Tabla de contenidos para Issue 13 (Nov 2021) en Adventure Afrika

The typical business presentation is not guaranteed to light your fire. But occasionally one will throw up a spark that gets you thinking. This was the case the other day when 4x4 Mega World’s CEO, Deon Venter, said a few words at the announcement of a joint venture with Tyrelife, local distributors of the Mickey Thompson and Cooper Tires brands. This was at the swanky new premises in Paarden Eiland in Cape Town, which has now added tyre fitment, balancing and alignment to its retail offering, using state-of-the-art equipment. It’s now effectively a one-stop shop, dedicated to all things 4x4, outdoor and overlanding. Deon told us how 4x4 Mega World had grown to 32 outlets over its 25 years in operation, selling quality equipment and becoming the biggest distributor outside…

Giving wild dogs a chance South Africa’s Kruger National Park is home to a number of endangered species, including the most vulnerable African wild dog. The park has the largest contiguous population of wild dogs in South Africa, but elsewhere this important species is threatened by habitat loss and population fragmentation. These fragmented groups are in turn more vulnerable to a variety of attacks, as well as disease This is where the Ford Wildlife Foundation has stepped in, donating Ford Rangers to provide support to 27 ecological protection initiatives which are part of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Conservation programme. “Without the Ford Ranger much of the work we do would not be possible because wild dogs roam in large remote areas,” explains Grant Beverley, senior field officer in the…

The Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa, covering an area of 372 889km², which is slightly bigger than Germany. It is home to popular tourist spots, as well as the most starkly beautiful landscapes in the country. In this mesmerising province you are bound to find everything your adventurous heart desires, making it perfect for the Meerkat Squad SA’s maiden overlanding trip. And what a trip this proved to be: an epic 11-day overlanding experience covering 2 800km, of which almost 1 800km was on sometimes challenging gravel roads. Expedition leader Stephen Mogapi called upon Nothern Cape resident, Aslam Mxolisi Tawana, for support since his intimate knowledge of the area would come in handy. “As with most adventures, pro-active planning is vital to the success and enjoyment…

Gert Fourie farms near Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape. Four years ago, he and his two sons, aged 9 and 12 at that stage, visited a 4x4 outfitter in Pretoria East and were mightily impressed by a Land Cruiser 6x6 they saw. This was quite a showpiece, and Gert learnt that it cost approximately R3.6-million to build. As they got into their Patrol, the boys were quick to set their own challenge: “When we get back home, we are going to build our own 6x6!” That very December, Gert got cracking on his own Nissan Safari 6x6 named “Ses Voet”. By the time the new year had turned, there was a rolling chassis on the hoist and, six months later in June 2017, the project was ready for its…

Zambia is one of my favourite southern African destinations, and I was excited to take a group of eight like-minded travel companions to this true wildlife destination. The first evening of our planned expedition was spent at the upmarket Bongela Private Game Reserve around 10km from Vaalwater in Limpopo, where the group got to know each other better, and could share their high expectations for an unforgettable trip. After a game drive through this bushveld reserve, we enjoyed the small pleasures that come with the luxury chalets, before tucking into a scrumptious Eland potjie for dinner. Eager to get our adventure going, we hit the road to Martin’s Drift border post, aiming to get there early and into Botswana before the crowds that are typical at African border crossings. After…

Situated in the northern quartile of Lesotho, the Moteng Pass is located on the A1 road between the town of Kala in the west and the Afriski Mountain Resort in the north. Stretching over 15.3km, it has a huge altitude gain of 896m, converting into an average gradient of 1:17. Don’t be fooled by that mild-sounding figure, as it includes the descent. Most of the ascent from the western approach is between 1:5 and 1:8. The 91 bends, corners and curves will most definately require your full concentration. Amongst those are four extreme hairpin bends and one full horseshoe. The A1 road is the major route across the northern sector of Lesotho and, as such, carries a fair volume of traffic, including some large trucks. These need the full width…

The colourful Gaboon adder is a large and robust snake that rarely grows longer than 1.2m in South Africa, but gets much larger in East Africa. Its body is covered in beautiful shades of dark and light brown, buff, purple and pink with velvety brown hourglass markings down the back. The head is lightly coloured with two dark triangles on either side extending from the eye to the upper jaw. In southern Africa, this snake inhabits the thickly wooded lowland forest and moist savanna from Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal northwards along the coast to Richards Bay, St Lucia and into Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe. They are also spotted further north. Sadly, much of this snake’s natural habitat around St Lucia has been destroyed and individuals are often poached by snake collectors.…

4x4 Mega World has since March 2021 been the authorised distributor in Africa for the highly-rated REDARC electrical management product range. This market-leading, innovative Australian brand, headquartered in Adelaide, is at the forefront of testing and pioneering the latest in electronic products used in vehicles that use battery power, be it cars, boats, trucks, buses or mining equipment. The REDARC product range is extensive, covering a range of vehicles and electrical system requirements. This includes Smart Start SBI battery isolators, 12 volt in-vehicle DC-DC battery chargers, pure sine wave inverters, and now the RedVision range of vehicle management systems. Additionally, they offer a range of vehicle-specific mounting brackets to improve the installation process, making it easier and quicker to wire your very compact DC-DC charger. All the BCDC units are…

When the countdown to holiday began – which is inevitable in a house with kids ranging from 6 to 12 years in age – we reached out to Toyota South Africa in the hope we could get our hands on one of the recently launched Land Cruiser 300 models. We knew this would take our annual family getaway to the next level. Not expecting much, we were surprised when PR Manager Riaan Esterhuysen confirmed that the flagship GR-S 3.3D would be our chariot for this trip. After collecting this impressive piece of metal the night before leaving for Scottburgh on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, our excitement ramped up about the upcoming time to recharge and relax. On our drive down, we couldn’t help but take a three-hour detour to see…

How to enter? Simply send an image – minimum 1MB in size – of you and your vehicle, out and about on an adventure to info@4x4afrika.com (subject: Four-Wheel Partner). Include the following: Driver details Year model and derivative of the vehicle Any modifications made (and which has been the most useful) Vehicle’s nickname (if relevant) Favourite memory/trip with your vehicle Your bucket-list trip Top expedition/adventure tip Why you love your ride T&C’s: The decision regarding featured entries rests solely with the Adventure Afrika team, and no correspondence will be entered into. | Should the promoter (Tentco) withdraw the prize sponsorship, Adventure Afrika reserves the right to publish any entries without awarding any prize. | Adventure Afrika and Tentco retain the right to use any image submitted in promotional or marketing…

Brawn and beauty Opposite Lock now stocks the Piak brand of Australian 4x4 accessories and body armour, of which the Elite No Loop Bar is one of the quality offerings. The slimline design blends neatly with the flowing frontal lines of most modern 4x4s. It is also offered with loops for added headlight and bonnet protection. Made from high strength, low corrosion steel and finished in a hard-wearing matte black powder coat, this rigid bullbar features a split front panel to ensure optimum engine airflow, and can also accommodate OE front parking sensors. It is winch-ready and standard spec includes fog lights and twin high-lift jacking points. Piak bullbars are available for a range of popular bakkie and SUV brands sold locally, and carry a two-year warranty. *Available from Opposite…

*Follow Aslam’s adventures on social media: @blackboy_adventures About Meerkat Squad SA Meerkat Squad SA is a travel adventure group started early this year by five outdoor and adventure enthusiasts. The instigator was Stephen Mogapi who connected various adventurers to form the squad: Judah Mphela, Nduna Mposi, Lesego Tlailane and Mduduzi Motsa. Together they form the core members of the group, but other overlanders and explorers are welcome to tag along on the squad’s exciting trips. They all have different backgrounds and varied experience in self-drive adventures, but decided that Meerkat Squad SA would be a great forum for like-minded individuals who want to travel to some of South Africa’s (and even Africa’s) most remote destinations as a group. The group has already successfully completed the trip through the Northern Cape,…

I recently watched Forrest Gump again, a classic movie close to my heart. One of my favourite scenes is the point where our protagonist, Forrest, feels a bit lost and goes for a run. And he runs and runs and runs, across the entire USA, for no apparent reason. For me, this section of the film has always been a way to showcase the best America has on offer from a scenic and tourist perspective, a view incidentally shared by the movie’s director Robert Zemeckis I always wondered if I’d ever be able to complete a similar trip in our little piece of heaven called South Africa, and thanks to Kia’s annual Seven7 Drive, I recently got to do just that. However, this is where the similarities stop. We replaced…

Turtle Tour iSimangaliso Wetland Park 15 – 21 January 2022 Cost: R7 000 per person sharing Accommodation: Self-catering chalets Transkei Wild Coast (Pondoland) 5 – 13 February 2022 Cost: R7 000 per person sharing Accommodation: Self-catering chalets or camping Meander to Malawi 10 – 30 June / 8 – 26 October 2022 Cost: R 9 350 per person sharing Accommodation: Mainly camping Snow Safari to the “Wild Side of the Drakensberg” 12 – 17 July / 19 – 24 July 2022 (snow dependent) Cost: R7 000 per person sharing Accommodation: Hotels and B&B’s Luangwa Valley – Zambia 1 – 21 August 2022 Cost: R 16 250 per person sharing Accommodation: Self-catering chalets and camping The Jewel of Africa (Botswana: Moremi, Savuti and Chobe National Parks) 3 – 15 September 2022…

Water for Elephants: The organisation works closely with the authorities to drill boreholes and install and operate infrastructure in eastern Botswana. This is where the pressure of conflict with wild animals tends to be high, especially in the dry months when communities and farms are hit hard. Currently, seven working boreholes provide enough water for approximately 20 elephants per hour, 480 per day and 3 000 in total. CONTACT: www.nkomberhino.org/waterforelephants Feed-a-child Botswana: ‘The non-governmental organisation was founded in 2012 to provide essential nutritional support to orphans and children in need. Weakened elderly people are also cared for as part of the project. CONTACT: +267 686 2851 | info@ncongo.org / director@ncongo.org | www.ncongo.org/feed-a-child-botswana Dreamfields Equestrian Centre: This project was set up to give children the opportunity to get acquainted with horses…

1. Marlothi Safari Park Marlothi Safari Park is located in the pristine Marloth Park, only 17km from the Crocodile Bridge gate entrance to the Kruger National Park. The campsite boasts six lovely spacious stands, each with its own private ablutions, a braai area and a kitchen facility. Whether it’s during an early morning coffee or early evening sundowners, visitors are guaranteed to see an abundance of wildlife from the lookout point near the camp, as several mammal species are constantly roaming the camp. The beautiful swimming pool offers wonderful refreshment in the hot summer months, and bird watchers can look forward to ticking off more than 300 bird species in the area. You will drift off to sleep hearing the sounds from the neighbouring Lionspruit Nature Reserve, ensuring a wonderful…

People travel from all over the world to experience an African sunrise or sunset. Songs and poems are written about the yellow, red and amber hues flushing over the vast bush and savanna horizons, but more often than not, photographers struggle to capture the magic. In this article I want to look at the science behind capturing this perfect moment in nature. The light we see from the sun is white, but made up of different colours at different wavelengths. At sunrise or sunset, when the sun is at the horizon, the distance the light travels through the air to your eyes is significantly further than when the sun is overhead. Red, orange, and yellow are long light waves and green, blue, indigo and violet are short light waves. When…

Glamping has become a popular option for adventure travellers in recent years as a way to experience the best of two worlds: proximity to nature plus the comforts of home. Resort owners find that, if properly implemented, luxury lodge tents are a cost-effective and fast way to add extra accommodation on almost any site. A key benefit is their generous internal space, which can be tailor-made to surprise and delight the guests. What are the important factors to consider when deciding on the product that will best suit your business plans? When it comes to luxury lodge tents, consider the size of the tent, the suitability of the material for the conditions, ease of maintenance, as well as the potential additional features that are on offer. Tentco did not hold…

When myself and two colleagues from Ironman 4x4 Africa accepted an invitation from conservation marvel, Michelle Pengilly, to join her on an expedition through the southern parts of Mozambique, we expected something inspirational and exciting. And oh my, did she deliver! I do realise that calling her a marvel is a very bold statement, but please allow me to explain why she is a hero in the modern world of conservation. Michelle made the bold move of abandoning a successful career in banking to pursue the promise of freedom and fresh air in Africa. After a few years spent as a guide, she realised that her calling was even bigger, and that she wanted to actively contribute to the preservation of the natural world. Her husband, Grant, felt the same…

The immaculately tarred and ruler-straight R360 from Upington to Goera Pan in the Kalahari was a breeze. I eased up to 120km/h, thumbed the cruise control and let the 298kW and 560Nm from the Patrol’s 5.6-litre V8 do its silky-smooth job. Under my elbow, the convenient built-in cooler box was putting the freeze on my padkos and snacks. Barely an hour of semi-autonomy later and Goera Pan pulled into view – a white, salty expanse in the middle of nowhere. We swung left off the blacktop and got our tyres (still at an asphalt-friendly 2.4 bar) carving over the sand tracks they would be calling home for the next 72 hours. I notched the Patrol’s 4WD dial into 4H and leaned on the throttle, sending plumes of dust into the…

Hatari, McClaren, Jamie, Jumbo, Geizar, Missy, Nikita, Smokey… All ordinary horses without previous achievements that would be used during Women’s Month as the travel companions of a group of women riders taking on an epic journey for the benefit of welfare organisations. In early August, the eight horses were loaded into trailers, and the convoy headed out on the dusty roads past Maun, Shorobe and Sankuyo to the 105 Cut Line. From there, the women would saddle up for a 300km ride to Elephant Sands. As the sun was setting over a cool and dusty Botswana, the group of adventurers and helpers – travelling from as far as Maun, Pandamatenga, Francistown, Nata and Satau – started setting up camp on the eve of this amazing adventure. There is something special…

Besides Berg-en-Dal, Pretoriuskop is one of the rest camps closest to Johannesburg or Pretoria. If you hit the road early on a Friday and drive through the Malelane gate, this is the rest camp of choice for a quick weekend getaway. If you do decide on a weekend visit, you will get home pretty late on Sunday night, but as Natasha always says, “the weekend is only over when the Carte Blanche jingle fills the lounge!” Be careful when planning your return trip though, and do not be fooled by the Numbi/Phabeni gate routes which look like shortcuts on the map. These routes take you through the countryside and can become quite busy as many residents return home on Sundays. Pretoriuskop is located on the westernmost side of the park,…

Potato salad Ingredients: 2kg potatoes¼ cup sugarPepper and cayenne pepper to taste500g onions (plus cooking oil)2 teaspoons salt50g gherkins2 cups mayonnaise Method: • Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes (about 2 x 2cm) and cook until soft but still firm. • Chop the onions and place in a large pot with a little bit of oil – fry until soft but not browned. • Chop the gherkins into smallish cubes or into rings if they are small. • Add sugar, salt and gherkins together with 2 tablespoons of water to the onions and bring to the boil. • Add mayonnaise and stir quickly (the potatoes should still be boiling hot when you add mayonnaise). • Bottle immediately, while still hot. Shell noodle salad Ingredients: 3 large onions1 pack tomatoes½…

In the last eight years or so, the advent of cars with so-called ‘smart’ or variable voltage alternators has forced owners to revise how they charge a secondary battery when on the go. Not far back, a dual-battery system used to power a fridge and other devices could rely on a simple voltage-sensitive relay (VSR) to reliably charge the cranking and auxiliary battery and separate them when the vehicle was switched off. This is no longer the case. This is where ‘smart’ DC-DC (or battery to battery) chargers enter the picture. They take the highly variable (and always-changing) output from a smart alternator and increase or decrease it to a stable voltage that will ensure that a rapid and safe charge gets to the auxiliary battery, according to a controlled…

Send yours to us on: info@4x4afrika.com (Subject: My Ride & I) Kobus Vermaak 2019 Hilux Legend 50 4x4 AT “Gutsy is my adventure partner in every sense of the word and has opened a world of exploration for me. She is a heavy girl, having been modified quite extensively to suit our travel needs. Gutsy has some dents and scratches but has made some awesome memories.” Elsie du Plessis 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser 76 LX V8 “Our Land Cruiser, Doepie, and Conqueror Campact Platinum Trailer, are our passport to wild and wonderful adventures. We are totally in love with the Cruiser because, simply put, it is the master of the bush. It offers us everything we need and we enjoy exploring all the beautiful places this continent of ours has…

As an avid camper and overland explorer since childhood, David Gelling’s passion for back country travel shines through in his conversations. He is so passionate, in fact, that he started DG Overlanding as a platform to share his passion with a wider audience. “Overlanding is genuinely one of my greatest passions in life and we spend most of our free time travelling,” says David, who has embraced “forced retirement” courtesy of the C-word as an opportunity to explore even more destinations in our beautiful country. Having travelled all over southern Africa, David highlights a trip to the Central Kalahari with Ultimate Adventures for his 60th birthday as an all-time favourite, with a month spent traversing Namibia as a close second. “The Central Kalahari is truly incredible,” he enthuses. On our…