I think it’s fair to say that it’s been inevitable that one day I would own a vehicle like a Unimog. Having grown up on a farm I’ve always had a bit of a thing for big chunky 4x4’s.

I guess it all started with talks with our good friends Ben & Jo about the possibilities of doing an overland trip together through Morocco to the Sahara. I’ve thought about 4x4’s in the past and even researched vehicles such as the Landrover 101 Forward Control.

In the last couple of months in 2005 both Cally and myself had been reading journals posted on the internet by people that have, or are doing overland trips through Africa. Some of these journals gave us enough inspiration to seriously look at getting a 4x4 for a trip like this.

The main stream 4x4’s (Landrover, Nissan Patrol, Toyota Hilux etc) were ruled out very early on. This is primarily because we tend to plan trips over long periods of time so we can really take in the culture and being able to park in favored spots for a week or so at a time. We also really like being in a motorhome type vehicle and have been spoiled with all the creature comforts. A small 4x4 simply wouldn’t do! This means that we’re looking at quite an expensive vehicle/project.

So we needed to find an affordable vehicle that was not only a 4x4, but could accommodate everything you would normally find in a motorhome. After doing various research into different vehicles we found that the best vehicle for this type of trip and one that we could just about afford is a Mercedes Benz Unimog.

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