Saying Goodbye to Elli - South Africa

 Friday-Sunday 7-9.6:

On Friday we brought our car to a Nissan service station to let all necessary things fixed for it to be sold the next day. In the end 2 of the mechanics wanted to buy the car right there but they did not have the money we asked for. We also got the necessary road certificate (although we needed to convince the official at the testing facility) which you need to sell it .

The next day we had arranged 4 different appointments with potential buyers. The first one, Frans and his wife Claire, immediately said they buy it. We got all the necessary paper work done and he transferred the money on my account in Germany.  Then it was time to say goodbye to Elli. It was a sad moment for both of us to see her drive away. It was the perfect car for this once in a lifetime trip. 

                                     last picture before we had to finally say goodbye to Elli

                                                           there she goes on new adventures without us....

In summary  Elli drove us 20 000 kilometers in 130 days from Capetown through Namibia-Botsvana-Zimbabwe-Zambia-Malawi-Tanzania-Mozambique back to Johannesburg in South Africa.  We crossed 13 National parks escaped from wild elephants and hyenas chasing us. Slept at over 60 different places and and camped at the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. In the end we only got stuck in the mud once thanks to the strength of Elli. However we also had to spent numerous times with the local mechanics to bring her back to life.

Considering that we both did not have a clue about cars before we bought Elli in the end we learned quite a few things about it the hard way like bushes are not just plants, always look back when reversing the car in a national park, never fill diesel in a petrol tank, rooftop tents can fly if they are not securely fastened to the roof, a brake saddle should never lose both screws at the same time and finally never trust the work of a mechanic etc. ....

At the end of the day we celebrated with Hanneke and her friend Johann drinking lots of excellent bottles of wine thinking about the many unforgettable moments we had the privilege to experience on this once in a lifetime trip which already seemed like just a dream.

                                                                                Hanneke, Johann, Ju