Toyota Hilux

We bought “Hamba” the Hilux in July 2019, when we started planning the big overland trip we’re currently on. It’s a 2012 D4D 3.0 DC and it had 130 000 km on the clock when we got it.

Since then, Hamba has literally become part of our family. It came with some kit – a bull bar and suspension lift – but we’ve added more over time. We’re grateful to RSI SmartCap for helping us get fitted with an awesome canopy, and to

4x4 Megaworld for taking us on as brand ambassadors and adding kit to our vehicle, such as a winch, better suspension, a drawer system, recovery kit, recovery tracks and undervehicle protection.

A Hilux offers a good blend of abilities for the varied terrain you’ll encounter on a long trip. We’ll sometimes be driving 100 km/h on a tar road in the morning and 10 km/h on a tough off-road track later the same day.

We’re on a year-long trip, which means we must be able to live out of our vehicle – and out of our Echo 3 trailer from Echo 4x4. The Hilux provides a great platform to which you can add everything you need for life on the road, like a dualbattery system, fridges, drawer systems, roof racks and more. We’re in Tanzania at the moment. We left South Africa in December 2020 and we’ve driven about 22 000 km since, travelling through Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya, visiting 23 national parks and game reserves along the way. We’ve had some great driving experiences thanks to the Hilux. We visited South Luangwa National Park in Zambia in the wet season. Without a reliable 4x4, we would have got very stuck. Reaching remote Lake Turkana in Kenya was also an adventure – the roads are bad, and we had to be fully selfsufficient in case something went wrong.

We still plan to visit Malawi, the coast of Tanzania, central and western Zambia, and Namibia. We should be back in SA by January 2022.

• Wildlife Camp, South Luangwa NP, Zambia wildlifezambia.com • Lake Shore Lodge, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania lakeshoretz.com • Migombani Camp, Lake Manyara, Tanzania migombanicamp.com • Kidepo Valley National Park, Uganda kideponationalpark.com • Twiga Lodge, Tiwi Beach, Kenya www.dianibeach.info

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