Our Vehicle

Just a word or two about our vehicle. It is a 2007 Nissan 3.2L Bushcamper with a Jurgens Oryx camper on the back. Purchased from Asco Car Hire in Windhoek it was used as a rental vehicle previously. Always a gamble when something is purchased on line sight unseen but we had heard good reports regarding Asco and another Australian couple had also bought their bakkie from them and very happy with their purchase.

The Oryx camper attracted us mainly for the sleeping arrangement where the bed folded out from the side of the camper. None of this clambering up to a rooftop tent or raised bed as is the case with so many arrangements. Important as you age.

It is quick to set up and pack up when leaving. The cooking is gas with two cylinders fitted. If we were starting from scratch we would have looked at diesel or petrol cookers but our usage never depleted the cylinders over three months of travel. The second one was hardly used. Three disposable Gaz cylinders are also carried as a standby

The camper came empty, Joan had a ball buying all we needed before leaving Windhoek. In the tool and parts department we bought: compressor, stretch towing strap with shackles, replaced auxillary battery, tool kit, puncture repair outfit, inverter and other paraphernalia. In the time we have had it four BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres have been purchased.

Our first test run was in northern Namibia; Etosha, Epupa Falls, the Marienflus where the rough roads provided few problems. Nice to have the higher clearance than the VW T5 we drove across Asia and down the East Coast of Africa in a few years back. It is also very frugal with diesel.

The other thing that attracted us was this model of Nissan, although only a few years old, has none of the bells and whistles most off road vehicles come with these days. No remote locking, no turbo, sans electric windows, it even has a manual choke! Less things to go wrong or break down.

That first trip took us through Namibia, Botswana and South Africa while last years effort saw us in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. We travelled some good, bad and indifferent roads. But driving on Australian outback roads was a good introduction to what to expect in Africa. Looking forward to see what West Africa has to offer.