An eulogy for Landcruiser Nyekundu

 

From Kagera down to Mbeya...

 

It's time to say goodbye to our trusted vehicle, a short wheel base Landcruiser from 1990. We bought the car back in May 2015 when we lived in Moshi and it has served us well over the years. Affectionality called, "Nyekundu", which is Swahili for the color 'red'. Creative, I know, but unfortunately it got its nickname from the traffic police repeatedly identifying the unique color of the car.

The vehicles was manufactured in 1990 and as far as we can tell, it began its life in Tanzania at a coffee estate for several years in the early 2000s. After this it was sold to someone working a desk job in Moshi, who would turn out to be Ana's co-worker. When this person wanted to leave Tanzania we jumped on the offer to buy the vehicle. I remember very clearly that we took a trip down south via bus and it was filled with trials and tribulations and thus motivated us to purchase a vehicle. We struggled to find a vehicle that suited our needs as we wanted one with serious off-road capabilities but not unnecessarily large. There were some smaller cars like RAV4s and Suzuki Escudos but we ultimately felt like we wanted something with more power. The problem was that most of the Landcruisers and Land Rovers were retired safari vehicles and thus far too large for our needs. So we were extremely excited when Ana's co-worker told us the vehicle was for sale and jumped on the offer immediately.

We immediately put the vehicle to the test and quickly realized the four wheel drive was broken. This would be the beginning of an extended lesson in vehicle maintenance. I had never owned a vehicle before and a decades old manual diesel Landcruiser was certainly an interesting first vehicle. I went from barely knowing how to check the oil to being able to troubleshoot almost every issue imaginable.  One of the funniest moments was the seat debacle, I'd suggest you read the entire blog post.

Broken cross joint, clogged injector pump, busted propeller shaft, broken four wheel drive, road blocks, runaway vehicles in the market, and changing tires with a tiny jack are just a FEW of the issues...

Despite the challenges, the vehicle served its purpose. We've had some amazing trips with the car and put over 80,000km (50,000 miles) on it. It has climbed some seriously muddy and inclined hills while also navigating through some flooded areas. The most intense situation was probably when we had to go through a crazy flash flood risking flooding the engine due to a lack of snorkel. I loved the height of the car giving it very comfortable clearance through the most serious off road adventures. 

I've never been someone that's been really into vehicles but I will admit that once I got some experience with Nyekundu, it felt like I could go anywhere. It was painful to realize that we were not spending enough time in the areas that justified such a vehicle. We've since "downgraded" to a RAV4 but we'll still remember all the great times with Nyekundu.