Iveco Daily 4x4

ME AND MY CAR

Before we met, Paul and I both did some overlanding through Africa, and we both travel abroad frequently for work. Lockdown changed that – it prompted us to buy the Iveco, with a new focus on exploring southern Africa.

This one was for sale for a while – we first took it for a test drive in November 2019 and finally bought it in August 2020. The previous owner had already kitted it out with recovery gear such as a winch, compressor and two spare wheels. It also already had an inside and outside kitchen, three fridges, a gas stove, taps, dual water tanks, two fuels tanks and a grey water tank. We also have an inside shower and loo – and a queen-size bed!

We have a long-term plan to drive the Iveco all the way to China, so it must be a vehicle we can live in, even when the weather is terrible. (We are currently upgrading our solar power and battery set-up.)

The footprint of the Iveco is similar to a normal 4x4, but its load-bearing capacity is almost double. It’s big enough to sleep and work inside, but small enough to navigate most roads with ease. Occasionally, however, we’ve been in situations where the Iveco was too high to clear overhanging trees – like on the coastal 4x4 route between Black Rock and Kosi Bay, for example.

In the photo on the right, we tackled the narrow dirt road in the Baviaanskloof.

Paul is semi-retired and I run my own consultancy and work from the road. I need good connectivity and electricity to charge my computer, as well as a sense of “office space”. I’ve had conference calls with the UN while sitting in the Karoo National Park!

At the end of 2020, we set off on a six-week trip that turned into an unforgettable threemonth trip (about 10 000 km). We got as far as Mozambique (top picture) where we put the Iveco through its paces in the sand, which was a new experience for us. One dune in Xai-Xai took us a couple of attempts and some digging to get us over the top, but we made it!