Kit / Non vehicle related equipment

Camping

Our car is equipped with an Eezi-Awn 1.4 meter wide roof tent. The advantage of having a roof tent is that you are slightly higher up - cooler and away from animals and bugs in general. Also very convenient of this type of tent is that it allows you to leave your mattress and sleeping bags in the tent when closing it. This tent is easy to setup (unfold/open). It is like opening and closing a suitcase - idiot proof.

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Besides the tent we are also able to sleep in the car since the car is long enough to allow a 2 meter long and 1.4 meter wide bed - useful for very cold nights or "unsafe" areas.

On the side of the car we also have an awning that will give shade and keeps us out of the rain. Luxury but appreciated in the end!

Table / chairs

Our breakfast, lunch and dinner table is stored just underneath the roof rack. The legs are adjustable in height and this allows the table to be used even inside the vehicle - useful on rainy days! Besides the 2 basic chairs that are in the car we take 2 easy sitting chairs that give comfort during a power nap or when reading a book under a tree in the shade.

Kitchen

Cooking

After reading several websites we have chosen for a coleman stove that can be used with regular fuel as well as special burning fuel. Using regular fuel 4x and 1x the special burning fuel makes it cheap and the special burning fuel will clean the system.

The stove will be stored in the back of the car next to the fridge and a checker plated shelf folds down from the back door to make the platform for the cooker to sit, next to a few shelves with the cooking spices.

Fridge

Although by many seen as luxury and expensive we believe it should be a basic requirement for such a trip. Nothing is as nice as a cold drink when you take a stop or being able to store food for a couple of days without it going bad. Therefore the car is equipped with a 33-liter Waeco compressor fridge, connected to the second battery system. The fridge is installed close to the back door so we can easily access it during lunch breaks or when cooking dinner in the evenings.

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Navigation

Paper maps of Africa are our main source of directions. Maps that are the well-known, basic ones, such as:
- Michelin 741 - North and West
- Michelin 745 - North East
- Michelin 746 - Central and South Africa
- Bartholomew (Continental Travel Map) Africa


As many others did before us, we carry a GPS device (Garmin 60CSx) as well to navigate the roads in Africa where TomTom will not provide us with directions (TomTom only covers southern Africa at the moment and works very well btw). As a backup for the GPS device we also carry a regular compass.