What happens solo overlanding Africa in a 37-year-old BMW? — featuring e34xpeditions

0:02 Okay, guys. I think I'm running out of fuel. there's somebody there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this  guy looks a bit uh angry at me. Let's give   him some space. After having crossed the entire  length of the African continent in a 37y old BMW,   we have a new challenge. It is called the  race to Mombasa. Because in only a couple  

0:26 of weeks, a container ship will leave from  Kenya towards Oman and Theodor is supposed   to be in one of those containers in order to get  to Oman where the Middle East challenge will be   waiting for us. Join the wild ride on one more  episode of e34xpeditions. I don't believe it.  

0:45 Just driving on a normal public road and suddenly  I see this guy. My goodness, how cool is that?   Just a road in Botswana. Wow. Hey. Hey. This  guy looks a bit uh angry at me. Let's give him   some space. I'll just drive back a bit. There we  go. It's okay, bro. No need to be angry at me.

1:09 May I pass? Yeah? I'm not sure.  I'm a bit worried. He looked very   angry. And he's bigger than me.  Way bigger. Huh. I think we have   a small problem with this guy. This  is surreal. Okay, I think we can go. He looks angry. God damn it. I don't think this  elephant likes me. Please don't don't attack me.

1:42 Okay, I think I'll just try to  quickly pass now. That's That's   a funny problem to have. An angry  elephant that wants to attack you. Okay, quickly, quickly, quickly. Let's go. Let's  go. Let's go. Don't attack, please. There we go.   Thanks, bro. This guy seems to be not in the best  mood. You have to be careful these elephants. You  

2:02 have to respect them and give them enough distance  because, yeah, they are bigger than you. And   uh if they get grumpy, it's not really good.  But if they start flapping the ears and stuff,   better keep some distance. Well, this is  interesting. Almost got attacked by an elephant.  

2:17 Imagine trying to explain that to your insurance.  Yeah, I'm I drove to Batswana and then an elephant   attacked me. And that's the first elephant I see  on this journey outside national parks. Okay,   guys. I think I'm running out of fuel. Yeah, I'll  have to fill up. I only made 769 km on one full  

2:39 tank, but I guess it's okay since I was driving  a lot of off-road. But if I hit the gas, yeah,   I don't have a lot of power. It doesn't really  take any gas. Okay, that means I'll just roll   here into a spot and fill up fuel for my jerry  can. If I already have to use my emergency fuel,  

2:56 it means I cannot drive much further than the  next petrol station if I'm lucky. Whoopsie.   But luckily, I'm prepared for this kind of  stuff. I still have some fuel from Angola in   my jerry can. It's uh yeah, will be with me for  a while. And it's sitting underneath my toolbox.

3:18 There we go. Well, that's not good. It broke. Damn  it. The hinge. Looks like it got fixed already   in the past. I didn't even know that. Uh-oh.  That's not good. Because I know they're quite   hard to find. Okay, it's not full this thing. I  think there's still about 12 13 L inside. Okay,  

3:39 really quick fix for my broken hinge  because I don't want to lose it and   doesn't look very good to be honest. clean  it a bit and then I will use some super glue. Okay, I put about 12 13 liters of petrol into  Theo, now the jerry can is completely empty   and it's only 77 km to petrol station. Crazy to  think of it since we already drive like I don't  

4:01 know 300 today or so. I'm I'm not even sure but we  can make it. Yeah, the road is lined with potholes   and that's a bit of problem because uh my my  fuel is low and if I have to slow down a lot and   accelerate again avoiding the potholes. Well, I  also have higher fuel consumption and I'm running  

4:18 quite low. So, yeah. Let's hope we can make it.  Ah, perfect. We made it. Basically, right here on   the left hand side, there's a camping spot marked  on iOverlander. It's right next to the road and   the thing is the official road is a bit further to  the left and we're driving on some road around the  

4:32 construction site. That means that the camping  spot is basically on the current main road. So,   not a good option. Which leads to the consequence  that Theo and I will continue driving into the   night once again. Let's hope we don't hit any  elephants. Do they sleep at night? I don't know.  

4:44 Let me know if you know. But we're definitely  surrounded by wild animals here in Botswana.   I mean, I have to admit, I do enjoy these night  shifts. And it's also not too bad to make a bit   of progress because in about 4 weeks, Theodor  is supposed to be already on a container in  

4:57 Kenya. So, actually, time is running low. Good  to make some progress here, even if it's dark.   Driving through Botswana and I have to say  the atmosphere is beautiful. Like there's a   lake here. Probably some animals around  but I don't see them in the dark. Yeah,   I have to be a bit careful when driving here.  But it is nice and full of atmosphere. Ah,  

5:19 I like it here. I like Botswana.  Botswana is a nice country. Okay,   so somewhere here. Yeah, it looks good.  Some track should be leading towards some   salt pans or some wild camping spots.  We're going to just drive there now.

5:45 Okay, it's 7:20 in the evening. It's completely  dark. Arrived at the spot we'll stay for tonight.   So, basically, this is a salt pan. Well, we  just at the edge of it. And then there's a   small track leading from here down there. Yeah,  you can turn off the engine and get ready for a  

6:06 comfy night here in the utter darkness. Okay,  had a peaceful night here and you can only   appreciate the beauty of the spot at daylight.  Actually, it is remote. I'm cooking some eggs. So,   it's good have some hot boiled eggs with you  on the road if you get hungry. Yeah. And look  

6:25 at this place. It is absolutely special, huh?  Today we have some amazing plans because today   we're heading to probably one of the most  amazing places in terms of wildlife. I mean,   I already saw elephants yesterday, but today  there'll be more in the next camping spot. I   did some research on iOverlander. It'll be crazy.  What a place to be live, huh? Okay, it looks like  

6:45 we might have a flat tire. I mean, not flat flat,  but I think he's losing some air. So, let's check   the pressure tire and see. Yep, 1.5 bars is  definitely not enough. It was 2.5 yesterday. So,   there's a hole. Only question is, do I fix it  now or not? I could just put some air into it  

7:02 and continue driving. This is full of salt, huh?  It's not really convenient to work on it here. I   guess I'll do it a bit later. Okay, it's my new  compressor I bought in Windhoek. It's the third   compressor I use on this tour because somehow  I have a big compressor consumption. So, let's  

7:17 see how this one is. And there we go. The tire is  getting filled up a bit. Compressor standing here   directly connected to the battery. I mean, if I  decide to be a complete nerd, I will install him   at some point in the engine bay. That'd be kind of  cool. I mean, there's enough space. For example,  

7:34 I could mount him in front of the battery or  somewhere here. Okay, time to hit the road. The   tire with the hole has 3 bars. And now we're up  towards some new amazing adventures because today   will be a very exciting day, I think. Let's go.  Theodor and I made it to the settlement of Nata,  

7:51 which is a small place somewhere in the middle of  nowhere. And currently we're looking for a place   to give Theodor a good wash. I mean, yes, he looks  very dirty, which is no problem, but we spend a   lot of time on salt flats. So, I want to wash him  a few times in the next days to make sure that as  

8:04 little as possible is left from all the salt and  the salty dust. I mean, it's not good for Theo   crossing an almost empty river. Ah, hello horse.  What is your plan? Looks cheeky. Yeah, Nata. Nata   and Botswana. Ooh, there's a car wash. It's a  classic African one in the dirt. The problem is I  

8:23 don't have a lot of cash. Let that you have enough  to pay for a car wash here. Hey man. Everything   good? Huh? Everything good? Yeah, everything is  good. Uh, how much is it to wash only from the   outside? Only from the Yes. 150, bro. I have  only 30. That's all I have. I can also do it  

8:39 myself. I only want to give it the rinse because  I was in a salt fat. Salt flats. I want to wash   off the salt. I negotiated. He wanted 150. I'm  giving him 30 now and I'm doing it myself. That's   maximum power. Yeah. Okay, that's fine. Thank you,  man. Okay, the car wash was a complete fail. Um,  

8:55 apparently they use salt water to wash cars here.  Well, they use salt water everything. There's no   sweet water here. Apparently, locals even drink  it. So, I was using salt water to wash off salt.   Yay. Um, I think I have to find another car wash.  And now I still got a bit of air into my partially  

9:09 broken tire at the petrol station. And I'll head  into the nature. It'll be absolutely amazing. So,   stay tuned. Yeah. Been driving through the  absolute nowhere for a while already towards   the hunter road which is this track which is  surrounded by animals. And there's some checkpoint  

9:23 here. I think it's a vetinary control, but I'm not  quite sure. Let's see what happens now. If we can   just drive past or not. I think also got the wrong  cell phone provider because I have no network,   but there's a tower here. Apparently orange is not  the network that I would recommend in Botswana.  

9:37 Let's see if we have to stop here or not. I don't  think we have to stop. Let's see. Checkpoint. It   says checkpoint. Yeah, they're worried about  some diseases spreading here apparently. So,   they're very careful. But I think that the strong  strict regulations are in the other direction,  

9:56 not in this one. So, probably they don't really  care. Okay. He wants me to stop. Hey, what's up?   How you doing? I'm good. How are you? Hey, good  to meet you. Hey. We love your vehicle. We love   your vehicle, my friend. Thanks. What's up? How  has been the journey? Good. Good. I like Batswana.  

10:12 It's very beautiful. Yeah. Very empty but I like  it. Yeah. Yeah. Very empty. Only elephants here.   So where are you going right now? Um I'm heading  towards uh Zambia. We're heading towards Zambia.   Yeah. So we are going back to Germany via that  side. Yeah. Correct. So you know we follow you,  

10:28 right? Yeah. Please do. Yeah. Hey, nice to  meet you guys. All the best. Somebody just came   here and enlightened us that you are you on the  way. Really? Yeah. We saw you then. Just go and   breathe. Oh man, that's so nice. That's so nice.  To this gentleman. How is it driving this old  

10:44 man? Ah, it's so good, man. Already 60,000 km on  this tour. And the car is going strong, huh? Still   going strong. Yeah. So, when you reach him and  you post it back, we buy it. I love this car. I   cannot sell it. You know, it's like my friend. You  cannot sell your friends. Okay. You understand?  

10:59 You don't want to lose your best friend. Exactly.  Exactly. Hey, do you think I can put one of my   stickers onto your window? Yeah. Yeah. Let's  do that. Good. Huh? Yeah. Yeah. Can you put it   there? Is it okay? Yeah. Yeah. You can just put  it. Nice. Let's do that. Perfect. Here. So, it  

11:15 won't be in your way. If you sit, you will not see  it. Wow, guys. Nice to meet you. Take care. Bye, nice guys. Let's go. Yeah. I mean, it's funny while traveling. The  police guy said apparently that they follow me   and that somebody came already today and told  them I'm coming. I don't even try to understand  

11:44 how that worked and what happened there. But uh  always nice to be greeted with a big smile. Thumbs   up to Botswana and to the Botswanian people who  are very friendly indeed. And the landscapes here   empty. Beautiful off the beaten tracks. Absolutely  lovely. Okay, I already saw an elephant along the  

11:59 road and a little bit of research how to act  if you see an elephant because they can be   dangerous and they're definitely not scared of  you. So you should be at least you should have   a lot of respect for the elephants. Maybe better  be scared. So basically if the elephant changes  

12:14 its behavior because of your presence, you're  already too close. So just make sure not to   annoy him. Keep enough distance, respect him and  don't forget it's always elephant before car. If   he wants to cross the road, you stop. You let him  pass, you stop with a respectful distance and you  

12:29 should be fine. If the elephant starts flapping  his ears, doing strange twists with his trunk,   then he should know he's not happy with you and  you should carefully slowly back off and give   him some space. And this is exactly what I will do  because yesterday I have to say this elephant was  

12:46 kind of scary. And they're big, huh? They're  like over 4 m tall and weigh I don't know 5   tons. So it's more than double of Theodors weight  including all his like rooftop tent and equipment.   So he can play football with Theo if he wants to.  I mean, this is crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy heavy,  

13:00 massive, strong animals. But, I mean, they're not  aggressive by default. You just have to give them   their space. Let's see how many more elephants  we see today. Huh. Let's go. And now, Theodor and   I are arriving at maybe one of the most amazing  camp spots so far. I have very high expectations  

13:14 of this place because it might be that I sleep in  the middle of a zoo. Basically, just drove off the   main road. I'm not entering a natural reserve.  There's no gates, no fences, no entry fee.   We're just somewhere in nature in Botswana and  I think this will get crazy but let's see. It's  

13:31 only an assumption. We don't know. So this road  or track rather leads straight to a water hole   and I hope that there'll be water inside the water  hole because if there's water inside it means that   animals come will come there to drink and uh yeah  camping close to that in a safe distance of course  

13:47 will be quite an amazing experience I guess. So  I'll keep you posted guys. But first, we still   have a couple of kilometers on this little track  littered by elephant poop. More or less fresh one   even. So, yeah, they're definitely elephants  around here. Google maps don't work here. So,  

14:00 I'm just following kind of the direction to the  iOverlander spot. There giraffes up front. It's   the first time I see giraffes on this journey.  My goodness, they look a bit shy. And there's   also a zebra. What a place to be alive. I  mean, Theodor is standing there and right  

14:13 here behind him are the giraffes. I've never seen  giraffes in wildlife and this is just pure nature. Okay, I continue driving now in that direction  because that's where I want to go. Let's hope that   they won't run away. Sorry guys for disturbing  you. I don't want to drive to you. I just want  

14:35 to drive past you if that's fine. Damn, there  are many trails and a lot of elephant poop here.   That's definitely a place to be for the wildlife.  There they are. What a view out of the car. I'm   sitting in the driver's seat, huh? And that's my  view. Yeah, the water hole is here. So, there's  

14:52 still a bit of water left and then the giraffes  are right there and Theodor is here of course,   there's also a big skull lying there. I guess it  might be an elephant skull, but I don't want to   walk to the giraffes and scare them away. I will  now look for a place to sleep where it's not full  

15:07 of elephant poop and not full of tracks because  I hope to find a place where I don't disturb the   wild animals too much. And on iOverlander people  said there's some solar panel somewhere and I   guess it's there. So, I guess I'll put myself up  there. It's a bit away from the tracks. I'm very  

15:21 curious what the night will bring here. Oh,  there's some other animal back there. I'm not   sure what it is. What is it? Oh, it's a zebra.  Hello, zebra. And I'm heading now somewhere here   past all the elephant poop. And I'll try to find  a spot where there are no tracks. Oh, there's also  

15:41 some water hole here over the mud hole. Doesn't  look all too tasty. My God, what a place to be   alive. I mean, this is incredible. Okay, guys.  I was just running around minding my business,   um, preparing some food and then I look in  front of Theo. And here is the first elephant.

16:02 My goodness. I'm camping here. Okay, he's looking  my direction. I have to say I have respect for   these creatures. I'm a little bit worried.  Please, dude. I don't want to bother you. I'm   just chilling here. Okay. It's crazy how silent  he is, even though he's so huge. I mean they are  

16:17 five tons approximately to demotivate him a bit  to be too curious and come here. So I'll just step   out of the car better than if he comes closer and  then get surprised by my presence. I have to say   I'm a bit nervous. Hey bro, Benjamin, what's up?  As far as I know, the females live in herds and  

16:35 uh they're pregnant for 22 months. I think  it's the longest time period that any mammal   is pregnant. It's the elephants. And the kids  live with them for many years. And then the   males at the age of 10 or 12, I think, leave the  tribe and live a lonely life. Sometimes they roam  

16:49 around as bachelors with other guys and only meet  the female elephants for mating season. Guys,   I have to admit I'm still not quite sure how  safe this is with the big elephants around. So,   what I'm doing now is I'm packing all my stuff  together. So, in case I have to leave in a hurry,  

17:02 I can't just go without leaving anything  behind because yeah, I have to admit these   elephants are are big and he definitely is not  scared of me, which is totally fine. I'm small   and uh he's big. Let us hope he doesn't come  over to play. It does feel, I have to admit,   it does feel interesting to be alone with  such a huge creature. I mean, it's only the  

17:19 two of us here. Nobody else. Okay, guys. He's  walking in my direction, and I have to say,   I'm a bit uh not sure if I like that. I mean,  it's amazing, but he's he looks curious. Bro,   I don't want any trouble, okay? But you're  much bigger than me, so please don't don't   come too close. I think I'll sit in the driver's  seat just to be able to leave if I have to.

17:43 He's coming straight in my direction. Damn it. Not   sure I like that. It's okay.  It's okay. Let's keep walking. Okay. I have to say I'm nervous, but  he's passing, I think. Or is he not?

18:11 Guys, this is uh crazy. He's just,  you know, bunch bigger than me. Damn, that's close, bro. It's okay. I respect you a lot.

18:44 Okay, that was scary. I turned on the engine.  Good thing is now he's not between me and the   exit anymore. Sorry for disturbing  you. And have a nice evening, huh? My goodness, guys. Have a nice evening Benjamin, nice to meet you.  Okay, but this little encounter right now I think  

19:11 makes me decide not to sleep in my tent, but on  the driver's seat because if something happens,   I want to be able to leave directly without  having to put the tent back together. So,   I think I'll sleep in the driver's seat because  everything else might be a bit too dangerous.  

19:25 Because I'm sure somebody will ask me, why are the  solar panels here? Well, uh the following. There's   a water well here and with some tubes and a pump  that probably used to be here. It looks like a   well and water was pumped here for the animals.  But unfortunately, locals decided that it's a  

19:38 good idea to steal some of the stuff. Um, you  can see some destroyed rests here, for example.   The cables were stolen, dismantled. It's a big  mess. So, unfortunately, the pump doesn't work,   which is a pity for the animals. One panel here  remains, but yeah, no pump connected anymore.

21:04 Okay guys, I'm comfy in Theo already got  everything prepared so that I can sleep. And   it's the fourth time on the entire journey in the  last 15 months that I sleep on the driver's seat.   The first time was in Siberia. There were so many  mosquitoes. I just couldn't put up the tent. It  

21:19 sounds stupid, but it was just like you went out  and you got instantly stung by 100 mosquitoes. And   now I'm testing if there are mosquitoes in order  to decide if I open my tent or not. And they are.   So, god damn it. I don't know what I will do now.  I think I'll go back to the car. This is just  

21:32 absolutely crazy. God damn. I'm getting eaten  alive here. That's not normal. Oh my god. It's   happening again. Damn it. I thought it's getting  better because it's later already. But I mean,   look at this. Now I'm already completely  surrounded by mosquitoes of the car after  

21:45 this very short test we just set together outside.  This is crazy. I just killed three at once. Look,   the second time was in Morocco. I was stuck in the  sand and my rear bumper was strapped on the roof   and was not the perfect time to open the tent. And  there he is still very stuck waiting faithfully  

22:04 for me. Ah, I'm so sorry. I didn't find any help.  So, it's up to us two now to get you out of this.   This the third time was in Windhoek when I arrived  on a tow truck in the middle of the night. So,   I slept on the driver's seat of Theodor while  Theodor was on the truck. And the fourth  

22:22 time is here. I'm not even quite sure if it's  necessary, if I'm just being overly cautious,   but this elephant, I don't know. I'm missing a  bit experience with elephants. Yeah, guys, this   is the current situation. And I have to admit, I  cannot wait for the moon to come out so that I can  

22:35 see what happens behind the screen at the water  hole because the sounds are pretty interesting.   Okay guys, it's completely dark already and I  want to check if there's some animals around. Okay, somebody there. Oh yeah, it's a small  deer. Cute. Who else is there? I don't know  

22:56 what these eyes are about, but there many of  them. But I guess the rabbits are quite small. Is it also a rabbit? Oh, it's a small deer. It's a   baby deer. Be careful that no  lion gets you. Little Bambi. Okay, guys. Good morning. I have to say it was a  rather cold night here. It wasn't the best night.  

23:26 I also checked via my satellite device  the weather and it's about I think 6°C   this night outside so it's also not exactly  warm but yeah actually lying here is quite   comfy. It's not too bad. This is the view  right now. Yeah, slowly getting light. Okay,   I still had a small nap in the car before  leaving and waited for the sun to come out  

23:45 a bit and then when I sees the giraffe  who's very curious what I'm doing here   and drinking in the water. So peaceful and  beautiful in the utter silence of Botswana. Okay, time to go. This was absolutely crazy  beautiful. I guess it was probably top three camps   on the entire journey so far. Together, I guess  with 4,600 m on the Pamir Highway, an amazing camp  

24:12 at the cliff in Angola. But I guess this place  with the animals was probably the most crazy and   beautiful of them all. Very, very special place  indeed. Yeah, today will also be amazing because   today we're heading to Zambia. My goal today  is Livingstone, which is the town right next  

24:29 to the Victoria Falls. So, yeah, another highlight  coming up directly today. One thing after another.   I have to say this is intense in a good way. So,  that's again the elephant scull we saw yesterday.   Lot of elephant poop. By the way, this morning I  made a few steps and there was a bunch of zebras  

24:47 right here on the other side. We're surrounded by  animals without even noticing it. It's beautiful.   Okay, guys. I'm again a bit worried because  my gearbox makes some sounds when shifting   sometimes. Third and fourth gear sounds again  a bit like the synchros last time. Ah, there's  

25:02 always something. Huh. I mean, we don't know  what the new gearbox went through in the past,   but it's actually overhold. So, I'm surprised  that it makes any problems. And these gearboxes   are supposed to be bulletproof. So, I don't quite  understand what's going on here. But once you're  

25:15 in gear, it's fine. It doesn't make sounds when  being in gear in contrary to my old one. So,   that's really much better. Yeah, we're reaching  the ultimate border chaos because at this spot   here, basically four countries meet. At the west,  we've got Namibia. At the east, we've got Zambia  

25:28 and Zimbabwe. In the north, Angola is not far and  in the south, it's Botswana. So, yeah, definitely   many, many countries here. And also quite a mess  with trucks and a bit of traffic because yeah,   we're close to the border. Okay, this is a truly  endless line of trucks. It's still about 7 km and  

25:45 the trucks are standing here already. Crazy.  Yeah, I have to look out a bit for the traffic   from the front because I'm on the wrong line  naturally since I'm overtaking these trucks,   but we can just give some space here. There we go.  There should be enough space for everybody. Uh,  

26:02 perfect. That's quite a big ridge here. Let's  see where we can get back onto the tarmac. Okay, that the last meters to the  border. Still endless truck line.   There we go. This is us entering border  zone. Let's see if we can just pass here. Hello. How are you doing? I'm fine. Zambia. Yeah.  Thank you. Huh? Have a nice day. That was easy.

26:40 And right now we're crossing the Zambezi  River. And the Zambezi River. Well,   you might not know the name Zambezi River,  but you will definitely know the Victoria   Falls because that is the river that powers  them a bit further upstream. And of course,   we'll go there very soon. And it's not far away  from here. So, that's very exciting indeed. Okay,  

26:57 once again, I think it's time to turn off the  camera in order not to get into trouble here.   And in the next episode, we will be surprised  by a serious breakdown, which will result in   the craziest roadside fix on this expedition so  far. So, if you don't want to miss this, yeah,  

27:12 really rally style roadside fix coming up, make  sure to hit the subscribe button in order not to   miss the next video. Thank you once again for  watching and for being part of this adventure.   This would not be the same without you guys.  Really, I really enjoy sharing it with you.  

27:25 Thank you for all the positive comments during  the last weeks and months. You guys are absolutely   incredible. So yeah, thank you to every single  one of you for being on board and see you next