The road less travelled and far from the madding crowd has always been my mantra when weekends away and holidays are concerned.
The tougher the road, and the fewer people around as possible, is just the way I like it. Fortunately, my partner feels the same, so our planning always revolves around where to go and what route to drive while taking in as many interesting places as we can find along the way.
Last year, we went to the Richtersveld National Park, where temperatures ranged between 45 and 52 degrees, next to the Orange River, which just saved the day with regular dips in that majestic strip of water.
Something cooler
I think that may have been the tipping point for my partner, so she suggested that next time we need something cooler and by the sea.
I have always had a yearning to drive the Baviaanskloof in the Eastern Cape, so that became the focus area while I consulted maps, yes, actual paper ones, forums and spoke to friends and colleagues.
We decided on a route that would take us from Pretoria to Nieu-Bethesda, Kareedouw, Joubertkraal Farm, Rus en Vrede Trail into the actual Kloof and then out at Patensie, ending at Morgan Bay.
Off-road ability called for
Our vehicle would have to be very capable off-road, be able to tow my fully loaded off-road trailer and also be comfortable over long stretches of tar and gravel.
I’m a big fan of the Nissan Navara double-cab bakkie, and so it was fortuitous that I received a call from Nissan South Africa, who were aware of my annual travels into tough territory and offered me the Nissan Navara Pro 4X Warrior.
The Pro 4X Warrior is essentially a Navara that has had some extra 4×4 fairy dust sprinkled over it.
Built at the Nissan plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria, it’s a joint venture with Premar, an Australian engineering consultancy and second-tier manufacturing company in a joint venture with the Pretoria-based AIH group.
The standard Navara is taken off the line and then gets a blacked-out grille, door handles, roof rack, side steps, 17-inch alloys under flares, underbody protection and red accents, while inside the seats receive Warrior-banded black seats with red stitching.
The revised front bumper improves the approach angle by two degrees to 35 degrees, with the departure angle still 27 degrees.
The crucial modification is to the suspension and tyres.
It’s been upgraded to provide the Warrior with an increased ride height, improved springs and recalibrated dampers that provide better wheel articulation.
Fitted with 275/65/R17 MAXXIS RAZR all-terrain tyres, the combination improves the ride height to 232mm over the standard PRO-4X’s 221mm and increases the track width by 30mm.
That would do nicely, thank you very much.
Under the hood is a 2.5-litre turbo diesel engine with 140kW and 450Nm of torque coupled to a seven-speed automatic transmission with 4H, 4L and a rear difflock.
There were a few occasions on uphill stretches that it would hold onto the gear too long, revving over 4000rpm that necessitated flicking the gear lever across into manual to change up a gear.
Hitting the road
Two days of packing the bakkie and trailer, including food, water, bags of wood (I was warned that finding decent dry braai wood is an issue in the Eastern Cape), charcoal, water, diesel, drinks, testing the solar panels and finally loading our luggage on the back seats saw us head out before sunrise.
Heading onto the N1 for the 900-kilometre first leg, I could feel we were heavily loaded but not close to the limit of what the Navara is capable of.
We would turn off at Colesburg and drive along the N10 and N9 before taking a gravel road late afternoon into Nieu-Bethesda.
Small town South Africa
After reading up on what the town has to offer, we decided to stay an extra night so that we could do some sightseeing.
You can’t go there without visiting the Owl House, the town’s most historic landmark.
It’s a melancholy walk through Helen Martin’s reclusive environment with more than 300 sculptures, including owls, camels, peacocks, pyramids and people made between 1945 and 1976 before she took her own life by drinking a mixture containing caustic soda.
At a time when anyone who was thought to be off-centre was considered to be mental, you can’t help but wonder how she may have been celebrated today with the knowledge we have about depression and anxiety.
There’s also the Stone Folk, a few kilometres outside the town.
Artist Ryno Greef has created wire and stone figures that form an impressive permanent exhibition.
He has done the same in Namibia’s Kaokoland, and there’s one in Loxton in the Karoo.
Ten figures sit and stand, and also one that does a handstand.
On the way there, you pass Beverly resplendent in a bikini standing in a farm dam.
The same Greef placed the mannequin there as a quirky landmark, which mysteriously disappeared in November 2025, sparking a national search and becoming an internet sensation. She was returned after a prank involving construction workers that led to her “road trip” and boosted local tourism.
It’s an incredibly liberating feeling being able to stroll through the streets at night knowing that there’s no one lurking around looking to do you any harm as we headed back to our accommodation from an eclectic bar called Boetie’s Pub.
Swirling a whiskey and ice while chatting to owner Boetie, it turns out he is the father of radio personality and musician Martin Bester, who also owns property in the town.
So far, the Navara Pro 4X had been a worthy companion, but as we turned its nose towards Graaff-Reinet and Joubertkraal Farm, the real test of its off-road prowess still lay ahead…
