Brave photojournalist Scott Ramsay has entrusted Goodyear’s go-anywhere Wrangler AT/SA tyres to carry him, in his trusty Ford Everest, over some of the most arduous terrain in South Africa. So far, so good, of course.
Ramsay has undertaken a ‘Year in the Wild’ in which he will visit a total of 31 rugged and breathtaking nature reserves between June 2011 and July 2012. His goal is to capture the beauty of South Africa’s last remaining wild places on camera and to inspire more people to visit and enjoy this natural wealth for themselves.
He has a lot of rocky, muddy, sandy, bumpy wilderness ground to cover before the 12 months are up – and he needs his Goodyear Wrangler 245/70 R16 AT/SA tyres to go the distance. Ramsay was in the Augrabies Falls National Park when we caught up with him, having already covered the first seven of his planned destinations. Aside from bemoaning the fact that the lions had eluded him in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, his journey so far has been highly successful and he happily reported confidence in his tyres’ ability to take the pace whatever the surface.
“The tyres are doing really well. We’ve had one puncture only and that was from a big nail lying in the road in the Richtersveld! Fortunately it was a slow leak and we were able to drive quite far before changing it.
“In the Kgalagadi, we deflated our tyres to around 160kpa because of the corrugations, but the tyres handled them without problems and we were very comfortable. At the moment the tread wear is still really minimal, because we’ve been careful to choose the correct tyre pressures depending on the road surface.
“The most extreme terrain has been in the Richtersveld where there are a lot of sharp rocks and tyres really take a beating. I was worried about the Wrangler’s sidewall protection but they’ve come through with flying colours.”
The Goodyear Wrangler tyres are in keeping with Ramsay’s eco-friendly approach to the trip. Wranglers are renowned for their exceptional on- and off-road performance and the reliable, locally manufactured Wrangler AT/SAs continue to top South Africa’s 4×4 best seller charts.
From Augrabies, where the Gariep River noisily plummets 91 metres and has dramatically carved a massive 18km canyon in the granite geology, Ramsay moves next to the small mountainous reserve of Kogelberg.
