MADE FOR AFRICA

OUR MOTORING ED DIETER LOSSKARN TOOK TOYOTA'S HILUX GR-SPORT FOR AN ULTIMATE ROAD TEST. AS HIS WIFE FRANZISKA HAD NEVER SEEN VICTORIA FALLS BEFORE, THEY CHOSE THE LONG WAY ROUND — 9 200KM ACROSS SOUTH AFRICA, BOTSWANA, ZIMBABWE AND NAMIBIA. FROM KAROO TO KALAHARI, WET SALT PANS AND LUSH GREEN BUSH TO DRY DESERT, THEIR GRAVEL COMPANION NEVER DISAPPOINTED

- DIETER LOSSKARN

THE ONLY WAY to experience the vastness of the African continent is by traversing it overland. A fly-in safari will never give you the same satisfactory feel on reaching your day's stage. Kilometre after kilometre, you'll see changes in the landscape, feel the temperatures rise and fall and rumble over corrugated stretches of dirt road — through potholes, stirring up clouds of dust, traversing rivers and waddling across bottomless mud.

Climbing out of the Hex River Valley into the much drier and more barren Karoo is one of those key road trip moments. One constant, whenever we come past here, is tea and scones in the coffee shop of the British hamlet Matjiesfontein before leaving the Western Cape on the lonely tar road to Sutherland, going north.

The first stay couldn't have been in a more remote and peaceful location. Stuurmansfontein is reached on a 24km long, narrow and bumpy farm road. The farmstead was erected from local flat stones in 1840, the only building material available at the time. There is neither internet nor cell phone reception initially unusual for us, but after a while pure bliss. It was hot when we arrived, but we relaxed in the cool farm water tank, repurposed into a swimming pool. Owner Charmaine left us some freshly baked sourdough bread, olives and canola honey from the farm.

Upon our departure, we found that a heavy overnight thunderstorm turned the way out into our first mud challenge. In this sticky situation, we immediately fell in love with the BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres fitted to the Hilux. They were perfect in this slippery, soft terrain.

The sun soon started to shine and the Karoo was finally dry and dusty again as we approached the lush green banks of the Orange River, Upington. Once there, we enjoyed gin and tonic and cigars at the boutique hotel Le Must Residence, with a view of the mighty river from the balcony.