Travel Africa & beyond with 4x4 stories from readers and journalists.

TRAVEL – Sahara Sojourn

A JOURNEY TO CHAD’S TIBESTI MOUNTAINS Much of Chad lies within the Sahara – a desert that covers one-third of Africa. A remote backwater, it rarely features on a traveller’s bucket list. But SA4x4 reader Grahame McLeod made it here with a bunch of like-minded Italian travellers on a tour with a trio of tough Land Cruisers. Once blacklisted due to war and conflict between rival tribal warlords, this part of the Sahara is now open to tourism. This month, the first part of a rough 1 500km journey to the Tibesti Mountains… The rugged Tibesti Mountains are as far

TRAVEL – Overland Africa Part 2: Zambia to Rwanda

Four guys live the overland dream when they rebuild a 1969 Land Rover Forward Control and head north through Africa, taking the slow road to Rwanda. Mitchell Sohn picks up the second part of their story, just as the group leap into Zambia, having survived a road not driven in many years… Nobody said overlanding is for sissies, and our exit route from Angola was a stern test of this. It took three days to cover 160km of the worst road we had ever seen, as we plunged from one giant puddle to the next, each one threatening to tip

TRAVEL – Snakes Alive!

SA4x4 joins some of South Africa’s leading herpetologists on a mission in KZN’s Maputaland region to find rare species and teach the local rural residents how to react to snakes. With Opposite Lock on board, we’re all set to drive the region’s challenging-at-times gravel tracks… I was damn glad that tonight we were looking for frogs and aquatic stuff in a croaking and groaning swamp, rather than rare snakes! I knew my companions would go ape if they found a deadly twig snake or mamba, but for now, I was happy the hunt was on for other goggas. I had

READER STORY * FORWARD CONTROL IN AFRICA

Four guys live the overland dream when they rebuild a 1969 Land Rover Forward Control and head north through Africa, taking the slow road to Rwanda. This is the first part of their amazing journey, related by Mitchell Sohn. The idea of an Africa trip was born between four friends from Knysna sometime after high school. All four worked abroad for several years, saving enough funds before coming together to make the trip happen. Jon-Jon Abelheim worked as an English teacher in Vietnam, Harry Maarsingh as an engineer in Saudi-Arabia, Mitchell Sohn on the superyachts in the USA and Mediterranean,

Travel – Hunters Road

Pioneering spirit Botswana’s Hunter’s Road, which parallels the country’s eastern border with Zimbabwe, can be a breeze in the dry. After heavy rains, navigating its slippery cotton soil bogs can be a very different matter. So how does a stock-standard Nissan Navara Stealth face up to this challenge? Story Jacques Viljoen Photography Jacques Viljoen & Anton Willemse Mention the Hunter’s Road in the wet season and people immediately say that it shouldn’t be done, and anyone who attempts it is looking for trouble. Social media channels are rife with disaster stories. But we at SA4x4 don’t shy away from these

DEFENDER TROPHY LIMPOPO/ZIM/BOTS

The second 2019 Defender Trophy event kicked off in Limpopo and was unique in that participants camped in three different countries… Story & pictures Pat Cruywagen I now live in England but African blood runs through my veins. In nearly 20 years as a 4×4 journalist, I have attended over 10 Defender Trophy events. They are always held in southern Africa, and, as the name suggests, they are for Defenders only. Last year Englishman Phillip Young did do it in a Toyota Land Cruiser, but only because he could not get his Defender through customs in time after shipping it

ADVENTURE TRAVEL – UGANDA: The Pearl of Africa

This very last in the series of stories from Dan Grec’s two-year Africa round trip details a scary mishap and some extraordinary wildlife encounters I’m out solo, exploring an isolated gravel track in Uganda when the stunning Lake Albert comes into view over the crest of a hill. I strategically park the Jeep to get the best photo possible and walk away with camera in hand. As I climb the rock bank for a photo, I see the Jeep move. Almost before I can react it has travelled an entire Jeep length and is picking up speed fast. I desperately

Songimvelo Nature Reserve & Barberton – Where the sun rises

We are invited to test-drive two long-closed 4×4 trails, experience Songimvelo Nature Reserve, and get a taste of Mpumalanga’s lesser-known natural wonders Story Jacques Viljoen Photography Jacques Viljoen & Anton Willemse Mpumalanga is Zulu for ‘the place where the sun rises’, and its major natural attractions have long been a favoured escape for travellers the world over looking for wildlife and dramatic scenery. But there’s a lot more for the traveller once the Kruger National Park, Blyde River Canyon, and Dullstroom have been ticked off the list. Truth is, many of these places are a long drive from the main

ANGOLA ADVENTURE – Cruiser Country

Toyota lays on an action-packed few days in south-western Angola with a trio of Land Cruisers Story Angus Boswell Pictures Cornel van Heerden & Angus Boswell It’s taken Angola a long time to emerge from the civil war which ended in 2002. Its effects have dragged on for more than two decades. When war broke out in 1974, tourism effectively stopped. That’s changing. The old ruling elite are being sidelined, minefields have largely been cleared, and officialdom is letting go its cranky and slow Soviet practices when it comes to getting things done. One great aspect of the new spirit

Travel – Floods in the land of thirst

In a land known for being parched and barren, sudden heavy rains can change conditions overnight. This is the background to a great adventure on a recent Kaokoland tour with Simon Steadma n Story Simon Steadman & photography Desiree Steadman When you think of Kaokoland in the far North Western corner of Namibia, your mind fills with images of vast open spaces, long, dusty gravel roads and dry riverbeds. Definitely a land of thirst, in need of water, you would say. However, at the right time of year you can see a completely different side of this desolate wilderness; one

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