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From First Trip to Legends: Dad’s Epic Land Rover Story Unveiled: Ep1

The Overland Legend

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Forty years on the wild side is the story of discovery, freedom and the adventures of Terence and Ina Cotton. It is the story of how it all started and lead to over 40 years of Land Rover overlanding throughout Southern Africa and more trips than I can recall.

In this first episode my Dad tells the story of the early years before we were born and how they did their first Land Rover trip in 1968 and became overlanders.

Watch the other episodes
Episode 2: Dust to Destiny - Buying, Building, and Beyond: The Landy To...
Episode 3: The Perfect Camper Forward Controls - Breakdowns in Botswana to Malaria in Malaw...
Episode 4: Epic Adventures in Classics - The story I almost didn't tell but had to ...

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:46 Terence and Ina Cotton
3:11 The early years
5:10 Inhacha island camping
6:36 The first Land Rover trip
11:13 Ford Corsair camping
12:30 Discovering Land Rovers

ABOUT OUR CHANNEL
The Overland Legend is all about building Land Rovers and overlanding in Southern Africa. We cover Land Rover restorations and builds as well as classic overland trips and new adventures.
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20 Comments

@andrewthacker114 2 days ago

Interesting trips , love Mozambique.

@francoisehollender_franeuro 1 year ago

Fantastic story, thanks for sharing it with us Landy lovers!

@philippepiolat7899 1 year ago

Je suis très touché par l'évocation de ce passé qui fait remonter avec émotion une jeunesse au Congo Brazzaville dans les années 1950 _ 1960....Je rêve toujours de cette Afrique que j'ai tellement aimé..

@ianwatson3315 1 year ago

They obviously enjoyed their lives and what a great way to enjoy it ..mum looked like Jenny aguita in some of those photos. One needs a medal to overland in them old bones rattlers.

@craigdouglasmartens7037 4 months ago

Thank you for sharing these amazing adventures! I grew up with Landrovers, Ford F250 4x4's and Landcruisers as a Parks Board kid growing up in St. Lucia where dad was the Warden.. we are now proud owners of our 4th Landy, a Discovery 1 v8 converted to twin SU Carbs, no electronics for us. Your video's and photos are really amazing and nostalgic. Fantastic times!

@MichaelLudick-m1y 1 year ago

People that lived their lives, awesome

@leonpotgieter4701 1 year ago

Absolutely beautiful story. You have been lucky having all this growing up. Thanks for sharing

@ericinthebush1961 1 year ago

Thank you so much for sharing what is a beautiful down to earth story. Looking forward to the rest of the journey.

@henrygreen19 1 year ago

Absolutely pure magic !! Your parents got married the year I did my military training in Walvis Bay - one reason why I still go back to Namibia on trips, specially the Namib. Waiting anxiously for your next delivery on your parent's travels and experiences. After 5 Landies I called it a day and opted for a Suzuki Jimny as I now travel mainly all by myself. Keep well and best for now.

@BrianAllison-k5k 5 months ago

Brilliant beginning in recapturing and honoring your parents journey.

@JohnR-NZ 1 year ago

Viewing this today here in NZ 13/5/2025 reminds me of my early days of camping and traveling in a second hand Landrover series 2a SWB hard top starting in the late '60s and I spent 12 years with that vehicle and its many moments of needing something fixing, but that's early Landrovers and I had bought it cheap.

@jakesdejager9317 1 year ago

Awesome life of exploring and discovery...
My dad bought our first caravan ( Jurgens 13C)and a small Campcraft tent for my brother and I;
Still camping today...

@Nedankinde93 1 year ago

Loved your comment about the zips on the sleeping bags being compatible! :)

@thebuffalooverlander 1 year ago

Amazing to watch this. Thanks for sharing

@TheAjp75 1 year ago

What a wonderful video, can't wait to see the next one!

@calsurflance5598 1 year ago

Wow Allan!
This was great.👍Hope this is going to be a series.🙏
It’s so interesting to see these old Landy doing what they were built for, back when they were new. Your Dad’s narration and your input really give this a personal touch. Nicely done my friend.👌

@markpospichal1309 1 year ago

Thank you so much for sharing. You have a truly fascinating family history. Looking forward to the next installment!

@MikeLangfordGoogle 1 year ago

Great video in honour of your parents - adventurous people for sure.

@craigdouglasmartens7037 1 year ago

The Series 2a 109 2.6 was in my humble opinion along with the series3 2.6 109 were the finest Landies ever. We owned a 1977 Series 3 109 2.6 sidevalve Safari Station wagon for 7 years. In a moment of madness I sold it and bought an 88" Series 2 ex military signals Landy with a 2.5 Chevy conversion. Never again... Our next Landy was a 110 Defender td5 county station wagon. A magnificent Landy in which I traveled all over Southern Africa with my instrumentation work to remote irrigation camps, mines, river hydrologic sites, holidays in the deep bush etc. I drove around Swaziland without a clutch for a week once and all the way back to Durban to replace the flywheel and clutch assembly once the mission was complete. Great vehicle and sadly missed.