Overland Trip part 5

8/14/2019 Overland Trip part 5

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AFTER THE boat crossing fromordan we hit the immigrationontrol centre of Egypt. This is anrray of small kiosks you passach of them, collecting a stampn a bit of paper.Once you have picked your final

tamp, you are given your numberlates and passports. Thisrocedure can last up to eightours, but for us, with four kids in

he heat of the day, it took two.We could not believe it, but were

appy all the same. Our first longtay destination was to be Ras

Mohammed in the southernmostip of Sinai. We had heard of anverland camp that was literallyn the beach, secluded from the

masses of tourists that hit Sharml Sheik every day.

On arrival we drove right on tothe beach, less than ten metresfrom the shore and our own reef.We were in no rush to leave andstayed for two weeks, just enjoyingthe quiet and the marvel of sea lifethat was at our doorstep.

an accident leads to luxury The second accident of our tripoccurred while we were visitingSharm, when Luka hit his teethwhile playing at a playground. Atfirst sight it looked bad, but whenwe arrived at the dentist the fullscale was given to us.

He had, in fact, smashed offa bit of the jaw bone and had tohave stitches and the jaw gluedback in place. Thankfully ourinsurance company covered

this and also organised furthercheckups in Cairo. Since Lukacould not go camping dueto infection risks we bookedourselves in a hotel for a coupleof luxury, all-inclusive nights.

All our batteries recharged,we headed for Cairo, a driversnightmare and also the mostpushy place on our route so far. Amajor check-up for the vehicleswas needed in Cairo and the 110needed the clutch changed aswell as new springs again.

The Britpart HD springs, put on just before leaving, had not beenup to the challenge of our weight.We were directed to a garagethat dealt with Land Rovers and,sure enough, the clutch waschanged with no real hassle and

new original springs were found.We replaced the original shocks

with the spare OME ones that wedid not have time to be addedin Sweden; it was like a newvehicle. The 130, on the otherhand, had a replacement vacuumpump and a complete service.

We visited the usual touristtraps and headed for the whitedesert, west of the Nile, on ourway to Luxor. This route gavemore freedom, as no convoysare needed.

To drive directly into the desertof pure white, sculpture-likeformations with an orange dust ofsand was just alien. We actuallyarrived after dark and drovearound, guided by the GPS,looking for the camp that wassupposed to exist. After a whilewe came to our senses and juststopped, set up the tent, put thekids to bed and had a glass ofwine, enjoying the silence.

In the morning we hit the roadto Luxor so that we could visit

the Valley of the Kings before ourboat to Sudan. We had very littleinformation on this boat but knewit was expensive and going to betough with kids.

When we arrived in Luxor webumped into an English familywe had met in the SudaneseEmbassy in Cairo. We had apleasant evening and discoveredthat we should catch thecompulsory convoy betweenLuxor and Aswan directly in themorning and get into Aswan to

organise the ferry so no valleythis time. The Landies were to beon a separate boat so we n eededtime to get all the paperworksorted.

After a morning with a Mr. Abuda, our Mr Fix-it in Aswan, wehad all our tickets and were verymuch poorer. We had checkedinto a hotel so as to get to theboat on time.

This really was amiscalculation on our behalf,as the ferry finally left at six in

the evening. It had taken allday to load the barge full ofFeta cheese, lettuce, tomatoes,olives, and two Land Rovers. Itwas one big floating salad.

We waved goodbye to our carsand boarded the ferry. There hadbeen a lack of first class ticketsso we had one first class roomto share.

To describe first class is todescribe a room the size of eightsquare metres, with a bunk bedand a table that detached itselffrom the wall the moment youput a glass of liquid on. It did,however, have an AC and thiswas its up point.

cramped, but cosy Two children and one adult inthe top bunk bed, two morechildren and another adult in thebottom one and two adults onthe floor it was cosy, to say theleast. The rest of the passengershuddled up to whatever flatshaded surface of the boat theycould find. It was going to be along night.

We had been in touch with oneof our sponsors, Info 24,who had supplied the IridiumTracking system. He had

by Richard Poskitt

..lots of it, as the families head into Africa for what turns out to be the nal leg of their journey together

S UN, S EAAND S AND

Main: Dust road in Sudan.Bottom left: Happy

mechanics in Cairo.Bottom right: Camel ride at the foot of theGreat Pyramid.

Below left: Reef at Ras Mohammed.Below right: Greatformations in the Whitedesert.

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It had taken all day to load the barge full of Fetacheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and two Land Rovers.It was one big floating Land Rover salad

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agreed to SMS us the statusof the Land Rovers as hereceived it.

Every four hours we had theoordinates, the direction, andhe speed sent by SMS. This wastress relieving, as it was the firstime we had left the cars. Arriving in Sudan we werereeted by our Sudanese agent.

He made everything very smoothand took us out of the buildinghaving completed our paperworkto an array of taxis.

Every single one of the taxiswas elaborately decorated, allhad bumps and scratches andall were Series Land Rovers. Wewere ushered into one to go tothe hotel to stay until the vehiclesarrived the next day.

S udan, dust and frustrationWadi Halfa is a dusty townwith character that must beexperienced. The fish in therestaurants dotted around arefresh and still happen to look

like burnt kippers.In the morning we had the SMS

telling us that the Landies hadarrived in port. We grabbed aLandy Taxi and went to the port.

Our whole day was spentwaiting and watching all of thesalad being taken off the boat.The vehicles had to come off last.

Just as the sun was settingand the Ramadan breakfast wasabout to start we drove off theboat. We did not get far, as thecustoms office had closed.

We had to spend another night.Irritated, we went back to thehotel and watched a DVD on thecomputer, sweating.

On the road through the NubianDesert we had picked up a localwho we had met on the boat heinvited us to stay in his village. Hehad been in Egypt for three years

trying to better his life.He had saved only enough

for the ferry home and wasdisappointed with his time inEgypt. He had, however, taken anumber of English classes andwas now in full swing.

We arrived in the village to a bigwelcome. We sat with his familyand enjoyed a local Nubian meal.

After a walk around the villagewe headed for Khartoum. This wasa long day. It took us through roadsthat really did not exist, along railtracks and through the desert.

It was on this long, 14-hourday we had both ACs break andoverheating on the shocks. Arrivingin Khartoum late, we just crashed.

All we needed to do was tohave our Ethiopian visas stampedand we could leave. We allagreed that we wanted to move

on from the Middle East and intoreal Africa. We were getting tiredof all the hassle and wanted toget to the coast again we alsowere a bit tired of similar foodsand longed for Indian Oceanseafood and Kenyan Tusker beer.

beautiful EthiopiaThe border crossing to Ethiopia isvery easy to miss. In fact, we did,and were told to reverse backand park up. After very little timewe entered a lush, green and veryfertile Ethiopia.

As we drove to Lake Tamawe had wonderful views andthe people took a distance tous. The tarmac roads were alsowelcomed. We enjoyed a fewdays in a hotel to watch a festivalbefore heading down to Kenya.

We all agreed that Ethiopia

was one of the most beautifulcountries we had visited but wewanted to get on and furthersouth. After a brief stop in Addisto pick up cash and provisions,we headed for what wassupposed to be a nice spot onthe lake, where we could swim,relax and enjoy the scenery.

On our arrival we met a Germancouple, with a well kitted-out 110,who run an education centre inMoshi, Tanzania. We promisedwe would meet up and afterswapping various GPS points wedid our usual ritual of comparingLand Rovers.

From our discussion withthe Germans we headed for aNorwegian missionary placeas our last port of call inEthiopia. This place, we hadbeen told, was supposed to


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Above left: The biggest sand pit in the world. Above right: Washingthe 110 at Karen Campin Nairobi.

Above left: The worstroad in Africa.

Above Right: Our German friends we metin Ethiopia.Below: Mountain road in Ethiopia.


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be a little bit of Scandinaviain Africa.

Sure enough, it was likeeing in Northern Sweden. The

missionaries that run it wereot used to overlanders and

welcomed us.It was the first time in the whole

rip we had a house. The kids hadheir own room to sleep in and wead a living room and kitchenasic but, for us, luxur y.It was time to be neighbours

nd not travel partners. The traveltress had been building up withhe families and this was exactly

what we all needed.Pia and Milan had met a

amily that were looking forponsorship for their children to

go to school so they had spentsome time sorting out schoolfees and agreed to cover thecost of schooling for the familyschildren. It was wonderful to seewhat a difference it made on thefaces of the parents.

tackling the worst road It was, however, time for us toget into East African territory. Theday we headed for the border toKenya it was full monsoon rains,terrible visibility and oddly cold.

The crossing was fast and wehad to change road sides for thefirst time. Now the 110 had theovertaking advantage.

Still, we now had what wasto be well known as the worst

road in Africa in fron t of us. Twodays and 450km of the worstcorrugations, mud, rain and rockwe have ever driven.

While bypassing a stuck truck,the 130 slid off and also gotstuck. Out with the sand laddersfor the first time, a little digging and out it went.

We were still travelling withthe English family in their LandCruiser VX. They too had anumber of problems includingelectrical and diff leaks. It reallywas a long day.

Arriving in Samburu we decideda safari was in order. This is oneof my favourite parks in Kenyaand has all the animals within itsvaried landscape.


Above Left: Crossingthe Equator in Kenya

Above right: Getting stuck in... then stuckcompletely.Below left: Monkeys

picking up the crumbsin Samburu, Kenya.

We camped at one of the campsites there and had our firstencounter with baboons in themorning. Just after making thepacked lunch a group of themcame crashing through, one wasstealing bananas from the bootof the 110 and the full stack ofsandwiches and a jar of jam wasquickly swiped from the rear ofthe 130.

Chaotically we said ourgoodbyes to the English familythey were off to Nairobi and wewent off for our morning driveand down to the Equator line. Wehad friends from Sweden whowere staying on Solio Ranch,Nanyuki, right on the Equator;this was to be our stop-over

before Nairobi.Tired and hungry for good

food we arrived at our friends.One week of fantastic foodindulgence, good company andthe clear view of Mt Kenya fromthe open fireplace was heaven.

the best family 4x4xfar Pias parents were arriving inNairobi for a few weeks vacationso we had to run. During theirstay we split for a while, as Linaand I had found some interestingoptions to move to Kenya so wewanted to stick around to lookmore into it.

The Poznics visited the coastto enjoy the heat and whitesands, as well as seeing the

Masai Mara. The Poskits visitedschools, had numerous work-related meetings and started toset up the new life that wouldstart after the trip had finished.

While in Nairobi we wereintroduced to the workshopmanager for Land Rover Kenyaand many of the other staff workingthere including Martin Forster,the CEO. He loved what we weredoing, proving the Land Rover isthe best family 4x4xfar.

The following days the carswere given the full VIP serviceand all parts that needed to bechanged were changed. Thankyou, Land Rover Kenya!

With the cars set perfectfor the last leg of the trip and

Above left: Out shecomes.

Above right: Baboonsblock the way.Below: Tall pedestriansin Nakuru National Park, Kenya.

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Pias parents on their wayback to Sweden we split forthe trip through Tanzania.

We were to meet up in Malawi alittle while later.

We had all been lookingforward to seeing Kilimanjaroagain, as well as our old friendsin Dar es Salaam. Tanzania wasto be mainly transit to get toLilongwe as fast as possible tomeet Linas sister.

Dar es Salaam had changedsince we were there last a quickovernight catch up and a drivearound was enough. The Poskittsheaded for the Malawi border.

Due to the time stress toLilongwe we had to completeanother of our long drives. Arrivingon the Lake Malawi coast we metup with old friends. We agreed thatthey would catch up further southand stay on the beach for a whilewhen Linas sister was there.

54 March 2009 LAND ROVER monthly

Top Left: Trying to spotthe Lion from the roof.Top Right: Tuvaleand Oliver loving thevantage spot from the

roof. Main: The Masai Maraat sunset.Below left: Peaceful Lake Malawi.Below right: Ras

Mohammed beachcamp.

4 Back in Europe, all the financialcrisis had not affected us andwe were happy with that... until,one day, a call came through thatthe company renting the Poznics

apartment in Stockholm had gonebankrupt. Now we had to sort outa large mortgage payment cover,which was not fun.

the final days of adventureThis stress got us all thinkingabout other problems that mightoccur. Lina and I thought moreabout our new life in Kenya.

Maybe it would be better toreturn and finalise things beforeour bank ran dry and time ran outfor our vacation.

Back and forth, we finallydecided to return to Kenya. Forus the trip was over.

Pia and Milan thought that itwould be fun to continue andthen perhaps further continue

to South America and aroundthe world. They would rent theirapartment again and continue.

That was it. We had a good lastday on the beach with the kids

and then an emotional eveningwhich was to be our last as Adventure Family.

The adventure that had startedon February 15, 2008 truly wasan experience of a lifetime.So many surprises, so manyinteresting people and the upsand downs of family life we willremember this year for the restof our lives.

We hope that ouradventure will inspire othersto do similar it is not as hardas it sounds, it is just different.We wish Pia, Milan, Luka, andTanya all the best in their furthertravels and look forward tofollowing them. LRM

Overland Trip part 5

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