After almost two years of blood, sweat and tears, a Leisure Bay couple’s dream of building a motorhome is finally coming to fruition.
Some years ago, the couple – Phillip Lennon and Mariki van der Walt – were on holiday in the Kruger National Park when they bumped into another couple who were happily touring the reserve in a motorhome.
They decided then and there that this was something they wanted to do.
Two years ago, almost to the day, they became the proud owners of a ’19-voetsek’ school bus – a Mercedes 26 seater with an ADE 352 engine, which they named Meraai.
“Our plan was to change Meraai into a rolling work of art, fully restored and kitted out as a crossover overland/motorhome, a vehicle we can use to explore southern Africa over the coming years,” said Phillip.
On the 24th September 2020, Phillip and his son Tyrone drove the old bus from Johannesburg to the South Coast. They only made it 350 kilometres before Meraai gave in.
Since then she has been in the hands of mechanic Braam Pretorius and his incredible team.
Phillip, who is a multi-award winning TV producer, has so far published 94 episodes on YouTube about the bus, calling it ‘A Dream Called Meraai’.
So far the channel already has 600 subscribers and has been viewed over 63 000 times, with the episodes chronicling the transformation of the vehicle, as well as the couple’s trials and tribulations in building a motorhome, virtually from scratch.
Phillip has a wicked sense of humour and, in one episode compares his weight-loss journey to that of the revamped school bus, which now weighs three tonnes.
The anticipation is building as the motorhome is almost ready and plans are afoot to go as far north as Tanzania.
“Our intention is to explore southern Africa extensively, making use of the amazing network of private caravan parks and national parks, to make the dream a reality,” he said.
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