Your group goes to go down a road and runs into....
 

A small roadblock...

Check out this website

http://yooying.com/abandonedglobe

Great find! I think nearly every photo I saw gave me an idea or two that I could use as a GM. I especially liked the Polish church and the 5 star hotel.

That's neat!

AFRICO Transport Services;

Thousands of people all around the globe use AFRICO Transport Services....When they positively, absolutely, HAVE to....

I take it according to places you've been, this was fairly common?

Yes.

As CDAT said....Yes it is VERY common. I had the opportunity to ride on a "rail service" in a very remote region of what is now The Central African Republic. I was escorting another group of Christian Aid Workers to a remote village there. Our "rail service" car consisted of a flat deck on 2 sets of Railroad Car Wheel Truccs (some kind of narrow gauge wheel set). This "platform" was powered by a lawnmower motor that spun a Toyota fan belt attached to a pulley gear on the rear Trucc. There were no seats and no braking system other than a good "foot drag" to slow the contraption down (I wonder how many broken ankles resulted from this). It could manage between 10 kph and 20 kph, depending on load and terrain. The fun part was when you encountered a "train" coming the other way. Tradition had it so that the lighter loaded "train" would be unloaded by both parties. The deck of the train (holding the motor) would be removed from the truccs (it was only held on by the vertical 4 pins that lock the truccs to a normal train's axles) and then the truccs lifted from the tracks. The passing train would then pull forward and the 1st train would be reassembled and reloaded. This is about as primitive as you can get for mechanized mass transit. Still, it beat trying to pack all those materials we brought through the jungle.

It's a wonder the truck didn't bottom out. And I'll bet it wasn't moving very fast.

They never do. It's still faster than walking. You haven't lived until you've bought gas alongside the road in Africa, Asia, or parts of South America. Nothing like haggling the price down to a reasonable amount from the equivalent of a month's rent for a five gallon can of gas filtered through an old nylon or cheese cloth. GOD FORBID that you need motor oil or anti freeze there.