Dust & Glory

- Andrew Middleton

The recipe was simple: bring together a bunch of SA’s top-performing bakkies and put them head to head in an epic adventure. From the urban sprawl of Johannesburg to deep within the Okavango Delta, these five vehicles would be tested to their limits and beyond. We had a real mix-and-match of vehicles, too, ranging from the ubiquitous Hilux 2.8 to the all powerful V6 Amarok, and including the handsome 3.2 Ranger, surprising Triton and, of course, the Mazda – which showed up on the back foot, as rear-drive only. This would be an interesting trip with more than a few spills.

The tour got cracking as us members of the support team dragged ourselves from a warm bed in Joburg at 2am, to hit the highway towards Maun in one long slog, via Ellisras, then on to the B140 to Palapye, and the A14 via Serowe, Orapa and Rakops before finally getting our small convoy to Maun as the sun was setting. We Capetonians soon discovered that we aren’t used to the warm bush environment, being more adapted to cold Karoo plains than areas which have the sound of snorting, cavorting hippos at night.