A recipe for friendship, or a disastrous concoction? You’re guaranteed one or the other when you’re thrown together with a bunch of strangers and sent off on a 4×4 adventure into the far-flung tropical town of Tzaneen in Limpopo. To this recipe, add a few Blue Bulls Rugby players, a dollop of influencers, ten VIP couples courtesy of the Vodacom Red 4×4 Experience, and adventure for good measure. Throw in some tricky weather conditions in the form of rain and mist, which the Magoebaskloof area is renowned for, and when you’re done its left an indelible mark, with memories and friendships to last a lifetime.
DAY 1
Rolling into Magoesbaskloof, the first stop was the zipline adventure. The group is prepped and ready to head out. We weave our way down slippery paths to get to the first ledge. If you’ve ever wanted to experience nature, then we highly recommend this zipline tour. It’s a mixture of rolling green hills, evergreens, waterfalls and craggy terrain.
Twins, Akona (left) and Odwa Ngungane with one of their fans from the Vodacom Red 4×4 experience.
At one point the scenery silences us, and we all plod along in quiet contemplation. This land is too easy to love, and as a group of strangers, in this magnificent terrain, we all felt a sense of unspoken pride. Through the ziplines, we lent each other a hand up, encouraged one another to leap without thinking and high-fived new friends when the task was completed.
In that moment, we weren’t world-class players, former beauty queens and radio personalities – we were a team, some sharing previous experiences, others motivating first-timers, with the sole purpose of having the utmost fun. Dinner was a chance to dissect the day’s events, get to know each other a little better and exchange war stories of completing the zipline tour.
DAY 2
On the second day of our Vodacom Red 4×4 Experience, we swap flying through the air for sliding on land. We ascend the mountains in the morning, and after a careful briefing on how to use the Isuzu 4×4’s… it’s rip-roaring fun in the mud. The rain the night before created just enough sludge to slip around in.
Venturing out into muddy terrain in an Isuzu 4×4.
Driving those Isuzu beasts in muddy terrain is not for the faint-hearted. We chugged along the humid forest, with the imposing fog as our backdrop, and made our way to the very top. And just when we thought all was lost to the silver mist, it gave way to the most remarkable landscape. Limpopo is full of surprises, and must rank as one of our most beautiful provinces.
Liesl Laurie (ex-Miss South Africa), Elma Smit (Radio Personality and Lizo Gqoboka (Blue Bulls Player) on the 4×4 experience.
As the sunset turns the sky a darker shade of silver, there was one more bonding session to give in to – the rugby. And we all know how that turned out. This experience has taught a group of unknowns that there is so much truth in the saying, “There are no strangers in this world, only friends I haven’t met yet”. It couldn’t ring more true, and it was all thanks to Vodacom for this enthralling experience.
The rugged terrain lined with trees was the highlight of the 4×4 adventure.
