Sadly, this will be our last installment of PJ in Africa as this chapter of our travels has come to an end. In case you want to catch up on this mini-series, you can find the other entries here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).
Uganda to South Africa
Living in Lugazi for a month meant much less time in PJ, although he was our mode of transportation to and from Hopeland School every day. Each morning we would navigate the dirt and mud, weaving around potholes and tractors to make it to school on time. In the afternoon, we’d drive back and hope that the traffic police wouldn’t stop us (they usually did). Since it was the rainy season, we usually returned with an incredibly dirty car, but thankfully the night watchman enjoyed washing cars at 3:00am so we got a carwash once a week.
Despite the limited use, PJ still found ways to act up. A week into our stay, we noticed the refrigerator had stopped working. We bought it six months ago! After some internet research, we discovered this was a common problem with Engel fridges and was typically solved by placing it upside down for a day, right-side-up for a day, and then plugging it back in. Whatever this did to the compressor, it started instantly after following those instructions. Crisis averted!
Near the end of our stay, PJ threw another wrench into our plans. The rear door wouldn’t unlock or open, no matter what we tried. This was the only way to get at the fridge and gear in the back, so there was no way we could continue without that functioning. Innocent took us to a local mechanic who disassembled the door, cleaned the locking mechanism, and put it all back together. We were back in business! Or course, this being Uganda and us being white, they gave us a price of $45 for 20 minutes of work. Thankfully Innocent was with us and negotiated it down to $20, which I’m sure is still five times more than a local would pay.
After our volunteering stint in Uganda, we set out for Rwanda where we would leave PJ behind for our excursion into the DRC. After that, it was a drive across Tanzania and down the coast of Mozambique, finally ending back where it all started in Johannesburg. We encountered some rough roads and overzealous traffic police along the way and racked up $30 in speeding tickets (one for going 35 in a 31), but PJ didn’t give us any real issues (minus a blown fuse) as we made the long journey back.
On December 17, six months after we first took off in PJ for our wedding, we arrived back at our second home, Westmoreland Lodge in Johannesburg. Now, all we had to do was sell PJ, all our gear, and hop on a flight to Asia.
Anybody Need a Car?
Despite numerous posts and price reductions as we made our way back to South Africa, we weren’t getting much luck on a buyer for PJ fully loaded. We thought we had a couple from Israel who would put him to good use, but they decided that owning a car in Africa was more than they were ready for (which, to be fair, is probably true). Although we weren’t getting a lot of interest in the car with gear, we were getting a decent amount of interest in everything separately, so we made the decision to disassemble PJ to facilitate a sale and our quick exit.
Once we started posting items, we got plenty of responses, albeit at prices well below what we paid. Faced with the option of prolonging our stay in Johannesburg or a speedy sale so we could spend time in Malaysia, we opted to get out of there as quick as possible, booked a flight for December 24, and opened the floodgates to the sharks.
We posted everything on Gumtree (South African Craigslist) and a few Facebook groups – the South Africa Pajero owners group was by far our most successful post and was where we sold almost everything. Some of them even knew who we were from our earlier requests for assistance with the engine trouble – Oh, you’re the American couple with the engine problems — we were Pajero celebrities!
Friday, December 20 was the biggest day. After striking out on a couple of avenues for selling PJ, we finally had a buyer as well as a separate one for the rooftop tent, awning, and some cooking gear. Our first stop was in Pretoria where we met Jacques at his shop. He was thrilled to get our tent and awning for use on his family camper and even sent us some pictures later that week of his boys testing out the tent. We were super happy that our gear was going to a good home. Selling PJ himself was a bit sketchy and forced us to deal with a rather unsavory fellow, but he paid cash (without even test driving it himself) and we dropped it off at his house and quickly called an Uber. The reality hit on the way back – we were homeless again.
With the big items gone and our flight deadline looming, we turned our efforts to selling off the rest of the gear in earnest. As each of our prospective buyers would come to our hostel, Coons would keep bringing extra gear out from our room to spread it on the porch like an overlanding flea market. One guy had to beg him to stop bringing items out because he couldn’t help himself, but Coons kept finding excuses to run back and grab a few more things. Everyone who came over was incredibly friendly and gave us some good tips about how we could sell the rest of the gear (or bought way more than they planned). We even have a few standing invitations to braai (BBQ) the next time we’re in South Africa!
Finally, we were down to some miscellaneous items that we loaded into a borrowed shopping cart (thanks Pick N’ Pay) and took to the local pawnshop to scrounge up some cash.
We had a hell of a ride in Africa with PJ. We covered 30,000 kilometers (18,650 miles) over 10 countries. We visited 10 different safari parks, waded through rivers, drove through desert & beach sand, and climbed sections of roads that we honestly weren’t sure we could. It was such a great experience to be self-sufficient with a tent, fridge, and cooking equipment and be able to go anywhere we wanted on our own schedule. We met a lot of incredible people along the way – thankfully we kept the third seat as we used it quite a bit for other travelers – and saw a lot of things that wouldn’t be possible outside of Africa. PJ, you will be missed and we’ll never forget you (but next time, we’re shipping from the US!).
Kent
The sixth, and unfortunately last PJ installment. For all the challenges PJ posed he did allow you to see a part of Africa people with newer vehicles miss. While it might be aggravating at times you mention those challenges, of corruption, broken down parts, incorrect engines and all the rest. Without PJ your experience would have been less rewarding I’m sure. Plus the freedom to go as you please, while concurring terrain had to have been priceless. PJ made a good story for your readers and now that I think about it was your first novella presented in installment as they were often published in days of old. Did you save his license plate?
On to the next adventure.
Love you