Useful Info for Overlanders

Click on the following options or scroll down this page Border Crossings Vehicle and Daily Costs State of the Roads Road Blocks and Police Comms and the Internet in Africa

BORDER CROSSINGS FOR BRITS WITH TRUCKS These varied immensely in price and courteousness and unlike reports that we had heard, they seemed to be official entry prices as opposed to how the customs official felt that particular day....but you never know. Zimbabwe Border - Beitbridge Transport Import Toll £5.00 3rd party Insurance None available Mozambique Border - Nyamapanda Entry Visa £4.50 each bought at Mozambique Embassy in Pretoria, SA Other entry charge £7 - not sure what that was for! 3rd party Insurance £8.50 Transport Import Permit £3.00 Malawian Border - Karonga Road Entry Visa None needed Transport Import Permit None needed 3rd party Insurance £10.00 Tanzanian Border - (S of Mbeya) Entry Visa $US32.50 each!!! bought at Tanzanian Embassy in Pretoria 3rd party Insurance $US15 Road Tax $US22 Kenyan Border - Taveta Entry Visa None needed Transport Import Permit/Insurance $US40

STATE OF THE ROADS We thought travelling through the Tete Corridor in Mozambique was pretty hairy due to the huge potholes that seemed to creep up on us when we least expected them to, however it wasn't until we reached the road from Livingstonia to Karonga in Malawi that we realised what a bad main road actually was. What should have taken 1 hour took 4. Tanzanian roads were a dream. It seems that part of the extortionate price they make on border entries here is actually used to pay for the roads. Kenyan roads were another shock. One moment you're driving on smooth tarmac in Tanzania, the next you're through the border and it's bumpy mud tracks with craters large enough to swallow 'Truck'. We'd just spent a day cleaning her yellow highness making her presentable again but we needn't have. Within minutes of hitting Kenyan roads she was covered top to tail in mud. The state of this particular road could have been because we crossed at the secondary border of ...... Once we had joined the main road from Nairobi to Mombasa, there was a little tarmac every now and then although huge sections of the roads were in repair and most of the tarmac were speckled with potholes and vicious invisible speed humps - as if you can honestly speed on these roads!

COSTS FROM SA TO KENYA II We have now reached the end of Phase II. Here are the stats for the last 32 days. As you can see, costs have increased considerably, mainly due to longer distances covered in much shorter time. Click here to see Phase I Costs   Phase II 29.11.99 - 31.12.99 = 32 days Distance Covered 7,700km No. punctures Zero   Cost Diesel per litre 28p (Zimbabwe) - 38p(Kenya) Cost of repairs £176.60 Cost of spares £71 Cost per 100km to run Truck £6.66 inc repairs Average daily cost for Food and Drink £6.10 Example entrance to Game Parks £60 inc. vehicle, camp, 2 adults for 24hr period

General Advice ROAD BLOCKS AND POLICE Being bright yellow with strange writing on the side, we do ask to be stopped at a road block but generally there was no problem and we were waved on with friendly smiles after providing licences and local insurance documentation. Our pet, the rubber snake on the dashboard was sometimes surprisingly helpful in speeding up the procedings! Advice for run ins with scam artists on the road: They could be genuine police looking for Xmas bonuses and that gun could be loaded. If asked for an on the spot fine, make sure you first take the man's name and number, then refuse to pay unless he takes you to the police station where you can obtain a receipt. You will inevitably be let off with a warning but it may take some patience on your part. Obey speed limits. Fines can be quite horrific. COMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET TERRIBLE! Phone lines in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania are pretty grim. Systems are often down and this is usually due to people stealing the copper from the lines to make articles of jewellry to sell on the streets to unsuspecting tourists! We couldn't believe it either. We managed to find somewhere in each country, usually main town or city, that we could plug into a phone line, but it usually took over an hour to make a constant connection. Frustrating, yes, but possible.