Botswana pans a tough test for an old Defender with new tyres

Having recently made the decision to acquire a new set of tyres for my well-travelled Land Rover Defender it was time to set the wheels rolling and see whether the advice and research would pay off.

The Defender 90 had always been shod with mud terrain tyres and this would be my first time driving an extended distance on a set of all terrain rubber.

I had opted for the Wrangler Duratrac RT which are designed for a 50/50 on/offroad application and seeing as we were heading into Botswana to the Makgadikgadi Pans that’s exactly what we would be doing.

There would be three couples going, all of us in Defenders, to attend the “Oppipanne Fees” just outside Nata and about 25 kilometres into the Pan.

I do oil and filter services myself but for peace of mind I booked the Landy for a full check up to my regular specialist. When he phones you personally and asks what budget you have with a list of items that need to be repaired or replaced, you know it’s going to be an eye-watering exercise.

The joys of owning an old Defender.

My partner and I spent evenings after work and weekends making lists and preparing as much as we could and because the 90 is a short wheelbase with limited space, we’d tow our trailer which fortunately has the same track and rim size, making towing in soft sand easier.

The three vehicles left at different times on a Wednesday through different border posts and we’d meet up at the entrance to the festival.

I planned a route using Tracks4Africa on the GPS and after a final tyre pressure check set out to Groblersbrug border post which many people said we should avoid because of the massive amount of trucks.

They weren’t wrong about the trucks with about two kilometres of them standing nose to tail waiting for clearance.

Fortunately light vehicles can move past and after showing our passports and vehicle registration papers we were through in about an hour along with plenty of other South Africans in a variety of 4x4 bakkies, SUVs, trailers and offroad caravans.

No guessing which was the most popular brand heading to an Afrikaans music festival in the middle of nowhere.

Our overnight camping spot was at Goo Moremi Gorge so I’d planned an alternative route rather than take the most direct route on the A1, Botswana’s N1.

It wasn’t as bad as some of our potholed secondary roads but a constant stream of trucks inevitably leave their mark. We were heavily loaded with a rooftop tent, water, diesel food, camping gear and luggage and the Defender isn’t exactly a speed freak at the best of times so I would have to get fairly close to a truck before attempting to pass.

That meant I couldn’t always see the damage to the road in time to avoid it so there were a whole lot of hard bumps including one where I was seriously concerned that we had picked up damage and pulled off the road.

It’s a good thing the Duratracs have a three-ply sidewall they call Tri-shield technology. I could clearly see where the left front tyre had a mark and had I been on a normal highway tyre things could have turned ugly.

Botswana doesn’t allow meat, dairy products or fresh vegetables across the border and although we weren’t inspected, you don’t want to be that guy. Besides, they have the same chain stores we do.

Stopping at Palapye to buy the necessities and then Francistown for diesel the turnoff to the pans beckoned 9.7km past Nata on the road to Maun.

The sand is soft with stretches of vicious corrugations so I deflated all six tyres to 1.5 bar. I could have gone lower without fear of debeading the tyre off the rim thanks to the Wrangler’s built-in rim flange protector.

The bathroom facilities are located around the festival hub and were about a kilometre from our site. Before we set up, they needed to be used after almost eight hours in a rather hot, cramped and uncomfortable Defender.

We have a cubicle to shower and for the male of the species the bush is our urinal but not for the ladies and the organisers frown on 3000 odd people digging a hole to do their business.

“Drive straight across where the big tent is,” said my mate.

Duly informed I did exactly that.

I made a rookie mistake, forgetting that under the salt crust is thick and unforgiving mud.

The Pans obliged and sucked me in much to the alarm of my partner.

Moving the short lever to low range and with a lot of wheel spinning and mud flying, the Duratracs did their part and prevented further chirps about Land Rovers from the Toyota crowd.

Three days of baby powder fine dust clouds later we headed out, re-inflated in Nata and drove to African River Bush Camp on the Limpopo river with Hippos as our company for the evening before the final stretch home.

We’d covered 2 045km and the only query friends and colleagues had was whether the Landy didn’t break down.

It didn’t, neither did the Wranglers.

An added bonus was that compared to the mud tyres it was a lot quieter inside, well, as quiet as an old Defender can be.