After covering more than 11 000 KM travelling from London to Cape Town on the west coast of Africa, the future is uncertain on whether friends Karen, James and Spence, will make it to Cape Town.
In another hurdle in the groups’ bumpy journey, it seems that their car, Edna, has snapped under the pressure of the journey.
According to the latest video shared by the trio on their Instagram page, @London.2.CapeTown, the mighty Toyota Hilux is in need of repairs after the vehicle cracked in two.
This is not the first time the vehicle has succumbed to pressure. In one of their previous episodes, “Day 59 driving from London to Cape Town”, Edna’s clutch had to be repaired in Benin City and Edna got stuck in mud in a forest on the Ivory Coast on episode“‘Day 39 of travelling from London to Cape Town”.
In the most current video, captioned “Edna’s snapped in half”, the friends asked for donations from followers to help them repair their vehicle.
“Edna’s snapped in half. We’re posting this in real time because something awful has happened to Edna and we’re unsure if we can continue our trip,” said Karen.
Karen said that during the crossing from Nigeria to Cameroon, they had encountered the worst roads of the trip so far and it had put a huge strain on Edna’s compromised chassis.
“Whilst driving, even at low speeds, we noticed that the back was moving more and more to the point where it was almost hanging off. We stopped to assess and she had now completely snapped in half,” said Karen.
“This was the worst possible scenario and in this condition there’s no way we can drive Edna to South Africa. Repairing such severe damage will be expensive and take many days.”
She said they hadn’t budgeted for such an expensive repair. To help with the costs of repairing Edna, they had set up a PayPal account in which donations could be paid.
Some Instagram users, who have been glued to the trio’s journey from the start, have donated money.
Commenting on the unfortunate circumstance, Instagram users @percy_thendo said: “@toyota_sa @toyota_sa may we kindly intervene, our donations can only take Edna so far🙏🏽🙏🏽🥹.”
Another user, @busheditor, said: “As doctors you will know there are no pills for stupidity. Vehicles in the UK rust due to salt on the roads. It destroys the chassis. You should’ve properly inspected the chassis before purchase and now you are begging for money to continue the journey.
“You need a whole new chassis. While replacing it you will also probably find other bits that need doing too. Good luck.”
Another user, @hunadi___, said: “why did things take a left after that voodoo ritual? :(”
@jackie_phamotse commented: “Donated. 🙌 It’s not much but I hope it helps. I hope you guys are safe. 😢”
While @benjamangu said: “From the start of the journey that vehicle had no capacity to travel that distance and terrains, you made a bad choice!
“That chassis was badly eaten by rusts and rewelded several times hence was supposed to be for short distance travel on tar 🛣️. Very sorry guys!”