New stuff

Today I went through to look into an idea that I have had!


I bought a copy of a magazine "SA 4x4 - overland adventure!", mainly so I get the most out of my 2 4x4 Landrovers! I have had comments passed like "Why 2 landrovers?" but driving each of them is a pure delight. One is a 3.9 litre V8 petrol Discovery automatic monster - completely dwarfs anything else on the road - and a 2 litre Turbo Diesel. Both are DIVINE to drive - especially in the Game Reserve. What helps is that both are automatics and my Freelander is a permanent 4 wheel drive, but my Disco has the ability to select either high or low range!

I never thought that you could get Landrovers in Automatic? The only other landrovers I have driven were in the army in Rhodesia, and apart from being driven - HARD - by many different soldiers, they were not new and had not been for at least 3 decades! If cars were animals, military landrovers would have been chained up or they would tear your head at as soon as they smelt you! Nowadays, the original landrover shape is still manufactured (after 60 years, with no visual upgrades) as a Defender. You can get new Discovery landies but these come with Korean motors, not true blue British motors! That is a bit of a misnomer because the initial V8 motor was sold to Rover by Buick and was used in many cars, and landrovers. I dispute that a Landy is a "car" , as it is SO much more than a car!

I recently bought an SA 4x4 magazine that had an interesting advert in it - for a SAT (satellite) phone. I find that cellular coverage is not always available in the outer stretches of the Game Reserve. I am not so disabled that I cannot cope, but I do enjoy my contact on my cell phones if I am out and about! a SAT phone, although more pricey than a cell phone, would allow me phone contact wherever I am.

My neighbor is keen to visit Maputo (Mocambique) sometime and I would like to take a detour off of this road and visit the grave of my cousin who died when the helicopter he was in, was hit by a Surface to Air Missile (SAM) Someone found the grave for the 18 who died! I CAN go there, so feel that I need to pay my respects. Until the grave was found I had believed that he was kind of blown to pieces all over the countryside!

I know that thinking back to my cousin when he was alive is painful for some, but I genuinely believed that he died at his happiest! He was kind of born to be a soldier, and I feel that being a soldier filled his emotions!

There is a recently published book on "The Search for Puma 164", the helicopter downed in Mapai, Mocambique. I understand that the site the helicopter was discovered, is easily accessible off the road from Nelspruit to Maputo. I intend to go into a booksellers in Durban and get a copy of the book for myself. I understand that the daughter of the author of the book has driven to the site, and if she can do it with a road car, I can easily do it in either of my Landrovers!