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dimanche 27 avril 2014

A short video of my holiday in Madagascar

Hello!

As you may have guessed I've been off exploring the world again (that is also why I haven't been blogging recently).

After getting back from moroccan desert I flew off to a a place that I have been wanting to visit for ages : Madagascar
I spent 2 weeks in this wonderful country. 2 weeks is really to short, but I got an amazing peek of the island. 
Mind blowing landscapes, meeting wonderful people that live in little villages in the middle of nowhere, stunning animals that you can see nowhere else… 
The 4 days I spent   being rowed 170km of canals on a dugout canoe was a real adventure! 

I'll blog more in detail about this  adventurous trip in future posts :)

In the meantime here's a short video I put together , showing some of the things I did during the 2 weeks I spent in Madagascar. 
Enjoy :)




jeudi 17 avril 2014

Bel & Desert Frog meet the Hummer

Hi guys!

So here's a quick shot at when my Jeep (well ex Jeep now) got to meet the enormous Hummer.

How did this happen? Well, when I was in a music festival in the middle of the Sahara desert the guy in the tent next to ours was actually from where I lived in France and his dad owned this H2…
Becoming good friends and discovering my madness for big american 4x4's he asked if I would like to come and try out the Hummer :)
It was really awesome to drive this car!
Let me explain… Not only are there not many Hummer's in France … apparently there are only 2 of these special ones! The only other person that owns one is the famous French singer JOHNNY HALLYDAY!

This black monster is a real beast!!! Just look at how tiny I am next to it!
- I was actually trying to steal one of the headlights on the above picture… the Jeep and the Hummer have the exact same headlights… on this car they were brand new whereas -one on my Jeep was full of sand… -
When you're inside the thing is just as enormous! It is so large, when in the passenger seat you can hardly touch the person in the diving place!
Here you can see just how wide the beast is! It's crazy!!

Time to get serious!! Bel is driving the monster!!! Better get off the roads!!! ;)

Only joking. The Hummer is actually really easy to drive. Of course it's large, a bit like a driving a lorry, but it's tiny sporty wheel, powered steering, and sporty gearbox make it feel like driving any - powerful- car.

Compared to my Jeep , even though it is twice the weight, the Hummer felt so light and sporty.

But when you hit over 90km/h the beast started to roar… It is the military version that has no soundproofing...
That mighty engine would roar like a lion with a nasty soar throat!!  You cannot hear anyone speak inside the car. You cannot hear the radio on full blare. That beastful engine just sings the song of it's people - GRRRRR BRRRR GGGRRRRR - To drive that crazy monster for more than 100km at 130km/h on the highway, either you have to love the thing to bits or be deaf!
So to sum up … driving this car was comply awesome!!

It sure is not a car for towns (my friend admitted that his dad brought it only to go to and 'cruise' at St Tropez during the summer)…
…it's a shame because this beast is made for the hard life, life in the desert.
 No plastic, this monster is 100% metal , 2,6m large and 4,6m long… weighing 3,5 tones! To move this girl,  in a powerful way, the V8 6.5l turbo diesel engine develops 398 horse power! With a low gravity center, this babe is great for climbing and crossing sand dunes.
A real dessert car… I would love her and adopt her straight away… if not for a couple of things…
She is a real thirsty girl … 22l of diesel for 100km!!!! Crazy!!! You can also imagine how much that kind of monster spits out thought it's exhaust… pollution queen…

I had a fine time trying this crazy car out. Great in many ways, powerful, big and beautiful, but to big and expensive for me!

So for the mean time I'm staying 4WD-less…