Independent overland travel through Africa in a Unimog called Moglet

So much more than I ever though, and the rules constantly shift for the African countries. In a nutshell, here's some of the basics:

• Passport (48 page jumbo is a good idea)
• Medical Insurance
• Driving Licence
• Insurance (for while we're still in Europe)
• International Driving Licence
• Carnet (or insurance instead)
• Carte Gris (only for non-UK vehiles - its a V5 to you and me)
• International Certificate for Motor Vehicles
• Visa's
• Vaccinations
• American Express card
• Passport photos

Plus extra things we've read about/had recommended along the way:

• Letters of reference from your employer (to prove you're coming back!)
• Expired/cancelled VISA cards (to make a up a fake wallet for dodgy situations)
• Vaccination certificates (especially Yellow Fever)
• Crib sheet of personal medical info (in French and Arabic)
• Colour photocopies of driving licence (for those 'less scrupulous' looking borders!)
• Business cards (in French and Arabic as well as English)

Insurance

Considering how tricky this was to arrange for a Unimog, I thought an extra paragraph or three here wouldnt go amiss.

The three biggest issues I faced were the fact that Moglet weighs over 3.5t, she's still on a Q plate from when she was imported in 2001, and we need Europe cover for more that 31 days continuous. One company also seemed to take personal offence at the idea her conversion wasn't completed by a 'certified conversion specialist'! Anyone know where you can take a conversion course for a recognised qualification??!!

There's loads of companies who can sort cover for the plus 31 days, or for a Q plate, but only one company I found that would actually give us a policy we wanted.

We'd heard good things about the NFU, and in fairness to them, the girl I spoke to at our local office was really helpful and badgered the underwriters relentlessly to get them to stretch a bit. I know they already have existing customers with Unimog campers, but it would appear they've fallen out of favour as a vehicle, and no new policies are being issued. One glimmer of hope on the horizon was that although the underwriters called the shots for the office, the underwriting teams serve a region rather than the whole company. So, although I'd get the same answer from all the offices in the Eastern region, it was suggested that perhaps I might like to try an office location a little farther from home, to see if there was any 'discretion' that could be exercised. A very customer friendly suggestion from the insurer, I thought.

However, in the end it wasnt necessary. Following a tip-off from the ever-helpful , I gave Adrian Flux a call on 0800 083 88 33. Initially they quoted me a whopping £809.59 but it turned out that was with unlimited mileage, not really something we need. Once this was brought down to a more respectable 7,500 miles (for some reason 3,000 miles came out at a higher premium??!!), we were looking at £245.96. Much better! This is for fully comp, and you can pay £63 extra for 6 months cover in the EU, plus an extra £75 is you want UK/European breakdown and recovery service - despite the fact Moglet weighs 7.5t! The phone calls were a little strained, I had to spell that trickiest of tricky words, 'Unimog' at least five times, but we got there in the end. They genuinely seemed to want to help, that just didnt really understand what I was talking about! But it's all done now, documents were emailed the same day and arrived in the post two days later, so smiles all round :-)

The only other company I called (and I called lots!) who were really helpful and so nearly quoted me were SureTerm on 0800 999 2030. The model was fine, the weight wasnt a problem and the longer stint overseas was ok too. Unfortunately, they flat out refused me because of the Q plate, despite the fact its not a kit car and I have the original registration document from 1979 so date of manufacture is clear. Nevermind, we'll just have to give our premium to someone else :-)