In 2002 Ingrid and I had planned to go to Africa. The attraction to Africa had always been incredibly strong and I finally wanted to experience some of this amazing continent. We were planning on going to Tanzania to experience the Serengeti, dive in Zanzibar and climb Kilimanjaro.
During a neighbourhood BBQ in the spring of 2002, we met a neighbour who owned a company that ran Safaris in Africa. It quickly became apparent that *Wally was extremely enthusiastic about Africa and loved to regale his audience with adventurous tales of the splendid continent.
We had done a lot of research and knew that we did not want to embark on one of these "overland truck" trips. Our neighbour's company ran "u-drive" Safaris. The thought of actually driving your own 4x4 really appealed to me. Our neighbour also suggested that East Africa was too touristy and that Southern Africa was a better choice to experience more of the real Africa. Wally was running a Safari the next month and mentioned to us that he still needed a few seats to make the trip viable. Long story short, we signed up for the trip and were headed to Africa in May of 2002!
In less than three weeks, we covered a huge distance, driving through Namibia, Botswana and stopping at Vic Falls in Zambia. Although it was an amazing trip, it was way too fast paced. You really are not able to take everything in at 120km/h! Also, we had almost no interaction with local people, which was really unfortunate. Despite the rush, it was a good introduction to Southern Africa.
After the trip, we realized that we wanted to come back to Africa at some point in the future when we had substantially more time. Over the next year or so we were scheming how this might be possible!
We remained in contact with Wally and his wife and referred friends to his business. About a year and a half after our inaugural trip to Africa, I emailed Wally and asked he we could get together over a beer and ask him a few questions as Ingrid and I were contemplating traveling through Africa.
"You should really come over and sit down with us around a table with some maps etc, I can help a great deal...", Wally replied.
During one of our first conversations with Wally, we spoke about vehicles. We would need something reliable that would get us through Africa. Since I did not really know much about vehicles and had limited mechanical knowledge, finding an appropriate vehicle was a huge concern of mine. Wally assured me that he had many contacts in South Africa who would be able to help. This was a great relief as the last thing that I wanted is to show up in Africa and purchase a lemon that would give us nothing but grief. I had done some research on vehicles and figured that a 10-15 year old diesel Landy would probably be best. During our 2002 Africa trip we drove brand new Defender TD5's which were incredible to drive and since they were diesel, quite efficient as well. On average these vehicles were using about 10L/100km. Considering the distance we wanted to drive, this kind of consumption was what we were looking for. So why Land Rover? Well, the image of traversing across the African continent in anything but a Land Rover just did not seem right. Imagine, driving through the Sahara in an air-conditioned Mitsubishi? Where's the adventure in that? Besides, Wally was a Land Rover enthusiast who certainly had a vast knowledge about these vehicles. I figured we were in good hands.
About a month after we first spoke about vehicles, Wally sent an email and informed me that he may have already found us a vehicle and the guy selling the vehicle would even store it until we arrived in Africa. This sounded promising! Unfortunately, he said it was a petrol engine, which gave me immediate concern.
"If you have 3 times that and want to spend it, cool go for a diesel, you will likely find a good one for that amount. However, this one will take you where you want to go and save you lots of $. I will take a closer look when I see it next week as I have arranged and will be driving it for 2 days", Wally wrote.
About a month and a half later, Wally came back from South Africa and informed me that he had driven the vehicle and taken some photos.
"Run's well and is very simple and basic (to work on). It is a 1983 series 3s, the last ones before it was redesigned as the Defender."
Series III? Over twenty years old? Petrol? Not quite what I had in mind. However, if Wally recommended this vehicle, I would seriously consider it. After all, we trusted his judgement.
I received another detailed email from Wally, going over the condition of the truck.
"I had a good look at it and it will certainly do the job you want it to do. It has good tires on and sounds very good. Mechanically very basic and not complicated at all to fix should you need to. No oil leaks. No rust on the frame. All body panels are the original aluminium and not warped or damaged. It has a new and very strong motor in it which was put it recently with very low mileage on it. The gearbox is also in good shape. Every thing works. It has a bush bar on with room for a winch should you want to install one. It has a Salisbury axle in (this is a very strong and sought after LR axle). It has a fibreglass roof in place of the old alloy ones. What makes this a great vehicle for game viewing is the hatch on the roof that can be removed in seconds from this inside. Great for game viewing and photography. I had a good look, if you set the rooftop tent up correctly you can actually access the tents from inside the vehicle. This would be great for when you get lazy around a water hole in some game park...It has a long range fuel tank and room for a water tank to be built in, it might have had one in before. The interior is the original LR seats and still looks good. The rear bench seats on the side can be changed to face forward. The fact that they are on the side as in the picture makes it very easy to open the hatch and stand inside looking through the hatch like *Mike is in the picture. The vehicle is in a good enough shape to invest in and actually get your money back once your trip is over. Mike just had the brakes rebuilt from front to back. He also had a clutch fitted with the new motor."
"This truck will take you through Africa no problem."
"They want R35000 for it, it really is worth more. You can pay me here in Canada, cash, cheque or credit card. Like I said before, you should be able to sell it again for the same price once you are done with it. It certainly beats $20 000 for a later Defender..."
"In conclution I have no vested interest in this sale."
This all sounded very good! I was still concerned about the fuel consumption though and asked Wally. He told me in no uncertain terms that the truck would do about 8km/liter (12.5L/100km). That didn't sound too bad. I was still a little apprehensive about the whole deal and postponed making a decision until after the Christmas holidays. We weren't planning on leaving for at least another six months, probably longer, so I didn't feel the need to rush into the first vehicle.
There was some pressure from Wally's side though and he wrote a couple of emails.
"I suggest you secure the deal ASAP if some one shows up with the cash they will sell it. First come first serve..."
So in February of 2004 I paid Wally a deposit for the truck which I followed up with full payment in March of 2004. Included in the payment was $350CDN for storage insurance. Since we would not be able to take possession of the vehicle until we arrived in South Africa, Wally assured us that the vehicle would be safely stored and storage insurance purchased with the funds I paid.
The big ticket item was resolved. We owned a fine Series III Land Rover half way around the world! Wally then offered to help us compile a list of equipment that we would need to outfit the vehicle. Again, he had contacts in South Africa that would be able to help us source good second hand equipment. Wally indicated that Mike, the owner of our Land Rover would most likely be able to look for some of our equipment. We were extremely appreciative for this help as I did not want to show up in South Africa and have to purchase everything new.
"I will sit down this weekend a get a list going of stuff you will have to buy as well things you want spare parts of. One good thing is you have time on your side."
We met with Wally a handful of times in the evenings over a drink to discuss some of the further details of our trip. Wally always enthusiastically told us stories about his experiences in Africa. Originally from South Africa, he and his family immigrated to Canada a few years ago. He has been in the travel business for quite some time, running all kinds of Safaris in Africa. Wally seemed to know the roads, routes and trails through Africa like the back of his hand. We enjoyed spending time with Wally and his wife, whether it was at their home, in a restaurant or enjoying a dinner with common friends.
Wally had compiled the equipment list and sent it to South Africa. Wally even offered that he could do some work on the Landy for us the next time he was in Cape Town! A few months later, i queried him about the equipment list.
"I am off again on June 29 for a month....I will be checking in on the Landy at that stage...! Got your mails and forwarded it to Mike, not sure if he has found anything yet. Will keep you posted as I am sure he would appreciate payment ASAP after finding something.
At the beginning of August 2004, I received an urgent email from Wally.
"Not sure if you are working today but I need to talk to you ASAP please. I got back from CT yesterday and need to talk about stuff for the Landy... Phone me ASAPP..."
I met up with Wally and he informed me that Mike had purchased quite a bit of our equipment and urgently needed to be reimbursed. Wally said that a roof rack, rooftop tent, long range fuel tank, four fuel jerry cans, two water jerry cans, brackets for gas bottles, high lift jack and a spare wheel with mounting bracket had been purchased. He also mentioned something about a used fridge, but couldn't give me the status. Further, Wally mentioned that he had fixed the hatch on the Landy with some steel clamps and replaced the radiator hoses. Wow! This was fantastic, we now had a big part of our kit! I paid Wally cash for all the items so that he could reimburse Mike.
Several months later I again queried Wally about the status of the remaining items on the equipment list along with a few other concerns. The 12 month storage insurance would soon expire and I wanted to ensure that the vehicle was properly insured. Also, we were considering purchasing a second rooftop tent as numerous friends had indicated that they wanted to travel with us. I asked Wally about the driving courses his company offered. Most importantly, I asked Wally for Mike's contact details so that I could personally follow up with Mike.
Wally replied, " will do some ground work before we meet. When do you plan to go to SA? I can arrange a tent, just got to find one first....I will let my buddy in Jhb know, he moves in these circles...."
I wondered why he was not asking Mike to look for the second tent. I again asked Wally about Mike's contact details. Somehow the request for Mike's contact details would always be pushed aside until the day before we departed for South Africa. Always a good excuse why he had not forwarded the requested information. This really should have caused more concern, but as there was so many other things happening in my life at the moment, I did not give this important detail enough attention.
We again met up with Wally and spoke about a few more details including the driving course.
"We normally charge a minimum of $500 per day for special one on one training or special groups. However I will do it for $300 cash per day if that is OK? We can get together at my place at 9am Saturday and then do all the theory, Sunday we can spend the day on the track, It looks like I might be able to lay my hands on a LR similar to yours."
Sounded okay. I also forwarded Wally the equipment spreadsheet and asked him to sent it to Mike to definitively confirm everything that had been purchased. I had to send the spreadsheet to Wally a couple of times because he "accidentally" deleted that email.
I had booked off a weekend to do the driving course, but at the end of the Saturday, Wally indicated that he was not able to get the vehicle for the next day. The second day of training would have to be postponed. During the theory part of the course, Wally went over many of the details of our truck. Later we found out that many of these details were incorrect as Wally had not looked at the truck very carefully nor had he test driven it. That evening we shared a nice meal together out at a restaurant with him and his wife. At the end of the evening he insisted on full payment for the two day course. I was really starting to feel a little apprehensive about handing him all this cash for things that I had not received. Nonetheless, I trusted him and paid him in full.
We agreed on another day to do the driving part of the course and when I tried to contact him to confirm that date, I could not reach him. I left several messages on his cell, work phone and sent him emails. To no avail. Finally his wife responded.
"Wally is on his trip to Alaska at the moment. He told me he would try and arrange with *Bob his partner to put you through the driving course since you could not come to an agreement when to do the course that suited both you and Wally before he left. You could keep tying his cell phone or send him a text message on it. I am not up to date with everything that was discussed between you and Wally. The only thing I know is that my mom will only be back in SA after the 6th of June. I have asked my sister to see if she knows some one where you could stay. I can give you their address and phone number so that you can contact Mike to get the Land rover. When are you leaving/flying to SA? Wally will be back in Vancouver May 29th if everything goes according to plan. I know he was very busy before he left, and I didn't even have time to talk to him about everything so that I know what is going on. Therefore I am afraid I can not be of much help.
Although Wally and I had agreed to a date, he was now away on an Alaska trip. I suppose that is why I could not confirm the agreed upon date!
About a week before our departure, I had a vivid nightmare. I dreamed that we got to Cape Town and there was no Land Rover, the whole thing had been scam. Very unnerving, this dream.
A few days before our departure to Africa, I received an email from Wally.
"I am ready for your training, give me a call Monday morning on my cell at *604 555 1212, I do receive SMS. I just got a mail from Cape Town re your tent etc. we can talk Monday."
I called Wally on Monday morning and we arranged to meet at his house at noon the next day. This was cutting if awfully tight as we were scheduled to fly out the next evening and still had a million things to do.
We were at his home at noon sharp. We waited. I left some voice messages. We waited some more. After wasting an hour sitting in the car in the pouring rain we drove back home.
Wally called late that afternoon and said that an emergency had come up at work. Could he not quickly have called me to let me know? He said that he would drive to our house that evening.
That evening, Wally showed up and gave us some off-road driving pamphlets. That was our second day of training. So, he had spent a little less than six hours with us the first day and about five minutes for the second day. He was effectively compensated $100/hour cash, for the training he provided. What a deal! At this time, he finally gave us the contact details for Mike so that we could pick up our Land Rover. He told us that Mike and his wife knew we were coming to Cape Town and promised to let them know our flight details so that they could pick us up at the airport. Wally mentioned that we could most likely stay with Mike and Cindy for the first night. That was greatly appreciated!
We arrived in Cape Town on June 3, at 10:30am, only two hours after our scheduled arrival time. Not bad. Once again though, British Airways didn't let me down and kept their 100% track record of losing luggage. What a drag. At least we were given a few bucks to buy a couple of toothbrushes and clean underwear. We didn't find anywhere that sold underwear.
I had four contact numbers for Mike and Cindy. I could not get through on the first three and finally got through to Cindy on the forth number. She was very surprised to hear from us and even more surprised to learn that we were in Cape Town. This was not a good sign. Nevertheless, she agreed to pick us up.
Later that evening we were sitting in the living room enjoying a glass of red wine. Up until this point, we had not talked about the Land Rover.
"I hope you are not expecting too much," Cindy calmly said.
Well, we expected what Wally had been telling us. Then came the question of how much we had paid. This question was asked with a wary dubiosity. It turned out that they had actually received about 30% less than that what I had paid Wally! I quickly recalled Wally's comment in his one email about not having a vested interested in the sale of the vehicle. What was that all about? I was becoming extremely anxious.
"What about all of our equipment?" I blurted out, "where is that?"
"What equipment?!"
There was no equipment. Nothing. Wally had briefly spoken to them about looking for equipment about a year ago, but they declined as they feared that they would not get reimbursed by Wally for the items they would purchase. The puzzle pieces were quickly falling into place. The curtain dropped. I feared my dream from a week ago was closer to reality than I could have imagined. No. Wait. There has to be a logical explanation to all this madness.
We walked outside to where the Land Rover was standing. At the end of a street, next to a field, weathering away, their stood our Land Rover being used as a storage shed for an assortment of discarded junk. Nice. Mold was growing from the cracked windows, the fender was bashed in, the seats were torn and oil was dripping from the hubs. What is it again they say about first impressions? Oh I wish I had only known how bad it really was.
Standing outside in the chilly Cape Town winter evening, I was not amused.
I wrote Wally a detailed email, recounting everything that had transpired over the last year and a half. I carefully listed all the financial transactions with amounts and dates and what we had been told that we received for the monies paid. It clearly looked like we had been defrauded from thousands of dollars! I kindly asked for Wally to resolve this regrettable situation in a timely fashion.
Wally promptly responded with an email titled, "two sides to every story."
"As mentioned to you before you left, your stuff was in Jhb, I had another tent lined up for Cape town through some one else just in case we got a problem, I have been trying to get hold of the guy in Jhb but he is also not getting back to me, I do not live in CT and do not know any one else in CT other than Mike and Cindy that could assist with this, I do however know lots of people in Jhb area, due to the lack of interest from Mike and Cindy I have turned to others that I do know. I told you your tent etc was not in CT, not sure why you do not remember this? I also told you it will be shipped as soon as I can arrange it....!"
News to me. Now all of a sudden Mike and Cindy did not purchase anything, yet I specifically gave him money so that he could reimburse Mike for items he had purchased. Wally had almost a year to arrange this stuff, receiving the money from me eight months ago and now this story?
He further claimed that Cindy offered him a commission to sell the vehicle. I am not quite sure how that fits with his assertion that he has no vested interest in the sale of the vehicle. And then, 30%? No wonder he was pressuring us to purchase the truck!
Wally further writes, "I have spent a lot of hours arranging stuff for you, again for free? I have spent more than 30 hours in total informing you of places to go, routes, information on areas, explaining locations etc etc etc.....! you think this was done for the love of talking? All the years of travelling in Africa I gained knowledge and experience, this cost me money, I sell that knowledge just as any other professional does.
A lot of hours arranging stuff for us? Like what? Now all of a sudden it sounded like he wanted to be compensated for the time we sat together over a drink discussing Africa, traveling and listening to stories about when he was in the army. I've talked to a lot of friends about traveling and received advise from many and no one has later asked for remuneration. Absurd. We paid him $600 for his advice, that worked out to $20/hour for all the help he gave us.
Wally's concluding remarks, "In conclution if you plan on travelling through Africa, remember this: nothing is for free! as a well travelled person to another, "thought you knew this by now?""
I replied to Wally's email, correcting his false assertions by referencing emails he had sent. Again, I calculated the total amount of money which had been stolen from us and asked for it to be returned. He responded with a short email and stated that he was going to refund me an arbitrary amount of money which was substantially less than what he had embezzled from us. It took over a month to see any money at all and even then it was less than the amount Wally indicated he would send!
"This will be the last you hear from me, we clearly do not see eye to eye."
Yes, clearly we did not see eye to eye because of all the mendacity and fraud. How could one person do this to another?
I received an email from his wife.
"*Helen here. After reading this e-mail and everything up to date, I would like to apologise for this. I did not know what was going on, and was also assured by Wally that everything is OK and that I would not have to worry about this. I am deeply deeply offended by Wally's behaviour and lies. I am really deeply hurt that it has come to this and would like to apologise from my side. I know this will not rectify things. I will also make sure Dan/Mike that you get your money back if Wally does not pay it back I will personally get a loan and pay you back. I know that in Wally's way he was just trying to help, but the lies are unacceptable. Dan and Ingrid I wish you all the best on your trip and I hope you will find many people that would help you along so that your trip would be a memorable good experience. Cindy and Mike also thank you for all the help you are providing for Dan and Ingrid."
Now what? We had a vehicle that looked like it was in pretty bad condition, but I thought that it might look worse than it actually was. Turns out it was worse than it actually looked. Further, we had absolutely none of the equipment that we had paid for. We decided that we were going to attempt to remain positive and try and make do with what we had. Another factor was that we had friends flying from Canada at the end of the month to meet us and travel with us for six weeks. Seeing the situation we were in, this seemed like an insurmountable goal; just another source of stress. I had made a promise though and they had spent good money on non-refundable tickets to Africa. I would do my best to make it happen.
It took us almost two weeks to even get the vehicle road worthy so that we could register it in our name. This should have been a sign of things to come. We solicited the expertise of various mechanics and asked for a complete review of the vehicle. No one seemed to give us the big picture and only suggested repairing this or that.
Over time we had to repair or replace almost everything on the truck, including: tires, brakes, clutch plate and both slave and master cylinders, complete exhaust system including skimming of manifold and manifold gasket, shocks, leaf springs, shackles, bushes, u-bolts, altenator, water pump, carburettor, starter, solenoid, mechanical vacuum advance, hub seals, wheel bearings, bearing races, thermostat, thermostat housing, radiator, radiator hoses, fan, fan belt, temperature sender, temperature gauge, oil sender, speedo cable, distributor, plug wires, spark plugs, engine mount, gearbox mount, re-wire the electrics, switches, air horn, assortment of seals and gaskets including the cylinder head gasket, rusted floor boards, door frames, door locks... the list goes on. Of course not all of these items were either discovered or addressed while still in Cape Town, causing endless amounts of grief during our subsequent travels.
So, not only had we been defrauded from thousands of dollars, but the vehicle sold to us could probably not have been in any worse condition. It is ironic, isn't it, that I was now stuck with a complete pile of junk for a vehicle and had to rush around trying to buy all the equipment new; exactly the situation I did not want to find myself in. To make matters even worse, I found out that I could have purchased a similar vehicle, in much better condition, for almost half the money!
The time in Cape Town was utmost frustrating. So many issues to deal with and no real direction or solutions. Several times I was ready to climb back on a plane and return to Canada. In retrospect, had I known what I know now, this would have been a wise decision. With many unresolved issues on the vehicle, we finally departed Cape Town to meet our waiting friends in Namibia, which over time proved to be a big mistake that would cost us substanial amounts of money.
We had noticed that the fuel consumption was not exactly stellar while driving around in the city of Cape Town but never really calculated the exact efficiency. We figured it would be better while driving long, uninterrupted stretches. To our dismay, we quickly discovered that the truck was using about 30L/100km and that it only got worse when we went off-road. Our worst day through thick sand in the heat of the early afternoon was close to 50L/100km! Holy shit batman! That was a far cry from the 12.5L/100km that Wally had told us.
Learning more and more as we went along, it truly became apparent that we probably could not have purchased a less suitable vehicle for our trip. An old series III Landy with a Chev 4.1 engine conversion kludged together by some backyard mechanic. The engine was older than I and spare parts could barely be found in South Africa, never mind further north. The fuel consumption rivals that of a Formula One car, yet the top speed of 80km/h leaves something to be desired. This kind of fuel consumption is also a big concern for range. There are some stretches we intended to drive on where petrol stations are over 800km apart. That's a hell of a lot of fuel we have to carry! I found out that our particular model was an R6; limited production = rare parts. The Santana gearbox in our truck was only made in Spain for a couple of years and spare parts in Africa are virtually non-existent. A couple weeks into the trip one of the R6 rims split apart (luckily at low speed) and I have not been able to find another R6 rim anywhere in Southern Africa! So we are currently driving just on three wheels. Ok, the Defender rims fit but the offset is quite a bit different, reducing the stability of our already wobbly truck.
Having spent countless hours in garages and making endless mechancial repairs amounting to several times the vehicle value, coupled with the necessity to purchase almost all of our safari equipment new, after only a few months in Africa we were already nearing the end of our 12 month budget! Quite unfortunate.
Almost two years of blatant lies, fraud, theft and gross misrepresentation; this from people that we trusted and considered friends. Truly inconceivable. The best part is, these folks consider themselves Christians, active in church and sitting in the pews on Sunday!
Time again and again, my worst experiences with people have been with those of the religious persuasion. I am starting to understand that these people can only justify their pitiful existence and atrocities they conduct during the week by running to church on Sunday and praying for forgiveness. With the uttering of a few words, their conscience is clear and they can embark on another worry free week where their actions seemingly have no consequences.
Months later, upon some legal advice, I have written another letter to Wally and his wife requesting payment of the outstanding funds, giving mention to his wife's remarks of taking out a loan if Wally did not pay us back.
Wally's wife responded, "I replied to your e-mail before getting Wally's side of the story, trusting that you will have all the facts straight. Clearly this story has two sides to it, and I am with Wally on this. After I spoke to Wally, we decided on the amount we would pay back to you. We have done so, except for $300 we still owe you. This we will do as soon as we have the money. Wally was only trying to help, spending countless hours to help you. You can not blame him for everything that is going wrong."
Clearly Wally had time to convince her of his story. They have entrenched themselves in this story and have chosen to ignore the facts, even going as far as believing that Wally's "countless hours" were all in an effort to help us. Although they admit guilt by offering to pay something, they have felt they can arbitrarily choose an amount that is substantially less than what Wally embezzled. Helen writes that we cannot blame everything that is going wrong on Wally, yet all of our problems have been with the heap of junk he peddled on us under false pretence so that he could make a buck for himself.
Wally's response was less verbose, simply insinuating the threat of violence should I contact them again. And it's off to church again on Sunday for our pious friends!
It has been an adventure; far from what I expected.
* Names of characters in this story have been changed to protect their identities.