Leisure Wheels April 2016

So there we were, stranded next to the road. Deziree, our 45-year-old Land Rover Series 2A, who also happens to be a movie star, simply died en route to our office aft er we picked her up. Her problem proved to be a bigger issue than simply running out of petrol, and we opened the bonnet. Not that we really knew what to expect, but it seemed the logical next step. The bonnet was open long enough for us to ascertain that the lump of metal definitely resembled an engine before a Land Rover Defender stopped next to us. Out jumped a man we had never met before. He asked what the problem was, and we replied that Deziree had decided to die on us. Apparently he also owns an…

Email your views to editorial@leisurewheels.com or submit them via our Facebook page or the website at www.leisurewheels.co.za. Please supply your postal address, in case you win a prize. WINNING LETTER Congratulations! Your letter wins you a CAT watch to the value of R1200. We will be in contact soon to make arrangements for delivery. I CAN GO ANYWHERE Working up in the tropical rain forests of west Africa, you’re subjected to heavy rainfall. One year we had 3 206mm. Rainstorms delivering 40mm in half an hour are not uncommon. When 80, 100 and up to 122mm of rain fall in an hour, there is a total white-out and all vehicles and construction machinery are instructed to halt and wait for the storm to pass. The danger of driving off the…

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! We’ve got a brand new podcast on our website, hosted by our own features editor Gerhard Horn, who has a head full of opinions on the world of adventure motoring. Current topics include the aftermath of our recent international shoot-out between the all-new Toyota Hilux and its competitors, the latest 4x4 news and the most epic 4x4 fails of the month. This podcast will be a regular feature, which will also include driving impressions, information about upcoming adventures and general mutterings on things that matter. It’ll basically be like a braai with your mates, except that it’s a podcast. It’s available on the web, right now. SNAKEBITES – ALL THE INS AND OUTS On the web this month, regular contributor Johan Marais, our resident snake charmer,…

SOMETIMES I have gone out of my way to take a ferry across a river. It is, for example, possible to cross the mighty Zambezi at Katima Mulilo with an impressive bridge. I prefer to go to Kasane and make use of the very busy ferry crossing, even though it takes hours. It is just so much more exciting. On last year’s expedition in Madagascar, we had our fair share of ferry crossings to the extent that it came close to satisfying my craving. It started in the first week, on the road from Tamatave to Mananara Nord on the east coast. No less than seven ferry crossings awaited. Madagascar’s ferry crossings are supposed to be simple. All of them are done with big grey vessels, sponsored by the Chinese…

KOOS MOORCROFT’S army career started straight aft er school, once he matriculated in Florida, Roodepoort. He started his military sojourn in the artillery, but soon moved on to 1 Parachute Battalion. As a career soldier, Moorcroft travelled to Britain for a nuclear and biological warfare course, and soon aft erwards, in 1970, he was one of the founding members of the country’s first special forces unit: 1 Reconnaissance Commando. By then a staff sergeant, Moorcroft completed 35 000-feet parachute jumps and he was also an attack diver. In 1978, he joined 5 Recce as regimental sergeant major (RSM) – a post he filled until 1991. Two years later he was appointed sergeant major of the SA Army and served on the General Staff until his retirement from the force in…

LUXURIOUS passenger trains have been around for more than a century. Th e first of its kind (and most famous) was probably the Orient Express that ran between Paris and Varna on the coast of the Black Sea since 1883. Agatha Christie’s 1934 detective novel, Murder on the Orient Express, was set against the backdrop of this magnificent steam-driven train and its obvious opulence. Th e first time I rubbed shoulders with a train of affluence was in 2004, as a guest of Renault, during the launch of its Laguna on the Blue Train. I pledged that I would be back for a bigger and better ‘bite’ of this irrefutable bucket list journey, but the prices were just too steep. “We hadn’t even settled in when Alex arrived with a…