Question and answers
Q. Why the hell are you doing this?
A. Good question. We don't know yet but it sounded like a good idea at the
time!!! Besides it's a once in a life opportunity to do something different!
Q. Seriously why Africa? There's wild animals there!
A. We are both South African and felt it was time to go back to our roots.
We're hoping there's lots of animals to be seen!
Q. Why don't you just take a tour bus through Africa?
A. We're not the sort of people who enjoy being told what to do and when
to do it also travelling with a 3 year old means she likes it even less!
Q. Why now? Have you read the papers?
A. We thought we should do it before we're too old to take on this sort of
journey, before our daughter starts school in September 2010 and now seemed like
a good time to take a career break.
Q. Ok but have you done this sort of thing before?
A. No but nothing you put your mind to can't be achieved!
Q. Which tent?
A. I can't remember how I first found out about roof top tents, but suddenly
a whole new world of dwelling space opened up to me. Then it came to deciding which
one is right for us. There are so many on the market. Most are made in South Africa,
but some are Australian and in typical German fashion, the Germans have copied one
and tried to improve it. I think this must be the only case where they haven't completely
succeeded. After spending hours on google and forums I came to the conclusion that
there are only 2 brands worth considering: Howling Moon and Eezi Awn. I really liked
the Howling Moon Stargazer, but the nearest place in the UK for us to go and look
at a Howling Moon was hours and hours drive away from us.
In the mean time we discovered Footloose4x4 and after talking to Paul Marsh, he
just said there was one for us and that was the Eezi Awn T Top. And with the space
on our roof rack and the size of the Disco we could opt for the 1.6m.
The main benefit of the Eezi Awn is that “the floor is made of a marine-grade plywood,
which is reinforced with aluminum supports – this combination of materials yields
superior strength and insulation properties ensuring a warm, reliable tent regardless
of weather conditions.”
Q. Ground tent or roof tent?
A. I have also read that parents who travel with kids say the best thing
to have is a ground tent. We always knew we would get our roof tent in South Africa
(cost and space to ship in a container) so we needed a ground tent in the mean time.
We were still debating whether we would use both and take both tents with us.
Neither of us had really done any camping and as our plans started to progress and
Summer was approaching we knew we would need to do a lot of camping and practising.
But what tent to get? Luckily friends of ours have been camping for donkey years
and were able to give me a lot of good points. All the jargon was still new to me
so they helped a lot (Thanks Al!). I now knew without a doubt we needed a polycotton
tent because a polyester would be too hot for Africa. But we still needed a small
and lightweight polycotton. We found a garden centre not too far from us (about
45 min drive away) that had probably 100 tents on display. After looking at all
the Outwells, Vangos etc. I found one stuck away in the back. I walked into it and
knew this was the tent. After all my hours and hours of research I had found our
tent. It was not a name that had come up in my research at all, but on returning
home and reading up about it, I found out it was a new part of the Outwell company
called Robens. It is called the Robens Double Horizon. It is a polycotton tent and
the tent and poles together weigh 22kgs. It is a 4 man tent with 2 rooms. We liked
this idea as we could give our daughter her own camping room and she could have
a place to play and have her own quiet space.
We took our tent with to Morocco where it fared very well. We got MSR ground hog
stakes (very strong) as the pegs that come with the tent bend when you just look
at them funny. (Thanks again Al for the recommendation!)
We thought Morocco would confirm whether we would need both tents, but to be honest
we only have a few weeks before we go on our journey and I'm still not sure.
The way we had packed the ground tent was to put all the accessories: poles, ground
sheet, sleeping bags, self inflating mats etc. in the roof box and the flysheet
gets put in its bag in the back of the Landy. When we got the roof top tent fitted,
we didn't realise that the Add-a-Room all fits into a big bag. This bag happens
to be the same size as the bag containing our Robens ground tent. What to do? We
have probably decided to leave the ground tent behind completely, but a part of
me is thinking we may still need a ground tent. Perhaps we should look at getting
a little one? What if we're camped somewhere and it is raining for 3 days in a row?
We're travelling with a 3-year-old – she will need her own space to chill out and
we would like a place to sit in the evenings that is slightly more bugfree. I suppose
if it is raining for 3 days solid, that is the time you book into a chalet or permanent
accommodation of some sort.
Q. What travel insurance to get?
A. Almost all the guide books I read recommend you get medical and repatriation
cover to the value of £10,000,000 - that may sound a lot but it covers getting you
to a good hospital, flying family to you if you can't be flown out and/or flying
you out back to the UK or neighbouring country with the right medical care. And
suddenly all these costs add up. Also, check that they are affiliated with SAS or
Europe Assistance. Another thing I found, to cover a trip like this you need a single
trip policy. Annual policies cover you for a year but only 30 day holidays at a
time. Some travel insurance companies also only cover you for a certain number of
days. I found most of these cover you for 120 to 180 days or so. Very few will do
longer than that. Hence the reason for a more specialised policy.
There are a few good companies I found from reading other travel blogs. Here are
a few I liked:
All of these come recommended or they are companies with excellent customer service
as I spoke to them and were very helpful in providing good information.
Travelling as a family, especially with children, you need a good policy.
Also check what sports cover you get. These companies all cover a wide range of
sports and it wasn't necessary to get extra cover.
Any questions?
Please feel free to email us if you have a question. Chances are we did all the
research re. products etc.