A Stoep on the Roof

Boet and Marina Grobbelaar don’t just use their Land Cruiser for touring. With a custom roof tent, they can sit on their very own open-air veranda and watch Mabua’s big cats in safety.

Boet and Marina Grob-belaar from Dealesville in the Free State hail from the Kalahari, so their hearts long for it when they plan a holidays. “We farmed with cattle and game, and I was a professional hunter who took other hunters to Namibia and Botswana,” says Boet.

Now that they are retired, they once again have the time to do what they love most: touring to faraway places. “We like going where other people don’t usually set foot. The wil-der and rougher, the better!” laughs Boet. “Those places where, in the mornings when you get down from the tent, you have to wipe away the tracks from hyena and lion who came looking for leftover bones during the night.”

Their first touring vehicle was a 1989 Hilux 2.8 4x4. “After that, we got our first 4.2-litre Land Cruiser 76 station wagon. It was an amazing vehicle, but in the high dunes of the Namib it ran out of power before it could reach the top. So we upgraded to the much-anticipated V8 turbo diesel 76 station wagon,” Boet explains. “It is without a doubt the best 4x4 expedition vehicle for Africa and nobody can argue with you on that!”