OKA 327 in Africa

Some great shots its good to see the oka in its natural habitat, hope you are having fun , keep the photos coming .cheers peter 334

Fabulous post, I really enjoyed that, thank you.
Cheers, Paul

Awesome! Great seeing the OKA in the wild.

Good Pics and information.

Shame OKA didnt make it in Africa, might of been the boost they needed. Although just about every Safari/Outback tour Operator in Australia had OKA`s.

Hi OiA,
Really entertaining post. I just retread it and followed up all the links, which I'd missed first time around.
What I'd like to know is, what was the plan of action if the Oka toppled off the pontoon or couldn't get back onto land? Call the RAA?

OiA, in case you missed it, your post is now in a public Members Vehicles area so your friends/family can access it using this link .

Note, this link has a different address to its previous location, so you'll need to update any references to it.

Great video by the way, I don't think I'd have been that brave, mud, water, hippos, crocs, sub-machine guns?

How did you get out of the Mana River bog?

"How did you get out of the Mana River bog?"


How to get stuck with an OKA in Mana Pools national park, Zimbabwe:
(location)


1. Decide to "just quickly" go alone on a game drive late in the afternoon.
2. Do not take the "unnecessary stuff" you have set up at your camp site, e.g. your shovel and spade, food, etc.
3. Drive off the track to look for the short-cut river crossing to find the pride of lions you did hear roaring all night long.
4. Assume you can cross the river following a muddy track with your 5 tons OKA since game drive vehicles (1,5 tons) have done it as well before.
5. Drive slowly so you do not have enough momentum to get through.
6. Get stuck!



How to confirm you are stuck with an OKA in Mana Pools:
1. Try to reverse to get more stuck.
2. Remember you left all the "unnecessary stuff at the camp", remember that you must be stuck in the area were you did hear the lions and remember it's getting dark in about an hour.
3. Offload the OKA to reduce weight.
4. Try to rip out a small bush with your winch.
5. Realize that you have to spend the night.



How to get UNstuck with an OKA in Mana Pools:
1. Walk to the track the next morning and put up a sign.
2. Hope that a vehicle will be passing by at some stage.
3. Ask them for their shovel.
4. Dig out all the mud behind your tires and stuck wood into the track.
5. Use a rope to connect the Landcruiser at the back of the OKA and coordinate both vehicles to roll at the same time.
6. Focus on the task to get out so you are not distracted by any lions passing by.
7. Have a cup of coffee with your new friends.

PeteFox wrote: Hi OiA,
Really entertaining post. I just retread it and followed up all the links, which I'd missed first time around.
What I'd like to know is, what was the plan of action if the Oka toppled off the pontoon or couldn't get back onto land? Call the RAA?

The pontoon was at a very isolated location. No tractor or 4x4 truck around for a days distance.
Despite my calculation that the pontoons volume would probably not carry the OKA I tried. I do not want to imagine what would have happened if the pontoon was not sitting on the river bed after I drove onto it.

We decided to spend the night and drove trough the river the next morning.

Yup, I think you've covered all of the necessary prerequisites for getting bogged.

The only thing you could have added is ensuring you camp is a river bed when there's a danger of flash flooding, but I'm being picky.

Glad you got out intact anyway, an inspiration to all of us yet-to-get-severely-bogged-in-a-crocodile-river types.

Some OKA pictures of the Botswana tour 2013 ...



Lusaka, Zambia




Chobe, Botswana




Limpopo River, Botswana/South Africa




Mopipi, Botswana




Sunday Pan, Central Kalahari, Botswana




Baines Baobab, Botswana




Planet Baobab Lodge, Botswana




Sua Pan, Botswana

The resemblance to travelling in the Kimberley's is amazing, a truly beautiful spot!!!!
Cheers,Joe

Just returned from my trip in Africa, thanks for your OKA support via the forum.
Some more videos from the OKA in Africa:

Helping a stuck australian family:
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39783116/Rid...%20-%20Gro%C3%9F.m4v

Check out www.boteti.de for some more videos of the "OKA in Africa". Contact me if I should send you the password for the menu "videos".

OIA, your intro video looks intriguing.

If you were to send me the password in a Private Message, I could provide it to Oka owners who express interest.

Keeps it safer that way.

David

Good idea, thanks for that. I did sent you the password.

OiA

Thanks Grischa,

If any members would like to see more videos from OIA, let me know and I'll PM the password to you.

David

Great videos Grischa (and I've only watched a couple so far).

What drone/camera set up did you use for the aerial shots?

I like this pic, sums up many people's thoughts?

Dear Dan,
thanks for the compliment. We are using a DJI Phantom 2 Vision drone which I recently enhanced with a 2 axis gimbal. I must say that I am very satisfied with DJI, especially when I drowned the drone in the Chobe river (see video "OKA in Afrika 2015") and I managed to get it flying the next day.
Sorry for the videos being in English language. We are thinking about editing subtitles into the next videos, let's see.

P.S.: Every OKA owner visiting me in Kasane, Botswana, within the next year is getting a free beer!

Dear Dan,
thanks for the compliment. We are using a DJI Phantom 2 Vision drone which I recently enhanced with a 2 axis gimbal. I must say that I am very satisfied with DJI, especially when I drowned the drone in the Chobe river (see video "OKA in Afrika 2015") and I managed to get it flying the next day.
Sorry for the videos being in English language. We are thinking about editing subtitles into the next videos, let's see.

P.S.: Every OKA owner visiting me in Kasane, Botswana, within the next year is getting a free beer!

And another P.S.: For those of you enjoying African overlanding I highly recommend to watch Andrews videos on youtube. Solo crossing of the Kalahari is my favorite: https://youtu.be/pO_K_wV1rAE

Dear OKA friends,

my wife finished editing a video of our trip - OKA in Africa 2016, this time it is narrated in English. Maybe some of you enjoy the video.
I dedicate this video to David Ribbans, who was supporting me with his OKA posts and personal technical advice to keep our OKA up and running.

Merry christmas