Third annual General Tyre 4×4 African Adventure heads for Namibia
- Nine vehicles, equipped with General Grabber AT and Grabber MT tyres, set to tackle Namibia’s famous dunes and gravel roads
- 10-day route will cover 5 000 km; over 1 500 km will be off-road
- Includes many of Namibia’s top destinations, including Fish River Canyon, Sossusvlei and Swakopmund
- Community project to support the Michelle McLean Children Trust at primary school in Otjomuise
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, 26 June 2014–The third annual General Tyre 4×4 African Adventure will be setting off from Port Elizabeth on 3 July 2014, and is heading for the rugged terrain of Namibia.
Following the successful 2012 and 2013 expeditions, which travelled as far north as Zambia and Malawi, the 2014 African Adventure will see nine vehicles and 18 people exploring the abundant adventure attractions that define this sparsely populated desert nation.
While highlighting the unspoilt natural beauty of Namibia with its rich palette of colours and textures, the 10-day General Tyre 4×4 African Adventure, led by Adventure Junkies Eastern Cape, will once again be proving the exceptional performance of the General Grabber 4×4 tyre range.
The current line-up comprises the locally produced all-terrain Grabber AT, along with the heavy-duty mud-terrain Grabber MT.
“The General Grabber AT and the Grabber MT have proven themselves to be exceptionally capable in all types of terrain, from the rocky mountains of Zambia to the treacherous mud encountered in Botswana and Mozambique,” says Niel Langner, marketing manager for Continental Tyre South Africa.
“Namibia will present a new challenge to showcase the remarkable performance of the General Grabber AT and MT in desert conditions, while providing some truly spectacular driving and equally breath-taking scenery.”
The convoy sets off from Port Elizabeth on 3 July and travels via Upington to the Augrabies Falls National Park. After crossing the border at Onseepkans, the group heads for Ai-Ais in the Fish River Canyon, which is renowned as the second-largest canyon in the world, and the largest in Africa. It features a gigantic ravine that is 160 km long, up to 27 km wide in places and almost 550 m deep.
Thereafter, the convoy continues on to the high red dunes of Sossusvlei that characterise the southern fringes of the ancient Namib Desert, and then through to Swakopmund via the Kuiseb Canyon.
Walvis Bay is renowned as an adventure sports mecca, and the group will also have plenty of time to participate in a wide variety of activities that take place in the towering sand dunes typical of this area.
Eventually the convoy will make its way south via Keetmanshoop and cross back into South Africa for the return leg on 12 and 13 July.
The route is expected to cover approximately 5 000 km, of which more than 1 500 km will be on Namibia’s gravel roads and sand trails.
Once again the General Tyre 4×4 African Adventure will support a local community project along the way. Continental Tyre SA will be donating funds to the Michelle McLean Primary School in Otjomuise on the outskirts of Namibia’s capital, Windhoek.
The school, started 22 years ago by the country’s well-known 1992 Miss Universe, Michelle McLean-Bailey, is the largest single project undertaken by the Michelle McLean Children Trust,.
It was opened in 2000 as a joint venture with Namibia’s Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture, and plays a crucial role in the educational foundation for children in this area.
On previous trips Continental Tyre SA supported two schools in Zambia: the Malambu Middle School near Monze, which received funding for additional classrooms during the 2012 African Adventure, and the remote Maamba Mines School, which was assisted in 2013 with the donation of essential learning materials, sporting goods and Stop Hunger Now food parcels.
