Let’s get the show on the road!

I read all about last year’s Desert Stormer Xtreme Adventure (DSX) in the July issue of SA4x4. Journalist Andrew Middleton perfectly captured the extreme nature of the event and I just knew I had to enter for the next annual trip.

I sent the article to all my 4x4 mates at the time to get them to sign up. Fast forward nearly a year and it is only me who can make it.

If you – like many South Africans – have a well-kitted off-roader but can’t take time off for a three-month bush trip through southern Africa, then these types of 7-10-day trips are for you.

The key is to just sign up because if you don’t there will always be another mod to use as an excuse for not joining. I did just that and, with only two weeks to prepare my 2008 Nissan Patrol 4.8 GRX, there was only one person I knew who could sort my vehicle out in time: Gerhard Holmes from G-Tec, a well-known 4x4 shop in Noordhoek.

Meanwhile, I ring up my good friend Eric Vading, who lives in Norway, to tell him all about the trip, and by the next morning he has booked his flights. Now the game is on.

We collect the Patrol just one day before departure, luckily all tested and ready to go. Our packing focuses on essentials and recovery gear, aiming to keep weight down, and the next day we head to Worcester to meet Louis Smit, who runs the 4x4 fitment and tour business Desert Stormer 4x4 from that town.

Underneath the usual friendly introductions with our fellow participants is an underlying tension: none of us know exactly what Louis has in store for the next eight days.

Day 1: The quarry

After logging on to the Land Cruiser channel on our radios, we drive into a quarry known as Moddergat on one of the nearby farms, just as the sun is setting. As I am wondering if it is even possible to drive this terrain, there is the sound of air hissing out of tyres. Louis calls on the radio for everyone to drop pressure to 1bar. Usually I prefer to get stuck first, then deflate further, so I drop down to 1.3bar. My first mistake.

Louis sets off in his Frankenstein ‘Baby Cruiser’. It certainly looks the part with all the right mods, and less than a minute later he crests the first climb. It didn’t look easy. Someone over the radio, shouts, “Go Tolla!” I realise that this little truck and its driver have a nickname, and, by the sounds of it, it has been earned.

Two cars later, it’s my turn. I reckon since the pressures weren’t dropped to what was advised, I would lean on the Patrol’s power. It works and we crest