip to South Africa before our Ghana posting ends this summer. The solution we chose to resolve the dilemma was to split the difference. Delay the trip to Victoria Falls by one day to catch the first day of the two day Landy festival (missing the Guinness record shot convoy) but still be able to spend two nights at beautiful Victoria Falls.
Our shot of Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwean side
The timing actually worked out very well. Laura decided to hold to the original schedule and go to Victoria Falls on Saturday morning and I was able to reschedule my flight by one day and take Laura to the airport in Jo’burg in our rented Volvo at 8:00 AM on my way out to Vaal, the rural district south of Jo-burg where the festival was scheduled to take place. It is worth mentioning the Volvo because it was, without any doubt, the only one present at the Land Rover Festival.
As usual, getting there was half the fun. I had obtained directions on-line how to get to the Malojeni Guest Farm, which was the site of the festival, from the Oliver Tambo Airport in Jo’burg. Unfortunately I learned too late that for some reason my Blackberry could not download the full directions file so I had instructions about two thirds of the way. I ended up in the middle of a very pleasant Vaal town called Meyerton. After unsuccessfully trying to get directions from a service station I was able to close the distance simply by following a Land Rover I saw driving by. It was while en route at this point that the Woodstock analogy first occurred to me. The line “going down to Yasgur’s farm” from the CSN song popped into my head at a small country junction where three Landys coming from three different directions converged and all headed up the same road. Clearly, I was headed in the right direction.
Registration Line at 11:00 AM on Saturday
The South African love of Land Rovers is such a phenomenon because of a couple of factors. The South African Armed Forces was/is a big user of Landy’s, and thus a source of slightly used “surplus” product for the population at large over a number of years. Another factor in all of this is the South Africans’, specifically the Afrikaaners’, love of overlanding. This is one of the features of Afrikaan’s culture that we have really come to appreciate through our visits here and the knowledge of history that comes with that. One of the defining moments of the Afrikaaner’s history was the “voortrek”, the overland journey taken by the Dutch settlers in the 1840’s to get away from the Brits that were encroaching in the more accessible areas around Cape Town where the Dutch had first settled a couple of generations earlier. The Afrikaaners are a fiercely independent people and extremely proud of their heritage. The “voortrek” became an fundamental part of Afrikaaner history and culture and by carrying through on their love of adventure and exploration of remote areas the Afrikaaners played a huge role in defining the African overland experience through pioneering trips into the some of the more remote areas of southern Africa, including Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and points beyond. The vehicle of choice for most of this overlanding has been the Land Rover Defender. It is really an incredible cultural phenomenon, one that has led to the proliferation of a huge number of overland outfitters and suppliers in the country, not limited to Land Rovers of course but certainly favouring them.
This title of the festival was “My Land Rover Has a Soul”, (MYLRHAS’ is the acronym). This illustrates the passion that South African Land Rover owners have for their vehicles and that passion was very evident at the festival. There were hundreds and hundreds of vehicles there on Saturday, every model ever made well represented, Series, Defenders, Discoveries and big 130s, all boasting their own particular style and personality. Some were very stock, others very customized and colourful. But it is not really so much the vehicle, the Land Rover has just perchance become a modern day expression of the Afrikaaner`s love of overland travel. Afrikaans was the first language at the MYLRHAS festival, and the festival was really less about the specifics of Land Rover mechanical or body design than it was about overland equipment outfitting: tents, awnings, cooking equipment, storage, water systems etc. all things which the very functional Land Rover design is conducive to. There was even an expedition wine carrier.
Other elements of South African/Afrikaans culture were well represented at the festival. Virtually all the food came off from the “braai”, the ubiquitous SA barbecue. Indeed the air was so thick with charcoal smoke, whether from a couple of communal braais or the many individual ones at the various campsites, that it was sometimes difficult to breath. South Africans are crazy about braais, for boerwurst sausage, or burgers or steak. They are also crazy about beer. Canadians also love their beer, but here virtually everyone was walking about visiting the shops and displays at 11:00 o’clock in the morning with a beer in their hand. This is not a culture I have any difficulty adapting to.
South Africans love their Beer and Braai
M&M’s product line includes leather “expedition wine cases” for your Pinotage
There were hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people, plenty of families with kids. In addition to the food and expositions there were helicopter rides, and an air show. No flying Land Rovers, rather some old, loud, single engine planes that were unspectacular but steady, like Land Rovers would be if they had wings. I sat down with my boerwoerst and beer lunch to listen to the live singer/guitarist musician whose repertoire included Van Morrison, Simon and Garfunkel, Sting, and, incredibly, Led Zeppelin. All good music for the white, baby-boomer audience in attendance, But after he was done with the boomer stuff the musician switched to Afrikaaner folk songs and the response was enthusiastic, to to say the least. I was treated to a real Afrikann`s culture moment, complete with beer and braai and songs about independence and overland travel. If there were any blacks there I did not see them, this seems to be exclusively a white South African, Afrikaans cultural phenomenon.
In addition to the cultural experience, I was able to benefit from the collection of overland outfitters and suppliers. In addition to a better knowledge of the market I came away with a floor-mounting safe for our vehicle, as well as a lovely Land Rover cap that I have always wanted but never came across.
I did miss the Guiness Record shot. The convoy apparently had 1007 Land Rovers of various vintages and models, ranging from Series from the 50s and 60s to just-off-the-line Discovery 5s and the new euro-styled Range Rover Evoque. The line stretched for 24 kilometres between first and last Landy. Apparently they are waiting to hear from Guiness if they have the record, but I can’t imagine anyone every getting more than 1,000 Land Rovers in a convoy before. There are some videos on youtube…….
I would have loved to have been able to stick around to overnight and to participate in the Sunday convoy, but my rented Volvo would hardly have fit in, so heading back to Jo`burg to catch the Sunday morning flight to Victoria Falls was easy to do.
