This article is from WeChat official account:Flying Africa (ID: feiinafrica)< span class = "text-remarks">, author: Obama cattle, the original title: “crazy overloaded vehicles African nationals God, look at you forget! “, the title picture was taken by the author

The national sacred cars of our country were once the world of vans, such as Wuling, Jinbei, Hafei, Chang’an, Changhe…With the rapid development of the domestic economy, many brands have gradually faded out of sight. The era of extremely scarce automobile passenger transportation resources In the past, Chinese family cars have gradually shifted from vans to more comfortable and safe cars, SUVs and other models.

Different from the domestic development trajectory, in Africa, with the steady economic development, the market share of vans is getting bigger and bigger…

▲ When the author Auba Niu first came to Africa, he encountered such a van. He always sweated for the driver and passengers on the car, but he was also used to Such a scene.

crazy van

Almost all Chinese friends who have been to Africa are impressed by the crazy overload of vans in the suburbs of the city.

When pulling people, the capacity of the van is limited. After all, the space in the car is so large. When pulling goods, it is really “infinite.” Anyway, the space outside the car is infinite, and as long as you have the ability, you can “infinitely” expand.

This photo shows the standard configuration of an African van. Various items are placed on the roof. There is a driver in the car who is responsible for driving the car. At the door is a conductor who is responsible for collecting money and attracting passengers. At one destination, the conductor shouted out the station name to remind passengers to get off the bus. A discounted all-ticket ticket hung at the rear of the bus.

Do you want to superego?

It’s not that simple!

The two overloaded vans started racing, and the time to test their skills and guts has come.

The van on the left has mattresses on top of the car, which is twice as tall as the car body! I really squeeze the sweat for the passengers and the driver, worried that a strong wind will blow the car over, or the torrential rain will suddenly drop a mattress that sucks enough water and squeeze the tires.

The van on the right is also very distinctive. In addition to large and small bags on the roof, there are also woven bags of vegetables and baskets of fresh tomatoes.

Overloading of vans is a common phenomenon across the African continent.And behind the phenomenon, there is also its unique background.

The king of cost-effectiveness across the ocean

Africa’s manufacturing industry is still lagging behind. Countries such as South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria, which have relatively developed economies, have a certain number of auto parts factories but no local auto brands.

With the rise of the middle class in Africa, there is a strong demand for durable consumer goods such as automobiles. Imported second-hand cars of Japanese brands are the most important source of cars in Africa. They have obvious price advantages, fuel economy and durability, and are very cost-effective.

African people really spend their money on the blade. Although the second-hand van that I bought is dilapidated in appearance, the windows are not closed, and the door is not closed tightly, this is not a problem. The core components such as the engine are brand new. It is unambiguous to travel through mountains and rivers, and walk through the streets. It has full horsepower and can do any rough work.

The roofs of these two cars are also very rich.

Motorcycles, car tires, buckets, trolley cases, clothing and bedding can be used as moving vehicles.

In addition to scattered debris, large items such as sofas and furniture are also not a problem.

In addition to the people in the car, there are often chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep sitting on the roof of the car.

The picture above, tied to the roof of the car by Wuhuada, is a lively old sow.

At the station, the conductor boy started to greet the old sow to get off the bus.

This truck is pulling charcoal. In sub-Saharan Africa, coal reserves are not large and natural gas is lacking. Thanks to Africa’s abundant forest resources, charcoal replaces coal and natural gas, and has the functions of cooking and heating. The main fuel resource for civilians and poor families.

If there is no picture as proof, can you imagine this is a broken car? The scene on the roadside is like traveling back to China in the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, coal trucks were everywhere on national and provincial roads, but in Africa, there were carbon trucks that frequently shuttled on the main roads.

The charcoal piled up into a hill becomes a hard seat with armrests. The view is excellent, but it’s a bit hard to sit on. The whole process is as thrilling as rock climbing.

Where did the traffic police go?

No matter how common overloading is, it is also illegal in Africa. When it comes to supervision, it is another overall issue.

Although African countries have generally performed well in economic growth in the past decade or so, their foundations are too weak. African countries’ finances are still generally tight. Traffic policemen who are civil servants are still shy in their pockets.

Seriously overloaded vehicles are found, the driver’s license is revoked, and overloaded vehicles are deducted. It is more often that the driver slows down and approaches the traffic police with a tip.

The above two pictures were taken in Congo(King)The second largest city, Lubumbashi, Chaussée Laurent-Désiré Kabila(Kabila Road), a passenger is hung at the rear of the car, wearing a reflective vest a few meters in front of the right, and the helmet is the traffic policeman on duty.

Generally speaking, blatant ticketing of passengers in urban areas is still rare. Most of the vans that are overloaded are shuttled between the suburbs and the countryside, and between the countryside and the countryside.

Every time I see this kind of van when I drive out, I often feel more relaxed, because there must be no traffic police to stop the car.Ask for a tip. These local drivers who drive bread as a livelihood know when and where traffic police will appear, of course, better than me.

Important tool for low-income groups

Although there are big problems in safety and comfort, the van has made great efforts to the logistics in Africa. Its existence greatly facilitates the low-level and low-income groups, integrating taxis, buses, urban and rural buses, urban buses, and trucks.

In Congo(Golden), commercial vans are uniformly painted yellow as a The sign, like a bus, operates on a fixed route and at a fixed time, and beckons and stops like a taxi, hop on and off, without a fixed stop.

Like vans, motorcycles in Africa also perform well.

Look carefully at the motorcycle in the picture above. The seat is opened to maximize the use of the narrow space and is full of hand-held mines. Hand mining is everywhere in Africa. Perhaps only the Congo (gold) legally allows it. The topic of hand mining will be discussed in a later article. Will say in detail.industry. Whether it is a gasoline car or a diesel car, left and right rudder, as long as you can run, you can get on the road.

The influx of a large number of cheap second-hand cars has brought considerable tax revenue to the government, met the people’s demand for cars, at the same time affected the sales of new vehicles, and impacted the development of the local automobile industry.

The occurrence of this staggering overloading phenomenon is due to the serious lag of public transportation development and insufficient logistics capacity. At present, there are still no signs of imported second-hand vans withdrawing from the African market.

An ordinary sunny day, near the village market, a van parking lot.

Migrant workers are busy stacking things on the roof of the car. After a while, the overloaded van will still pass by on the road.

I believe that with the development of the economy and society and the stricter traffic laws and regulations, such severely overloaded roads will appear less and less in the future.

This article is from WeChat official account:Flying Africa (ID: feiinafrica)< span class = "text-remarks">, author: Obama cattle (a well-known enterprises stationed in the central African workers, consecutive five-nation working and living in Africa for eight years), editor: last night a strong wind