African Beasts

We take a sideways look at the Land Rover 109 and ask why there are so many of them, still working hard for their living in Uganda!

- Jerry Burley

As loyal folk around the planet continue to mourn the recent passing of the ubiquitous Defender, let us pause here momentarily and reflect awhile on its immediate progenitor, the venerable Land Rover Series I09inch chassis. But this real world, as-it-happened story looks at the 109 through the eyes of a rough, tough African recovery vehicle driver, today, here in equatorial Uganda, the (motoring) land that time, seemingly, forgot.

The ‘Series’ Land Rover needs no formal introduction here. It has faithfully served the British and numerous other militaries, the civil service, conservation, adventure and the general public, in its hundreds of guises and iterations, since its first release to an excited, post-war public in 1949. Viewed as totally classless, examples could be found in places as diverse as a Mayfair car park or an African game park, from a steamy South American oilfield to a cold war Lincolnshire airfield.

There are, possibly, two functioning Series Is left in Uganda, and a similarly low number of Series IIs. Most of these earlier iterations of the marque were already dead and being scrapped when I first arrived here, 30 years ago. Even a Series III station wagon is a very rare beast here now, as newer, more comfortable and more reliable vehicles have taken over. The 109 pick-up, however, has survived, almost exclusively converted into recovery vehicles and all still working every day. Why, though, might this be, with the many modern, more reliable options that are widely available on the various world markets, new or used?