How I drowned my 4x4 in the Okavango Delta 

To get stuck in the middle of a pool is a sinking feeling especially with the water covering the bonnet! I also crossed a channel, did spot it from outside the vehicle but never walked it, got back into the Landy, 2nd gear diff lock and went in creating that bow effect but, close to the exit the Landy dipped into the original channel or main flow and the water came over the bonnet. Suddenly there is a huge knot in your stomach and it's dead silence in the vehicle but you are still moving forward crunching the steering wheel and then you out. We all know that Landies are not waterproof so we opened the doors to let the water out! We were so relieved and carry on and a few meters later a longer water crossing in front of us! No ways and we made a u-turn and back to the previous pond. This time I crossed it with a little more speed as I had to climb out against a small sandbank but made it. Years later with another brand vehicle towing a trailer in Kwai I also had to cross a rather long crossing and this time a walked it! The water was above the axles but managed. Water and black mud are not fun especially if you driving solo. But, never ever leave your vehicle to go and search for held! Try and get your tent out and camp there! A couple got stuck early in the morning in soft sand north of Savuti camp a few years ago. The man decided to walk back to the camp to get help. Late afternoon a vehicle came past and recovered the vehicle and the woman inside. Till today no one found the man! Liked your attitude to film your disaster and I saw your sinking feelings in your eyes! Nice video!!

Very brave of you to share your experience and potentially open yourself up to criticism. Having been stuck for three days in Zaire back in the 90’s and most recently overnight in Namibia I know that awful, gut wrenching feeling of ..... yup we are stuck.... what the hell are we going to do now!!! Having the courage to take risks, go where there are no guarantees. “The road less traveled” is sometimes the most scary thing in the world but also the most rewarding and it’s on that road where your character is truly tested and I would say yours came through shining brightly. Thank you for sharing.

You guys are legends, we had such a good laugh, also nervous because we are off to the same area next week and I believe this is the rainy season lol Great video and glad you are all sorted and back on the road again. Respect for doing that run back to camp bud.

Seeing that moment at 10:51 scared me a bit, I could the stress on your face. But adventures like these cannot be traded for anything in the world. I experienced my first 4by4 adventure during the December holidays in the Okavango Delta Santawani concession and my god I have found what I want to do. My country is the most beautiful thing in this world and I wanna explore it.. Great video, thanks for the upload. Avid fan of your channel since I saw your first upload.

To me as a driver, i want to salute you for the bravery and taking time to show us the risks of driving in such terrain. Its risky but the advice you have given, its well taken. Thank God you guys came out successfully though with the car lifted. I think its also best when we go for such trips to move in pairs just in case we get stuck with 1 car, we have back up.

I drowned a fortuner too. My stomach sank as you got stuck. I feel for you bro :(

What a wonderful experience, at least we can all learn from it. Thx guys.

Life is about accumulating memories. This is a great one.

My word - what a harrowing experience! Thanks for sharing Roland

Yussis Boet, my heart was pounding through that man 😳😅. Watching these shares vids, we all learn

I can see the fury of emotions in your eyes & Speech. yes that was intense. You are a lucky to have a good navigator. Always offering helpful suggestions and not panicking. I wonder if it would have helped to quickly grab the traction boards and put them under tyres.

I remember this, I am the pilot flying you on the scenic flight at 4:14. I just saw you on Jubas IG story. All the best from Maun.

Jeez. Now that’s a scary one. Glad you guys are ok. Got help and got back home safely. I can imagine what a panic it must have been.

The delta is a challenge, we have had people coming in camps at 11 pm at night asking for help,,

Mate!! That was awesome footage. For us, the viewer, anyway. Keeping your cool as much as possible in a situation such as yours is paramount. A bit surprised that you didn't have suitable footwear. Never the less you are both safe and have a story to tell.

An epic adventure of the scariest kind, sinking into the crossing was one thing, but walking 8K through the animal alive bushveld barefoot, just no words. Delighted you are both safe and well, along with vehicle in working order once again. Lessons learnt, onward and upward.

Good josh When things get tough The tough get going ..with a smile

Your first horror film Roland well done, I really felt that pain. Thanks for the share!

This gentlman looks like a chap i saw in Cpt town some time back whilst my wife and i were in capetown...the delta is always a challenge gents...glad yarl safe...

Thanks for your advice, very helpful

Thanks for advice. I will remember

Respect for posting this. Keep up the good work with your channel.

Sorry about the fortuner bro best part is your mate grabbing the carton of camels 🤣✌️

As much as I enjoyed the video I felt very sorry for what happened to you. Its part of the adventure buddy , most importantly is that you guys came out safe aside from the lessons learned.

That was so brave of you guys, big up!!!

What an adventure, good memories and stories to tell

Oooooo that’s “unFortunert”

That was hectic Roland! one the edge of my seat the whole time! eish eish eish

I can’t even begin to imagine how stressful this must of been trying to save your pride and joy. Yoh not a lake situation but good lessons learnt in the end. Thanks for the great advice to kill the engine is a situation like this.

Ken had the right idea...Save the smokes first !! I did the same trip with one mate in a single vehicle in December 2016. The road from Savuti to Kasane was more like a river with scattered islands. I don't know how we made it, it can so easily go wrong... Looking forward to more videos, and hopefully bumping into the donkey in bush !!

We tried to get to the Okavango in April from Rundu - the river was flooding severely from all the heavy rain in Angola. From the campsite/lodge we stayed at we had to follow the owner as he guided us through about a km of flooded road. Water lapping under the front deck of the lodge. Knowing the delta would be difficult if not impassable we turned west. Bummer!!

The scaring moment - I felt with you. This year in April 2019 it happend to us as well. It looks like the same spot - but we got drowned were you went first and took backwards, as you assumed it is too deep. So, "nearly" same spot. We got help after a 4km bush walk from amazing African people who lived in the baracks - and a German family with their rental 4x4 who camped at third bridge. The funny thing about it: we are totally in love with Botswana and want to come back in April 2020. Self driving, of course. :-) Thanks for sharing your experience! (I will cut my video too, I promise).

Great video to learn from!

Very scary situation WOW anything can happen moment !!

Roland I actually couldn't watch that! Seeing you stress made me stress just watching but ya water is a terrible thing. Why has it been so long since your last video upload? Really enjoy your videos!

Enjoyed the video ,sorry about wrecked truck , ALWAYS take two vehicles on the off road trips

Started having serious anxiety at 10.35, yoh. That was INTENSE. I'm planning on going to Moremi in June after the water has come in and this has me second guessing that plan. Been there tons of time with my old man but I don't have nearly the same amount of experience. Should probably take your advice and go in a convoy.

It was worth the wait Roland. Super video. I had to smile a bit at "I'm not the tallest person in de world". 1,30 m would be waist deep for me. ;)

This was crazy!

We overheated on the pans, your story is epic.

We sunk our land cruiser in what looked like a puddle on the road to Nxai pan, water was up to the doors.... I know that "sinking" feeling

Third Bridge is about my favorite place on earth. We did a one vehicle wet season Moremi trip back in 2013. Memorable to say the least. Don't know if I would do that again without a second vehicle. Dry season is definitely doable with one vehicle.

Great video. Had a good laugh (sorry), because I made the exact same mistake while crossing the river Kwai. Got it out myself because some idiot forgot to engage the diff-lock ;-)

Hope you this video gets you some more subscribers. You deserve it 👍🏻👍🏻 I’m off to Moremi and third bridge in August, was the water high because of the rain? Could you advise which crossing it was so I can avoid it?

Same happened to me there in 2008. Touareg V10

Almost like a scene out of The Blair Witch Project when Ken spoke about his feet. Glad all ended well for you fellas. 💥🤙🏻

Not sure if you guys are aware to lower the tire psi around 20psi while off roading. It will helps a lot on sand and mud. That's why to tow recovery/insurance car is not moving...

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Bakkie build in progress, I need a wing man for Koudham NP, and Caprivi if you fancy it!

Great video but quite stressful. Mistakes can happen. Glad all went for the best. What camera do you use to record on board?

Thats was so brave for yoy guys

Ssshhooo. Intense dude!! Which insurance company did you have...?

I believe I crossed that same crossing this past December. I chose the completely left route and was scary deep. My friend behind me said that just as I passed throug a Croc swam past. 😳

my friends once took a casual drive to the buffalo fence in feb and came two days later. therainfy season in Botswana doesn't play

yohhhh what a scary predicament to be in !!!!

I would argue this is far from "the worst possible scenario". This was a fairly predictable outcome and should have been planned for better. If you spend years 4x4ing around these areas you will get stuck. Here in Aus an 8km walk is about best possible outcome!

Great adventure....which insurance company do you use or which company covered the hippo and repaired it?

Great video .

Learning by doing.... 👍 you rock

Roland I can't imagine how kak you must have felt. I hope you never have to experience this again!

Ah you turn your engine off and it’s hot and the water is cold it’s then when you don’t turn your car off because all of the gaskets crack or fail especially the rubber ones

hard core

Down talking the recovery/towing team a no no for me. See it as an adventure. We drove in the Central kalahari 2 days on 50 kilometer with a Landrover giving problems. Is Landrover kak, no.

So the snorkel didn’t seem to do much 😂 I wonder what else we can do to waterproof the engine bay?

Wooowww! Great story telling this is a stuff of military Seals & Green Berets man, I salute you, imagine moving back for help in an environment surrounded by Carnivores!! Brave, but I'm sure your wife was not impressed by that risk?

Did you have Dif lock? I did not hear of it in your narrative.

Tough terrain , Im very much LAND ROVER ,but looking at that terrain ,Rovers would have struggled -Should have used Unimogs ?

Hi, thanks for posting. After all that how come the vehicle stopped while crossing the water? Was it a vehicle failure or were you bogged? I enjoyed the video & just subscribed.

Please what ever you do is never to switch of your vehicle engine and to enter the water water in low range second gear. TAKE IT SLOW!

Hey mate what sort of suspension you got on that car and how many inches lift ?

THIS WAS A NIGHTMARE

In that terrible moment of panic the passenger saved the cigarettes

FCUK, I need a drink.......I get the need to walk the route first.....but the area has Hippo's and Crocs.......so, what to do...damned if you walk it, maybe, damned if you don't , maybe...?

Alot of mistakes made in this video i don't know where to start

Why did u first need to show guys stuck the day after you b4 going into your experience?

Did insurance cover the repair?

Sorry to say but the say the Titanic was unsinkable

lesson dont cross water unless you have recovery 4x4s on standby

9:53 i take it you are not a professional offroad driver. when crossing a river, you dont jus plough into the water. you get in at a reasonable speed enough to not create a big splash and drop in and bog down. you go in slowly and gradually build up speed and the car will create a bow wave that will help push you forward. never plough in and panick.Did you use low range? did you use the right gear to have enough revs left for when you reached the end? did you use your diff lock? did you scout it from the start to the end and plan for the worst? (if you got bogged what would be your plan to recover the vehicle?) Rooky Move mate ):

What time of year was this in 2016?

Remember shutting your vehicle down .... huh ... you will get water through your exhaust. I have seen most people running snorkels but is not connected ... just for looks... Next time when you shut your engin down tell your mate to go through the window and cover the exhaust with somthing that will seel it the moment you shut it down( that is when the water covers your whole engin) patato or disposible clove or so.. why didnt you walk the whole way to the other side.? if in doubt chech it out

Millennials Offroading in Africa, No shoes on, no winch, probably bald tires and the low fuel light it on. Did that guy have a man bun?

Who is still here in 2021??

ÁFRICA É SÓ PARA ALGUNS

Not very bright methinks . . .

i dont go anywhere without a hand winch you would of had the car out in 20 mins

problem was,you chose the wrong vehicle to begin with.too small,too short a wheel base,ifs front,.not recomended as a 4x4...

LOL

Good upload, problem is you swear a lot...

12 minutes into the video, he still does not realise is stuck and wants to keep the engine going 😂 At the start of the video he is saying he crossed many times deep water. One would think he learned something... Intelligence is a funny thing. Everyone thinks he has plenty of it. But... I stopped watching the video at 13 minutes because of too much laughing. Did he manage to flood the engine? As the saying goes: "There is no substitute for intelligence". Next time, this 'experienced' driver should take my 14y old son with him. At least the engine will be safe 😂 #LOL