GPS Waypoints and XLS for Overlanders

Other overlanders shared their GPX files with us (when we met them or through their blogs) – they were really helpful, so we have made ours available here. Below is also our Day Log which gives details of where we stayed, facilities, travel distances, travel times, activities and notes/comments about those. It also has some Country Notes on visas, borders, FX (when we were there) and petrol price (to fill up in the cheaper countries). Hopefully it will be a useful guide for planning your own adventure.

• MoonSpaghetti Africa.gpx (for MapSource or uploading waypoints onto your GPS device)
• MoonSpaghetti Africa.kml (for Google Earth)
• MoonSpaghetti East Coast Africa.xlsx (Excel - Day Log, Country Notes) 
• MoonSpaghetti West Coast Africa.xlsx (work in progress - will be available soon)

Budgeting: The spread sheet should help for budgeting – costs are listed for accommodation, petrol (relative prices between countries doesn’t change much), activities, parks, visas and borders. For food and drinks, self catering is similar to home and eating local food is usually cheap. Other major items to consider are vehicle cost, equipment (more than cost of vehicle for some), carnet (large deposit), maintenance, medical insurance.

Useful Waypoints and Notes from others
http://greenturkey.co.nz/index.php/info/trip-log/
http://www.greattreksouth.com/data.htm

Route Estimates

Estimates Updated: 2011-11-27


Dates are estimates only; to give an idea of the route and weather patterns (which is important in places like Cameroon etc). The blue path is our route through the weather patterns.

Here is a key of the weather: * = best time to visit, w = wet, W = very wet, W+ = wet to the point of being impassible, h = hot, H = very hot, c = cold, C = very cold, (s) = South of the equator, (n) = North of the equator.

Communications

Cell Phones: Everyone in Africa seems to have a cell phone and most urban areas have signal. SMS is one of the cheapest and quickest method of contacting someone. Local SIM cards can easily be bought for cheap local calls - you just need your passport.

Internet: Internet is one of the most useful tools for overland travel and has been much easier to get than expected. Many camp sites and restaurants have WiFi, although often too slow for Skype. We often buy a local SIM card that can do both data and voice and use that in our network unlocked 3G USB Stick (Huiwei) - most carriers provide codes that you can transfer voice credit to data bundles to keep the cost down. This typically costs $5 a week in East and Southern Africa, but North Africa is expensive.
 
Satellite Phones: There are many factors to consider; Coverage, Cost of Device, Minimum Voucher Size and Voucher Expiry. Per minute charge varies, but it not that important as ours is only for emergency use only when we are away from cell phone networks. Most GSM (Cell Phone Networks) don’t accept SMS from a Sat Phone. An SMS can be sent to a Sat Phone for free for most types – this is done from a web site, but will only be received when the device is on and out of the vehicle (line of site of satellites). Data is prohibitively expensive. I wouldn't consider a sat phone essential, but we did end up using ours.

• Inmarsat – The network has 11 geostationary satellites (about 4 for voice) at 37,000km above the equator causing a longer delay. Coverage is most of the world except the poles. There is less redundancy on the network, but the signal is good and handles buildings and mountains well. We bought the IsatPhone Pro, which is very popular and cheaper than Iridium phones new - the older models were not considered as reliable as the Iridium. You can  You can but any amount of credit and it is valid for 2 years. 
• Iridium – The network has 66 satellites orbiting the earth (each one crossing the poles) – this gives the network true global coverage and redundancy when there is issues with a satellite, but the orbit is low (781km), so there can be interference with buildings and they move fast (27,000km/h) so calls can sometimes be dropped when switching. The older 9505A is considered the most reliable and is still used by the US Army. The devices are very expensive new, but ok used - we originally bought one on EBay, but then sold it again for about the same price when we realised that the only suitable credit for us was the $300 Africa Only one, valid for only 1 year - it ended up cheaper to sell it and buy the Inmarsat. 
• Thuraya – The network has 3 geostationary satellites, so no redundancy. The phones are smaller than the others (cell phone sized) and fairly reliable. Thuraya is popular for shorter North African overland trips being a lot cheaper to buy, but the battery life is not good and there is no coverage in Southern Africa and little in East Africa.
• GlobalStar – Coverage for most of the world except Southern Africa and India. Go Spot EPIRB / Tracking Devices uses this network.
• Other – Most other companies are regional.

VHF / 29MHz: These are popular for 4x4 clubs. 29MHz has fewer channels than VHF, but a longer range. VHF has a shorter range, but is clearer – there are generally only a few factory programmed channels for a club. These don’t appear useful unless travelling in a group and require a licence to be bought at every border. 

Other blogs we liked

- Caro and Steve - http://goodboons.blogspot.com/
- Ons4 - http://www.ons4.reproroom.com/
- Kingsley Holgate - http://www.outsideedge.co.za/
- On the edge of Africa - http://www.ontheedgeofafrica.com/
- Voetspore - http://www.voetspore.co.za/
- Nick and Joanne - http://africa.nickandjoanne.com/
- Picture Africa - http://www.pictureafrica.org & http://africapicture.blogspot.com/
- Mapenzi Overland - http://www.mapenzioverland.net/preparations.html
- Sahara Overland Routes - http://www.sahara-overland.com/routes/index.htm
- OSM Maps for Garmin - http://www.africaexpedition.de/ausrustung/navigation/
- True Size of Africa - http://flowingdata.com/2010/10/18/true-size-of-africa/
- Sahel Irrigated Gardens of Niger - Mervyn Church - http://www.signiger.org
- Overland Vehicle Buying Guide - http://www.freewebs.com/luangwablondes/buyinganoverlandvehicle.htm
- Africa 4x4 Cafe - http://www.africa4x4cafe.com/htm/africa_4x4_cafe_faq.htm

Medical Stuff Updated

Mary: As part of our course we received a comprehensive list of the type of stuff we could take with us in our first aid kit, as well as the prescriptions necessary to get antibiotics etc for our personal use. As we are going to be away for a long time, we decided to kit ourselves out extremely well - we are not sure how much access we will get to good quality non-faked medication en route! We are carrying, amongst other things:

• Antibiotics: a few different ones for different ailments including upset stomachs, chest infections, skin infections (cellulitus etc)
• Strong painkillers : of the sort recommended for bad dental pain or broken limbs
• Emergency packs: containing needles, cannulas etc in case we get to a hospital with trained staff but no equipment
• Blood bags & needles: for Brett if he can find a good clinic to give blood at, but we wont have to rely on them having safe/sterile equipment
• Stiffneck collars & splints
• Blood pressure cuff & stethoscope: we were trained in how to measure & monitor blood pressure on our course
• Coartem: for treatment of malaria. Obviously we will get to a clinic quickly if we suspect we have it but always good to start treatment straight away.
• Mefloquine: antimalarial
• We also have a heap of other things, including my huge vitamin collection, an assortment of bandages & plasters, creams & lotions.

We got our first aid kit in the UK packaged up in tupperwares which are very handy, but I have been looking for a red bag to stow it all away in. We finally found a large-ish soft coolerbag in bright red, at Westpack, which we are using. It takes 30 cans (according to the label) but not everything fits in - even with all the packaging from the medication removed & it just being the blister packs!! so we will have to settle on putting the medications in there & having a separate bag for the equipment such as blood pressure cuff, stethoscope etc. We might just need to get a second bag anyway! I will paint a big white cross on the front sometime.

 

Malaria: We have visited a good travel clinic in JHB to get updated info on which malaria prophylactic to take, given we are away for so long. We settled on Mefloquine, the generic version of Larium, as it is the cheapest by a very long way. There are some possible side effects, but hopefully we will be ok. We were advised not to worry about malaria in areas where the daytime high temperatures are lower than 22 degrees C, as well as in deserts or other extremely dry environments. Also, the malaria-carrying mosquito is mainly active between midnight and 4am so that is when we need to be most careful. We should be able to get a rbeak in our malaria tablet taking to give ourselves a bit of a break. Heading up the east coast, Zimbabwe and Zambia have very little malaria right now, but countries further north than that we will need to be taking malaria tablets for, up until Sudan -  the northern parts of Sudan dont have much malaria and Egypt has none. Obviously Europe is fine, but so is Morocco. Western Sahara and Mauritania are mostly too dry for malaria mosquitoes, so we can pretty much get a good couple weeks break in our malaria treatment from approx Sudan through Europe and back round to Mali (although you still have to take medication for 1 week before & 4 weeks after leaving a malaria area). This in conjunction with being careful to wear long sleeves, cover ourselves in bug spray and always sleep under our mosquito net should hopefully be sufficient.

 

Dentist: we are off to get our teeth checked & cleaned on the 1st June (Brett's birthday) - what a great birthday present!! I predict that Brett will have nothing wrong as usual (he has no fillings!) and I am hoping everything is fine too. After the trauma of my last filling (which was also my first), I just want to be able to dodge that bullet one more time. Although I'd far rather get any necessary fillings done here than in the bush!

These are the places that are off the list...

We probably won't go into Equatorial Guinea. The country has one of the worst human rights records and I have read a few accounts of tourists being thrown into jail. The country is rich from oil and worry that tourists may be mercenaries trying to overthrow the government so they don't give out visas easily.

Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) had an armed rebellion in 2002 split the country in two - the north of the country is controlled by New Forces - the South by the government. Since 2002, the country has alternated between peace and violence. We will ask other travellers for advice closer to the time, but currently we don't plan to go there.

Djibouti is only possible if we go via Eritrea due to security issues with the Ethiopia and Somalia borders. Djibouti itself is considered very stable and safe. Places of interest are Djibouti City (cosmopolitan), Lac Abbe (lunar landscape), Lac Assal (salt lake), Goda Mountains (green mountain surrounded by dry landscape), Tadjoura, Snorkel with whale sharks. Djibouti is expensive and has very good infrastructure.

Chad has very high travel warnings. All border areas are dangerous. The government is increasingly losing its grip on the country. Lake Chad varies in size over time. It shrank by 95% between 1963 and 1998. Apparently the 2007 images show a small amount of improvement. There have been several conflicts over water here.

Central African Republic has very high travel warnings. All border areas are dangerous. The country has been continuously been damaged by invaders or governments.

Algerian visas are not being offered to tourists. Civil war in 1992 closed tourism for a long time. Tourist abductions in 2003 are the most recent cause for visa restrictions. The border with Morocco is closed. Algeria has a long list of interesting places to see including Tassili NAjjer (UNESCO), Hoggar (UNESCO, mountains), Tamanrasset (tribal culture), Algiers, Timimoun (oasis in Sahara), In Salah (town split in two by creeping sand dune), Assekrem (dark peaks), Constantine (deep gorge), Djemila (UNESCO, Roman town), Touggourt (traditional start for motorised across the Sahara). I would love to do the Algeria Sahara crossing instead of Morocco and Western Sahara, but it doesn't appear possible.
National Geographic Pictures - http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/algeria-photos/

Somalia - Pirates, no government, kidnapping, warlords, civil war. Apparently Somaliland (northern region trying to form their own country) is safe, but we won't risk it.

Medical

We wanted to go on a first aid course before we left. After looking at a few that looked more like bog-standard 1st aid at work type courses, we settled on one we found at the Adventure Live expo recommended by the Royal Geographic Society, appropriately named "Far from Help" http://wildernessmedicaltraining.co.uk/explorer-series-far-from-help

which was absolutely fantastic. Very comprehensive training in how to treat the kind of things that are likely to come up, and very different from a normal 1st aid course, as it assumes help is not on the way and you just have to make a plan.

Medical Kit
Malaria Tablets: After a disasterous experiment with Lariam (Mefloquine) before the 2001 Moz/Zambia/Malawi trip, Mary was worried she wouldn't take well to it this time round, but she has done 2 weeks of a 4 week trial and appears to be no crazier than before :)

Larium will be a lot cheaper than the alternative (Malerone) and is a weekly tablet. Brett has not reacted to Lariam before so we expect no dramas there.

Other: following on from our excellent Expedition 1st Aid course, we now have a long list of kit we would like to get before the trip.

Vaccinations:

We have both been and had our jabs. We got:

• Yellow Fever (Mary's still in date, Brett's needing a renewal)
• Meningitis
• Hep A
• Hep B
• Rabies
• Typhoid
• Diptheria, Tetanus, Polio
• Cholera: this is in the form of drops, not an injection. Mary couldn't get it through the NHS so will go to a travel clinic for this. It is not something the NHS recommend at all, but the SA travel clinics are in favour and it also gives us some protection against some forms of travellers dire-rear.

We both got TB shots as kids growing up in SA.

We thought about getting Tick Borne Encephalitis jabs as well but this disease is really only prevalent in Eastern Europe in spring/summer. We will only be in Eastern Europe in winter.

We used the Nathnac website to check we had all the vaccinations we needed www.nathnac.org/travel/index.htm

Blood Types:

Brett: O+

Mary: just got this tested...O+ same as Brett.

Insurance:

Still to be arranged, but we will get some kind of Mac Daddy full Med-Evac insurance.

Technical stuff behind the blog

The technical side of the blog is a project for me that allows me to experiment with different technology – it uses ASP.NET, C#, JavaScript, JSON (for cross domain scripting), Google Earth/Maps/Fusion Tables/Analytics. There is some Silver Light and Flex/Flash, but HTML/JavaScript works across a wider range of browsers.
Blog: I chose Google Blogger because it is very widely used, I don’t need to host it myself and I can customise it greatly. If I was prepared to host it myself and deal with the upgrades, there are a lot of good choices out there depending on your language preference (Joomla, wordpress.org, umbraco.org etc). If you are looking to use an existing hosted one, wordpress.com looks very professional from the start, TravelPod has some basic built in mapping facilities, but none allow customisation. We use Live Writer to compose the blog as it allows offline use and HTML editing.
Maps: The points of interest were plotted in Google Earth and the route saved as a KML file to be plotted on the blog using Google Maps API. The actual route is recorded on a Garmin GPSMAP 62S which by default records the route as a GPX file. This is uploaded into an online database, the number of points reduced using the Douglas Peucker algorithm and then synchronised with a Google Fusion Table for plotting the line on the map. Tracks4Africa is the best source of POI, roads and directions – their maps are great too.
Images: There are plenty of great sites out there for hosting pictures. Flickr appears to be the most professional, Picassa Web the easiest to use and best integration with the Picassa desktop application and Facebook has the obvious social feedback. I chose to host them myself as it gives me the most control over the size and quality (I can upgrade to full resolution in the future) and it provides me with a backup where policies can’t be changed without my permission. If I had time to automate something, I may have chosen to use Facebook as a second copy for the feedback and comments. 
Charts: The charts use the Google Charts API – the REST version rather than the more powerful javascript version because they are faster with slow internet.
Offline: All components can be worked on offline and synchronised when we find internet – data is stored in an Access DB (quick and easy to modify) and synced (communication with server uses a modified version of Rijndael Encryption) with SQL Server online or Fusion Tables. I expect some major changes in mobile internet / roaming charges in the future will greatly simplify this.
Backups: I have a master copy of the photos and 2 backups. You can never have enough and they should preferably be in different locations.