[kipperfan]

So after having gone to Europe the past couple of years I am looking for something a little bigger and more rugged then the backpack/hostelling thing. I have been looking into this for about 2 weeks now but the amount of info I need is absurd and am just looking for anyone with first hand experience to help me out. I am planning on doing the trip sometime next year.

The trip I am planning (and yes, I know this sounds rather daunting) is to fly to London, purchase a used Land Rover Discovery (Defender would be better but not sure how realistic that is), have it modified in London as needed and then take it all the way down to Cape Town, SA and back to London. What I am looking for is anyone with experience travelling in Africa (particularly overland travel), anyone with experience with overland travel (and properly equipping a vehicle) in general and anyone that can comment (with facts, not hearsay) on the ability for one to travel by vehicle VIA western Africa.

Any help or advice would be great, looking for firsthand experience for the most part as I have already searched the internet fives ways from Sunday.