Ballito’s adventurous Fomison family love exploring the beauty of Africa and have recently returned from a magical 4×4 trip to Botswana and Namibia.

The family of four had a comfortable, spacious drive in their Ford Ranger XLT 3.2 4×4 Double Cab which was left pretty standard except for one modification – a dual battery system to run the camping fridge.

As a keen off-road adventure dad, Rob said the best investment for a 4×4 family trip is an off road camping trailer.

“Go for the fully equipped version with all things required to make life easier such as a kitchen with a fridge, roof top tent, on board water tanks, battery system for lighting and electricity, 220V electrical supply and LED lighting.”

Besides witnessing the incredible sunsets, being surprised by a random giraffe in the middle of nowhere and driving through vast, wild spaces, Rob said a major highlight was a recovery mission.

“We found an overland lorry stuck in the sand in central Mozambique.

“We pulled it out using our two 4×4 vehicles. The overland driver and tourists could not believe how two 4×4 bakkies could pull such a large lorry out of the sand!”

While they have done some serious exploring already, Rob said he still has a couple of places left to tick off on his bucket list.

“We are still planning to do the Skeleton Coast, West Coast of South Africa, Cabora Basa in Mozambique and Angola.”

Africa in a luxury tank

Aside from the family trips, Rob has also done the legendary Put Foot Rally and for this 18-day adventure tour he left the 4×4 at home and opted for an old Merc instead.

“We chose a Mercedes Benz 1984 123 series 230E in metallic green because we wanted to enter the vintage category of the rally. Old Mercs are built like tanks and are super reliable and we figured it would be fun to cruise through Africa in luxury.”

The car was not only built like a tank, but missioned through the major trip like one too.

“It survived everything that was thrown at it. We lost one tyre in the Namib desert and one rear drive shaft dust boot in Zambia – two minor and easily repairable breakdowns.

“The radiator boiled dry once due to extremely steep gradients and high ambient temperatures in Mozambique.”

They had an incredible time on the trip that aims to deliver shoes to underprivileged children and made sure to take in every moment and every country’s beer.

“The whole trip was epic! Sleeping in the vastness of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in Botswana, Victoria Falls is always a highlight, doing the shoe drop to the school kids in Livingstone Zambia, the sheer size and beauty of Lake Malawi, the towering dunes of the Namib desert and the teaming wildlife in Etosha National Park in the Caprivi Strip were all highlights.

We also tried the different national beers in all the countries – my favorite beer was Mosi in Zambia.”