Story & Photos by Louise Orlando and Andrew Barbour

[Louise Orlando and Andrew Barbour, Cape Charles, VA, took their 1960 Series II from London to Capetown 16 years ago. This is the final chapter in their remarkable trip –ed.]

When the Ugandan border guard stamped our passports to make our escape from Zaire complete, we kissed the ground - literally. Freed from the mud, bugs, and cloying jungle of the Ituri rainforest, our spirits took wing again. Ahead lay the fabled Mountains of the Moon and Uganda, once described by Winston Churchill as the “Pearl of Africa.”
After a month in Zaire, we were physically and mentally exhausted. We decided to recharge our batteries at Lake Mburo, one of Uganda’s lesser-known national parks. It consists of classic African grassland, dotted with thorn trees and thickets of scrub. At its center lies Lake Mburo itself, home to crocodiles, a large hippo population, and myriad birds. (…)

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By Jeffrey B. Aronson
A fisherman friend came up to me in our island’s village parking lot, a wharf on the edge of the main harbor. “You know, Jeff,” he said, “You can actually buy cars made after 1980.” He then touched the door handle on his family minivan and watched the door slide open electronically.
So what if his door moved automatically? Does his car provide him with health benefits? I don’t think so! Performing even the simplest maintenance on a Land Rover gives you a fitness workout usually accomplished only with the aid of those strange devices extolled by Chuck Norris and introduced by lovely blondes on late night infomercials.
The Land Rover exhaust is a series of bolted together pipes. Replacing them gives you the chance to get eaten alive by bugs while lying on the ground, chew on rust flakes, spit out dirt and search for nuts, bolts and washers that fall onto the ground. And it’s free! (…)

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Story and photos by Louise Orlando and Andrew Barbour
[15 years ago, Louise Orlando and Andrew Barbour, Cape Charles, VA, spent a year driving a 1960 Series II Land Rover from London to Cape Town. Their adventures formed the basis of Andrew’s writing the Fodor’s Guide to South Africa. Part I of their adventure ran in our last issue. Here’s Part II –ed.]
“Mines to the left. Mines to the right. Stick to the piste. Bonne chance!” With these encouraging words, our Moroccan military escort removed a length of chain that hung across the end of the paved highway and waved our convoy of 23 vehicles into the minefield separating Western Sahara and Mauritania. To reach safety, we would have to traverse 50 kilometers of desert sown with anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines. Oh, joy.
The convoy’s engines roared to life and, one by one, our vehicles rolled off the asphalt into the yellow sand that stretched to the horizon. (…)

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