Off Roadin'

Last weekend, Phil and I took the Low Range 4wd Bush Drving Course offered by a local company called OnCourse. During the first half of the morning, we had a classroom lesson which taught us what makes a 4 wheel drive off-road capable. We learned about differentials or "diffs", torque ("torque is cheap" is a favorite saying in the 4WD world), braking systems, transfer case, suspension, gearboxes, and tires. Considering my background in the inner workings of a vehicle is zero, I learned A LOT. And I even found it interesting and very helpful in understanding why and how the car does what it does in off-road situations.

The rest of the day, Mick, our instructor, gave us several demonstrations of how to handle tricky yet common situations we may encounter while driving in Uganda. We then got a chance to drive ourselves through different courses which allowed us to practice our new skills.

The main obstacles we can now tackle include driving through mud, recovering from getting stuck in mud, hill ascents and decents in muddy and loose gravel conditions, stall recovery, and water crossing.

We are ready and looking forward to our next safari where we hope to put our bad-a driving skills to work!