Hi All
Croco Motors does a lot of advertising with us in both the Nzira Travel Magazine and the daily Bambazonke Nhasi emails. We have also produced a 48-page hard copy Croco Magazine that was placed in their showrooms. Croco Motors are the Ford dealers in Zimbabwe, and they asked me to represent Zimbabwe at the 5-star Ford Everest Travel adventure (#EverestAdventure) that took place last weekend in the highly rated, South African private game reserve, Kapama Resort, just south of the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Ford Africa had flown in about a dozen Media representatives from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand – mostly thirty-somethings that produce world-class content for international magazines, Social Media, and YouTube. Ford Africa have a separate division known as the Ford Adventure Club who contracted the top-drawer services of Gideo Basson and his exceptional team at “Red Moon Conferences and Incentives” to put this major event together. They have now flown off to Northern Namibia to host an even larger incentive event showcasing the latest Ford Raptor Rangers.
Twelve brand new Ford Everest vehicles had been trucked up to Kapama and were all lined up waiting for us to test drive as we arrived at the local airstrip in our 9-seater PC 12 Pilatus light aircraft. We were split into 2 teams of 6 vehicles with drivers paired off for the weekend. Ford had sent up 4 different models of the Everest – all basically the same vehicle with contrasting finishes. The Everest XLT is the only one of those that is available from Croco Motors here in Zimbabwe
Kapama is a large game reserve of some 50,000 hectares so we were given many chances to drive through all sorts of off-road scenarios – deep gullies and riverbeds – some with just sand; others with water flowing at a depth of about a metre.
My 4-wheel drive experiences have been limited to a few occasions to driving around Mana Pools in the rainy season. Thankfully though, there are many different features and accessories in these Ford Everests that make driving through harsh terrain feel like a bit of a doddle. The vehicles are all fitted with the Watt’s Linkage suspension making for such comfort whilst traversing bumpy roads even for those sitting in the rear seats.
On the first afternoon, I started off as a designated driver being introduced to the excellent road handling of the Everest driving up, down and around steep rocky ascents and descents – all the time on the lookout for wildlife meandering through the bushveld nearby. A few regal lions lay on one anthill causing a change in direction before a couple of serene-looking giraffes loped alongside.
Halfway through the afternoon, we stopped at a secluded spot to chat with some of the Ford representatives about their top-drawer vehicles. They related how well the Ford Everest was being rated compared to some of the other well-known SUVs in the region. We were also shown how and when to use the 6 different drive modes. These allow one to set up for conditions that require Normal, Eco, Tow/Haul, Slippery, Mud and Ruts or Sand driving. Other dials allow you to switch over the 4High, 4 Low, 2 Normal with Diff-Lock as well as a Hill Descent Control Function.
The next sector was giving us all a chance to drive some 300m through a very sandy, windy riverbed using the Sand Driving Mode. Such fun with a few of the more daring learning how to spray the cameramen with loose sand as they passed them filming from the verges.
On day 2 we started with a mandatory drive through quite a deep river (click to view) before ascending the very steep Mariepskop Pass ending with a drive through the clouds at a height of over 2000m. Cloud nine for some of us.
Those of you that drive or aspire to drive an SUV would do well to read the newsfeed about the Ford Everest that Ford Africa prepared for us. Better still why not go down to your nearest Croco Motors showroom to take one of their Ford Everests out for your own test drive – you should be suitably impressed. Ciao for now Mike G.
