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Some guy plans to travel Africa in modded Jeep

643,467 Views | 3120 Replies | Last: 6 mo ago by HalifaxAg
Presley OBannons Sword
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We're doing a LS swap
Presley OBannons Sword
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If he hits something hard enough that would crack alloy wheels, he sure as hell won't be able salvage/straighten a steel wheel that takes the same hit.

He did hundreds of hours of research, bro. I think he knows a little better than you.
Guitarsoup
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AG
quote:
We're doing a LS swap


Body panels need some plastidip and they will look good as new.
Silvy
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And the fire heated up the springs for the slammed stance.
ursusguy
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Nigerian kidnapper "This is the greatest thing ever. We just close this wierd clam tent thing while he sleeps, and drive off. And he supplies the cold beer. Son of a bit--, what just broke?"
aggieforester05
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Maybe he'll meet that elusive nigerian prince that owes us all a bunch of money!
TresPuertas
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Maybe he can have the folk singer who wanted to go sing to ISIS go with him. They seem like they may have common perspectives on the way the world should be.


And, theres no way he'll even make it that far, but if somehow he gets to Liberia, there is no way he makes it out.

Here's a nice Liberian Tourist Video.
TwoMarksHand
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Maybe he can have the folk singer who wanted to go sing to ISIS go with him. They seem like they may have common perspectives on the way the world should be.


And, theres no way he'll even make it that far, but if somehow he gets to Liberia, there is no way he makes it out.

Here's a nice Liberian Tourist Video.


Holy. ****.
Shilo
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I think I would skip the whole west coast if I was him....


He is avoiding Somalia and South Sudan.
Guitarsoup
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I think I would skip the whole west coast if I was him....


He is avoiding Somalia and South Sudan.


And the DRCongo
ThunderCougarFalconBird
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AQIM in southern Western Sahara or Mauritania beheads this jabroni if he makes it that far. Morocco is generally safe for me, but I can grow a serious beard and my French is good enough to get around. Once he is south of layouune, he's in Moroccan wall territory and the AQIM bandits will basically just kill him and take his stuff.

If this journey was plausible, he would do all of the following:

1. Use a land cruiser. It's the only vehicle durable enough for much of the journey. That jeep will last under 8 hours on road surfaces less adequate than hard packed dirt.

2. Always have a companion. Given the range of regions, he needs to rotate companions. In North Africa, he needs someone who speaks Arabic. He may even need to rotate more frequently to have a companion that knows local tribal language. In the south (especially Zimbabwe) his companion needs to be local and black. At all times, the companion needs to be armed and act as a bodyguard.

3. Supplies. He needs to carry at least a day of fuel and a day supply of all other car fluids. Same for most parts. Minimum two spare tires and wheels. Should have at least a week of food and water. Maybe two.

4. Cash. Lots of countries means lots of currencies. In most of those countries, a gringo in a fancy car is a big mark. Getting the right palms greased with the right amount of grease takes a good measure of skill. Number 2 could come in handy here.

5. Travel documents. Given that that nerd is driving, timing is an unknown. So he can't just drop by all of the embassies before leaving his home country and get visas all lined up. That means he needs contingency plans for this (along with extra grease - see 4 above) and likely someone back home that can troubleshoot on short notice. My guess is that the out of pocket cost for travel documents that will work is north of $25 grand. Someone that stupid can't have $25 large sitting around.

6. Guns. Lots of guns. He and companion need to have side arms on their persons. Need something high caliber in case you need to stop a large, angry wild animal in its tracks. Also a good idea to have something that looks threatening and is not 75 years out of date like an AK.

All of those things give this moron a shot at both survival and completion. Still, I put him at being found beheaded with his balls in his mouth at the hands of AQIM somewhere near the Western Sahara - Mauritania border.
concac
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His response to safety concerns:

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What do you want me to say? That I've spent years researching this, planning, talking to many people that have made the same trip, am in contact with people doing the exact same trip right now, and people that live in the countries I'm going to ?
Even when I say all of that, and even when it's true (it is) everyone that has the bent is still going to call me a moron, so it doesn't help.
I believe I understand what I'm getting into, and people that have done the exact same trip and ARE DOING the exact same trip agree with me. At this point only one or two people on here commenting seem to have enough experience to take seriously.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/4m7do7/i_built_my_jeep_into_a_house_on_wheels_to_live_in/d3tlc2k
longeryak
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What kind of cooler did he bring along? Outdoors Board does have a stupid fascination with coolers so I figured they would like to know.
From the pix of his build I'd say it is a 35L Dometic fridge/freezer. Dometic is a fav of the RV and boating worlds. But there are only two respected brands in that segment . Engle being the other.
http://www.dometic.com/USA/MS-7207-Recreational-Vehicles/PG-7232-Refrigeration/PG-9749-Portable-Coolers-Freezers/MD-117719-CFX-Portable-Coolers/SK-118190-CFX-35-Portable-RefrigeratorFreezer-350-Liter

Centerpole90
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Isn't it kind of ironic that he's authoring a book called 'Work Less to Live Your Dreams'
quote:
With real-world examples, step-by-step instructions and thinking points, Work Less to Live Your Dreams will teach you how to free yourself from endless full time work, and start living your dreams.

When on his blog he says:
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After tons of soul searching, I decided this dream is worth going into debt for, so I sold the old Jeep, and bought a replacement. It's a 2011 Unlimited Rubicon, in my favorite color (tan).

This is a huge blow to my budget and plans. I will have to deal with it down the road when I run out of money, likely I'll put a lot of the trip on credit now, and maybe stop for a year or more and work somewhere.

What's he going to do when the credit runs out?



frorge
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You basically layed out the plan used by the guys in "Long Way Down". They had a massive team to move through half the countries and still had some tense moments.
Flipped through that guys blog and it just doesn't seem he has come close to the level of planning that this trip would take.
ThunderCougarFalconBird
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****. That was me just shooting from the hip after spending a while as a gringo in southern Morocco. Figured it was common sense not to approach unknown Africa behind the wheel without a land cruiser, supplies, wad of cash, side arm, and 30.06 or better at the ready. How can an English speaking whitey not know this? And all of this while proposing to cross AQIM territory alone?
texags08
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Y'all need to check out Long Way Down with Ewan McGregor. He didn't go all the way around Africa, but he was in some pretty dicey areas IIRC. Not impossible by any means.
guyace
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He'll breakdown after the first sand storm.

And he forgot a broom.
Bitter Old Man
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You asshats have this all wrong, you're missing the point. Picking a Jeep is genius. He obviously picked the jeep because no one in their right mind would carjack a jeep in Africa. What would they do with it? They know it's a piece of crap and it will not last a month.

They will find him dead, free of all his possessions, but inside the Jeep with keys in the ignition.
treetop flyer
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Circle Africa huh? Sounds like the test of all test if you ask me. I'm in.
Aggie_3
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In
Fountain
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In
+1
cbr
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Maybe he can have the folk singer who wanted to go sing to ISIS go with him. They seem like they may have common perspectives on the way the world should be.


And, theres no way he'll even make it that far, but if somehow he gets to Liberia, there is no way he makes it out.

Here's a nice Liberian Tourist Video.


Holy. ****.
Everyone should watch thst video. When i was a kid the next farm up got raided by a tribe of about 40, the whole family was chopped into pieces with machetes. **** is real and there are lessons to be learned. This guy wont make his route.
BCO07
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Maybe he can have the folk singer who wanted to go sing to ISIS go with him. They seem like they may have common perspectives on the way the world should be.


And, theres no way he'll even make it that far, but if somehow he gets to Liberia, there is no way he makes it out.

Here's a nice Liberian Tourist Video.
WTF.
Furlock Bones
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I watched the entire Liberia episode last night. Holy ****. That was beyond my imagination.
AggieChemist
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During my stay in Sierra Leone, I saw lots of amputees. Especially in Freetown, you'd see men and women with both arms or both arms and legs cut off at the knees/elbows.

Apparently it was SOP for the guerillas in the civil war to roll into town and grab a couple of kids and chop them up. It "improved cooperation" from the rest of the villagers.

How the F all those kids managed to survive that out in those villages and live to adulthood is mind boggling.
Centerpole90
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I watched that whole episode too.

I guess I really don't know what to say, other than I would steer clear of so many areas- war or no war.
Furlock Bones
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I knew about the amputations. I didn't know about the rampant cannibalism.
Max Power
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This guy needs to watch this video from Vice about American truckers that go over the Africa to make money. If you have the time I highly recommend it, pretty cool. Moving heavy equipment a few countries away is a little different than driving around the entire continent but it goes to show it's really the wild west out there and this guy is not prepared.


Kenneth_2003
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During my stay in Sierra Leone, I saw lots of amputees. Especially in Freetown, you'd see men and women with both arms or both arms and legs cut off at the knees/elbows.

Apparently it was SOP for the guerillas in the civil war to roll into town and grab a couple of kids and chop them up. It "improved cooperation" from the rest of the villagers.

How the F all those kids managed to survive that out in those villages and live to adulthood is mind boggling.
Easy! They aren't named Jayden or McKaylyn!
Corps_Ag12
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gigemJTH12
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holy ****. what a moron.
schmellba99
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Maybe he can have the folk singer who wanted to go sing to ISIS go with him. They seem like they may have common perspectives on the way the world should be.


And, theres no way he'll even make it that far, but if somehow he gets to Liberia, there is no way he makes it out.

Here's a nice Liberian Tourist Video.
Holy hell, and to think we have social issues over a gorilla getting shot.......

And it is places like this that reinforce my belief that what we have here in the US (even if it is not perfect) is still about a billion times better than the rest of the world and worth fighting for.
RogueAg
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I had to look it up out of curiosity...

No less than 8 of the countries he'll travel through have active travel warnings from the state department... almost all due to heavy prevalence of terror from ISIL and/or AQIM and/or Boko Haram.

That doesn't include the general violence present in many of the other countries he'll pass through... namely Liberia mentioned before (which incidentally isn't even included on the list of countries with travel warnings... it's tame by comparison).

If this guy lasts 3 weeks over there... I'll be surprised.
AggieChemist
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Stick some bananas in the diff. TIA.
 
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