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Sydney Morning Herald
27-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
On the trip of a lifetime, I left my camera behind. I don't regret it
It's when I'm packing for this trip that I realise I have one small-plane flight with severe luggage restrictions. At the last minute, I decide to leave the new camera behind. As I'm driven to the airport, however, I feel like I've left my passport at home, that's how important this piece of equipment feels to my identity as a traveller. And that's when I catch a glimpse of my past self being one of those photo bro types. And when the very same charter flight that caused me to leave my camera behind swoops down across Kruger National Park, affording impressive panoramas of the 2-million-hectare vastness, it is just begging to be captured with a wide-angle lens. The plane lands at Ngala's private airstrip, where one of the special green LandCruisers awaits with its three-tiered open-air seating for our party of five, our tracker Ernie and guide Marcus standing by it smiling welcomely. It's a Kodak moment. And it won't be long before I realise the camp, edging the wide, sandy, bed of the Timbavati River, is built right on an elephant crossing which the (mostly) gentle giants often use to access the lush greenery directly in front of Ngala's spa, bar and dining areas. I'm full of high-res regret. Fortunately, at camp, there's plenty to distract me. The marvellously situated 25-year-old property greatly pleases this design devotee. It has just emerged from a six-month closure during which it was fully renovated to reflect modern tastes as well as its environment. A spa was added, and the tented suites were given large verandahs. Considered the benchmark for ethical luxury safari, &Beyond's credentials are many. It is also at the higher end of experiences. With only one other property, the family-friendly Ngala Safari Lodge on its nearly 15,000-hectare unfenced reserve, the couple-focused Ngala Tented Camp offers exclusivity and a price to go with it. The tariff, however, not only covers these exquisite digs, but three sublime meals a day, with three courses at lunch and dinner and matched wines during the latter. There are drinks available all day, including a help-yourself bar by the pool, a cocktail bar featuring full bottles of premium spirits alongside a beans-grinding Jura coffee machine and snacks. A scrumptious afternoon tea is served and the staff organise special treat meals, such as breakfast and dinner, to be served in the bush or poolside. Then there's the opportunity to visit communities to learn about the good works &Beyond affiliate, Wild Impact is doing in inventive and inspiring ways. But of course, the main game is those safari drives. And therein lies the true value for money. Ngala was the first private game reserve to be incorporated into the Kruger National Park and has exclusive traversing rights over wilderness owned by the World Wildlife Foundation and leased to &Beyond. At the tented camp, there are only nine suites. And it's this that really facilitates my photo bro rehab. Africa is far from immune to overtourism and crowding has become a serious issue in popular safari destinations with large numbers of vehicles jostling for the best positions to view wildlife that may become skittish because of this human activity, not to mention endangering said animals. It is anxiety inducing for humans as well. The frantic atmosphere of competition and limited opportunity contributes to the compulsion to mindlessly snap away, for fear the moment ends without having something to show for it. At Ngala, we watch the animals live their lives without greatly interrupting them, mostly with one, perhaps two safari vehicles present. In eight drives (two a day) of around four hours each, we only have one instance of three vehicles in situ, and because they are all on the same team, the interaction is respectful and careful. And because of this minimal interruption, the interface with the wildlife is extended. That, my friends, is a real luxury. There are many highlights across our stay. They begin with our first drive, when a male lion saunters around a corner directly in front of us and stops at a small body of water in the river bed to drink. We are so close, we hear him lapping. A leopard appears on the same patch of road, letting out a low growl as it passes our stopped vehicle, so near, I see her whiskers twitch. Amid a group of nine lions, part of a bigger group known as the Birmingham Pride, we watch a white lion cub, one of only four of this hue known in the wild. I relish hearing the soft shuffle of elephant feet in sandy soil, the rustle of rhino in bushes, the chomp-chomp of giraffe feeding, lions calling and oh, the birds. So many stunning feathered friends. We even love watching the grisly spectacle of vultures finishing off a buffalo carcass. I giggle like a kid to hear an elephant fart. Ngala is famous for lions – the name actually means 'lion' in the local Shangaan language. On one of our last drives we witness a lioness attacking a zebra. We hear the thud as she lands on its back, and a crack as the zebra kicks her and escapes. Loading We sit and watch a dam for an hour as hippos emerge, measuring whether the heat of the day has dissipated enough to warrant them fully getting out of the water. There, the sky turns a deep velvet blue splashed with tutti-frutti – oranges, yellows and pinks. Ernie and Marcus set up the sundowners. The stars emerge and spangle. It's one of the most peaceful interludes I can recall, and mostly, I have simply immersed myself in it. I say mostly – I have my iPhone with me, and snap plenty of memories. That's a different kind of photography, at least, for me: more about reminders, less about possession and obsession. Will I always leave my camera behind? No. I enjoy photography, and truthfully, I would have loved to have seen what my new equipment could do with all that beauty and magnificence at Ngala. But I know I'll be different the next time I go visiting a wildlife and wilderness environment. I will probably still chase that dopamine fix of Instagram posts, but I hope, as with this trip, I'll do it considerably less. And I'll be mindful of tempering the ego- and anxiety-driven desire to get the best shot of an animal, enjoying instead the feelings of humility and awe that come from simply watching such precious creatures go about their business. THE DETAILS VISIT &Beyond Ngala Tented Camp is in &Beyond Ngala Private Game Reserve, Timbavati, South Africa; From $2080 (ZAR24,100) fully inclusive per person a night twin share. Transfers are not included in the price. See STAY On arrival in Johannesburg, we stayed at Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa, a European villa-style property with maximalist decor and a great restaurant, 20 kilometres from the city centre. Rooms from $380 a night. 1 Alma Rd, Morningside, Sandton, South Africa; +27 11 808 7300. See On the way home, I bunked in at the InterContinental O.R. Tambo Airport, one of the nicest airport hotels anywhere – and very conveniently situated opposite the International Arrivals Hall. Rooms from around $630 a night. O.R. Tambo International Airport, Kempton Park, Johannesburg; +27 11 961 5400. See Loading TRANSFER Transfer options include by road in a private car – Ngala is about six hours from Johannesburg. Federal Airlines flies charters and shuttles from Johannesburg to Ngala Private Airfield. See Airlink flies between Johannesburg and Hoedspruit. See &Beyond can organise a pick-up from there. The road trip takes about an hour.
The Age
27-05-2025
- The Age
On the trip of a lifetime, I left my camera behind. I don't regret it
It's when I'm packing for this trip that I realise I have one small-plane flight with severe luggage restrictions. At the last minute, I decide to leave the new camera behind. As I'm driven to the airport, however, I feel like I've left my passport at home, that's how important this piece of equipment feels to my identity as a traveller. And that's when I catch a glimpse of my past self being one of those photo bro types. And when the very same charter flight that caused me to leave my camera behind swoops down across Kruger National Park, affording impressive panoramas of the 2-million-hectare vastness, it is just begging to be captured with a wide-angle lens. The plane lands at Ngala's private airstrip, where one of the special green LandCruisers awaits with its three-tiered open-air seating for our party of five, our tracker Ernie and guide Marcus standing by it smiling welcomely. It's a Kodak moment. And it won't be long before I realise the camp, edging the wide, sandy, bed of the Timbavati River, is built right on an elephant crossing which the (mostly) gentle giants often use to access the lush greenery directly in front of Ngala's spa, bar and dining areas. I'm full of high-res regret. Fortunately, at camp, there's plenty to distract me. The marvellously situated 25-year-old property greatly pleases this design devotee. It has just emerged from a six-month closure during which it was fully renovated to reflect modern tastes as well as its environment. A spa was added, and the tented suites were given large verandahs. Considered the benchmark for ethical luxury safari, &Beyond's credentials are many. It is also at the higher end of experiences. With only one other property, the family-friendly Ngala Safari Lodge on its nearly 15,000-hectare unfenced reserve, the couple-focused Ngala Tented Camp offers exclusivity and a price to go with it. The tariff, however, not only covers these exquisite digs, but three sublime meals a day, with three courses at lunch and dinner and matched wines during the latter. There are drinks available all day, including a help-yourself bar by the pool, a cocktail bar featuring full bottles of premium spirits alongside a beans-grinding Jura coffee machine and snacks. A scrumptious afternoon tea is served and the staff organise special treat meals, such as breakfast and dinner, to be served in the bush or poolside. Then there's the opportunity to visit communities to learn about the good works &Beyond affiliate, Wild Impact is doing in inventive and inspiring ways. But of course, the main game is those safari drives. And therein lies the true value for money. Ngala was the first private game reserve to be incorporated into the Kruger National Park and has exclusive traversing rights over wilderness owned by the World Wildlife Foundation and leased to &Beyond. At the tented camp, there are only nine suites. And it's this that really facilitates my photo bro rehab. Africa is far from immune to overtourism and crowding has become a serious issue in popular safari destinations with large numbers of vehicles jostling for the best positions to view wildlife that may become skittish because of this human activity, not to mention endangering said animals. It is anxiety inducing for humans as well. The frantic atmosphere of competition and limited opportunity contributes to the compulsion to mindlessly snap away, for fear the moment ends without having something to show for it. At Ngala, we watch the animals live their lives without greatly interrupting them, mostly with one, perhaps two safari vehicles present. In eight drives (two a day) of around four hours each, we only have one instance of three vehicles in situ, and because they are all on the same team, the interaction is respectful and careful. And because of this minimal interruption, the interface with the wildlife is extended. That, my friends, is a real luxury. There are many highlights across our stay. They begin with our first drive, when a male lion saunters around a corner directly in front of us and stops at a small body of water in the river bed to drink. We are so close, we hear him lapping. A leopard appears on the same patch of road, letting out a low growl as it passes our stopped vehicle, so near, I see her whiskers twitch. Amid a group of nine lions, part of a bigger group known as the Birmingham Pride, we watch a white lion cub, one of only four of this hue known in the wild. I relish hearing the soft shuffle of elephant feet in sandy soil, the rustle of rhino in bushes, the chomp-chomp of giraffe feeding, lions calling and oh, the birds. So many stunning feathered friends. We even love watching the grisly spectacle of vultures finishing off a buffalo carcass. I giggle like a kid to hear an elephant fart. Ngala is famous for lions – the name actually means 'lion' in the local Shangaan language. On one of our last drives we witness a lioness attacking a zebra. We hear the thud as she lands on its back, and a crack as the zebra kicks her and escapes. Loading We sit and watch a dam for an hour as hippos emerge, measuring whether the heat of the day has dissipated enough to warrant them fully getting out of the water. There, the sky turns a deep velvet blue splashed with tutti-frutti – oranges, yellows and pinks. Ernie and Marcus set up the sundowners. The stars emerge and spangle. It's one of the most peaceful interludes I can recall, and mostly, I have simply immersed myself in it. I say mostly – I have my iPhone with me, and snap plenty of memories. That's a different kind of photography, at least, for me: more about reminders, less about possession and obsession. Will I always leave my camera behind? No. I enjoy photography, and truthfully, I would have loved to have seen what my new equipment could do with all that beauty and magnificence at Ngala. But I know I'll be different the next time I go visiting a wildlife and wilderness environment. I will probably still chase that dopamine fix of Instagram posts, but I hope, as with this trip, I'll do it considerably less. And I'll be mindful of tempering the ego- and anxiety-driven desire to get the best shot of an animal, enjoying instead the feelings of humility and awe that come from simply watching such precious creatures go about their business. THE DETAILS VISIT &Beyond Ngala Tented Camp is in &Beyond Ngala Private Game Reserve, Timbavati, South Africa; From $2080 (ZAR24,100) fully inclusive per person a night twin share. Transfers are not included in the price. See STAY On arrival in Johannesburg, we stayed at Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa, a European villa-style property with maximalist decor and a great restaurant, 20 kilometres from the city centre. Rooms from $380 a night. 1 Alma Rd, Morningside, Sandton, South Africa; +27 11 808 7300. See On the way home, I bunked in at the InterContinental O.R. Tambo Airport, one of the nicest airport hotels anywhere – and very conveniently situated opposite the International Arrivals Hall. Rooms from around $630 a night. O.R. Tambo International Airport, Kempton Park, Johannesburg; +27 11 961 5400. See Loading TRANSFER Transfer options include by road in a private car – Ngala is about six hours from Johannesburg. Federal Airlines flies charters and shuttles from Johannesburg to Ngala Private Airfield. See Airlink flies between Johannesburg and Hoedspruit. See &Beyond can organise a pick-up from there. The road trip takes about an hour.
The Drive
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
We're Putting a Honda Engine in This Porsche with Big Dreams and a Small Budget
I always appreciate the artistry of ultra high-end hot rods, like the Porsches that come out of Singer's garage or old Land Cruisers that have been remade by Icon 4×4. But I'm more impressed when people do interesting builds with tight budgets and modest workshops. Take my buddy Tom here—he was engine-swapping a Porsche with Honda power in the back corner of some shop parking lot, outside, in February, in New Jersey. And he's currently doing a great job documenting the project and his pain for our amusement on The Drive 's YouTube channel. I met Tom something like 18 months ago. We were buzzing around the New York-New Jersey border getting rolling shots of a Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato. I was quickly intrigued by his casual confidence… and quick willingness to hang himself out the back of my BMW to get the images he wanted. 'Dude's a bit of a gangster,' I thought to myself as he operated our makeshift camera turret. I now find myself making the same comment as I'm watching Tom shovel snow and doing open-engine work out in the elements. As you'll see in the intro video to this new series, Tom was our main man behind the CARISMA video series we ran for the last couple of years. He found a lot of very interesting builds and did a great job capturing the people behind them. (Check it out if you haven't!) Now he's got a build of his own going, and we thought it'd only be right to let him tell the story of how he's putting a Honda K-Series engine into his Porsche 944 after its original engine went kaput . We're doing our best to make sure these videos are interesting to both car nerds and casual watchers. Don't expect a comprehensive how-to tutorial, but if you've never swapped an engine yourself, you might learn a thing or two if you come along for the journey. The first real update is already live, and another episode will drop this week. You know the routine: Watch, like, subscribe, and share these around if you like what you see! I'm stoked to have more grassroots-level wrenching on our YouTube channel and homepage. This is the kind of stuff that gets me motivated to get off my butt and start fixing the 99 problems my own fleet of project cars has. If Tom can do it in a frozen back lot, I think I'm all out of excuses with my two-bay heated garage! Working on any projects like this yourself? Tell us about it at tips@ Pro car critic since 2012. Andrew's also been an off-road tour guide, repo man, and Baja co-driver, among other things. Lifetime car nerd, amateur tinkerer, very slow casual racer.
ABC News
29-04-2025
- Automotive
- ABC News
Diesel 4WDs remain essential in outback amid lack of EV grunt, infrastructure
New South Wales livestock and property agent Troy Hartman knows firsthand how essential a four-wheel drive is on outback stations, particularly when it rains. "If you had 10 millimetres [and] you jump in an old two-wheel drive, you'd probably slip all over the road and slide off it and get stuck," he said. Farmers and graziers also rely on four-wheel drives to cart tools, motorbikes, fuel, hay and supplies. Mr Hartman said hybrid or electric vehicles did not tend to come up in the national conversation about reducing carbon emissions because there were limited options. Four-wheel drives are a must in tough outback conditions. ( ABC Broken Hill: Katherine Spackman ) "There's a few electric vehicles in town, I've noticed, but to have them out on a property — no doubt one day it will happen, but it's a little bit too early," he said. He believed some hybrid vehicles could appeal to farmers. "It was interesting to see the ad on TV [for a hybrid ute], where the farmer was in the paddock and he pulled up to do a bit of work on a strainer post on a gateway and he actually hooked up his electric welder to the vehicle to fix up a gate hinge, which I thought it was an interesting option," Mr Hartman said. Outback hybrid sales strong Broken Hill Motor Company general manager Liam Aitken said station workers tended to purchase Mazda BT50s or Toyota HiLuxes and LandCruisers. "You're not going to see certain vehicles make a hybrid or a EV option because it's not going to be suitable to be able to tow that load, carry that load, travel that distance, or travel that type of terrain," he said. Mr Aitken said hybrids accounted for about 40 per cent of business sales last year and that one EV was sold. Liam Aitken says people in rural areas need to be looked after. ( ABC Broken Hill: Katherine Spackman ) Toyota hybrids accounted for 51 per cent of national sales. Mr Aitken supported the federal government's national vehicle emission scheme, which is due to come into place in July 2025, but said there needed to be a multi-pathway response. The Coalition has promised to axe the vehicle efficiency standard if it wins the election. "We are a big country and we need to make sure we look after our people in the rural areas," Mr Aitken said. 'Going to be very hard' Broken Hill mechanic Matthew Gerrs believed charging infrastructure was the main thing holding back the transition to EVs. "I think, probably, your biggest con would be your range reliability," he said. "A lot of those farmers, they want to jump in a car and do 1,200 to 1,400 kilometres. "It's going to be very hard to do that — obviously limited infrastructure, with a lack of charging stations … and then, obviously, the time that it takes to charge them." Matthew Gerrs says four-wheel drive services make up the bulk of his work. ( ABC Broken Hill: Katherine Spackman ) Mr Gerrs's business employs 26 people in the workshop and on mine sites. They mostly service four-wheel drives. Mr Gerrs said station owners often held onto a vehicle until it reached 300-400,000km. He has put his staff through an introductory course on safety in EV, but doubts it will come in handy anytime soon. "I don't think that we'll see a lot of them through independent workshops for a long time," he said. Infrastructure rollout woes In Far West NSW, the NRMA has charging stations in Wilcannia and Broken Hill, but there are no plans to install more in other towns. A NRMA spokesperson said it cost about $600,000 to build a charging site, but that was dependent on the "location and availability of energy". "This figure could increase by a third or more depending on what is needed to solve those challenges at a local site," he said. The NRMA's Broken Hill charging station opened in 2022. ( ABC Broken Hill: Jonathon Poulson ) Over the border in South Australia, the RAA has rolled out charging stations over the 500km between Broken Hill and Adelaide. In 2023, it "Unfortunately, Yunta has been removed from the scope of the network due to challenges associated with getting sufficient power to the site," head of EV charging Andrew Howard said. "The RAA charge network now spans 143 sites, with over 550 plugs across the state — more than the original network scope — giving EV drivers more confidence to travel around regional SA than ever before." ABC Rural RoundUp newsletter Stories from farms and country towns across Australia, delivered each Friday. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Watch Toyota's GR Garage Restore a Third-Gen Supra and Make It Like New
Toyota currently offers many hard-to-find replacement parts for its iconic vehicles. With new parts on the way for 2025, the automaker's GR Garage restored a third-generation Supra to show what's possible. This car, torn apart to a bare body shell and then built up again, is basically a brand-new 1992 Supra. Toyota first announced that it would be making replacement parts for its heritage vehicles back in 2019, at the launch of the then-new fifth-generation Supra. Earlier this year, it expanded that program to include more parts for older Land Cruisers, the third- and fourth- generation Supra, and even the scrappy little AE86 Corolla. As you'd expect for something aimed at enthusiasts, the program is run through the Gazoo Racing division as GR Heritage Parts. In an effort to promote this work, Toyota brought a third-generation Supra into GR Garage, and restored it from the ground up. Factory restorations are almost commonplace for European marques like Jaguar Land Rover or Ferrari, but are a relatively new phenomenon in Japan. You can probably thank Mazda for the trend, as it was one of the first to offer in-house restorations, as well as reproducing new parts, initially for the NA Miata. According to the Mazda employees who set up that replacement parts program, some of the first phone calls they received after the announcement were from Nissan and Honda, curious about how they might also set up heritage parts efforts. Thus, Honda now offers an NSX restoration program in Japan (and has said that a U.S. effort is under consideration), while Nissan offers parts for older Skylines under its NISMO brand. Further, Mazda has expanded its factory restoration program to the FD-chassis twin-turbo RX-7, though there have been some delays to rolling out those plans. For the GR Garage restoration, a Supra model not sold in the U.S. was used: a 1992 Supra 2.5 GT. Fitted with a twin-turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-six, this car made the maximum, unofficially mandated 276-hp cap in the so-called "gentleman's agreement" among Japan's automakers. While not quite as legendary as the fourth-gen Supra that followed it, this generation of Supra has plenty of fans on both sides of the Pacific. The car looks to be in pretty good shape initially, but some careful examination turns up a few bodged repairs and rust. GR technicians cut, disassemble, and take the Supra completely down to a bare body shell before welding in replacement steel and respraying the entire car. The whole process took two technicians six months, and the result is basically a brand-new 1992 Supra. It's now flawless. The video below shows the process (sorry, no English subtitles). If you're a fan of golden age Japanese machinery, whether because of the cars of your youth or just hours spent playing Gran Turismo, seeing this Supra brought to concours quality is incredibly satisfying. There are any number of individual specialist shops doing this kind of work, but having the weight of an OEM manufacturer on board makes a huge difference. It's nothing but good news that Toyota is following through on preserving its heritage. [/image] You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
