Vilanculo Villany

From Tofo we made our way up to Vilanculos. We stayed at Boabab Beach backpackers, a great place filled with crazy Australians, Zimbos, and Irish hooligans. The extremely hot days were passed by drinking gin and tonics, fishing, laziness, and Tipo Tinto (fantastic local rum). We managed to make friends with old 'Sea Bass" - a local who considered it his job to hang out with amazing people like us. One of the days we took a dhow trip across to Magaruque island (in the Bazaruto Archipelago), and indulged in a fish braai, did some great snorkeling, and literally burnt to crisps! Evenings-nights-early mornings back at Boabab were spent partying hard with Tipo Tinto and our fellow mental backpackers. Jared and I have decided that we will return one day and walk to Magaruque at low tide and overtake the island. The three days we originally planned to spend there quickly turned into five and ultimately we were forced to leave otherwise we just never would have!

Excuses, Slackness, Sorry

Hello all.. please excuse our extreme slackness with updating the blog. We've been out in the sticks for the past few weeks with little or no money, fuel, water or plans but now we've made it to Dar es Salaam where we'll hopefully get back in touch with the universe. Updates are on their way!

Onward - "To Tofu"

We decided that there were far to many police in Maputo, and that the calm beaches of Tofu would be a far more desirable destination! and so at crack of dawn - like 11:30, maybe 12 - we headed off...

The road was long, and full of cashew nuts, and we arrived in tofu, with the low-range 4X4 gear ready at hand. It turned out that the thunder horse does not in any way care about thick sand, which needless to say, put smiles on our faces. We were met in Tofu by three Laurentina's (fantastic local beer) as well as a whole herd of drunk BMX'ers. Tim, Greg, and Jacque - the legend on the right - were later found sitting next to the cruiser. 

Otherwise Tofu was fantastic - we ate prawns, surfed and swam solidly for three days - Good Times!

Alive in Africa

Well, we were finally off after much procrastination, electrical problems and an extra set of rear leaf springs. On Monday morning we realized that the back of our cruiser was abnormally close to the floor, and that the car would probably struggle on more rugged roads. So we decided to take her in to Loadhog to get some extra springs put in at the back. After finishing off at the leaf spring place, we picked up Jared , and only managed to leave JHB at around 12:30 pm.

The trip to Maputo went well apart from a couple hills which proved too much for our 4 ton car, and had to be tackled in 2nd gear. We rolled into Maputo at around 8 in the evening, and all three of us sat back with satisfaction, realizing that the trip had finally begun. Maputo was a strange place - interesting - and fairly rural, but with some quite nice areas as well. We also ran into a few corrupt officials who were trying to make a quick buck or two, attempting to convince us that we were "Breaking the Law". Luckily however our hostel owner 'Fatima' convince them otherwise. Since then we have been practicing our techniques at official avoidance - and have since adopted the "ask as many irritating questions as possible" technique, which generally leads to the cops getting frustrated and asking us to carry on. 

The Thunder Horse

This is the Thunder Horse.. our beloved vehicle. It is a well weathered 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ75. Its got a 4l straight 6 engine (the 3F) and weighs in at just over 3 tonnes. We haven't had enough of a budget to seriously kit it out but we have given it a good service, and we've replaced its shocks and its rear leaf springs with Ironman suspension amongst many other odd-jobs. We've also scraped, scratched and chiseled away kilogrammes of rust from underneath. It's a brutal, unstoppable vehicle with a fearsome appetite for fuel. It's been around the block (Africa) a few times before but shows no sign of letting up just yet - it's certainly more ready for the trip then we are!

Right now the Cruiser is paying a visit to Gerber's 4wd who have been very kind to help us out with some water tanks, gauges, and jerry cans. If anyone's interested please check them out at www.gerbers4wd.co.za.

Hello

Hi! Welcome to The Chaps in Africa - the journal of 4 guys, Jared, James, Jan, and Byron travelling overland through Eastern Africa.

We embark on our epic voyage in less than two weeks, on the 6^th of December if all goes to plan (which it seldom does). Starting in our hometown, Johannesburg, we will first set out east to Maputo. Then we'll turn north, following the coast right up Mozambique and through into Tanzania. At Dar es Salaam Jan must unfortunately leave us to return home. The remaining three will continue up to Lamu island on the northern coast of Kenya. Then we cut inland, travelling back into Tanzania. From there we'll go up to Uganda and around Lake Victoria. Then we must begin to make our way south again, through Rwanda, back into Tanzania, down Lake Tanganyika and onwards to Malawi. After following the coast o Lake Nyasa right to its southernmost tip we then continue west into Zambia. Then it's down through Botswana before we return to Johannesburg, completing the 14 000 kilometre loop. Well, at least that's the plan!

We hope to update this blog as often as we can, whenever we can get access to the internet, so please check in with us often and leave comments etcetera.