I've driven a Toyota Land Cruiser in one form or another almost exclusively since I bought my beloved Grandma in 1994. A more solid, dependable go-anywhere vehicle has yet to be built, and here on the harsh, salt laden, sun bleached, unforgiving coast of the Middle East the Land Cruiser pickup is the workhorse of choice for arabian fisherman. You can drive from Dibba to as far afield as Yemen and all along the coast you'll see Land Cruiser pickups in varying condition, from brand new to rusted hulks, each one sentenced to a life of harsh servitude that no other vehicle could withstand. Land Rovers? Tchah! Don't make me laugh.
On the beaches fringing the Wahaiba sands I've been overtaken at breakneck speed by 'Cruisers with massive refrigeration units on the back, filled with fish so that their rear bumpers periodically gouge runnels in the sand. On the coast of Kenya I remember a green 'Cruiser, with the words 'Retired Slave' painted on it, splashing through the slick mud. I've seen them in the muddy hills of Nepal, the barren Wadi Rum, driven by missionaries in war torn Mocambique, taken one through crocodile infested rivers in northern Australia ... pick somewhere remote and far from a garage and you'll find a 'Cruiser. They're even used as school buses where roads are rare, rough or non-existent, see the fleet of 'Cruiser school buses on Jebel Akhdar, Oman. I count 17 Land Cruisers, how about you?
The vehicles in the following pictures are all still running and putting in a hard day's work. Most of these vehicles are over 20 years old and you could poke your finger through some of the rust. But climb in, turn the key and you're ready to roll.
The above photographs of fishing slaves at the Kalba mangrove swamps. The wheel rim on the front bumper is for hauling in fishing nets.
A rare Land Cruiser FJ55, ancestor to the modern station wagon. Quriyat, east of Muscat.
Please click on the above photo and take a close look, it drove past us daily loaded up with fisherman in one direction and fish in the other. Ras Madrakah, Oman.Having seen just what a Land Cruiser can be put through and still keep working I was intrigued to come across the following scenes one hot afternoon at Kalba, United Arab Emirates. These fisherman loaded the remains of some vehicles, that had finally called it a day after years of chassis grinding toil, onto speedboats. Ironic, because the same vehicles had probably transported those massive speedboats to the harbour when they were new. I've seen boats longer than the 'Cruisers that carried them being transported, the bows sticking out over the cab and hood.
First they manhandled an old FJ45 onboard, the chassis had been cut through by blowtorch just behind the cab. Both the cab and load bed went on the boat.
The red 'Cruiser was the tractor for pulling half-cruisers closer to the boat. To my amazement they didn't stop with the first vehicle but dragged another cab closer, this time it was a much 'newer' 70 series cab, and loaded it on board with sheer muscle power and some long poles for leverage. In case you missed it, that's two full Land Cruiser pickup cabs, chassis and loadbeds on one boat.
The boat was a bit unbalanced, so a bit of shoving and shifting the bits around evened things out.I asked them in my broken Arabic where they were taking them and, gesticulating, they replied that the vehicles would be dumped out to sea. So, this is where old Land Cruiser go to die? It's like the legendary elephant's graveyard.
I must follow them out one day, taking my scuba gear, and find out where they drop the vehicles. I have this romantic vision of a reef built from the remains of old Land Cruisers resting out their final days as coral grows on that iconic front bezel and brightly coloured fish shelter beneath the running boards.
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