I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa • Hacker News Board

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#111

Post by overcast » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:04 PM UTC

sangnoir wrote: post #99

overcast wrote: post #3

I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place. The countries there are consistently in the top 20 most dangerous places to visit, and placed on do not go lists. Definitely takes a special person to deal with all of that, on top of all of the obstacles they ran into. Looks like they could have avoided most of the transportation issues, by investing in a true land rover type vehicle, inst…

> I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place. This generalization is so broad as to be useless (akin to "America is a racist, xenophobic place"). Africa is 54 countries and 1 billion people and countless cities and neighorhoods, painting with a broad brush is unhelpful. Only a handful of countries have active conflicts or instability, it is easy to avoid them on a trip such as this o…

Sure, you can cherry pick it however you like. They also circumnavigated the entire continent in an old truck. Which means the likelihood of running into something not so pleasant, much greater.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#112

Post by justin66 » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:06 PM UTC

jdavis703 wrote: post #52

kochthesecond wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to add anecdotal evidence, I have travelled a lot in Spain and never felt unsafe nor been robbed.

Same I've been to Philly and Barcelona, and live in Oakland, CA. Never felt like I was about to be robbed. I guess at the risk of being downvoted for victim blaming, "don't be stupid." It wouldn't surprise me if people let their guard down when they felt they were in a "safe" area.

> live in Oakland, CA. Never felt like I was about to be robbed. I guess at the risk of being downvoted for victim blaming, "don't be stupid."

Unless things have improved a lot in the last fifteen years, it's really pretty easy for a tourist inclined to walk between touristy areas in Oakland to wander into an unsafe area. I wouldn't blame that on stupidity, it's not as if the city puts warning signs up.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#113

Post by Marthyn » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:06 PM UTC

How did you pay for all of this? And are you back working now?

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#114

Post by comboy » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:09 PM UTC

barking wrote: post #91

gambiting wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again - I'm 99% certain that my local supermarket stocking fresh cherries from Chille every day(I'm in UK) damages the environment more than someone driving a truck in africa. It almost makes me angry that someone mentions that this sort of adventure shouldn't be done because of environmental reasons.

The odd person driving a truck around africa won't cause environmental damage. Killing a few elephants won't endanger the species. Are you in favour of allowing people to shoot elephants?

Apart from the fact that sips likely generate more pollution than cars [1], it's seems very plausible that he would generate more of it being stuck in a traffic jam while getting to work than he did during these holidays.

He also didn't probably use as much electricity as you do at the moment which is likely generated mostly in non environmentally friendly way. Ignoring the fact that many parts of your equipment came on ships from China. From factories which generate a lot of pollution.

Also, if you want to be perfect better-world-optimizer, it is really hard. Even if the earth would get ever slightly more polluted by this single car, the impact of thousands of people reading the story could still be positive. It makes them think about nature, probably slightly increases their well being, and so on.

1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-1...

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#115

Post by djaychela » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:13 PM UTC

In 2007-08 I did a three week trip in a banger (£155 Skoda Felicia), taking in some of the areas covered here - Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and finally The Gambia. Cars were donated to raise money for Gambian causes, and it was an incredible experience. We got to Senegal just when the route recce crews came through for the (eventually cancelled) 2008 Dakar Rally - cancelled because of the murder of french tourists [1], which we were unaware of as we'd set off before it happened. It was part of the rise of Al Qaeda in Africa, and indeed I wouldn't do the same trip again today because of the security problems that are far worse now than they were then. Drove for days in the Sahara, did 100km along the beach in Mauritania, 4400 miles in total in a tired old thing that never said die. I can totally believe it about the roads in places - some of the 'proper' roads we drove on were unbelievably hard going (and I say that as someone whose hobby was gravel rallying in the UK) - one was a 100km stretch of washboarded road to the Senegalese border that put paid to many of the rear dampers in the group due to overheating and eventual expiry.

Africa is a magical place - I've been fortunate enough to go for a reasonable period twice - also worked in Tanzania for three weeks in 2004 - but it's certainly not for the faint hearted; I'd not want to go there without serious mechanical skills as there isn't the level of support that you get in Europe, and the fuel supply is hugely variable; indeed some stations have a reputation for deliberately supplying poor fuel to travellers to allow them to try to buy the vehicle for a low price (this actually happened - dodgy diesel from a barrel, and then 5 minutes later the vendor was saying he'd buy the car off the guys we were with. Needless to say we fixed it). Anyway, the memories will last a lifetime, and perhaps more importantly the lessons learnt there (such as how fortunate I am to have been born by chance into a wealth, stable democracy) have shaped my life ever since.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_killing_of_French_tourist...

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#116

Post by overcast » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:17 PM UTC

codeduck wrote: post #34

georgespencer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An old truck is a vastly more practical vehicle in Africa than a landrover - LRs need a lot of maintenance, whereas trucks generally just keep going. This sounds like received wisdom. Is there any evidence to support it? Why would one believe that a land rover's engine requires more maintenance than the average engine found in all the aggregate "old trucks"?

There isn't much direct evidence, no. Publications like https://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/7A814B01-5B83-4C27-A1F9-8B0... stress types of vehicle which are recommended / not recommended. The reason I made my original statement is that old, frequently ex-military trucks and old busses form the backbone of a lot of central and northern africa's transport networks, and the local mechanics are incredibly ingenious and expe…

They are the backbone, because they are cheap leftovers. They are very resourceful people for what they have access to. I'm guessing if they had modern trucks, and modern roads, for the same costs of the old hand me downs. They would probably use those instead. Cuba I'm sure is also ready to give up those old cars they've been keeping alive by now.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#117

Post by nojvek » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:19 PM UTC

imgabe wrote: post #68

lasfter wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps try Doctors Without Borders? It is more of a long-term kind of travel, but you will be doing real good and definitely living an adventure. They need people with all kinds of backgrounds, not just medical, so it might be worth a look.

There's also Engineers Without Borders - http://www.ewb-usa.org/

That looks very promising. I'm going to definitely check it out.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#118

Post by RogtamBar » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:25 PM UTC

MrDosu wrote: post #18

This is reminds of a story of friends of mine from South Africa. They took the kids out of school to travel all the way up Africa and into Europ and back down for a year. They got robbed three times. Two times in France and once in Spain...

Yes, it's puzzling.

70% of French criminals are of Arab origin. Maybe Arabs are better behaved in the Arab world than they are in France?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1135...

Maybe it's because the French are really soft on prisoners. That Coulibaly guy was furious they confiscated his playstation. I doubt Morocco or Algeria would have ever allowed him one..

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#119

Post by gmunu » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:27 PM UTC

kochthesecond wrote: post #43

colmvp wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! I've travelled to remote parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and the only times I ever experienced getting robbed or deeply fearing for my safety was in Barcelona and Philly.

Just to add anecdotal evidence, I have travelled a lot in Spain and never felt unsafe nor been robbed.

I've been to Spain once, went to Barcelona, and was robbed. I'd still go back to Spain and Barcelona though!

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#120

Post by nojvek » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 3:28 PM UTC

overcast wrote: post #3

I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place. The countries there are consistently in the top 20 most dangerous places to visit, and placed on do not go lists. Definitely takes a special person to deal with all of that, on top of all of the obstacles they ran into. Looks like they could have avoided most of the transportation issues, by investing in a true land rover type vehicle, inst…

With Africa and I guess a number of other places around the world, being white helps. You can feel a difference of how they'll treat a white person. It can be the opposite too, being overcharged. I know I'll probably get bashed with comments.