This will be my blog, my safe space, my place to clear my mind
During the last year I have changed my mind several times about the content that will appear on 5410Africa.com. Will it be personal? Or a commercial venture that purely provides travel information with the intention of generating income? I have tried both and decided on the former. I have a Youtube channel, Instagram account and Facebook page. It requires a cumbersome amount of time to take the perfect picture, film the exact moment and reply to each and everyone that seeks an answer.
An Alternative to my other social media
This website, now a blog, will provide me with an alternative platform. Yes, it will still be online and available for everyone to see. But it will be different in that I can simply sit down, write a few hundred words and publish. These words will represent how I feel in the moment and reflect upon where I am in the journey. Not always geographically, but in my mind and soul.
Imagine sitting on the ledge of a glorious mountain after a long climb somewhere in Africa. In front of you are hundreds of kilometers of open space with villages, locals and animals scattered in between. The sun is slowly making its way towards the horizon and shadows getting longer. Puffs of dust pop up as the wind playfully travels from one end to the other. It is an amazing sight and I have been blessed to experience many times over. It is in these moments that one needs to pick up the technology and “put a few words to paper”.
Of course, there will still be information. I will tell you where I am, what I have done and how you can do it. However, the essence of 5410Africa.com will not be commercial. It will be me, my journey mixed with the emotions that form part of it.
The good times and the bad
There will be ups and downs. Good days and bad ones. Ultimately, every emotion will get its opportunity to appear on this blog. I am under no illusion that it will be smooth sailing over the next 10 years. Actually, I expect there to be more rough moments than good ones, but that is the challenge of Africa.
Fortunately for me I have experienced Mother Africa in all her moods. For as the words of African statesman Thabo Mbeki goes “I am an African”. Born and raised.
I hope that you will be part of this journey. That you will enjoy the human side of travel this blog will provide. That you will experience the emotions with me and when I need it be there to encourage me to keep on going.
This will be my blog, not a website and I am happy to share it with you!
Nick fr Namibia
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Hi Nick. Just go with what feels right!
I am running some paid logos on my site, on selected pages, coded as NO FOLLOW.
The Kora Produccion one is in exchange for free T shirts. A blog post on that coming soon too.
Do you have stickers? Some one saw my sticker from San Cristobal ,;))
Best regards Trevor
Hey Trevor! Yeah just going to keep this simple, Im drowning with everything else going on. OK, awesome will check that out. Same here for the stickers, Ive received messages of people spotting them in the Western Cape and Namibia🙂
People buy into authenticity. Sell yourself without selling your soul. You have a success recipe, been stalking your YouTube posts for very long now.
Thanks so much for the words. That’s the plan. Hopefully it gets the bills paid 🙂
I’ve been doing what you’re doing for a decade now, received much in kind but never one cent in cash. Even so, despite being rather broke sometimes, I have accrued tremendous wealth, unless Govt knows how to steal my memories.
I like the received much in kind… so many amazing people in Africa, I just know there will be a lot of kind along the way. Not too worried about the bills, I dont have many, only need gas in the tank.
That gas in n the tank…R2k for every fill-up. I also saw what you drive; side shafts and even a camshaft snapped in two, transmissions failed. Luckily, with your brand, used spares may be more readily available. But they don’t always go right, either. I owned one of those. Gearbox, centre bearing and diff all failed literally 1,000km out of warranty and bad attitudes from the factory rep.
that’s about the budget, R2k per week…for fuel. This ones warranty expired about 15 years ago, lol. Preventative maintenance and take the rest as it comes. If it happens it happens. Wont be easy, but that doesn’t mean you dont try. Also isn’t that part of the experience/fun? (feel welcome to refer to this statement when Im complaining endlessly about being broken down somewhere in the middle of nowhere, lol)
When one is newly disabled, have to earn a living, pay the bond, feed the kids, a failing transmission and a very obstinate factory rep and stiff-necked manufacturer doesn’t help. They were all banned from my existence, yet a 2.2 4×4 afforded me a neck injury, which cannot be fixed by surgery. On soft sand roads in vineyards. Yes, the car lasted but broke everything else. That’s not my idea of fun at all.
I am not sure how preventative maintenance will work on side shafts, or that 2.7’s snapped camshaft, but maybe it missed a few oil changes along the way. My 2.2 GLE was fully serviced always, yet to no avail. The engine was great and, because I can drive, I got 12.2km/l where most didn’t get 8. I just didn’t accelerate briskly, letting the torque do its thing. That engine was a gem. I towed a Ventertjie and the car didn’t even feel it. We went from Agulhas to Nigramoep, Alldays, St Lucia and all over in between. I love twin tracks and dirt roads, chatting up karretjiemense while sharing padkos and moerkoffie with them. Nothing like a good gravel road with a hongertafeltjie.
Prevent as much as possible…the km/l you got was amazing, most of us wish for 10. Haha, that’s the way. I do the same. Just not that many people around anymore that just want to chat at the petrol station or wherever for a few mins. Everyone in a rush to somehwere… Met a travel couple in Brazil that pack their lunch everyday, not because they cant afford restaurants, because it allows them to have lunch anywhere they want. If they see a nice park, along the road, on a hike, in the mountains. I’m lucky that i get to do that again, just stop anywhere for a moerkoffie like you say 🙂
It helps to tame that right foot ….😀
Because we had no 4×4’s back then, our method was to deflate to 0.8 bar in front, or even less, and not more than 1.1 at the rear. Then, enough momentum, third gear and “Mexican speedocruise.”
I wish you many pleasant km, hope I will run into you one day.
Thanks so much & that would be great, share some stories 🙂 keep safe!
I am obedient, you can now mark my homework. 😀 https://eppyfany.wordpress.com/2022/02/05/the-art-of-overlanding/