After 20 years, Alan Saunders heads back to Botswana, and finds that as much has changed as has stayed the same. A rugged 4×4 Motorhome is coming onto the market, and we take a look at the specs so far, and then we just had to take our newly “Arctified” Nissan Pathfinder on a trip to see what the result of the conversion is.
We also feature two unique trips – one through the Kalahari in a VW station wagon (in 1975!) and another that has lasted 12 years and seen the birth of four children! There’s also an interesting look at the safari business, with a 21-day diary from a safari-goer as well as an interview with tour guide Johan Appelgryn.
Our advice columnists discuss the perils of your first 4×4 trail run, tyre health and tyre balancing, going it alone on lesser travelled overlanding routes, and our Bush Mechanic discusses the finer points of using a snatch strap or a snatch rope for recovery.
Finally, we’ve launched the Tow Car of the Year competition, in which we’re taking 12 popular double cab bakkies and putting them to the towing test. You can watch Hooked Up on DSTV’s Ignition (channel 189) from the 1st of December to find out what the judges had to say about the various car, and readers can enter the competition to win the bakkie that’s crowned Tow Car of the Year. Go to page 20 of this issue to find out how to enter, and for a list of the vehicles competing.
The Leisure Scene section features, as always, exciting new gadgets for the adventurer, such as the rugged Titan smart phone and Olympus Tough camera, which we tested on our trip to Morocco. Readers can also win a BnB Rack – a new entry to the SUV bike rack game. Details are on pages 63 to 65.
The December issue of Leisure Wheels is on sale from 12 November to 10 December.
