Vehicles
2021 Suzuki Jimny 1.5 Petrol
2007 Toyota Land Cruiser 76 4.2 Diesel
OWNER DETAILS: Bruce & Greg Cook
Father and son Greg and Bruce Cook share a love for overlanding and, although there is a constant banter about who owns the true legend, they adore their rides.
Bruce Cook grew up overlanding and camping with his father Greg, and while he has fond memories of exploring this beautiful country in Fugly, the Land Cruiser, he was thrilled when he finally got his very own fourwheel partner.
“I have always been impressed with the looks and capabilities of the ‘baby SUV’ as my dad calls it,” Bruce says about his Jimny called Phumba. Since getting it, father and son have undertaken many adventures, with one of the highlights being a visit to Somkhanda Game Reserve in Pongola.
“The reserve has no tarred roads, just a huge range of trails that take you around the reserve. However, most of them are completely overgrown and took a lot of bundu bashing and some serious nerves to attempt. We almost put the vehicles on their roofs a few times!”
Both Fugly and Phumba are fitted with plenty of bells and whistles, all carefully selected to improve capability and comfort. Bruce and Greg agree that their Front Runner roof racks are a most useful platform on which to mount awnings, hi-lift jacks and whatever else may be required for the long haul.
“For me, the rack makes a massive difference as space is limited in a Jimny and has allowed me to utilise more storage when doing longer overlanding trips,” says Bruce. He adds that the ProTrack reduction gears have also made a huge improvement to the Jimny’s acceleration, and provide much more control off-road when in low range. For Greg, the shout-out goes to the 50-litre National Luna fridge in the Cruiser. He says this adds “massive luxury since it keeps those beers ice cold in the hot South African environment!”
“Our top overlanding tip would be to pack only the essentials and always take along more drinking water than you think you’d need. We have also learnt that you should be sure to have more than one lighter or one box of matches,” says Bruce. The dynamic duo dreams about doing the six-day Namaqua Eco 4×4 route which covers over 700km, since they share a passion for sustainable travel, exploring and rugged adventures.
Modifications and additions to date Jimny:
- Old Man Emu 40mm suspension lift kit
- Wild Dog replacement rear bumper
- ARB front bumper
- Runva 9 000lb winch
- Des Sol bash plates
- Des Sol 32mm wheel spacers
- Opposite Lock snorkel
- 235/75 R15 BF Goodrich AT’s
- Des Sol diff breather kit
- ProTrack reduction gears (-77% low range and
-7% high range)
- Front Runner roof rack and ladder
- Gobi-X rock sliders
- Eezi-Awn 2.5m awning
Land Cruiser:
- BF Goodrich 265/75 R16 MT’s
- ARB bull bar
- 9 000lb winch
- Cibie spotlights
- Safari 4×4 snorkel
- National Luna dual battery system (with solar
- panels)
- Front Runner roof rack (hi-lift jack and spade
- mounted to rack)
- Eezi-Awn 2000
- Front Runner ladder
- BunduTop roof top tent
- Desert Armour rear bumper
- Drawer system
- Single emergency solar panel mounted inside
- the cab on top of the drawer system
- National Luna 50-litre fridge on slide
- 500W inverter
- 160-litre/min compressor mounted in the back
- Back seats removed to take storage boxes