TARWAR - Pros and Cons

Crossing Africa on a car, a great trip! Brendan, have a safe and safe and nice trip. I have no experience with Tarwar, but if you think of large and intimidating blade, Kora seems more suiutable. It'll be only after HI starts to receive custom orders about when nobody is sure. Considering driving all the way, less pointy Kora will be safer in the car than a Tarwar.

I'm sorry if my post is out of point as I know very little about African continent. Half of I've read about there is "King Solomon's mine".
 
Brendan, you're obviously a brave man. Bandits, lions and assegais are bad enough, but a Land Rover???? Jeez. Courage, like chocolate, is something you can have too much of for your own good.

Having owned, and been horribly let down by, four Land Rovers, I personally wouldn't rely on one to get me safely from my front door to the mailbox, let one right across Africa.

I implore you, think again. Get a Toyota, or a Suzuki, and save yourself a *very* long walk.

As regards the tarwar question; everything I've read on this forum would tend to suggest that they're every bit as well made and ergonomically efficient as HI's other products. However, I also feel that their profile makes them rather less versatile than a khuk, and the weight might become a factor, particularly when your Land Rover cracks an axle in the middle of nowhere and you have to leg it to the nearest settlement... Also, IMHO, if you want a weapon that looks ferocious enough to deter the bad guys, the concave curve of the khukuri must surely take the prize... Ask Bill if he can rustle you up a two-and-a-half pound 25" sirupati. I pity the lion who's dumb enough to pick a fight with one of them.

In any case; hamba gahle...
 
There is a Doctor who recently purchased a choice plot for a home in the middle of a narrow valley, a gulch, formerly used for gold panning. He has enough money to have made an alternative road around the property, which is good,as miners can continue to pan for gold. HE also has a range rover, or land rover, or whatver the expensive yup toy coming out of Britain is called and believes no doubt due to the television comercials and the salemans who sold him the thing that he will ALWAYS BE ABLE TO REACH HIS HOME IN THE GULCH.....

Now, none of our four wheel drive dodges, chevies, Fords,toyotas, quads, suped up or not, can reach that particular parcial at all times of year. I don't believe even a snow mobile can. the flood waters and deep snow say otherwise.

As for Africa, again Id say choice was determined by parts available.


munk
 
Mr. Holt

Thank you for your reply - as a fellow brit (which I do consider myself now) I must say I am rather distressed by your lack of confidence in the "lion of 4X4's" - I often receive good and bad advice alike about these machines and I think from a man of your calibre with obviuos practical experience the response has a bit more gravity !!

Never the less I am most impressed with your use of the Zulu language - you even got the tense correct but then I would expect nothing less from someone as verbally competent as yourself !!!

All I can say is that the time to do the trans African trip is a year or three away so all the planning and fine tuning has yet to come - I will do the crossing and be succesful even if I have to push a ton or two of metal across the Sahara !! Determined I am and armed I will be - your advice on the 25'er is something I was expecting at some point yet I will more than likely own a siru or 2 by then so I am purely thinking of phalic size and pure intimidation which I am sure the 25er would attain but I suppose at the end of the day I am just looking for an excuse for obtaining more HI metal !!

:D

Thank you all for your input and please keep the ideas flowing - I have lived in Africa but have never driven across it. There is a wealth of knowledge on this forum into which I would love to tap !!

:cool:
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
Hell, just mount a 50 calibre on the hood and toss a box of grenades in the back seat.
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LOL Uncle!

However, I'd prefer a Gecal 60 and an M19 Autogrenade launcher myself, but, try getting those past UK Customs!

Seriously, tho, a good 12Ga Shottie and a large-frame semi-auto handgun wouldn't be amiss...





Just my 2 *AUSTRALIAN* cents (which ain't worth much elsewhere)
 
Brendan -

I've been fascinated by Zulu history ever since I first read the story of the house of Senzangakhona when I was ten years old. One of my few remaining realizable ambitions is to stand on the banks of the Thukela river, on the spot where Cetshwayo defeated Mbuyazi, and changed the world for ever.

As for Land Rovers, I hope you're lucky and you get a good 'un. My bad opinion of them is based on the four I've owned, the four my dad's owned, and half a dozen or so others I've had to help push when they've given up the ghost at the most inconvenient moment imaginable. IMHO, if you feel you must use one, go for one that's at least twenty years old - the only reliable ones I've come across were all pre-1975 vintage. (My Suzuki jeep, by contrast, has been abused almost as mercilessly as my HI khuks, and never once let me down...)

Above all; have a safe and thoroughly enjoyable trip!

Best wishes,

Tom
 
tru about the Landie's reliability, but the reason they are so good is because they are relatively easy to fix. I'm sure the mammoth task of driving across Africa would take its tole on any vehicle, may as well be one you can patch up in the middle of nowhere. As monk said it will be determined by (fixability and) available spare parts.

While were talking about Africa and sharp things in the same thread may i ask a question?:
I told my (Rhodesian) Grandfather about my latest investment in the shape of a 15" bura AK. He reckoned that it was nothing knew to him. "We have thse in Africa, called a 'perang'(sp? pur-ang)"
Anyone know if this is a type of knife, or african slang for a khuk or machete type thing in general?

don't know about much Zulu but gelukkig wees.
 
Thanks again, youre afrikaans is a little rusty but the point is well taken !!!

I have no idea about those other blades but I have only been keen on knives for 2 or 3 years and have only recently had the budget to get anything decent !!

HI is definetly above decent though !! hehehe
 
I may give it a try next year with a moped and pea shooter.
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as I've said before there is something to be said for the appearance of complete insanity when considering a good defense ;) :D I wouldn't get NEAR, let alone assault an older white man with a cig in his mouth riding a moped across Africa---gotta be nuts!!!:eek:;)

Uncle Bill, might I suggest that you dress in full Nepali regalia as you did for the Puja pics on the homepage of HI when you do the Moped run?:D
 
Originally posted by a_punker


SNIPPING!!!

"We have thse in Africa, called a 'perang'(sp? pur-ang)"
Anyone know if this is a type of knife, or african slang for a khuk or machete type thing in general?
Click to expand...

There's a machete-style knife of Malaysian/Indonesian origin that's known as a "Parang". It's widely used in South East Asia, where I grew up. It's uses are to the people of Southeast Asia are as the Khuk is to all of us; multifunctional; though it's nowhere near half as useful as a Khuk! :D:D:D

I know Valiant Co has an abundance of machete-style knives and they even have a "Parang of Borneo" which may be what you're looking at...
 
aye thanks Hibuke. I'll probably learn more from my grandfather when i finally show him the khuk. :)
 
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