We have toured with the Panamericana, also in Africa.
some commets from my side:
There is no comparison between a wide tire and real suspension. The comfort of a wide tire with little air is really nice if you do gravelled roads, but it rolls not too good. The suspended bike can run at full tire pressure with low resistance and still be really comfortable. In really off-road terrain, especially with full cargo load, you dont want to go back if you have experienced the full suspended touring.
for the hydraulic disc brakes: the disc brakes are so much more reliable than cantilever. the key question is really, why do you want to brake on a rim, that is at least as crucial as a brake. you weaken the part that you ride on, which also carries extreme loads and gets (at least on an unsuspendend bike) all the bumps. the question is, how often did you break a hydraulic hose? in mountain biking disc brakes are the standard now, just because they have so many advantages (e.g. brake power, espcecially in wet conditions; no rim wear)
Of course new advanced technology always bears a certain risk, but the rohloff hubs shows, where this can lead to - 5 years ago also everybody was afraid of failure and now a lot of people just love it.