Magnificent Mapungubwe

This annual Defender-exclusive event had 27 vehicles join up for three days of diverse challenges... plus a load of fun.

- Johan J Opperman

Year after year, I am fascinated by the palpable build-up of excitement prior to the “Trophy” – and this has been my third since 2016 when the overland focused and family-friendly format returned.

This is no more evident than when reading comments on Facebook from Landy fanatics around the globe, and receiving random Whats Apps from old competitors-become-friends. Then there are the myriad e-mails from the organisers, until the couple of days before you receive the ever-important first-day route notes, which, this year, featured 71 co-ordinates to reach for on day one alone − along with 18 questions which even Google did not have the answers for. So, clearly, organiser Johan Kriek had lost his mind during the previous 12 months, and this was gearing up to be, as always, demanding on driver and navigator alike.

Departure for Blouberg

Come Wednesday, 26 April, our month-long planning and packing experiment was about to be put to the test. We set offfrom Johannesburg to the starting point at Blouberg Reserve in Limpopo in our usual fashionable, yet typically un-aerodynamic manner, in “Sir Axlerod” – my trusty Keswick green ’90 which had every gadget that I own attached, and its rooftop loaded. No small feat, mind you − getting through lunch-hour traffic in Polokwane, the day prior to a public holiday, with a vast amount of pointing as we passed.