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!