Cars and others in Arusha and around

this post should have been available a few days ago but the local provider decided otherwise...

 

and old Land Rover 109 used in a camp. A killer with the lousiest brakes and

steering I've ever tried. I nearly got killed a coupla times with it. And this

driver got tricked as well...

 

no other car was available in camp, so this one, the garbage car, had been

quickly cleaned and  modified with wood posts and canvas to welcome some

clients, who luckily had sense of humor! The Unimog came for rescue.

 

 

ready for the World Rally Championship...the roads in town get more

dangerous during the days around those races. Drivers feel free to train and

drive crazy in town! Knowing their skills and the quality of their cars...

Which reminds me of a famous story here in Dar es Salaam: an expat was

driving fast and crazy in town like a local. A cop got him to stop and tried to give

him a ticket. The driver then pretended that he couldn't help drive fast with

the car, that it was precisely meant to be fast and powerful, that he was still

struggling to control the beast with the touchy gas pedal. He even offered the

cop to have a go. The cop half believed that (I hope) and let him go! And the

driver, consistent with his lies, departed full gas with spinning tyres and in

a cloud of dust! Perfect!

 

 

one of the few adverts against Aids. Nevertheless one can read read the

word 'familia' on the side, it seems this is the good kind of activists...

not the ones favored by the Vatican nor the Bush admin'!

 

 

this Beetle was spotted in Arusha a few months ago. The painting was

uglier before. The previous owner thought little school kids

would do a great artistic painting job: she gave them some paint

and brushes for a few hours. The final result looked like flower power

artists under LSD...Wish I had a picture.

 

 

same style, this other VW. No clue who what and why. Only spotted it

once and gone with the dust...though the plate is Tanzania registration...

notice the superb gazelle horns and the wood statue on the front.

 

 

sadly a vanishing classic in Africa...these Peugeot 403's were strong

and unintentionally made for Africa rough conditions, no matter the

driving style, the mechanics, the lack of spares, the bad roads...now

the 504's have taken over with the same success for more years to come.

 

driving lesson in Africa...only half a joke sometimes...

 

going for a second life, probably for stripping and scrap metal.

 

 

far out in the bush. Primary colors!

 

 

coach on a quick stop, big business for the hawkers.

 

no comment...

 

French writing on this superb Citroën 2CV but the owner was Dutch.

We had met him on the bicycle trip to Cape Town, somewhere in Zambia.

The guy was deaf but showing no fear and no concern as he was touring

himself too across the continent.

 

 

a tourist from South Africa, in Arusha....

 

a Land Rover 101, ex-military truck. Ideal stuff for off road trips

and carry our biking gear somewhere nicer for a start, for a weekend

or more.

but the best car is this one, my old

faithful Land Rover 110. She just pissed me off

big time last month when she broke an

alternator and a propeller shaft on our

way to Ndutu but other than that...loving it!