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The expedition was partially successful. The main aim had been to navigate safely from Dar es Salaam to Dakar. Circumstances prevented this from being completed in one hop. The vehicle was left in Wadi Halfa in Sudan with a view to continuing the journey in May. The expedition crew therefore have a reprieve!
The secondary objectives were to compile terrain and weather reports, conduct observations, photgraph and film the scenery and people in each country. The objectives of the expedition were purposefully kept simple so as not to detract from the enjoyment of the journey. All of the secondary aims were completed successfully.
In order to achieve all the aims of the expedition we merely have to keep driving for another 8000 kilmetres.
Fairly careful accounts were kept by Cisca Zwiers.
The expedition cost approximately 4000 pounds. 2500 of which were spent by Raf Jah. A large portion of the money was spent by Raf communicating with the General Manager of his company in the early stages of the trip. This was to allow his company Swahili Divers to function smoothly in his absence. It should be noted that this did happen.
1000 pounds were spent on the vehicle. Most of these repairs were major jobs that would not have been avoided in a newer vehicle. Although they seemed annoying at the time, the minor repairs that were age related took up time and patience rather than money.
Petrol was an amazingly cheap 600 pounds for 8300 kms.
This section briefly describes how various items of kit behaved in the conditions experienced between Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Wadi Halfa. (Sudan). After the expedition was over two members travelled up to Istanbul, taking with them the cameras. I have included their observations because the temperature was so low, so soon after the 40+'c temperatures of Tanzania and Sudan.
Repairs
The old 110 held up well in spite of age. The Kenyan and Ethiopian roads would have unscrewed any bolt on any vehicle. It made life easy to have a land rover as the "bolts were easily accessible". Exact details of what parts were changed can be found in the daily reports.
There is no doubt that the age of the vehicle became tiresome. The large problems (Spring mounts detaching from Chassis/broken propeller shaft) were understandable and easily fixable, but there were constant stream of small niggles such as the window winding mechanism breaking. These small problems were fixed to a standard and soon broke again due to the arduous terrain.
Eventually non essential repairs that had a high chance of re-occurring were ignored .
Power
The 2.25 petrol vehicle was surprisingly adept at pulling itself out of mud or sand. The amount of torque generated at the wheels would often have the vehicle come out with the engine gently chugging away.
In soft sand the acceleration of the petrol engine proved to be a saving grace. The driver would build up speed on the hard patch before hand and attempt to cross the soft with sheer momentum. This rarely failed to work. A friendly Englishman invited me to drive his 110 2.5 litre Diesel land rover around the desert sections of Wadi Halfa. The comparison was interesting. The diesel would chug through most sand, but was unable to produce bursts of speed. Both vehicles worked well but had to be driven in different ways.
Fuel choice and consumption.
Petrol was available in the most unlikely of places. In Sudan it was frequently sold out of bermails in the bazaar. The quality of the fuel rarely affected the performance of the vehicle. The most notable exception being Northern Kenya and Ethiopia. Here, the carburettor had to be removed, stripped, cleaned and re-assembled before the vehicle would operate properly. In our inexperienced view, the vehicle seemed to run best in Sudan.
Diesel was often unavailable in small Sudanese towns. However the longer range of a diesel vehicle would negate the need to find fuel as frequently.
Fuel consumption varied from 17 miles to the Gallon on Tarmac to 11.9 mpg in the softest sand. Fuel consumption was constantly monitored. A marked increase in Fuel consumption is often an indicator of an engine malfunction. A 109 2.25 petrol that we met claimed to be returning a constant 20 mpg on tarmac. After some thought on behalf of the team, it occurred to us that if we drove at 80 kmph rather than 110 kmph we too might achieve this economy. The petrol bill came to 600 pounds and so we were not too bothered about burning it.
Conclusion
The 1985 model 110 petrol served us well. The vehicle has been left in Sudan and will be used to continue the journey westward. However after the expedition, the vehicle will be scrapped or shipped back to Africa.
Clothes
All clothes were affected by the sun. Small tears appeared in everyone's clothes that got bigger and bigger. Smartclothes became work clothes, work clothes died. At the end of the first leg in WADI halfa Raf had to replace a fleece, one pair of trousers, and various shirts. Specialist clothing such as waterproofs have to be well looked after and packed away properly or be damaged.
The expedition used the following cameras.
NIKON FM2 F70
Canon compact cameras
TRV 17 e sony video camera
Contax G1
They were used in heat (+40) and cold (-40) dry dust and humidity. This is how they performed.
NIKON FM2
Two bodies used. This camera was not as tough as expected. A 4 inch tumble off a rock twisted the plastic on the body rendering aperture control inoperable. Pliers were used to bend the plastic back and the camera continued working/ Light meter readings were accurate, very centre weighted, almost as centrally orientated as a spot meter. As with a all cameras this had o be kept dust free.
NIKON F70
In spite of it's plastic body this camera worked well in all conditions, and surprisingly in -40 'c. Autofocus was accurate, matrix metering option good and panorama function amusing.
CANON COMPACT CAMERAS
Worked well and delivered reasonable results, Light meter easily confused.
CONTAX G1. Zeis 45mm lens
Very robust. Survived a 2 foot direct fall onto flagstones.
Autofocusing inaccurate on occasion. (well before fall). Worked in all temperatures. Lens results sometimes soft.
SONY TRV 17 e
Good digital camcorder. Worked in Sand, snow, rain, dust, high humidity and very dry conditions. Expected this camera to break first. Much to my surprise it continued working. Tapes sometimes affected by humidity and becam e corrupted.
NIKON 35 MM MF LENS F 2
This lens extremely sharp. Very tough and easily repairable. Mainstay of the camera equipment
NIKON AF 35-70 F2.8
Excellent robust metal lens fast at 70mm and ultra sharp
NIKON MF 180mm F 2.8
Excellent robust metal lens fast at 180mm and ultra sharp
NIKON MF 18mm f2.8
Good lens, subject to flare. Damadged coating during trip
SIGMA 400 mm F 5.6 MF
Good results when kept steady.
Camera
In spite of the pitiful quality of the plastic on the FM2 I would recommend this camera for an expedition when used with suitable lenses. A mechanical manual will work in the cold/heat that can be easily stripped by a local technician if it fails is invaluable. Perhaps some speedy pictures might be lost, but a good practised photographer should be able to operate almost as fast with an FM2 as with an F100.
The Contax G1 was such a disappointment that I sold it.
Lenses
The lenses to choose are old NIKON manual focus metal lenses or the robust 35-70 2.8 AF lens. Check that the lens focuses on infinity before you buy it.
If I were to travel again, I would take a Leica M6 with a 35mm lens and an FM2 kit . If old Nikon lenses were un available, I would buy a second hand Canon FTB or Pentax k1000 and find old lenses. In my opinion, the older, the tougher and the sharper.
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