Our dream

Southern Africa is a dream destination for overlanders, with its diverse and extraordinary landscapes with an abundance of spectacular wildlife. This section of Africa offers some of the most breathtaking overlanding for anyone seeking a journey of discovery and adventure. Being based in Midrand, South Africa has been the ideal gateway to travel the whole of South Africa and its neighboring countries like Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and into the rest of Africa. 

Overlanding is a budget friendly way to travel, as camp sites are much more affordable than staying in resorts, hotels or even timeshare. An added bonus is having your own bed to sleep in. Traveling by car is usually cheaper than flying and having to hire a car and the journey becomes part of the whole experience. For those international guests, there are various companies where you can hire a fully equipped overlanding rig if needed. There are companies that can organise your trip for you, or you can join a tour. Having a diploma in Travel and Tourism has really come in handy in planning and organizing all our trips.

As with most of us we believed in the impossible dream and did everything we could to achieve an unattainable way of life. Our hard work and constant stress resulted in us falling incredibly ill, leaving both of us burnt out and on the brink of death in hospital. We came to the realization that our hard work had been meaningless, unrewarding and we could not appreciate what little was left. Our plan for traveling once we retired was shattered when we lost many loved ones that had worked their entire lives and once they retired were too sick and old to travel. Realising this disastrous method and understanding that we barely had time for each other let alone our children, something had to change.

And so, the story begins.

We were lucky enough to be invited to join friends of ours for an overland adventure to the Kgalagadi. We booked a year in advance for Nossob and Mata Mata camps on the South African side of the park. This adventure is what really set the wheels in motion and where the overlanding bug bit us hard. It was due to Sim Racing that we decided to go to Namibia and meet all the legends that formed part of the online community. It even got us traveling near and far within South Africa from Pretoria to Cape Saint Francis, Jeffreys Bay and Clarens making some amazing friends along the way.

In order to do overlanding you firstly require a 4x4 and secondly a rooftop or ground tent, or else a offroad caravan/trailer. After careful consideration we decided that a rooftop tent would be best for us from a safety, budget friendly, versatility and ease of use perspective. Thirdly is all of essential equipment you need. and last but not least is consumables like water, food and fuel.

We purchased a brand new 4x4 and completed a 4x4 course. Anticipating a great start to our adventures as we headed off to Ponte de Ouro in Mozambique. Unbeknownst to us we had purchased the wrong choice of vehicle for our needs leaving us with a rough start. We learned from our costly mistake and now own "The King of Africa" a Toyota Landcruiser. 

This choice was inspired by our long-term dream of traveling to the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater in Kenya, as Toyota's are renowned for their reliability, and their availability of parts throughout Africa. We love our vehicle and would not change it for the world. It has taken us all over Southern Africa and we have never once gotten stuck.

Since an offroad caravan or offroad trailer was out of our budget and a ground tent not a safe option for wild camping. We decided to look at a roof top tent. A brand new one was really expensive, so we resorted to Facebook Marketplace. We spotted a reasonably priced Eezi-Awn rooftop tent not far from where we stay. When viewing the rooftop tent, we noticed that it was sitting on top of an old Challenger 4x4 trailer. We made an offer for the trailer as well, which was accepted and so 'Our Hobo Home' was born. We kept looking behind us on the way home for police as this deal was a real steal. Setting up or breaking down camp is quick and easy. The tent has managed to survive severe storms with lighting, hail, rain, gale force winds and extreme temperatures from minus 8 to 38 degrees Celsius. We sleep like babies through it all as we added a convoluted mattress on top of the original mattress. Now it's even more comfortable than our bed at home.

Besides Our Hobo Home, we have managed to acquire a lot of our camping gear via Facebook Marketplace for half the price, from our Roof rack, Nikon camera and Lenses, Mavic mini drone, solar panel, porta-potti, diesel jerry cans etc. We took our time to look out for specials and slowly built up our inventory.

You Tube and Face Book are great sources of information and Google Maps is always great for plotting the route and calculating traveling times and fuel costs. Another great source of information, great ideas and products is the various 4x4 expos. We visited the 4x4 & Outdoor show held at Zwartkops Raceway, were we purchased a 75l water tank and air compressor at great show special prices. This is where we also fell in love with the Mobi Lodge and still dream of owning one in the future, especially as we get older, and it becomes difficult to climb in and out of the tent and we need to go to the bathroom multiple times a night.

We really hope that by sharing our story and experiences we inspire other like-minded people to achieve their dreams and live better, healthier and happier lives. With proper preparation and a spirit of adventure, your overlanding journey could be life changing!

The overwhelming sense of being while in nature and our ultimate goal to see the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater is what drives us to travel and continue the never-ending adventure.