You are very right to ask the question. A lot of people want to be prepared for all eventualities and there's nothing wrong with that but there is a 'trip fever' which takes over, fueled by forums and kit sellers.
Having 4x4 in Africa is going to help in the sand and the mud but in poor terrain a standard 4x4 fails pretty quickly, especially if overloaded.
NB there is nothing to winch off in the sand - a 10 ton truck needs a big tree to winch off.
In snow and ice I would prefer a robust 2 wheel drive with snow chains than a 4x4 with road tyres.

My first question to you would be :-

Do you want to live inside the vehicle campervan style of do you want to camp with the vehicle (roof tent etc)?

You need to ask just how much serious off road

A 4x4 van kitted out as a camper for an extended trip around Africa is not going to be able to do 400Km dune crossings in Algeria so you may well need a big truck but that's not exactly low profile. It will also be very expensive

__________________
Chris
-----------------
"Never have a stupid argument with an idiot - he gets a lot more practice than you"
there I go again
not too hard really

Why don't you arrange to see some peoples setups?
4x4 people are always ready to show off their mobile homes.

__________________
Chris
-----------------
"Never have a stupid argument with an idiot - he gets a lot more practice than you"
there I go again
not too hard really

Hello!
We are back from one years trip to Africa in our Caravelle Syncro. You dont need a winch. Sandladders we dont have or need. Snorkel yes most for the dust. You can see on our pics how I have made it. We sleep inside all the time. Ground clearance is enough with a Syncro.
www.swedenafrica.blogspot.com

i've been looking at videos of people's trips so I can actually see what state the roads are in.

Interesting


you tube is your friend.

__________________
https://fernsforays.wordpress.com/

What you do need is:-

Some offroad driving practice - 4x4 is only as good as the driver.
Get hold of a copy of The Vehicle Dependant Expedition Guide by Tom Sheppard - you won't beleive what you dont know.
Develop a light foot - wheel spin in sand, mud and snow will result in vertical decent and every second spinning will take several mins digging - spin your wheels in a unimog and your going to be digging all day especially if you get stuck using difflocs.
Buy a shovel
A small trip (couple of weeks) in a small camper van to see if you like it.
If you want to keep the size down there are various 4x4s with pop tops or if you want to convert it your self then something like this might be the answer as you will get full 4x4 freedom.

Chris Scott prepped a merc 190 and took it to Morocco - search around his site for a good writeup.
I would have chosen a 300TD but it made it.



more random thoughts later

__________________
Chris
-----------------
"Never have a stupid argument with an idiot - he gets a lot more practice than you"
there I go again
not too hard really

There are always situations that will stop you I can think of only one truly unstopable vehicle , and that is the "knight" made by the russians , but it is not really viable as a overland camper (too wide etc) . Even a unimog wont cope with some of Russia/siberia . Conversely its possible to go round the world on a moped (done a few times) , what you have to ask is in view of where you wish to go how hard or easy do you want to do it . This has to be tempered by cost/benefit which only you can answer.

I would suggest that 4x4 is a considerable help when the situation arises, and carries not too great a penalty . Likewise certain extras winch, snorkel, etc can have their uses . There is however a lot of bling out there and problems are created by having so much bling that the vehicle is running at max weight or more which is a big nono.
probably one way of tempering the "Ferenghi" tendency is to decide on a set up that you think is what is the minimum you can cope with and ask for constructive opinions JMHO

__________________
Current : 2007 Mowag Bucher Duro 6x6 Motorhome , 2006 Sedici 4x4, 2007 Range Rover supercharged

You need a snorkel because that helps to keep the dust out of your airfilter and is useful when crossing water. Main benefit is for the dust though.

You may need (or hopefully will never need) a bull bar in Africa (and other countries where there are stupid goats/sheep/cows around). Hitting animals is a real possibility and a bullbar should limit damage to your vehicle.

If you don't use a 4wd, then a winch might be more usefull than if you had a 4wd. Chances are that you might get stuck easier, but then you should be able to get out of most situations without a winch. You'll be surprised what you can do with a 4wd with the right technique.

Low range gears are generally a good thing.

We travelled alone from Oz to Cape Town and went to pretty remote places. We decided to get a winch (never used it) and a highlift jack (never used it) and lots of other recovery gear, which we did use, but to help other people. Most of it comes down to technique and a bit of common sense.

Ground clearance is good, but not essential. It will limit you a bit to where you can/want to go, for example, we went to some lakes to the west of Olgii in Mongolia. There were lots of big round rocks on one of the roads which wouldn't have been possible in a 4wd campervan without potentially breaking something. We even had a few moments with good clearance.

Personally, I think that you don't really need good ground clearance in sand for example, you need good traction. Ground clearance becomes more of an issue when it gets a bit more technical.

I'm sure there will be someone else to contradict my thoughts though...

__________________
www.seeyouwhenwegetthere.com