Hi,

I have always wanted to see the pyramids and have for a long time looked at maps and atlas and dreamed of driving overland to visit them. I am an ex-forces guy in his forties with plenty of off road driving expertise and a huge fear of flying; hence my dream to drive to Egypt one day.

I have been looking at suitable vehicles and having driven LRs for years was of the opinion that reliability would be just as important as off road ability; hence Toyota and Nissan patrol being at the front of my thoughts.

I had been looking at Landcruiser 80s and patrols when I saw this:-
4x4 offroad and expedition preparation vehicles supplied new, used and custom built by Nene Overland since 1988.

And I am tempted but have a few questions.

Do Hi-Lux have low range 4WD? and are they capable off road? (I'm guessing Johnny Taliban knows something).

The vehicle looks very suitable but has no winch or snorkel, would that matter?

I am thinking of either going Morocco and across or starting in Tunisia, is there a good route that I am overlooking?

Libya? will I have problems there?

I am playing the long game on my dream, and would look to do an organised trip to Morocco next year to get some overland experience and then look to take a sabatical the following year to pursue my dream journey. Any ideas on good firms? I have seen this one and they look good.
morocco offroad expeditions, 4x4 camping holiday, adventure desert tours
Having seen the videos on their page, everyone seems to have a Landcruiser or disco, would a properly equiped Hi-Lux manage the same off road driving as they show?

Thanks for bearing with me.

“Do Hi-Lux have low range 4WD? and are they capable off road?” Yes they have hi-low range. They are perfectly capable off road, ultimately a properly sorted LR, LC or of course a G Wagen will out perform them.

Having said that the sort of stuff you will see in Morocco they will deal with perfectly well. Big up side is their durability. I used company ones, (always best to test the limits with someone else’s money) and they were pretty indestructible. I think older ones will have suffered from tin worm by now though.
They would certainly deal with the trip you post the link to.

“The vehicle looks very suitable but has no winch or snorkel, would that matter?”
IMHO these are mostly for pose value
I wouldn’t worry, try looking up the wading depth for Hi Lux (my G is 900mm in std form, any deeper gets a little scary!) If you are worried about dust/sand again I would investigate the filtration on them. It may well have dust/water separators built in as std?
Winch? Maybe but only if you are planning on some solo stuff. Get stuck in some sand and what are you going to attach the other end of the winch rope to? What’s wrong with a tirfor? Save your money

You can’t go from Morocco through Algeria so that could present you with a problem.

I’m pretty sure there’s various complications regarding carnets, security etc involved in your proposed route as well. I know zilch about that though so you will either find out by trawling around here or someone who knows what hey are talking about will reply



Russ

This is a very big series of questions you are asking!

Yes it will be a problem getting east from Morocco, although earlier this year they did open the Morocco/Algeria border for George Galloway and his Respect convoy on their way to Gaza. You may find yourself having to skirt south and then east around Algeria, and I am not even sure if foreigners can use the Libya/Chad or Libya/Niger border crossings. I did meet a Dutch couple who had gone to Western Sahara, then through Maritania and Mali unscathed but they were in an old Series 3 Landrover. Not sure how Johnny Taliban (or Johnny Touareg in this case) would view a Toyota.

I don't believe there are any Morocco-Libya ferries that would enable you to skirt around Algeria through the sea - I know this, because I looked into it myself.

Personally, after looking at the above, I opted to start my trip in 2007 by getting the ferry from Genoa to Tunis, then drove east from there through Libya etc - overlandcruiser.net

I wouldn't say Libya was any more dangerous than any other country in the region, and indeed it's probably safer than some these days. Bear in mind that you do NOT need a guide if you only want to drive along the coast road. If you venture south, be very careful about your choice of guide company. We had problems with Arkno when we used them in 2007.

What you could also look at doing, if you're feeling intrepid, is what this guy did - Across-then-up - drive across Europe, take the ferry from Marseille to Algiers and then go through Algeria less than a month after getting his driving licence.

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www.overlandcruiser.wordpress.com

Looks like Tunisia, Libya and into Egypt is the best route then.

Or maybe through Europe to Turkey, Syria, Jordan and into Egypt?

Chewie

Not sure where you are looking at going after Egypt, but if you don't want to go further east / south then I would suggest a circular route - Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and back to Europe - or vice versa.

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www.overlandcruiser.wordpress.com

That sounds like a plan; and avoids many potential hotspots nicely.

I did tunisia, libya egypt & back by the same route last year & its a piece of cake compared to what we have literally just returned from........shipping to Egypt!!!

We chose shipping this year as the transit time to & from Egypt was a problem & we wanted more time to visit karkur tahl this year.

Will post about the shipping aspect in a few days when I have time!!!

Andy

When you say same route; do you mean tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and back the same way or did you carry on through Jordan, Syria and Turkey?

Shipping to Egypt - thats brave ... I guess it all worked out in the end ?

I can just imagine what the shipping into Egypt was like.....Video Clips

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www.overlandcruiser.wordpress.com

www.pictureafrica.org will show you where I went and what I did with a 1989 model Hilux.

In 70 000km of overlanding it never failed me once!

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Dawie du Plessis
www.pictureafrica.org
www.photographersa.co.za

No body can imagine what shipping into Egypt is like, that attatchment to your post makes it sound like a piece of cake!!!!!

Especially as the (useless) UK shipping company sent the containers to the wrong port....which happened to be one that didnt deal with the import of cars!!!!!

Will let you know what its REALLY like in a few days!!! (it'll take me that long to write it up)

However it all came good eventually & we headed south to the Gilf & Karkur Tahl

Andy

A little off topic but why change from Hi Lux to 80 series... ?

cheers
matt

We are driving back to the UK next year and decided that the Hilux would be worthless there because of it's age and the fact that it is a petrol model. Again, becasue of the age, it was very heavy on fuel, not brilliantly comfortable and the aircon wasn't that effective.

The Cruiser is 8 years younger, diesel and much bigger, but still has a solid front axle.

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Dawie du Plessis
www.pictureafrica.org
www.photographersa.co.za