“If you want to truck in Africa, you’ve gotta stand tall, you’ve gotta bring your A game, you’ve gotta fight for it. You’ve gotta know how to haggle, you’ve gotta know how to push, you’ve gotta know how to get a fair price.” –U.S. driver Ray Sines on his journey from South Africa to South Sudan as part of a United Nations contract convoy spearheaded by “Lorry Boys” American entrepreneur in Africa Ian CoxA documentary posted summer 2013 via Vice News I came across recently via a post to the trucking subReddit. The “Africa’s Cowboy Capitalists” doc showcases American Ian Cox’s venture in hauling on the African continent, following securement of a U.N. contract to haul military-grade vehicles of various natures from South Africa and other points to struggling South Sudan. It’s worth a look if you’ve got half an hour or so to kill this fine weekend. From delays at used-truck dealers and permit issues at border crossings to a dearth of repairs in some remote regions and numerous other problems, independent video journalist Tim Freccia’s film work from late 2012 into the first months of 2013 paints an interesting picture of the “Cowboy Capitalists” the piece is named for.
As Ian Cox, the man who organized the haul, puts in the film’s opening, speaking about the old “frontier spirit” in the United States: “I think there is a group of individuals in America that still have that unique sense of going somewhere where it’s a bit rough and making a go of it. That’s kind of what I’m doing. Where else better to bust out than Africa?… Africa is the last ‘wild west.'”
Judge for yourself below, or via Youtube at this link.
[youtube GslPzhFLyas nolink]
