A fortunate Fortuner

If you've ever wondered what an all-in-one, ready-to-camp vehicle looks like, Jacques Bekker from Bellville owns a great example.

- Jacques Bekker

AIthough he wasn't someone who particularly liked camping with a tent or towing, Jacques found his solution in a 2010 Fortuner V6 4.0. He bought the vehicle - with its raised chassis - in 2016. Even then, it was equipped with a dual-battery system and an extra fuel tank. However, there were many more upgrades awaiting the Fortuner, as Jacques was persuaded to transform the vehicle into a specialised camping vehicle over time. Jacques tells us more.

"In my early adulthood, I towed a 1984 Sprite Sport caravan using, among others, a BMW 3 series and an old Jeep XJ. After that, we switched to tents, at a time when I was driving a Toyota RAV. We stuffed the car full of camping equipment and you had to quickly close the doors to keep everything inside. Around 2015, the kids left home. Now my wife, Marelize, and I were able to go camping on our own.

I wanted equipped a vehicle that was already with a few extras - it would cost less than if I had to buy everything separately. My first addition was a Stargazer rooftop tent from Howling Moon that I mounted on a roof rack. This, I would later discover, does not work as well as the hard-shell rooftop tents. You had to pack carefully to get everything back in the bag, and all the dust on the outside was unpleasant. Although we used and enjoyed the tent well for two years, the setup and teardown and the time it took were the biggest nuisances. We'd rather use that time to explore our surroundings.