Africa calls
When Hamburg geographers Lilli Gramberg-danielsen and Lukas Beuster graduated in 2015 they decided to hit Africa’s roads, and what they lacked in preparation they sure made up in pragmatism
How to explore Africa’s roads in a humble Series III
THERE CAN’T be many early twentysomethings that choose to do a tour of southern and eastern Africa in a Series III with no prior over landing experience, but Lilli Gram bergDaniels en and Lukas Beuster did just that, and they are an inspiration to those of us who have wanted to follow the same dream but never had the balls to do something about it.
With a shared love of the planet, culture and people, Lilli and Lukas (then aged just 21 years old) decided to have a gap year as soon as they finished their undergraduate degrees in geography, but no real plans had been finalised in terms of location and vehicle choice, that is, until one fateful day. Lilli takes up the story: “There’s a workshop, called Offroad Manufaktur, and it’s generally regarded as an authority on all things Land Rover in Hamburg. It’s en route to Lukas’ grandparents, so we used to drive past regularly and lust after the variety of models that they were either servicing or selling, then one time a particular car stood out.
“It was a 1983 Series III with a 2.25 straight-four, and the idea of buying a car and taking off on an epic adventure bloomed in our minds, so we stopped at the workshop, made some enquiries and within the space of a week decided to buy it and take it from Germany to South Africa.”
As it happened the previous owners were an older couple that bought the car for camping off-grid but after realising they wanted something with a little more comfort and speed, they swapped it in for a newer model. When the team at Offroad Manufaktur heard about Lilli and Lukas’ plans they were hesitant to recommend the Series III.
“Their basic premise was that the old Series models are actually the best cars to travel in, but only if you know how to fix up a car – we didn’t but ended up buying it anyway! In the end, Offroad Manufaktur played a big part in getting us ready for the journey, so we owe them huge thanks. They spent time with us and the vehicle and explained the most rudimentary things that could go wrong, and helped us out with a selection of spare parts and tools to take.”
As it turned out the Series III proved pretty much perfect for their trip, with its simple, all-mechanical design making it easy to identify problems, repair and service. Inevitably on the trip itself they both learnt a lot about the inner workings of a Series III, and relished the lack of electronic components
that often make a more modern car so much harder to diagnose and fix.
The SIII was actually the couple’s first-ever car and they’re now smitten by the brand, having since also bought a Discovery 2 (more on that later). “There are many things that make Land Rovers so appealing and I’m sure most people reading this magazine will feel the same. No other car maker manages to capture so many emotions, has such a great community and expresses the same amount of freedom and a lust for adventures like a Land Rover does,” explains Lukas.
The original intention was to drive Harry (chosen for being a typically British name) from their home in Germany all the way to Cape Town. It was a last-minute decision to ship the car to Western Cape’s port city and do a tour of southern and eastern Africa instead due to security considerations following the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
Fortunately the SIII was in pretty good condition as the previous owners spent quite a significant sum of money over the short years they had owned it, which meant other than a couple of rust spots on the chassis and a few minor things that had to be sorted for the car to pass the German equivalent of an MOT, there wasn’t too much vehicle preparation left to do.
“I rebuilt the roof-rack and strapped on a couple of vintage military boxes to store spares, tools and other essentials, and added fake flowers to the front spotlights,” adds Lukas, “well, Lilli did. I ripped out the shelving system as it wasn’t really suitable for our purposes and built in storage compartments and a platform for our two-metre mattress, too. I also laid down cabling and modified the dual battery system to cater for our 18 litre Waeco compressor fridge. A few weeks into our trip in Botswana we fitted two solar panels to make powering up appliances more efficient.
“We ended up rearranging the rear storage compartment later in Malawi. The stall holders at the local market had never heard of angle brackets, so we had to explain what we wanted and ended up with crude custom-made ones out of sheet metal. They have since been replaced but held up nicely for the last half of our journey. Unfortunately we only had the ventilated rooftop tent and Bundutec awning for the last two months of our trip – we should have bought those sooner.”
With the car costing 7500 euros, with a further 1500 euros spent on modifications, essentials and getting it roadworthy, it’s a great example of how overlanding can be achieved on a relatively modest budget, and with limited planning. “Our preparation was really quite minimal,” confesses Lilli. “We had to sort out a carnet de passage for Harry to get him into South Africa and over the international borders, and had a rough outline of countries that we wanted to drive through so bought a couple of road maps, but that was about it. We didn’t even organise visas for our border crossing into Namibia, luckily our German passports sufficed.
“I honestly think it made a difference having a Series III, when it came to border control, police stops and settlements in general. People were just so happy to see the car as it
sparked great memories of their father, grandfather or uncle owning a similar car. Nobody really expects you to travel in something like this, and you just don’t see a lot of Series models once you leave the southernmost countries.”
Surely there’s got to be some negatives with overlanding in a car that’s over 35 years old and gone round the clock at least twice? Apparently the most annoying thing is dealing with people constantly asking when they last broke down or how much oil they lost, so my question went down like a lead balloon. “He’s still going strong, he’s showing no signs of weakness as of yet so there are many adventures still to be had,” Lukas replies in Harry’s defence.
“Okay, it can get very hot and noisy, but that’s just all part of the experience – it just makes days when you’re driving 12 to 15 hours straight a bit of a challenge. There was one lowlight in Zambia when Lilli got very sick. We rushed back into the capital to get her to a doctor but because our cooling pump was leaking we had to stop every 30 minutes in the blistering heat to top up the radiator.
“Other than that, our trip was incredible for so many reasons, such as meeting a pair of Austrian siblings driving another Series III in the middle of nowhere in Namibia, and then spending three weeks with them exploring dunes, shipwrecks, waterfalls and bushlands. There’s so many highlights in fact: kayaking on the Okavango Delta and getting up close with a grumpy hippo; driving through a wildfire in Malawi; waking up to the alarm call of baboons in Zambia only to watch a pride of lions cross the riverbed in front of our car; spending two weeks on a coffee plantation at the base of the Kilimanjaro. I think one of the most memorable was getting a speeding ticket in Tanzania – a tough feat in a Series III, and then getting out of it without bribing anyone or paying a fine.”
After exploring for nine months and covering 15,500 miles the couple decided to set up residence in Cape Town and are currently finishing up their master’s degrees, missioning around the Western Cape on the weekends and during semester breaks. The Series III was shipped to Hamburg due to the legalities of keeping the car in the country, so they bought a 2003 Discovery Td5, as they needed something practical in terms of every day usability and fuel economy. “We appreciate the comfort and the relative speed the Discovery offers, but both of us are starting to get a bit weary of the ‘three amigos’ and other weird electronic issues,” confesses Lilli before Lukas finally chips in.
“Ever since the Defender was discontinued, prices have shot up and while it would have been great to have another one, it was not within our budget. We’re both not certain what is going to happen after we finish our studies, ideally, we’d like to combine working in our respective fields, conducting research and travelling. What we do know is that our future will include lots of road trips, but for now our beloved Harry is tucked away in Germany, patiently waiting for us to return and take him on new adventures.”