London to Cape Town Route Survey…

From Cape Town, South Africa

1 February, Clanwilliam to Cape Town
Today we completed our London to Cape Town route survey with a great drive through the Cederberg mountains – a stunning part of the world full of lakes and fabulous rock formations. Then, about 60kms from our final destination, the Table Mountain came into view, complete with its ‘tablecloth’ of cloud.

We arrived on the Cape Town waterfront dusty and disheveled, but very happy to have completed our task. The odometer on our Land Rover shows we have completed some 13,508km in 34 days. We have given no bribes, no pens and no cadeaux. We have not been unwell at any stage, we are within budget and we have all the equipment we left with. Our Land Rover is undamaged ...though in need of a clean, a service, and four new tyres... We have crossed the Sahara and the Equatorial rainforest, through rivers and over mountain passes. We have met wonderful people, seen incredible places, and visited locations far, very, very far from the usual.

Most importantly, we have found a route for the London to Cape Town Rally that can be driven ...although not always easily... over the full length of Africa in a two-wheel drive car ...and, additionally...
... it is a fantastic route!

Sign up for this one, it’s going to be the adventure of a lifetime.

Sam and Antoine
www.prepare2go.com

From Clanwilliam, South Africa

29 January, Swakopmund to Bullsport
A great drive today, lifting out of the desert by the Atlantic, up onto the central plateaus. The climb of Spreetshoogte Pass definitely a highlight and a special for the rally. With winding roads, through beautiful terrain – yet another Namibian dream drive. Additionally, we crossed the tropic of Capricorn – another marker of our passage south.

30 January, Bullsport to Orange River
I’m running out of superlatives... great, simply great. We had two surprises today. The first was on rounding a corner and coming directly on a 100m wide river. We found the road, after investigating, about 60cm beneath the surface. After a while of testing for the best way through we went for the crossing which passed uneventfully. But, what about on the rally? We are keeping it in the route for now ...come 2011 it can only be the same ...or, deeper (a detour, maybe) ...or, shallower and so not an issue. So, make sure your waterproofing is up to scratch and watch this space on the 27th January next year.

The second surprise was our off-map route to the Orange river, a spectacular route ending our day on the river bank with the RSA on the other side. This became our night’s stop – a spectacular sunset completing a great day.

31 January, Orange River to Clanwilliam
An early start, to cover the distance today. A quick and easy border crossing ...our last.. and we left the main road and headed for the hills. Huge climbs, breathtaking descents and constantly changing scenery. Perfect driving conditions, with the sun high in the sky as we wound our way through and around canyons and rivers. A good arrival in Clanwilliam, and preparation for our last day’s drive, which promises to be even better than today. Fantastic!

Sam

From Henties Bay, Namibia

18 January, Pointe Noire to Dolisie.
We’ve hit our first rains, which make driving a little trickier. So far, though, the mud underneath remains firm and not churned up by the trucks. It can, though, be very greasy. We even had to dive off the road to avoid a truck which was clearly in a hurry …the resultant winch recovery took an hour and resulted in us both being completely soaked and covered in mud.

19 January, Dolisie to Brazzaville
A long drive today, again in rain for the first few hours. The going is good, but slow – and there are patches that are extremely slippery. We met large numbers of local taxis, including a 205 with at least ten people in it!

At the half-way point, we entered the so-called ‘bandit country’ and prepared ourselves. Indeed, we drove through several ‘checkpoints’. At each one, nobody appeared to be armed, and we were able to distract them with a cheerful ‘Happy New Year’ and a full boot of throttle. On arrival at Brazzaville, a Gendarme asked us if we had seen any bandits ...he was suitably impressed with our report. We checked out the various Brazza hotels and got something to eat. The ‘infamous’ ferry tomorrow morning – bring it on!

20 January, Brazzaville – Kinshasa
Today we crossed the mighty Congo river. We had heard all the stories and were prepared for the worst. In fact and perhaps because of the dire warnings the crossing was very easy, without hassle or bribe or theft. We bought our ticket, and were on the ferry 30 minutes later. It left ten minutes behind schedule. It was full, but plenty of space to walk about ...we were very pleasantly surprised.

Arriving in Kinshasa, the waft of 'permission incentive' was in the air - but was never directly asked for …so nothing given. We arrived in the Grand Hotel …a misnomer if ever there was one… after some battling with Kinshasa traffic - which is a lot of fun...

21 January, Kinshasa to Angola border
After visits to the British Embassy, and a couple of local 'fixers' we headed out SW. Brand new road, friendly people - very easy. We found a small hotel near the border and prepared ourselves to enter our last 'complicated' country. Angola ...a country that is mysterious, closed and just emerging from a very nasty civil war - we have no idea what to expect.

22 January, Angola Border to The Coast
Angola, in one word? GREAT! Very friendly. I'll say that again, very friendly! Entry took less than an hour, and we were on our way into the Republic. A long, but great, day took us to a beach on the Atlantic coast where we shared some 10kms of coast with a handful of …you guessed it …friendly local fishermen. A quick swim in the warm ocean, supper over a fire on the beach, and in bed by 8pm - perfect.

23 January, The Beach to Luanda
Our traditional early start saw us in Luanda for midday. Luanda's traffic is infamous …so we decided to appear on a Saturday at midday, while they are hosting the African Cup of Nations! Even so, it was easy if slow to drive in. We met Miguel, our man in Angola, in the city centre. The afternoon was spent checking additional locations and getting Miguel up to speed on the Rally. The rally will probably avoid the centre of Luanda, but the Angolans would like to celebrate its passing and there are details to sort.

25-26 January, Luanda – Lobito - Cahama
What an incredible country. Angola has been the highlight of the trip, by some margin. From the beautiful beaches, through the rolling hills, then through savannah and even desert before climbing to the cool pastures at 2000m! Even the roads are in great shape, and people drive well.

Watch this space, in ten years time …perhaps less… Angola is going to be THE place to go. Even the Atlantic, here, is warm. Hopefully the pictures will give a little taste. The only negative, Angola lost to Ghana last night in the footie!

27 January, Cahama, Angola to Hobatere, Namibia
We spent last night in the grounds of a small hospital, and set off early to survey a little known track to the Namibian border. On the way, we stopped to talk to one of the supervisors of a mine clearing organisation. We talked about the desperate problems still remaining across large tracts of the country. ‘The process is ongoing’ was his semi-positive message. We found the way through to the border, and suddenly returned to what is, in many ways, an African Europe.

Another very quick border crossing and three hours drive took us to Hobatere lodge and the completion of the ‘difficult’ part of the route. From here, there are no more rebels, no more landmines, no more requests for ‘stylo’. We did see some zebra and oryx though.

28 January, Hobatere to Henties Bay
Using a combination of suggestions from Chris, back in the UK, and our own previous experience we have found some great tracks/roads as we continue south. Namibia never fails to amaze, the scenery leaves you speechless at every turn – truly one of the world’s most beautiful countries.

We ran out of time at the end of the day, so have stopped in Henties Bay for the night, and will continue through Swapokmund tomorrow.

Sam

A Route Survey Summary...

This is written as the route-survey team are driving through Angola – with just Namibia and South Africa ahead. They have crossed the Sahara to Western Africa, passed through the rain-forests, crossed the River Congo and driven the jungle trails to the Angola border… the final stretch now beckons. This is a good time to take stock with a summary of where we are at.

Our drive to the Congo left us in love with everything on offer in this remote beating-heart of Africa. We found ourselves on a road that twists and turns, hugs cliffs with long drops and no guard-rails, we romped up and down bumpy, rutted dirt climbs, splashed through pools of muddy water, watched the early morning mist roll away like lumps of cotton-wool through the tops of trees, swirling into valleys. It was, as Sam Rutherford commented, like something out of “The Land That Time Forgot…expect dinosaurs around the next corner.” The leaves are dripping wet, the early morning sun forces its way through the tree-tops, producing a strange, surreal light, and when you stop, and turn off the engine, all the noises of the jungle fill the air.

This was a mud road that is being improved by vast armies of Chinese road builders. Much of the road will be tarmac if the rally comes this way, but there will be still plenty of dirt stretches, and it will still be dramatic.

It had rained hard overnight and it was sticky at times, but not so bad that would prevent two-wheel-drive cars being successful – indeed the odd Toyota taxi, and Suzuki mini-bus, joined us on this road.

We think a two-wheel-drive car could have done what we have just driven, and the Peugeot 504 sitting in the shed back home would have loved all this. And with spares plentiful along the route, a practical and comfortable proposition.

Talking of local cars, we have only seen the odd Land Rover, although we passed a scrap yard simply full of early Land Rovers, and we have not seen any BMW , Porsche Cayenne, or Mitsubishi performance “soft roaders”. In fact we have not seen any kind of BMW. Local tyre shops we have explored out of curiosity don’t sell anything bigger than 16-inch. The most common size of all is a 205-16, and the 13, 14, and 15 inch tyres were all tall profile, which is sensible when you consider the damage pot-holes can do, regardless of speed.

Our Land Rover TD5 has never missed a beat, it didn’t consume it’s first litre of oil since leaving Belgium till we crossed into the Congo, and the only maintenance check has been routine stuff like checking the tightness of the wheel-nuts. Surely the TD5 engine has to be the most reliable motor since Herbert Austin invented the Austin Seven.

A few words about safety. We are travelling somewhat heavily loaded, three up, with a gas-tank giving a range of 1,000 kms, and, doing this on our own unaccompanied. We have yet to meet any spot of “tension”, we have not been accosted by youths with knives or guns and not found any moment we could regard as intimidating. We had really good communications – the biggest surprise is the regular, almost constant signal for our ordinary Vodafone / BT mobile phone… we had a signal at regular intervals.

All along the route we have been met with smiling, happy children waving madly or running alongside the car – or, on one occasion, bursting into an instant rendition of the chorus of an African hymn, belted out with the sort of wonderful sense of harmony and rhythm that only African children can deliver.

In short, we have not had one worrying moment. Our personal experience on the road is a world away from the image you get from some of the newspapers. We have stopped in remote villages and stocked up food supplies and nibbles from street-side sellers, often a bunch of bananas or maybe a pineapple, to produce a fruity sandwich from a fresh bread-stick, carved up on the move with a pen-knife, using the back of a clip-board as a chopping board.

The route from the top of Africa started at the port of Algiers, after sailing 23-hours across of the Med from Marseilles. And in all the driving-days through the middle of the Sahara, and down the West-side of Africa, we have not given away anything that you could call a bribe to anyone – no border guard or customs official has even dropped a hint of a back-hander, and we haven’t even given away a Biro.

I flew back from Point Noire, having sat on the backseat of the Land Rover since the last big town you come to when crossing the Sahara, and have enjoyed every moment of Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and the Congo. I’ve walked alongside camels in the southern-Sahara… walked the streets at sunrise in Agadez to the smell of bread rolls as rusty wheel-barrows carry them out of the baker’s ovens… nailed down planks of rickety wooden bridges in a gorilla forest in Cameroon… and watched the remarkable dedication of the team running the Albert Schweitzer Hospital at Lambarene, where we dropped in to ask if we could use their internet facility to send photos and words to this website… as well as meeting loads of enthusiastic people eager to make the London to Cape Town Rally a success.

And most important, I’ve also seen some of the most fantastic driving roads anyone could wish to experience. Set at a fast clip with timing on most days, this will be an authentic play-back to the gruelling, demanding, competitive long distance events of the 1970s.

Sam Rutherford is now driving on through the rest of Angola to the long gravel roads of Namibia, and as he goes, he is noting the GPS waypoints and the landmarks for our route book, and will be keeping us updated on the website from time to time.

Nobody said the London to Cape Town Rally would be easy, but, we have cracked a mountain of misgivings in the last few weeks and, with over three-quarters of our route survey completed, it really does now leave us charged up and full of encouragement for a most remarkable rally-route.

I returned home to find a bunch of entry-forms on my desk – and right now that has to be the most encouraging thing of all.
P.Y.

From Dolisie, Congo

In our previous report readers will recall us chilling out in the Holiday Inn, at the beach resort of Limbe, in Cameroon. A lot has happened since then with many more kilometres rolling under our wheels.

Cameroon was good and full of surprises, not least the discovery of a "Centre Parks" style holiday village.... we decided this might be an ideal overnight rest stop, and after collecting contact details, we pressed on to check out a 70 kilometre time-trial on sandy tracks that hack through a gorilla forest. We saw no animals but patched up a few planks on tiny wooden bridges.

After sleeping in a pleasant roadside shack which will very likely be used by a marshalling crew.... with running water for loo and washing in a bucket that is achieved by hauling it up 60 ft from a well.... all performed, as we managed to, in the light of a flickering hurricane lamp. Chicken and chips arrives on the back of a motorcycle - the locals are good mind readers here.

Fast sweeping roads take us down to the border of Gabon past clean, well trimmed, lanes, and tidy bungalows. Our last night in Gabon was in an old colonial rambling hotel with long corridors and tall wooden doors.... perhaps the original architect went to a public school in Dorset. We found big beds, crisp linen sheets, electricity that worked, and, most welcome: a giant cast-iron bath with endless hot water. By endless, if you can try this at home then your plumbing is better than mine, I mean hot water at the control of a tap by a big toe that can trickle out, piping hot, as you soak for over an hour without any sign of running cold. Not bad given this is the heart of Africa. It costs though... the most expensive pad on the whole trip cost us 30 quid a room, steak burger and double chips cost a tenner, and six beers and one tin of tonic water .....good for malaria prevention, according to the old White Hunters.... cost us another ten Euros.

Today we crossed into the Congo. The countryside is breathtakingly beautiful. For those who have never been you are not, alas, greeted by pygmies equipped with blowpipes. The roads are quite exciting enough... we pounded down long dirt tracks, made all the more challenging by a heavy dose of overnight rain. This is the first spot of rain since the team left Marseilles.

This has been one of the hardest days so far - a bit like 400 kilometres of the Safari Rally... we struggled to average 50 kph in the Land Rover TD5.

However, we have yet to meet a road or combination of conditions that would defeat a Peugeot 504; a Landcrab, or a Citroen 2CV for that matter. Locals in their Toyota Starlets, old Corollas, and 404 Pick-up trucks seem to romp it all with ease... all you have to do is tell yourself it really is as easy as they make it look, and keep your foot down.

ends....
P.Y.

From Limbe, Cameroon

NEWS FROM HALF WAY: The London to Cape Town route survey team have reached the holiday resort of Limbe, on the Atlantic Coast of Cameroon, and in terms of distance this is about half way to Cape Town. We plan a “short day” so crews can fettle cars, catch up on the laundry, and relax for an hour or two by the pool… all of which we have done today.

The day was not without drama and adventure aplenty, as we hacked our way down long dirt trails surrounded by Cameroon’s jungle. It’s rough in places with deep gulleys gouged by trucks but we saw nothing to prevent an ordinary two wheel drive car completing this challenge. Thankfully it’s the dry season. At any brief stop you are surrounded by all the strange animal noises of the jungle, and for most of the way we hardly saw another human being.

A word about our vehicle: We are driving to Cape Town in a nine-year old Land Rover TD5, its modifications consist of a steering guard, Land Rover’s optional heavy duty wheels, a winch, and a long range fuel tank. It also has a short washing line across the back of the vehicle that is used daily to the dry off laundry usually completed late the previous night and still damp by the morning. It's hard going at times travelling three up on standard Land Rover seating. There is no air conditioning… this, it has turned out, has proved to be rather a blessing, with the front vents and side windows open the heat of the day is relieved by a pleasant warm draught of air and the real benefit of doing it “sans air conditioning” is that when you stop you are already acclimatised. The evenings are certainly more relaxing and more pleasant because of it… something we rather recommend.

We are well and truly in tropical Africa now, the dry heat of the Sahara that accompanied us all the way through Niger is now a thing of the past. There are a few clouds in the sky but we still travel in balmy warm sunshine, and every day offers something different.

Tomorrow we leave for the dirt road that takes us to Gabon… another day, another country.

More soon…
P.Y.