South Africa is a beautiful country with lots of places to see and lots to do. Like most people, sometimes we see travel as involving so much planning, time and money. As true as that can be, we often forget that a short drive to the neighbouring town is travel and an adventure. Being based in Johannesburg, we were very excited when we got an invitation from Ford South Africa for a day dedicated to celebrating women at De Rust Outdoor & Lifestyle Facility in Hartebeespoort Dam (fondly known as Harties).

Harties is a mere 85 kilometers from Johannesburg and offers so much from a tourism perspective. Even a day foray into the town can be very rewarding. You can go up the cableway or do one of the many water based activities at the Harties Dam. For the romantic, there’s French Toast Koffie Kafee with South Africa’s own small Eifel Tower. The Triumphal Arch at the on Hartebeesport Dam is also reminisce of Paris’ iconic Arc de Triomphe. A visit to Harties is certainly worth it, even if it is just for the day.

Our rewarding experience for the day was a 4×4 course with Ford in celebration of Women’s Day. Scary at first but very few experiences compare to this, and by the time the day was up, I was screaming for more. We got to put the different 4X4 versions of the Ford Ranger and the Ford Everest to the test and they came up tops. So, you couldn’t blame a girl for wanting more. I will be visiting Harties again and I will definitely be going off-road again, and if it’s in a Ford 4X4, my choice will be the Ford Ranger Wildtrack. What a car!