Regulars - SA 4x4

Our January Overland Images Winner

Congratulations to our seventh #SA4x4OverlandImages Instagram competition winner, Jean de Villiers! His stunning desert landscape image would be a worthy winner in any month. Just look at those tones! Do you have a magic shot in your photo collection that captures the essence of overland travel? SA4x4 is keen to promote adventure travel the world over, and to share those amazing memories with all our readers. Trawl your image banks and share those moments in time on SA4x4’s Facebook or Instagram pages, along with your name and a short description of what you are seeing and where. Action, wildlife, landscapes –…

The Wild Guide: Lion Behaviour

Coined in 1854, the term ‘Ethology’ refers to the study of the way in which an animal’s habits (its behaviour) are related to its structure and habitat. It is important to note that there is no such thing as typical behaviour, because the typical animal is a mythical beast! However, patterns can be observed, hypotheses devised and tested, and a working interpretation of what an animal is doing obtained. This data can then be extrapolated, to create an accepted ‘normal’ behavioural model for that species. Without doubt, every person who visits a game reserve hopes to spot an African lion…

Bush Craft

Bush Craft: Wild strike!

Some time back, I wrote an article on how to respond to an encounter with an animal while in the bush. Of course, not all encounters are on foot, and a good number of accidents are caused by hitting an animal while you are driving – particularly at night. That’s one of the reasons that we fit a bull bar, and fender-protectors over the wheel arches. Even at relatively slow speeds, an impact with an animal can prove costly, or even potentially life-threatening for the vehicle occupants. It is often thought that most accidents are caused either by running head-on…

Trail Savvy

Trail Savvy: Packing woes and long distance trips

We’ve all been there, looking at piles of ‘vital’ items and realising that they’ll never all fit in at the same time. Perhaps you’ve even had massive, heated arguments with your spouse because of their inability to compute the difference between the space available and what they insist must fit in. Or perhaps it is you who are the gadget freak, and who can’t leave without two of everything in case one of them breaks on the road. On our recent trip to Malawi (elsewhere in this issue) the packing problem quickly went from annoyance, to frustration, to forcing us…

Shop Talk

Shop Talk: Sidewalls & load ratings

Serious 4×4 tyres offer a 3-ply sidewall, which will obviously be stronger than a 2-ply. The major benefit is the puncture-resistance added to the vulnerable sidewall and tread areas. In a normal 2-ply radial tyre, each ply runs at the same 90-degree angle from the bead. The rubber gaps between the sidewall cords are the weakest point of a tyre. A nail, stake or thorny bush can push against the sidewall cord, be deflected, and penetrate through the weakest point (the rubber), resulting in a puncture. In the case of Cooper and Mickey Thompson tyres, the 3-ply sidewall forms a…

Overland Images

Our December Overland Images Winner

Congratulations to our sixth #SA4x4OverlandImages Instagram competition winner, Jonny Rich! He and his wife Meg go anywhere and everywhere in their tough little Jimny, and we always love seeing their pics! View this post on Instagram 🦆 . . . A “wherever the road takes us” kind of weekend. . . #SA4x4OverlandImages #vscocam #outdoors #Jimny #LJBW #jimny4x4 #jimnylife #southafrica #littlejimnybigworld #4×4 #offroad #nature #explore #expedition #suzukijimny A post shared by Jonny Rich (@jonny_rich_) on Oct 22, 2018 at 12:35pm PDT Check out some of our other entries below: View this post on Instagram Taking in the…

The Wild Guide

The Wild Guide: Life under the sea

As the festive season approaches, I am sure that many of you are looking forward to a holiday at the coast. In light of this I thought we would take a look at a few of the amazing creatures that inhabit the many tidal rock pools found along our 3000km coastline. “The sea… holds one in its net of wonder forever” – Jacques Cousteau One of the weird and wonderful life forms that are easy to spot in rock pools are sea anemones, with their gently waving tentacles. Although they resemble delicate flowers, anemones are actually primitive animals that are…

Bush Craft

Bush Craft: First aid kits

When an accident happens, you need to be prepared. And the first thing you jump for, after making sure that the area is safe, is a first-aid kit. Although these kits are available from outdoor shops, pharmacies and even some supermarkets, it may well be worth putting your own together. In my experience, most of these off-the-shelf kits are jam-packed with plasters, bandages, safety pins and not much else. (I bought one, and on getting it home and opening it up, found that it had six triangular bandages!). They should not be viewed as a cover-all-eventualities-kit, but as something of…

Shop Talk

Shop Talk: Tyre load ratings

Tyres (and the air inside them) are totally responsible for supporting the weight of the vehicle. If the load rating of the tyre is insufficient for the vehicle which it is fitted to, the tyre may become overheated, resulting in potential tyre failure. For example, if a passenger-car tyre is selected to replace an OE light-truck tyre on an SUV, the new tyre must meet, or exceed, the requirement for the specific vehicle weight. In order to determine, roughly, the load capacity for each individual tyre, identify the gross weight of the vehicle and divide this by four. If the gross weight of the vehicle is 2040kg,…

Trail Savvy

Trail Savvy: Turbo talk

A turbocharger is a turbine driven by exhaust gases. It increases the combustion efficiency of an engine by compressing intake air before the engine consumes it. Because the air is being compressed, the engine has more oxygen available for combustion, thus increasing output and efficiency. Why boost? In recent years, we’ve seen nearly every vehicle manufacturer drop large displacement naturally-aspirated petrol engines from their line-ups, and focus attention on the more efficient (turbocharged) diesels. Some markets still demand the old-school petrol engines (including ours, the United States and the Middle East), which is why Toyota still offers a 4.0-litre V6…

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