FROM THE EDITOR
With the restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic slowly being lifted, it was open season on launches of new vehicles for car manufacturers; globally as well as locally. At last count, over 25 new or revamped models or derivatives were released (all presented virtually) over the last two months; and this excludes sedan- and sports car models.
The new vehicle splurge is reflected in our pages this month, so be warned – the magazine is heavily biased towards shiny new metal and contains an oversupply of articles on future road trip chariots – with some of them not destined for local shores soon. Yet, even in this launch frenzy some introductions still had to be postponed, such as that of the new Aston Martin DBX.
The plethora of new mechanical brutes aside, we also celebrate the slow return to normal life by reporting on the Stella Alpina in Italy, the first regularity event to be presented in Europe post-covid lockdown, and featuring two widely differing local destinations – Magic Hills Private Collection and Quatermain’s Safari Camp – now open for intra-provincial travel under Level 3 lockdown guidelines.
Following shortly after the launch of the new Land Rover Defender we this month commemorate the golden jubilee of the iconic Range Rover luxury off-roader and in our Bike Trip section we revisit 40 years of the BMW GS adventure motorcycle.
We also relived some Madiba Magic in July. In celebration of Mandela Month and on the 30th anniversary of his release from prison, we reimagined his eventful life with a countrywide journey in a Mercedes-benz 500 GLS – commemorating the handing over of a red Mercedesbenz 500SE built for him, thirty years ago, by workers in the Daimler-benz plant in East London …
With World Ranger Day celebrated annually on 31 July and Ford of South Africa supporting a number of environmental education, research, and conservation projects through the Ford Wildlife Foundation, we took to the wild tracks with a Ranger Wildtrak to visit the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust near Bredasdorp and the De Hoop Nature Reserve near Swellendam, and also gave a Kia Seltos Gt-line some mountainous tasks to fulfil in search of seasonal snow in the Western Cape …
Remember, there is still time to enter our fantastic competition to win the Epic road trip of your dreams in association with Toyota South Africa. Go ahead. Subscribe for free (if you have not already done so), tell us about your dream trip (instructions on pages 54 and 55) and who knows, it may just become a reality …
Meanwhile, stay safe, stay healthy, and support local travel.