Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 32 i Adventure Afrika

Being a guide in Africa, guests often share the most obscure African proverbs with me. I don’t know if it’s just to fill the silent gaps or to try and catch me out. One that I recently heard rings very true, especially when things are a little quiet in the bush: “If you do not have patience, you cannot make beer.” This is an age-old Ovambo proverb which hits quite close to home since the Ovambo people are an ethnic group native to Africa (mostly northern Namibia and southern Angola). It’s certainly not a hard proverb to interpret, essentially reminding you that sometimes you have to wait before you can enjoy something great like a beer… and let’s be honest: there are very few things in life better than cracking…

Wheel wraps with attitude Custom spare-wheel covers have become all the rage and are a quick – and relatively affordable – way of giving your 4x4 a bit of personality. If you want to break away from things like a company logo or your favourite animal, Wacky Wheel Wraps are the way to go! Hand-made in Cape Town from durable stretch lycra and finished with elastic cord, they come in funky designs like Crimson Glory and African Weave, are easy to fit and remove and are machine washable. *Available from R450: www.suji.co.za Compact cooking on the go Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast or a couch potato suffering through endless loadshedding stages, a compact and portable gas stove can come in very handy. This one from Cadac is great for boiling…

For the first time in the 37-year history of the South African Car of the Year (COTY) competition (this year sponsored by Old Mutual), a double cab 4x4 bakkie was crowned as the country’s Car of the Year. The Ford Ranger walked off with the silverware, underlining the fact that the popularity of SUVs and double cabs continues to grow, at the expense of sedans it seems. Double cab bakkies have become a very common choice for everyday commuting, family adventures and various work applications. This year’s COTY competition saw 21 finalists selected from a pool of 55 qualifying vehicles representing various categories. The competition featured Budget, Compact, Compact Family, Midsize, Premium, Adventure SUV, 4x4 Double Cab, Luxury, Performance, and New Energy categories. However, the Budget category had no contenders…

Over the years I have had numerous encounters with the Ford Everest. I attended the launch of the first model to reach local shores, way back in 2009. Then, some four years later, I drove the upgraded version. An all-new version debuted here in 2015. In the years that followed I witnessed range expansions, upgrades and new engines aplenty and then, in 2022, the Everest in its current form arrived in South Africa with a bang. Once again, I attended the launch and came away suitably impressed. The Sport was definitely my favourite… or so I thought. Fast forward a few months and I get wowed by the Everest once again… this time by the Wildtrak model. Just to clarify, there are now six Everest models, the entry-level being the…

It was a chilly Wednesday morning when our group of 20 motoring journalists and influencers arrived at Doringbos 4x4, about 32km northwest of Bloemfontein. I was partnered with Willem van de Putte from IOL for the event and we set our aims high – we wanted to win! Heading up the Spirit of Africa is South African motorsport legend Sarel van der Merwe and this year saw the 19th edition of the event. It was also the first time that Nissan partnered with the famous off-roading competition and the Navara 2.5 DDTi PRO-4X 4X4 AT Double Cab, with 140kW on tap, was the perfect match for this challenge. Sarel gave us a quick brief on how things would work. There were various types of stages, from speed trials to precision…

Kingsley Holgate is synonymous with adventure and with the Land Rover brand. However, this intrepid explorer is also well known for the wonderful humanitarian work he does on the African continent through the Kingsley Holgate Foundation. In fact, he already has 40 expeditions under his belt, the most recent being the 35 000km ‘Hot Cape – Cold Cape’ transcontinental journey from Cape Agulhas on the southern tip of Africa through 30 countries to Nordkapp in Norway’s Arctic Circle. Now Kingsley and his team are off again, this time on a quest to highlight the importance of conserving Africa’s wildlife and remaining natural landscapes, while at the same time drawing attention to the needs of rural communities living in these remote areas. “During our expeditions to every country on the African…

Did you know it’s not the tyre that supports the weight of your vehicle, but rather the air pressure inside the tyre? It’s no surprise then that tyre pressure influences many important characteristics of vehicle performance. This includes driving comfort, directional stability, cornering and braking grip, plus the general handling behaviour. Driving with incorrect tyre pressure will have a negative influence on one or more of these important characteristics. So, it’s important to monitor tyre pressure frequently to ensure optimal performance. The tyre pressures specified for your vehicle are agreed upon between the vehicle manufacturer and the tyre producer. The pound per square inch (psi) is based on your vehicle’s total weight and size, towing weight capability, and recommended tyre size. These pressures are set to keep you safe and…

The Koleos didn’t have a great start in life. Back in 2006 it first landed like an ugly duckling in a brand-new pond where other medium crossover SUVs were making a big splash. The facelifts in 2011 and 2013 didn’t help much, so when the second generation arrived in 2016, it needed to be a game-changer. And it was, offering decent proportions and obvious SUV cues like roof rails, raised ground clearance, and a bulked-up silhouette. This time, it was all about elegant European form and design sensibility, an approach that was taken to the next level in the latest generation, which was introduced in South Africa in 2021. Great looks At first glance the latest iteration of the Koleos looks like a very big hatchback, and it’s only when…

Suzuki has confirmed that all the arrangements are in place for its upcoming Jimny Gathering. It is slated for the National Heritage Day weekend – 22 to 24 September – in the town of Clarens in the Free State. Entertainment for the get-together will come in the form of the Suzuki Safari Town Festival, which will be hosted on 23 September in the Clarens Town Square. Unlike the Jimny Gathering, the Safari Town Festival will be open to Suzuki and non-Suzuki owners alike. Tickets are available from R60 to R250 per person. The event will be headlined by Goodluck, Mango Groove and Spoegwolf, and there will be many other artists on the roster, including Femi Koya and Black Heidi. The comedian, Schalk Bezuidenhout, is the host for the day and…

Subaru has added the new Outback XT derivative to its local line-up, bringing the number of available Outback models to three. The XT is now the flagship of the range. Under the bonnet of the newcomer is a new 2.4-litre, turbocharged Boxer engine that delivers 183kW and 350Nm of torque. This engine is the same one used as in the WRX model but it has been tuned to be better suited to the versatility of the Outback. It is also paired to a lightweight Lineartronic CVT driving all four wheels via Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system. Due to the increase in power and torque, the Outback XT has improved towing capacity of 1 800kg. Its 0-100km/h sprint time has also improved to 7.5 seconds. As with the other Outback models,…

Upon first inspection the latest-generation Mercedes-Benz GLC doesn’t look like much of a departure from its predecessor. The design is what one would expect from Merc – subtle and stylish. And as to be expected from the German brand, class and refinement are key themes. The first thing you notice when walking up to is an imposing front grille, made all the more striking by chrome accents. And if you inspect it, you’ll notice the little Merc stars on the grille – affirming the GLC as the marque‘s shining star. Interior and space The interior is designed with the overall driver experience in mind, aiming to channel all your attention to the road and what’s ahead. However, I found the abundance of tech a tad distracting at times. With that…

The latest generation of the Navara was launched in South Africa in June 2021, filled to the brim with new safety and driver assist technology that placed it on par with (and often exceeding) its main competition. It now boasts Intelligent Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Alert and Intelligent Driver Alert that monitors your driving patterns and steering behaviour to detect abnormal changes. Under the bonnet Nissan South Africa opted for a reconfigured 2.5 turbodiesel motor instead of the 2.3 diesel bi-turbo engine that is available in Australia. During Spirit of Africa, we drove the 2.5DDTi LE 4x4 AT with 140kW and 450Nm on tap. The most significant upgrade to the Navara’s 2.5 diesel burner is the tweaks made on the…

A very special expedition name and logo The ‘Afrika Odyssey’ name and logo have special significance. They are a revival of the name and logo of the very first big expedition undertaken by the Holgate family in 1993, when they became the first South African expedition team to travel from Cape Agulhas to Alexandria in Egypt along the wild waterways of Africa. Thirty years later, they’ve been revived to celebrate this 41st geographic and humanitarian journey for Kingsley Holgate, Africa’s renowned and much-loved modern-day explorer. More about the KINGSLEY HOLGATE FOUNDATION Using adventure to improve and save lives – that is the key concept of the Kingsley Holgate Foundation, founded by one of Africa’s most colourful modern-day explorers. Kingsley Holgate is a humanitarian adventurer, author, TV personality, Fellow of the Royal…

The Tsodilo Hills are found in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in northwestern Botswana and lie a short distance from the Namibian border. The hills occur as a series of granite massifs in the otherwise flat landscape. The area is sparsely populated by Khoisan hunter-gatherers and Hambukushu cattle and goat herders. Wildlife is plentiful, with zebras, wildebeest, impalas and duikers a common sight, while elephants are also occasionally seen. Leopards are frequently heard grunting at night, while the grazing cattle everywhere makes for an easy meal for the lions. Birdlife is prolific, with eagles and other raptors attracted by the cliffs. There are even a number of parrot species. The Khoisan people, commonly referred to as Bushmen, believe that man originated in the Tsodilo Hills, and executed large numbers of images…

Many years ago, as first-time cross-border travellers and newlyweds, my wife Cheryl and I undertook a guided 4x4 self-drive trip to Botswana. We travelled with Bhejane 4x4 Adventures as their tours deal with the hard work involved in such an undertaking – pitching tents, managing the camp bookings and catering – that we did not want to concern ourselves with back then. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and promised ourselves another adventure with Bhejane. But as always, life gets away from one and with a growing family and work commitments we never quite got there! Thankfully, time has a way of bringing perspective to life and so, once again, we found ourselves considering a cross-border adventure. Although not complete newbies this time around, it was nevertheless a totally new experience…

Not so long ago I ventured into Kempton Caravans to chat to them about a trip we were doing to Botswana to see if they had something we could tow and review for the magazine. They recommended the Outbound Thunder, a new product that had been developed in conjunction with Outbound Campers. It really impressed us with its size and how well it handled the Botswana sand and dirt roads. So, when I approached the guys at Kempton Caravans for a second product to test, they suggested we try out the Outbound Cyclone SB – SB referring to single beds. A week later we picked up the Cyclone SB and set off to the Somkhanda Game Reserve close to Pongola in KwaZulu-Natal. I stupidly decided to take the N2 through…

AFRICAN CUCKOO BLACKBROWED DOUBLE BANDED COURSER BLACK EREMOMELA CURLEW FRANCOLIN GUINEAFOWL DUCK HONEYGUIDE KINGFISHER LOVEBIRD HELMET NIGHTJAR IBIS PARROT PETREL QUAIL RUFF TERN BARNOWL ALBATROSS FIRE FINCH FRIGATE CISTICOLA (BIRD) GYMNOGENE HOOPOE KITE MANNIKEN NODDY PARTRIDGE PIGEON RAIL SEAGULL TIT BARTHROATED BATELEUR BLUE CRANE DOVE FLAMINGO FULMAR HAMERKOP HORNBILL LARK (x2) MARTIN ORIOLE PELICAN PIPET RAVEN SKUA (x2) VULTURE BATHAWK CAPE CANARY DRONGO FLECKS CRANE CONCAL GANNET HARRIER HOUSE CROW LONGLEGGED (BIRD) MOUNTAIN CHAC OSPREG PELS FISHING OWL PITTA REED CORMORAND SNIPE WOODPECKER (MOUSE)BIRD CURLEW DESERT CISTICOLA DUCK GODWIT HELMET SHRIKE IBIS (INDIAN) MYNA OSTRICH PENGUIN (x2) PLOVER ROBIN SPARROW BLACK EGRET EAGLE FLYCATCHER GREBE HERON JACANA (KNYSNA) LOURIE NICATOR OXPECTER PEREGRINE FALCON PRINIAPRION RUDDS APALIS STINT Protea COFFEE There are very few things in life that can compete with…

The Lapalala Wilderness School (LWS) supports 39 schools, 370 educators and approximately 10 874 learners through the Sustainable Schools Programme. With an aim to instil a passion for nature in the hearts of the country’s youth, the vision of LWS is to help children to discover the true value of the biodiversity of the natural world and to identify and nurture Africa’s future conservation champions. For the past ten years the school has also sponsored a public speaking competition to build awareness of the severity of rhino poaching. The winner of the 2022 competition was Daniel Nkhumane, a Grade 11 learner at Sekoba Secondary School in Ga-Masenya Village, Mokopane. Daniel’s academic life before 2022 gave no indication of what he would achieve. He was on a fast track to becoming…

If you’ve ever doubted Mahindra’s ability to handle extreme conditions, put this in your pipe and smoke it! Its flagship model, the Scorpio-N SUV has officially set a new Guinness World Record for the “Fastest crossing of the Simpson Desert by a production vehicle”. This achievement was accomplished shortly after the Scorpio-N’s recent launch in Australia. The Scorpio-N conquered 1 100 sand dunes and endured peak outside temperatures of 50°C, all within a 13-hour timeframe. It was co-driven by Gene Corbett and Ben Robinson who, along with a team of photographers and videographers, documented the epic adventure. Their record-breaking journey was verified by officials from Guinness World Records. The Simpson Desert is a captivating destination for motoring enthusiasts around the world, and the Scorpio-N’s achievement adds to its allure. The…

When it was launched in 2021, the new Tucson was met with mixed reviews. Some loved the extreme departure from Hyundai’s usual design, while others remained unsure. The futuristic design looked like a concept that somehow made its way to production from the drawing board. Hyundai has now doubled down on this sleek new look with the introduction of the Tucson N Line. It is important to note that the changes are purely aesthetic in nature, with one additional feature: the introduction of AWD. This means that for the most part the new halo product is internally identical to the current model line-up. However, Hyundai claims that it combines the dynamic design, comfort and advanced features of the Tucson with the motorsport-inspired styling attitude of the manufacturer’s N Line, basically…

I have been attending Land Rover shows in the United Kingdom for over a decade now, and the most common complaint is that they are all the same, year in and year out. So, when I took up a position as copy and content writer at Front Runner just over six months ago, I was told it would involve attending overseas overland and 4WD events, the first being the recent Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, Arizona. As I flew over for it, I could not help but wonder how different it would be from the UK’s Billing Off-Road Show, an event close to where I live. The Overland Expo West is the first and most prominent of four annual Overland Expos held in various parts of the USA. The other…

As with most of the best adventures, this one started with a phone call from Paul Corver, an old safari client and friend that did numerous trips with me in the past. He wanted to put together a tailor-made safari for himself and a few of his friends from the Southern Cape. Because of political unrest, roadblocks and and bureaucracy at the border posts, I had not been to Zimbabwe for a number of years. But as I have been itching to rediscover this former gem in Africa’s tourism crown, I immediately started doing some research by contacting acquaintances and some of the lodges that we had stayed at in the past. They all assured me that Zimbabwe had changed completely and that it would be safe and a pleasure…

The rugged Tibesti mountains are as far as you can get from civilisation in Africa. Situated in the centre of the Sahara in northern Chad, it’s a long four-day 1 500km journey from the capital, N’Djamena, much of which is on tracks (or pistes) that are not for the faint of heart. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the area attracts only a few hundred determined adventurers a year… and a few years ago I was one of them! From Johannesburg, I travelled by Ethiopian Airlines to N’Djamena where I met up with my fellow travellers. Like me, they also wanted to travel to the middle of nowhere in search of raw adventure. Pierot, the Tibesti connoisseur After breakfast, we met Pierot, our guide – a short, thick-set guy, sixty-ish with…

With a loud drumbeat and through a cloud of smoke the new GWM P-Series was launched to great fan-fare at the ADA Training and Outdoor Centre in December 2020 into a very competitive bakkie market here in South Africa. At first glance, the P-Series certainly boasts rugged good looks. It also comes with an impressive list of driver safety enhancements such as Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keep Assist and Automatic Emergency Brake… all things you would normally only find on much pricier offerings. In addition, the interior is big and spacious and packed with all the bells and whistles one could want in a luxury bakkie, including the obligatory USB ports, a 220V outlet and a 12V power supply. The Passenger LT model that I drove on the launch event…

If you’ve never made – or at least tasted – a braai pie, you’re hanging out with the wrong crowd. My family scoffed at the idea when I first suggested we veer away from our traditional braai broodjies with cheese, tomato, onion and chutney (don’t judge), to try something new. Now they can’t get enough! The only limitation when making a braai pie is your own imagination. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want because honestly, it’s almost impossible to get it wrong. I got so carried away once that the pie was the height of a double layer cake (slight exaggeration), too thick for the braai grid to close properly and so filling that nobody even touched their fillet steak. In fact, if you…

The Padkloof Pass is located on a secondary road which connects the N14 near Olifantshoek in the north with the N8 in the south. This relatively short pass is in good condition and can be driven in any vehicle. However, there are some severe corrugations in a few places to look out for. The main attraction in this area is, without a doubt, the Witsand Nature Reserve, situated about 20km away on the northern side of the pass. This area is known as the Green Kalahari and is quite densely vegetated, in stark contrast to the red sand landscape of the true semi-desert nearby. Keep a lookout for the thousands of Sociable Weaver nests that populate many of the trees and telephone poles and the smaller arid-region animals such as…