You guys are gonna love this... well maybe... My friend in Africa? His response to me wanting to get a decked out cruiser, taking some time off to drive around there for a year:
You can buy a decent 70 Series -- either the stripped-down kind you
saw used as safari vehicles here, or also the boxier one that went
under the name of Land Cruiser Prado for around $10-12,000. Then add
the extra work and tires, etc you'll need to add and your looking
closer to $16-18,000, if you wanted to properly safari it up. You
could also start yourself off in South Africa, rather than here, but
am not sure the costs there. The benefit of there -- the first-world
nature of the place -- comes at a cost, and it tends to be pretty
damned expensive. Here, you would need a week or so to put the vehicle
in safari shape, but you'll find plenty of spares and modifications
for Land Cruisers. Any big stuff, I would ship here beforehand because
there is no real duty on vehicle spares and you can be sure they are
genuine. The safari vehicle-style 70 Series are still assembled here.
A brand new one goes for about 2.7 million Kenya shillings, or around
$45,000 at the current exchange rate. The benefit to those models is
the same benefit to owning a Defender -- the government has loads of
them, and that means you can usually find spare parts anywhere if you
are willing to part with a small bribe ... The Prado-style 70 series
may be harder to find parts for.
I wouldn't suggest getting anything but right-hand drive and diesel
... on our trip up north, diesel was the only thing you could find and
most of the continent was formerly British, hence right-hand drive ...
of course, I can also hook you up with some Somalis and you buy it
very cheap ... but then the risk of getting it into Kenya is a bit on
the high side!
If you're giving this serious thought, let me know because I've got
plenty of contacts and advice. The one I'll give you for free -- do
it.
