Post Buy the 4×4!

AMUSE, INFORM AND AMAZE US WITH YOUR STORIES AND PHOTOS Just the right trail for a little Hyundai Accent

WINNING LETTER

After living in Asia for three years as digital nomads, itʼs been a joy to come home as a result of Covid and experience South Africa. Our goal has been to visit all the national parks in 2021, and squeeze a few trail races in between. After reading about the Lone Men of Kaokoland in your February issue (Eden by another name), itʼs been placed high on our bucket list.

So whatʼs stopping us? After not having a car for three years we rushed to get something when we got home. We contemplated a Jeep and the old Jimny model but we landed on a Hyundai Accent. Itʼs a great set of wheels but our lack of four-wheel drive has allowed us to laugh at many of our experiences – in hindsight.

After Google Maps took us on the wrong route from Joburg to Marakele we had to turn around, not once but twice, as our little wheels werenʼt going to make it through the mud. A fourhour journey ended up as eight. We had to be towed out of a viewing point in the Kruger after our chassis got stuck coming out. A kind Afrikaner was able to get us out without a sweat.

We burst a tyre after hitting a massive pothole near Alldays on the way to Mapungubwe so, in four short months, our little hatchback has been through its paces.

Lesson learnt: buy the 4×4!