With regards to the PH vehicle ?

The interesting thing was that whilst I was hunting for another company as PH, we used like we just about all do our own vehicles, mine naturally was is and forever will be a Land Rover, but my buddies all used various Toyotas and other Jap stuff.

And this is where the rub came in , when we picked up clients they invariably and just about all ways walked to the Land Rover, Why ? cause they all agreed that Africa and Land Rover just fit together, it is more than just killing animals it is the whole experience. the ambience the scenery the effect it has on your soul.

Toyotas are without a doubt good, but it is just not the same, and beleive I have had them and the one company still supplies me with one, but I have had hunts where it rained for days, and the Japs could not move out of camp but myLandie still went and gave that happy guys from Texas the eland of his dreams, into the rough stuff where no one else dared ot go !!!!

Bottom line is a PH sjould have a decent vehicle with certain amenties, and medical equip, by law, what he uses is his own choice, but I have yet to see a experienced PH with a lot of gimmicks and nonsense that does only take up space.

Talk to you all son again

Walter

Pete E,

Sorry to be so late in replying. I disappeared down in Sonora Mexico for about 10 days. I can't remember ofhand just what the model is. It's not Samari. It is a much longer wheel base than that. It is a small 4 cylinder engine with a dinky radiator. Looks like a water cooled motor cycle engine. I guess I'm going to have to get rigged up to post picts.

Rich Elliott

Rich Ellioott

NitroX,

After being home for a couple of months now, I must admit that I still have itchy feet and want to take off again! It's sort of difficult to adjust to "normal" life. What is "normal" anyway! People here at home just don't understand that we could enjoy living in a tent, and not having a shower for a couple of weeks sometimes. Or being constantly on "yellow alert" for several months in the more unrestfull countrys of northern Africa. It's just too wierd for them! It's hard for them to understand the incredable feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, in places where the stars really are bright, because the nearest town with lights is over a thousand kilometers away. Or the thoughts that race through your mind when an elephant awakes you because he's sniffing the top of our tent and looking in through the side tent window (which didn't make my wife very happy...).
When it comes to future plans though; first of all, I'm going to try and write a book about our travels in Africa. But that doesn't stop me from making future african travel plans in the back of my mind! Besides going on a buff hunt somewhere in africa, I would like to make a loop withnour Land Rover from Europe - Tunisia - Libya - Niger - Algeria and then back home. This would be a shorter (2 months?) trip, but quite difficult because of the vast stetches of dunes on parts of the route. Were talking about very long periods without tracks or any re-supply possibilities, several 1000 kms without roads on some parts. Crossing from Libya to Niger is also a bit tricky because of bandits and smugglers. We had planned to cross the Tenere desert last time in Niger, but there had been an "outbreak" of banditry at the time and we had to skip it. They often follow up on who leaves town (Agadez) and catch them out in the desert. With my new planned route, we'll be coming from the other way, and thus, to a certian degree "fool" potential badguys! Algeria is also a little difficult at the moment since 32 travellers were kidnapped there this spring. Algeria now requires a guide with all vehicles travelling in the country and this isn't my way of doing things. I like to go on my own! Hopefully, in a couple of years, things will have cooled down and I'll be off to northern africa again!

It all boils down to "who dares wins"... With a dash of common sense and a little diplomacy to deal with corrupt officials! Some friends have said that I must have more guts than brains, but that's just because they haven't understood that guts alone won't get you very far in Africa!
A few years ago, no one belived us when we told them that we'd go off and drive through africa for a year. The same people are a bit more reluctant to dismiss our future plans this time!

Erik D.

www.dunia.no
North Cape to Cape Agulas 2002/2003

[quote
PS A product review question. How did the echo rooftop tent go? Work well? Any problems? What size is it and did you fit in OK? Was parking on level ground an issue?
(Sorry about all the questions)

---

The main reason for using a roof top tent instead of being on the ground was simply that we would be unaffected by ground conditions. With a tent on top, it doesn't matter if there's mud, sand or whatever. It usually wasn't to big a problem to find reasonably level ground, and when that wasn't possible, we just parked the LR so that our heads were "uphill". The tent is 1.4 meters x 2.4 meters when opened, and this was perfectly fine for us. The length gave room to keep the set of cloths we were wearing at our feet when sleeping. It took a little getting used to after our 2 meter wide bed at home, but when we finally returned to Norway, I found that I slept better in the tent then in our bed! The mattress is about 3 inches thick, and we added a covering of 1/2 inch of foam underneath to give it a touch more comfort. This was cut from the type of foam mats that you would use under a sleeping bag when camping etc. At least here in Norway.
The Echo is a sturdy tent, since the frame and floor is made out of aluminium, compaired to most others with floors made of plywood (such as the Eazi-Awn). Thus, it can't rot. The drawback is that a plywood floor is better for retaining heat in colder climates. Our foam mat underneath dealt with that problem. The one thing we wern't very happy with was a condensation problem in cold areas. As you probably well know, it drops below freezing in both Botswana and Namibia in some areas at night. The "Condensation Sheet" on the inside collects the moisture, but come morning, that moisture has to go somewhere. Usually by dripping on our faces as a wakeup call... This was even with the windows opened a crack. Better ventilation should be designed in to the roof of the tent. The thing is that this tent has a singel PVC roof, instead of the usual 2 layer system. The upside is that no amount of rain will ever get through to you! All in all, I think that most tents have strong and weak points. If buying a new tent, I think I'd go for the Eazi-Awn, because of the condensation problem with the Echo in colder climates.
Don't feel sorry about asking questions! In fact I'm writing a 17 page long equipment evaluation so that other people can save time and don't have to "invent the wheel again".

Ps. when it comes to my wife not being too happy about the sniffing elephant, the reason is that we've been chased by a few during our travels... With flat ears etc. that weren't mock charges. It didn't help that I kept falling asleep after a while and snoring, bring us to the attention of the elephant over and over again! It did end on a funny note though. As you see on the picture, the side windows are elephant hight. The bull eventually turned around and started to browse off some bushes next to us. In doing so, his butt was about 3 feet away from our open window, and he let rip the biggest elaphant fart you can imagine right into the tent. At the time we wern't sure if we should throw up or start laughing. Belive me, it was pretty strong stuff that close, and it wasn't like it was possible to open up all the flaps to air out the tent with Tembo right outside!

Erik D.

www.dunia.no