Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Cedric ... can you believe it, that the ONLY repairs done by the "wayward dealer" were carried out by a "local" dealership last week, & I only got the Troll back on Saturday, by God's grace, as he "was not available" to authorise one or two additional "minor" repairs, which the local dealership saw urgent enough to carry out...?? Nissan SA eventually gave the go-ahead to release the Troll, in spite of the "person"

THANK YOU NISSAN SA ...

The more urgent repairs, prior to my "long pre-planned and dealer-notified" 1) West Coast & 2) Namibian trips, were carried out at my expense, before heading out.... THEY ARE STILL TO BE RE-IMBURSED !! ... even after I had been asked for my banking details +-2 weeks ago ... !!

I can at least say, that the trip / TROLL went by with " NOT A SINGLE " hiccup ... We actually got an average fuel consumption of 7.2 - 7.3 km/liter. We even managed to fill up with 50ppm in 50% of the filling stations ... AND I believe the "role-out" is well underway to achieve 100% ..... AND ... it cost cheaper than SA diesel ...

I would realy like to do that trip as well!

Happy birthday today as well!!

Whooo hooo.... yes Happy Birthday

Great pics ., thanks for the report and happy birthday that feul consumption make me want to cry!!!

MARNUS .... Namibia is well worth a lot of "visits" .... if you don't mind the long drives ahead. The most traffic we encounted included MANY S.A. registered overlanders / 4x4 enthusiasts & HUGE trucks (which don't leave space for any errors on the road).... and an "overzealous traffic officer, just outside Grunau... BE FOREWARNED ... stick to the speed limits
Unfortunately, we did not receive any discounted rates, and had the additional "gate entrance fees" to pay, on entering the Etosha.... nothing too serious. The camping fees were paid 1-2 months ahead of time, via e-mail. Okaukuejo and Halali being cheaper than Namutoni (which is REALLY worth a visit).... as an answer to your question, I would definitely visit these 3 again... value for money and comfort of ablutions and campsite (only the private Kwando camp and the game park outside Windhoek had "more-luxurious facilities... & less dusty)"

There are certain local towns that one needs to take a little caution in, and some that are absolutely great to stop and have a refreshing meal at, as well as a recommended change of driver / or breather.

The roads (and gravel roads) we traveled on in Namibia were better than our other neighbouring countries. I only had to reduce the tyre pressure to 1.5-1.6 bar on 1 or 2 of the "side gravel roads" in the Etosha Park.... as with the "off-roads" to the Kwando (or any other gravel road in the Caprivi).... It was great, not to have received one puncture for the entire trip...

I would say that one SHOULD have an off-roader, if you tackle ANY gravel road in Namibia, though there were some very "slow" sedans / city slickers that did attempt (with great discomfort to their cars & themselves, I saw).... Having said that, I DO think a 4x2 bakkie, with reduced tyre pressure, ample packing space and a "more reasonable fuel consumption" should also be able to do more than 60% of what a 4x4 can do.... Just remember, you DON'T have the same traction to a) travel at a higher speed on a "good" gravel road, and b) DON'T attempt ANY wet / muddy or soft sand areas ... full stop ... !!

June has excellent warm days, very cold nights (but easily sorted, if you an electric blanket or a warm water bottle for your tent) ... , and little thick vegetation, so you can see the game better...

N.B. - get an up date on the food items that are not allowed - either entering Namibia (for the Namibian compliance, NO RED MEAT may be brought into Namibia - at this moment), OR, for the S.A. re-entry ( ie. presently no fruits nor vegetables may be brought into S.A., and any in possession, MUST be handed in at the S.A. borderpost, as there is a "foreign" invasive fly that could devestate our local fresh produce crops)

The campsites were also less than 40% full .... another big plus.... the ablutions were clean and mostly all to oneself....

Happy birthday, and thanks for envy inducing report and pictures, that was fantastic.

Oh yes Marnus....
the bridge seemed fine, crossing the Okovango, and there are some roadworks in the Caprivi..

at the time of our visit, they were in the process of tarring a completely new road, going past the Mudumu National Park to Mamili National Park (I think it's spelt that way).... I seem to recall the roads designation is the C49 on the National maps. It's the one that follows the Kwando River.
I also recall that one immediately goes on gravel, when leaving the main road on the Caprivi, when venturing for the Pupa Falls....

N.B. - NO RED MEAT MAY BE TAKEN OUT OF THE BWABWATA NATIONAL PARK, on exiting

There are also a few "stop & go's" along the B1, leading north, where the norm is just to pour some tar on the cracks ( in some portions of the road ), rather than resurfacing the entire stretch ( as has just been done on the upper piece of Buitengraght St, Tamboerskloof, CT... a major access road to the Cableway, Table MT.... AN IMPORTANT CAPE TOWN TOURIST DESTINATION)...

I've worked extensively throughNamibia as a truck driver, to very remote spots. Even delivered the steel towers for the Aggeneys-Windhoek Powerline and travelled a lot through the Caprivi to Lusaka (up to 2006 it was a ferry to Zambia at Katima-Malilu).

But I've never been to Etosha.

Post trucking and post university the Divundu Bridge widening was one of my projects. What made it a challenge is that we were not able to use a mobile crane and that the client was not allowed to close the bridge for traffic once during the whole construction phase. Also the bridge was build by the old SA army and tolerances were, lets say, generous. We used a soffit that slided like a cuirtain and the suspension beams leapfrogging along.