I have to admit, as a passenger, I was dragged kicking and screaming to this Land Rover Defender all-terrain experience. Not being a gung-ho, leap-into-the-abyss type ‘n all . . . But seriously, I really really enjoyed it. Recently having become the proud owners of a new Defender (secondhand, take note), H. jumped at the opportunity to learn a little more about the handling capabilities of his new baby. A complex baby, at that. You need a degree to learn and absorb everything there is to know about the electronics and buttons and levers.
So off we went to Stellenbosch, meeting point Hazendal Wine Estate, for a morning’s rough-terrain trials undertaken on a course developed on Zevenwacht Wine Estate.
Having listened to a video presentation over coffee and breakfast at the Hazendal meeting centre together with a whole klompie of Defender owners / drivers, we set off in a neat and colourful row of new Defenders (great advertisement for the vehicle, we should demand royalties). Here, waiting to enter Zevenwacht Estate.
A little smoggy (it was a gorgeous day, no wind) but the views onto Table Mountain and Signal Hill felt much closer than you’d believe, we being all the way in Stellenbosch.
Turning off to the first of the terrain trials.
Seven Defenders ready for action. But first . . . the demonstration and instruction session . . .
I want you to take careful note . . . the left front wheel is completely off the ground!!! First you have to negotiate the water puddle, then you have to carefully assess the great big donga ahead on the left, and the narrow ridge of terra firma on the right. If you went into the donga you’d hit the underside of the vehicle. So there is no option but to take the right-hand ridge and temporarily sit with one wheel suspended in the air. The point: to allow the vehicle itself to draw on the power of the remaining 3 wheels (using settings, of course) to drive the Landy forward till the fourth wheel hits earth again.
Which it is now doing . . .
The point of this photo is to show the drop we were about to negotiate . . . and it was straight down (with a few complimentary holes along the way). No accommodating little slopes. The photo still does not do justice to the height we were at. The only reassuring thing about the descent was that the two Landys at the bottom had managed to do it . . . which meant we (theoretically) could do it too. The thing is, you set the Descent Control button, take your feet off the accelerator, and the Defender does it all for you. (With you steering, of course.)
What comes down must, at some stage, go up again . . . this photo kinda shows the steepness of both the down and the up slopes.
So this SERIOUSLY doesn’t show how steep the angle of the vehicle is (and the guy’s confidently standing on the lower slope, quite sure that the Landy isn’t going to topple onto him!!). It was the hairiest of the challenges for me . . . I was scrabbling for the driver’s side, attempting to balance the weight on the upside so we wouldn’t crash over on my side. Our degree of angle (clearly visible on the vehicle’s instruments) was 27 degrees!!!
Thankfully on level ground once more, all lined up, ready to return to Hazendal. What we HAD done was gain a new respect for the (vertical and horizontal) handling capabilities of our Defenders. Although, the Landy guys were quite impressed with H’s performance and how well he handled his vehicle. (Which is of course why you put your trust in him as an off-road travel planner . . .)
No more Land Rover jokes about Landys having to be towed home . . . . . .