Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Caravan and Outdoor Life

When I was a little boy, our family often spent the holidays in caravan parks. Thinking back twenty-plus years, I fondly remember caravanning in Ceres. My time was whiled away under the pine trees, playing with my brother and friends. What we did day-in and day-out without computers and smartphones (like kids these days), I can’t remember exactly… but I do remember I loved every minute of it. I remember spending hours on the trampolines, which were right next to a little Wendy house tuck shop, where for just R2 you could buy a bag of “los lekkers” that would last for days. I remember sitting around the fire every night. I remember the plastic cups I drank cooldrink from. If I close my eyes, I can almost smell the…

FLOATING LIGHTS For those concerned about the insecurities surrounding load shedding and power supply in South Africa , the new UltraTec Silicone Solar LED lamp will help shed light when things go dark. This new solar lamp can be used both indoors and outdoors. The foldable lamp is also floatable and housed in a waterproof protective storage container, so it can be used to brighten up the pool area at night. It can be recharged by solar power or by using the USB cable included, and can run for 12 hours on high mode, or 5 hours on turbo mode. R200 Available from Outdoor Warehouse stores. For more information, visit www.outdoorwarehouse.co.za BATHROOM VISITS Using the toilet in your caravan or motorhome can sometimes be an unpleasant experience - especially when…

AUTHOR: Charles Griffiths, Jenny Day and Mike Picker PUBLISHER: Struik Nature ISBN: 978-1-77584-102-9 PRICE: R320 AVAILABLE: www.randomstruik.co.za FORMAT: Softcover LENGTH: 368 pages REVIEWER: Lara Meter Freshwater Life, written by Charles Griffiths, Jenny Day and Mike Picker, is the first illustrated field guide of its kind for the greater southern African region. This book is intended to help the reader identify more than 1 000 freshwater organisms. The species described were selected by how often they’re likely to be encountered by humans, and each featured species is illustrated by means of photographs and a distribution map. When camping, we sometimes come across a creature, insect or plant which isn’t immediately familiar. Out come the books we need to identify this new creature: One for mammals, one for birds, one for fish,…

SLOTH Sloths are tropical mammals that live in Central and South America. They use their long claws (8 to 10 cm) to hang onto branches while they feast on the leaves that other animals can’t reach. These long claws make walking on the ground difficult, so they spend most of their time in the tall trees that they call home. Sloths are about the size of a medium-sized dog and weigh about 8kg. How often do sloths visit the toilet? MANATEES When manatees are born, they weigh between 25 and 30kg and are about 1.2 metres long. Fully grown, these amazing water animals can weigh up to 1 500kg and be almost 4 metres in length. Manatees are herbivores that eat sea grass from the ocean floor. They will never…

DINNER FOR ONE Are you longing for a good meaty potjie, but your partner is vegetarian or you are a single camper? It is far too much of a hassle to do a six-person potjie for just one person! Try this DIY trick to make your favourite potjie with a No. ½ mini-potjie fired by gel fuel. And it’s simple. Just extend the legs with aluminium tubes to accommodate a cut-to-length empty can. Fill this can with Gel Fuel, which will burn merrily for 2 hours - enough time to have a chat with fellow campers and enjoy a cold one. As a bonus, it is safe to cook with this under cover in a rally kitchen as there is no big fire. It can also be done no matter…

THE SPRITE TOURER SP AND SW The legendary Sprite Tourer Range is about to be relaunched and it will come with some pretty impressive upgrades and facelifts on both the interior and exterior of the SW and SP models. The Sprite Tourer range was specifically designed to handle gravel roads, often necessary for a getaway in Southern Africa. The range is ideal for those get-up-and-go adventure types who prefer to move around to different locations when caravanning, including those hard to reach Bushveld resorts! The interior layout of the Sprite Tourer SP has changed from being a 3-berth sleeper to 2-berth sleeper. This leaves more space for personal comforts, as there are now two well-placed single beds that can easily be converted into one queen-sized bed. This bed can also…

This was one vehicle I was loath to return to its owners. I was sold on this Kia from the moment I picked it up at OR Tambo and drove it down the R59 highway to pick up the massive Sensation Anee caravan. I had the six-speed auto top-of-the-range SXL model. The 2.2-litre turbo diesel puts out 147kW and 440Nm of torque (ground clearance about 171cm). For every minute of the trip, from the moment I left the Sensation showroom in Midvaal, I was impressed by the smoothness of this seven-seater as a tow vehicle. I could hardly believe I was towing a caravan weighing close to two tons! I turned on the eco drive mode from the start, to conserve fuel. Families wishing to buy the Grand Sedona will…

Readers: Wayne Gleeson and Ralf Schulz Motorhome: Fiat Ducato What made you choose this particular motorhome? It had everything we needed! The Fiat Ducato’s excellent handling, and this model’s sheer comfort and layout. Have you owned a motorhome or caravan before? Yes, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van motorhome conversion, custom-fitted with German precision by Ralf’s father. We also owned a Sprite Tourer SP for two years. Have you customised your motorhome at all, to make it right for you? If so, what have you done? Not much was needed to be added or customised to this already very comfortable motorhome. We added extra curtaining behind the captain’s chairs/cockpit area and sectioned off the bedroom for more privacy. We also added a very good navigation system. What are your must-have items when…

IS THE TRAPEZIUM RELIABLE? We were setting off on our annual holiday in December and were still in the 60km/h zone when the caravan broke loose from our towing vehicle. It was chaos! Luckily for us, the caravan went off the left side of the road, but unfortunately hit a signboard. The damage was too terrible to see. After investigation, I discovered that the Trapezium towball had become detached from the Trapezium itself. Fortunately, I have insurance that paid out; but, because of my work situation, I can’t replace my caravan. I spoke to Trapezium in December, and was told to send photos - which I did, but have had no response from them. I find this unacceptable. Joop van der Linde Godfrey Castle: What an awful thing…

BACK ISSUE JUNE 1965 Turn back the clock with Blast from the Past, where this month we take a look at June 1965 when we travelled along the Panorama Route to Bourke’s Luck Potholes, and visited Mkuzi Game Reserve. Just beyond Vaalhoek is Kasper’snek, named after Kasper Kruger, Paul Kruger’s father, one of the early Trekker Scouts who was searching for a way down the bastion of the Berg. The road carries on to Bourke’s Luck Potholes, back in 1965 if you wanted to continue straight on, you would have had to do so on a simple track! The Provincial Roads Department has since transformed it into what it is now – one of the most spectacular drives in the world. A luxury rest camp and caravan park has also…

What you can legally tow on South African roads is determined by your car; exceeding its towing capacity will put you on the wrong side of the law. Every trailer or caravan on the market has a different gross vehicle mass (GVM) and a different tare (unladen kerb/licence mass). The carrying capacity of the caravan or trailer – in other words, how much you can load – is the difference between its GVM and tare. The higher the GVM of the trailer or caravan, the more it can legally carry. Be warned, though: it isn’t as simple as that – because the GVM is not allowed to exceed the tare of the vehicle towing it. So even if you are towing an empty caravan or trailer, the law will look…

CYLINDERS AND CAPACITY This refers to the size of the engine and the number of cylinders. KW@ REVS Kilowatts refers to the maximum amount of power an engine develops at a certain number of revolutions per minute. The higher the kW the more powerful the engine. NM @ REVS The most important figure for towing. Newton metres is the measurement used to assess the pulling power an engine develops. Ideally, the most Nm at the lowest rpm is best for both open road towing as well as fuel consumption. TARE The tare weight refers to the towing vehicle only and is the most important figure for any towcar when it comes to breaking the law. In South Africa, a vehicle may not tow a normally braked caravan or trailer that…