We took the Ford Ranger Tremor on a Pilanesberg game drive – Here’s what happened

The Ford Ranger Tremor in the Pilanesburg National Park. Picture: Brendan Seery There are many people who believe that if you are visiting one of our national parks by road, then you need to travel in a 4×4 or SUV. The reasoning is that such vehicles are higher, both from a seating and ground clearance perspective and will give you better game viewing and cope better with the awful conditions of many of the roads in these reserves.

From personal experience, in Kruger National Park particularly, I can say we have had some good sightings in ordinary cars – most recently in a 1.0 litre Ford Fiesta. The car coped with the gravel roads, although this was mainly because Kruger’s staff generally keep them in excellent condition (except when Mother Nature washes them away in floods). Riding in 4x4s and SUVs should, in theory, give you a good view, but generally that view is often obscured by similar large, high vehicles.

However, after a recent trip to Pilanesberg National Park (run by the North West Parks Board), I now understand why having a vehicle like our long-term test Ford Ranger Tremor is a must for places like that. There were many occasions when I had reason to thank the tough wheels and beefy off-road-biased tyres for absorbing the bashes from the ruts and rocks on the gravel roads, which, to be kind, are poorly maintained. However, it was on the tarred roads – or those roads which used to be tar and are now a collection of various-sized potholes connecting isolated pieces of tar – that the Ranger absorbed even more punishment.

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Its off‑road inclination meant that, in many cases, it was easier to get right off the tar and onto the dirt shoulder to allow oncoming traffic to pass. The Ford did such a good job that I found myself admiring it more than the wildlife… and that, honestly, is sad. Not for me, but for a park like Pilanesberg, which attracts thousands of visitors a day because it is a Big Five reserve within easy reach of Gauteng.

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