Capetown - the calm before the storm...

Arriving back in the office is always a bit strange after 18 days off in between circuits - during which the most challenging thing we have to do is decide where (and when) to sleep. This time, its out with the old and in with the new as we find out we are changing trucks - so goodbye 'tati' and hello 'shashe'!

Before a trip starts, we (the crew) are in the office for three days, preparing the truck, making sure everything is in place and doing possibly the biggest imaginable food shop to (hopefully) set truck supplies up all the way to Uganda - 11000km and over 50 days away.

This time, we must move all our equipment from one truck to the other, not forgetting the essentials that make the truck our home on the road - photos, information sheets, and of course skeleton duty rosters - which can only be filled in once we've met the awesome people who are travelling with us for the next 11, 19, 34 or 41 days.

Tomorrow Letaloi and I will head to Makro, then off to Ashanti Greenpoint for predeparture - we'll next be in Capetown after 120 days on the road...

Overlanding must haves:

• Sense of humour and willingness to get up early!
• Sleeping bag (and check first which weight you'll need - the Namibian desert and Ngorogoro Crater in the African winter are COLD)
• Closed shoes and flip flops
• Waterproof (for rainy season)
• Torch (preferably head torch)
• Ipod or similar (audio books are a good option as you can look out of the window at the amazing scenery)
• Passport/ yellow fever certificate
• Camera, batteries, charger (plus spare memory cards, or USB sticks)
• Phone charger
• Adapters for chargers (and note - South African adapters are not part of a universal charger)
• Small padlock and key for internal lockers on truck
• Pens, paper, cards etc