Are you a born 4x4'er?

[BushWacker]

Seems most at an early age start learning 4x4 in a Series Landy

... most learnt and still drive
nearly everywhere
on roads first made by Series
ie most roads in Africa ...

[Wooky]

As a kid I always had an adventurous streak and remember drooling over pictures from the Camel Trophy and the original Rain Forest Challenge. So I guess you can say I was born to this...

Pretty much straight out of school in 1988 (30 years) I started working on Mining exploration projects around the country and globally.
Was pretty lucky in that regard as we were continuously getting to play with different vehicles in some rather challenging terrain and someone else was paying me to do it. A steep learning curve as driver training in those days was "on the job training"... IE " here are the keys and don't break it".
Bought my first 4x4 in 1990. Yep a series 2 shorty and have owned a 4x4 continuously since then.

[Mike Nel]

[Nico-MAD]

I've only been back in 4X4ing fir the last 4 years, Although we had 4X4's since around 20 years of age. But those days it was more for towing and launching the ski-boat. Then I worked for Pipelines in the 90's and was based in Vryheid. We drove the line from Empangeni to Standerton on a regulare basis. There was no roads and at times we had to build roads and recover each other. We had no formal training and had to learn the hard way. That was the best time of my life.

[HeavyG]

Started 4x4ing only 3 or so years ago. Before that I had driven a 4x4 before on my wife's uncle's farm in the Karoo, but without the benefit of any theoretical knowledge, just a little bit of practical instruction here and there. Old 1980-something Nissan 720 Tracker with a bit of an identitiy crisis, having equal amounts of Nissan and Datsun branding here there and everywhere. Old 2.2 petrol (I think) donkey engine, but that thing went places that I still wouldn't venture with my own vehicle even now after dozens of trail outings.

Camping is sort of similar, it's not something we ever did as kids. Around 3 years ago we were invited to go camping with a group by a colleague of my wife. Having only a tent to our name as far as camping gear goes, we opted to rent a kitted camp trailer for the weekend to see how it goes before dropping a lot of cash on stuff. The bug bit, and we slowly grew our kit with every camping outing.

[Johannes]

I've only been back in 4X4ing fir the last 4 years, Although we had 4X4's since around 20 years of age. But those days it was more for towing and launching the ski-boat. Then I worked for Pipelines in the 90's and was based in Vryheid. We drove the line from Empangeni to Standerton on a regulare basis. There was no roads and at times we had to build roads and recover each other. We had no formal training and had to learn the hard way. That was the best time of my life.

No roads Crap you must be old

[Nico-MAD]

I've only been back in 4X4ing fir the last 4 years, Although we had 4X4's since around 20 years of age. But those days it was more for towing and launching the ski-boat. Then I worked for Pipelines in the 90's and was based in Vryheid. We drove the line from Empangeni to Standerton on a regulare basis. There was no roads and at times we had to build roads and recover each other. We had no formal training and had to learn the hard way. That was the best time of my life.

No roads Crap you must be old

Pipeline did not run near roads. But yes, I'm flippen old and grumpy.

[icemanza]

I learned to drive in an old Leyland Series one on a farm we used to visit lots and also drove the Toyota and Isuzu bakkies. My enjoyment of the art came when I was 20 - I did a few Jeep challenges in the Eastern Cape using a friends CJ5 - it took another 18 years before I bought my own 4x4.

[Bugger]

Since a Youngster


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[SwartKat]

The bug bit me in 2000. I lived in Louis Trichardt at the time and my wife on Tshipise. We experienced the full blow of those floods at the time with bridges and roads washed away everywhere in a 100km radius around.

In Louis Trichardt, the ground on the plot I stayed on as well as the gravel road of about 6km to town was so drenched that we could not get out for almost 2 weeks.

During this time a varsity friend and till today overlanding travel buddy came to visit with his 2800 Isuzu Frontier 4x4. And when I saw what he could do with that thing on that wet plot, I was hooked and new the Jetta had to go. As I was sill doing articles at the time, I did not have the funds yet to purchase a 4x4 but about two years after that during 2002, I was in the privileged position to have an LC 4,2 pickup as a company car with a fair diesel allowance and allowed to use it privately. That's when my experience started as it was according to my then standards, pretty much unstoppable and unbreakable.

During 2004 I was able to purchase my first 4x4, a Colt Rodeo 2800 which I've owned a few years before purchasing the Triton and my 4x4ing skills took shape in the Limpopo river where we spent pretty much every weekend, if not in the bush somewhere.

So I've been doing this for roughly 17 years.

[Ricof4e]

Got into 4x4'ing at the age of 24, thus 77 years experience if you believe my forum age. Back then if the wheelbarrow got stuck, you got on your hands and knees, locked your rear diff and pulled that barrow out of the mud. Deflating occurred while maneuvering at uncontrolled intermittent stages.

Did my first 4x4 outing with Manny and Rainier back in 2013 - south of Namibia.

[Mad Manny]

Did my first 4x4 outing with Manny and Rainier back in 2013 - south of Namibia.

Mad Manny is the doyen of 4x4'ing in Southern Africa. .

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[Ricof4e]

Did my first 4x4 outing with Manny and Rainier back in 2013 - south of Namibia.

Mad Manny is the doyen of 4x4'ing in Southern Africa. .

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Maybe, but Rainier did all the driving IIRC.

[Striker63]

I was born in Empangeni in KZN and lived on a farm in Kwambonambi, so my weekends were spent at Mapellane beach where we woud get turns to drive the landy up the beach to a place called "the barge'
I have never bought a 4x4, my first 4x4 was a CJ7 replica jeep which myself and my brother build in 1984, he had just bought the company Mboza 4x4, since then I have build 3 jeeps, the one I had the most fun with was a jeep wich i build based on a Datsun tracker 720 running chassis, not very fast but could go anywhere, was staying in the eastern cape at the time so did all the mountains around the 10 passes, my pride Shrek was found under a tree in the hluhluwe game reserve and took me two years to get him mobile again, what some of us call extreme 4x4' ing some farmers and locals call "all in a days work', try tracking stock thieves over the lesotho mountains....eish

[Jaco Jeep RIP]

I started to do National challanges as a navigater at about the age of 20, about 25 years ago. Few years later build my own challange car, drove a few years, build some Cj's to play around. Then got my First Xj, a left hand drive. No i am enjoying some overlanding and local events.

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