Hello gents,
I am lucky enough to have a job that offers the odd opportunity to visit some less usual destinations.
In February I had to spend 8 days between these two Countries and it has been tremendously interesting.
I am posting this on this forum because the lorries in Africa are those which many of you might have driven in former days. In both Countries, it seems DAF and Mercedes enjoy the lion’s share, still countless 2800s, 3300s, 95s in operation, and of course Merc’s whole assortment - too large to list on here.
Questions or comments are welcome.
All the best
David
KLM’s flight path that day - destination Accra, Ghana’s capital.
Interesting Pics, Davidoff. I always find African trucks pretty photogenic - it must be the light, the dust or the scenery!
By the way, there’s a highly entertaining thread just opened on the UK Forum called Kenyan police detain Congolese truck for being 115t over weight.
Robert
It is fashionable to decorate all commercial vehicles with the driver’s or owner’s personal touch, often connected to religion.
Thanks Robert,
Yes the colours on top of the places very colourful nature make it all very interesting.
By the way I should echo your comments in your posts on Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. These people are nothing but friendly, welcoming and hospitable.
I saw the thread on the overweight truck in Kenya. 115 tonnes total? Or was it the excess payload? Amazing either way.
This was a bit of a mystery.
I think this might have been a US or Canada import, she was much longer than the long-nosed European models. Plus she was a 6x4 (although the rear wheels had been removed or nicked off)
Judging by the plant growth through the chassis and out of the engine room she will have been sat there for some time already.
Quite surprising for such a recent motor. I would have thought she had much life left in her. But there was obviously no one there able to tell her story.
Quite a sight this was. It turned to be a 2633 so not necessarily very powerful but still, really incredibly slow.
Honest to god, this was by no means a steep hill, yet our car was idling in 2nd gear and still closing in on him.
There’s some interesting presence of Chinese lorries, invariably copying European truck makes.
I believe this is a SINOTRUCK, basically replicating the old boxy Steyrs
Sinotruck again, big replica of MAN’s F2000 series.
The same model in motion
Chinese Scania. “JAC”
Shameless…
There is also a copycat of Volvo’s FL10 but I could not take any decent pictures.
Generally speaking, these are the same Chinese vehicles as I noticed in Robert1952’s East African posts.
The Chinese really are all over Africa.
Again, great pics! Those FL10 look-alikes are Howos by the way. Robert 
Many thanks Robert.
Fortunately or unfortunately I have many more 
I will try and structure them by theme or point of interest.
Here is an observation I made.
There is a widespread belief that Africa, with its warm and sunny climate, is so soft on lorries’ bodywork that they last forever and only require mechanical work. The cabins will last forever.
I was in the same belief. Well I was wrong!
Come to think of it. First of all these lorries come here having already spent a million or more kms in Europe, potentially with significant exposure to ice, salt, grit, etc. Many of them come to Africa already bruised and battered.
Then depending on where you are, there will be one even two rainy seasons with very, very significant rainfall. Add to this the proximity of the coast and an air humidity level close to 100%, and you realise that the tin is ever far away from it deadliest enemies.
The best demonstration is this Actros. I would have thought that even the earlier Actros would have enjoyed new generation protective paints and chemicals. Obviously this failed on this one.
I would not like to be sat on the passenger seat on a rainy day, or look up at the inside padding… 
Another interesting observation: ALL vehicles, lorries and cars alike, are LHD. I did not come across one single exception.
But at the same time there were quite a few lorries who were clearly UK imports, based on markings and firm names.
Our company driver who was ferrying me around was able to enlighten me:
- Most former British colonies have kept the RHD mode (South Africa, NZ, Oz, India, Pakistan, Kenya, etc).
- But West Africa is a patchwork of former influences. For instance ex-British territory Ghana is surrounded by former French-influenced Country, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.
- Ghana, and most other West African nations previously under British influence, decided in the 70s to switch to right-hand traffic to “harmonise with neighbours, improve road safety and commerce”.
- And so my driver confirmed this (probably quite tedious) reality that all vehicles imported to Ghana are in fact converted to LHD upon arrival. Including windshield wipers and all.
Here are some examples
Davidoff:
Another interesting observation: ALL vehicles, lorries and cars alike, are LHD. I did not come across one single exception.
But at the same time there were quite a few lorries who were clearly UK imports, based on markings and firm names.
Our company driver who was ferrying me around was able to enlighten me:
- Most former British colonies have kept the RHD mode (South Africa, NZ, Oz, India, Pakistan, Kenya, etc).
- But West Africa is a patchwork of former influences. For instance ex-British territory Ghana is surrounded by former French-influenced Country, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.
- Ghana, and most other West African nations previously under British influence, decided in the 70s to switch to right-hand traffic to “harmonise with neighbours, improve road safety and commerce”.
- And so my driver confirmed this (probably quite tedious) reality that all vehicles imported to Ghana are in fact converted to LHD upon arrival. Including windshield wipers and all.
Here are some examples
5
2
4
3
1
0
With regard to LHD, most of North Africa and East Africa are LHD too, but there are still many African countries with RHD.
With regard to conversions, I think there are (or were) companies in UK specialising in converting RHD lorries to LHD for former European colonies in Africa.
With regard to countries changing to LHD in order to harmonise with neighbours etc, that’s exactly what Sweden did in 1968.
Robert
Very interesting with nice photos, but don’t they get older bonneted lorries like Merc LK, Volvo N,and why not Leyland Beaver ?
robert1952:
Davidoff:
Another interesting observation: ALL vehicles, lorries and cars alike, are LHD. I did not come across one single exception.
But at the same time there were quite a few lorries who were clearly UK imports, based on markings and firm names.
Our company driver who was ferrying me around was able to enlighten me:
- Most former British colonies have kept the RHD mode (South Africa, NZ, Oz, India, Pakistan, Kenya, etc).
- But West Africa is a patchwork of former influences. For instance ex-British territory Ghana is surrounded by former French-influenced Country, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.
- Ghana, and most other West African nations previously under British influence, decided in the 70s to switch to right-hand traffic to “harmonise with neighbours, improve road safety and commerce”.
- And so my driver confirmed this (probably quite tedious) reality that all vehicles imported to Ghana are in fact converted to LHD upon arrival. Including windshield wipers and all.
Here are some examples
5
2
4
3
1
0
With regard to LHD, most of North Africa and East Africa are LHD too, but there are still many African countries with RHD.
With regard to conversions, I think there are (or were) companies in UK specialising in converting RHD lorries to LHD for former European colonies in Africa.
With regard to countries changing to LHD in order to harmonise with neighbours etc, that’s exactly what Sweden did in 1968.
Robert
Hi Robert,
I asked our company driver if he had any idea where those conversions took place but he had no idea.
It must be quite an operation when you come to think of it. And costly as well.
It surprises me that they would go to the trouble of converting such relatively old vehicles to LHD, when they could still find a home in RHD markets like Kenya or further South from there. Plenty of demand there too! In fact I was in Kenya some years back and that seems to be the main destination for British RHD Scanias (though only 6-cyls, not one single V8 to be seen there)…
But then again, if they persist in doing the conversions in Ghana, It must somehow make economic sense…
Cheers
michel:
Very interesting with nice photos, but don’t they get older bonneted lorries like Merc LK, Volvo N,and why not Leyland Beaver ?
Bonjour Monsieur Michel,
Merci pour ton message. I hope you are doing well.
In response to your question, the “really” old lorries are becoming rare! The pictures I have posted so far really are representative of the roads in Ghana.
In Ivory Coast I saw some much older goodies, and still a few really old Berliets and Saviems. Will post them shortly.
Meanwhile I wanted to share some information on payload. Still in Ghana.
This place is quite incredible!
Just as we were leaving our factory this unit came in.
Before taking the turn he paused and dropped quite a few gears until he was really crawling, only then did he turn.
As you can see, ex-Italian rig. And not in the best condition…
The squeeking and groaning of the chassis gave an indication of the huge load he was carrying. Then as he parked up on the weighbridge just next to our car, I looked at the tyre. Shock horror!
I went back into the gatehouse to have a look. 54 tonnes!
This truck was carrying cocoa beans to our factory. They load 600 bags of 64kgs each, so some 38’400 tonnes payload. No wonder he had to drop those gears…
Davidoff:
I asked our company driver if he had any idea where those conversions took place but he had no idea.
It must be quite an operation when you come to think of it. And costly as well.
It surprises me that they would go to the trouble of converting such relatively old vehicles to LHD, when they could still find a home in RHD markets like Kenya or further South from there. Plenty of demand there too! In fact I was in Kenya some years back and that seems to be the main destination for British RHD Scanias (though only 6-cyls, not one single V8 to be seen there)…
But then again, if they persist in doing the conversions in Ghana, It must somehow make economic sense…
Cheers
Mmm…perhaps I’ve got the wrong info here and they are converted (much more cheaply) on arrival in Africa. That would make much more sense, wouldn’t it!? 
Robert
Great thread and photos, interesting to read.
Some drivers have spotted the truck they used to drive, while on holiday abroad.
I posted this picture on another thread some time ago but since it was part of this trip here she is again.
Bedford TK 4WD.
As per some members on here this might well be an ex-British Army vehicle
Some odds and sods to conclude the Ghana section of this trip report.
You quickly lose count of the number of roadside repairs you see…
Your weighbridge ticket please Mister…
Note the passenger sunning himself on top of the load.
End of the road for this one, at least for the moment. Strange really. From the outside this unit looks really salvageable, yet has obviously spent some time there already. These were many a European firm’s pride and glory just 14 years ago…
I could tell from the name that this was originally a Dutch lorry. For some bizarre reason I decided I would look this firm up on the web and send them a picture. Wim, their fleet Manager responded within minutes, all chuffed!
keijl.nl/
For the Leyland & ERF afficionados on here
Okay gents. Off to Abidjan now, Côte d’Ivoire.
Interestingly, a flight operated by South African Airways.
As we were gathering speed on the runway, I was able to ■■■■■■ a picture of this recent casualty. I looked it up on the internet, it turned out to be an Ethiopian Airways Cargo plane which skid off the runway of Accra airport on Jan 15th. Apparently, Ethiopian demanded that their markings and identification be masked to save them some bad publicity, this explains the crude paintjob on the fuselage and tail.
Thankfully, the crew walked away uninjured.
