The Wizard.

I was really hoping that we could move from our two-car lifestyle in NJ to a zero-car lifestyle in Africa.  In my mind, we would walk to school, I would bike to the market every day and we would not be contributing to global warming!  However, we have received information from multiple people at the school, and all recommend purchasing some kind of vehicle.  The school is located just too far away from major grocery stores (and thinking as a parent, having emergency transport to a medical clinic is probably a good idea).

So we began our search for a Tanzanian car a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, vehicles are old and expensive in Tanzania.  They aren't manufactured in-country and so are subject to a lot of import duties.  Also, the old principle of supply and demand applies - there aren't many and so the price increases.  It's also amusing that the brand names are much different than in the U.S. although many of the base manufacturers are the same (Toyota is a major player).

We're definitely used to old vehicles with high mileage (both our current vehicles have over 100,000 miles and the "newest" one is just over 10 years old), but it's still a little shocking that we'll be paying over double what we'll get from selling ours for the pleasure of owning a 2000 "Isuzu Wizard" with 196,000 kilometers on it (approx 121,000 miles).  According to Tim's research, the Wizard is an earlier version of the Honda Passport.  As a kid, I vividly remember seeing all those "Joe Isuzu" commercials, although Isuzus have not been sold in the States for quite some time.

The good news is that the current owners are HOPAC parents and have taken really good care of it.  We were pleased to read that it has new "tyres" (love those British spellings) and that it has air conditioning.  So when the power goes out and it's 90 degrees, I'm heading out for a drive!  The other positive thing is that the sellers are willing to hold it for us until we arrive in August.

The scary news is that the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side - we'll be doing some British-style driving there!

I find it very funny how it's called the Wizard - this along with the "houses" concept and the British structure to the school really makes me feel like we're heading to a tropical version of Hogwarts.

Here's a couple of photos (note palm trees in background)!