Tanzania is gathering all Landrovers in East Africa, but will the country break the German Record?

Tanzania is gathering all the Landrovers available in the country plus a few others from the neighboring country of Kenya for East Africa’s first festival of the iconic four-wheel drive vehicles.

Strictly for Landrovers the off-road monsters are gathering in Arusha, the Northern Tanzania Safari City.

Tanzania is attempting to break the Guinness World Record currently held by the Bavarian Town of Germany for staging the longest Landrover trucks’ procession.

The current Guinness World Record for the longest snake of Landrovers is the one recorded in 2018, which lined up a total of 632 trucks that wound their way around the Spa Town of Bad Kissingen in Bavaria, Germany.

The German parade stretched over 7.4 kilometers.

Tanzania, on the other hand, alleges to have recorded 1070 entries and was gunning for a Landrover string stretching 13 kilometers, bumper to bumper.

For the first day in Arusha, the Landrover procession started at the King’ori area, near Kilimanjaro International Airport.

The cars drove into the city via Usa-River, Tengeru and Sanawari, turned into the East Africa Road towards the Clock Tower, which is the Center Point between Cape-Town and Cairo.

The Landies then paraded through the main Uhuru Street, along Sokoine Road, went up the Colonel Middleton Road, took the Namanga Road and then landed at Magereza grounds near the Arusha Airport in Kisongo.

The target was to set a record of the largest Land-Rover gathering on a single patch of land.

The second day sees the Landrovers driving into the Arusha National Park at the foot of Mount Meru. Here 300 vehicles drive into the conservancy to create another historical feat in having the highest number of four-wheelers in a single park.

If Tanzania wants to beat the Germany record in having the longest stretch of Landies, Arusha needs to string up at least one thousand Land-rovers for a procession which was to snake up to a length of over 12 kilometers.

And the Arusha Landrover lineup, targeting more than 1000 entries, seriously gears out to break the Germany world record of 632 trucks. However, the exact number of Land Rovers that joined the convoy is yet to be ascertained.

The prior record was set in Portugal in 2014, with 516 Landrovers. Every type of Land Rover participated, from 1940s Series I 80” to Range Rover Evoque convertibles.

The parade was organized by Land Rover corporate in Germany, under the supervision of officials from Guinness World Records.

The Landrover event of Germany was held during the annual Abenteuer Allrad exhibition, the largest in the world for cross-country and off-road vehicles.

Trucks that drove into Arusha for the motor event include the first Landrover cars including series One, Two, Three, the lengthy 108, even longer 109, the Landrover 110, Classic Defenders, Modern Defenders, all the Range-Rovers series, Vogues and Evoques, Discoveries and Freelanders.

Missing from the Tanzanian lineup were the rare cab-over engine, forward-drive wagons.

With Tanzania’s tourism industry relying mostly on Four-Wheel-Drive vehicles to tackle the bush terrains, Land-rover vehicles were essentially the machines that set the ball rolling in National Parks before the Japanese marquee, Land-Cruiser took over the landscapes.

But Landrovers, especially the old 110 classic models remain the transport vehicle of choice for rural areas.

Land-rovers also used to be the DeFacto government wheels in the post-independence 1960s and 70s, as well as 1980s and early 90s, which means many of the indomitable 4X4 trucks that have stood the test of time should still be around.

Landrover has been the vehicle of choice for government institutions for over 40 years before and after independence and served as the ultimate means of rural transport at the time when the road network wasn’t very much developed.

Later, the Landrover name became synonymous with the tourism industry in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and other Eastern African countries, being reliable off-roaders for wildlife viewing adventures before being replaced by the Japanese Land-Cruiser 70 Series.

Land Rover is essentially a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles.

The Marque was owned by multinational car manufacturer British Leyland and later Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), before becoming a subsidiary of Tata Motors of India from 2008.

The Land Rover trademark was endorsed in 1948 by the Rover Company for a utilitarian Four-Wheel-Drive off-road light truck.

The real off-roaders were the rugged First Series, Land Rover 108s, 109s and 110-Defender models.

However the rugged lineup was discontinued in 2016 therefore the current Land Rover range consists solely of upmarket and luxury sport utility vehicles.

During its heydays, the Land Rover was granted a Royal Warrant by King George VI in 1951.

Fifty years later in 2001, Landrover received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade.

Land Rover has since grown to become its own brand.

At the moment the Landrover badge includes a growing range of four-wheel drive, off-road capable models.

The luxury branch of Landrover started with the much more upmarket 1970 Range Rover, and subsequent introductions of the mid-range Discovery and entry-level Freelander line, in 1989 and 1997, as well as the 1990 Land Rover Defender refresh.

These 2020 Land Rover models available in short or long wheelbase, have been also featured in the latest James Bond film, ‘No Time to Die,’ and received their first African terrain testing in Namibia and Botswana.