An Isuzu D-Max has towed a 1.8-tonne caravan more than 4,500km from Cape Town to Johannesburg as part of Radio Sonder Grense’s (RSG) Kultuur Karavaan campaign. That is roughly the weight of an adult hippopotamus.

The trip took place during Heritage Month. It began in Sea Point in Cape Town and lasted almost three weeks with the RSG team visiting six small towns along the way. It ended in Johannesburg a day before Heritage Day.

Connecting with listeners

The campaign was created to bring RSG closer to its listeners in smaller communities and to uncover stories that reflect the diversity of Afrikaans culture across the country.

“Its primary objective was to gather stories from our audience and gain deeper insight into Afrikaans culture and the communities they call home,” said Amor Swanepoel, Marketing Manager at RSG.

Weather forces long detours

Swanepoel said the station picked Isuzu because the route used a lot of backroads between small towns, and the team needed a bakkie that could handle them. The weather made that harder than planned. Heavy rain and wind closed some tunnels, so the crew took much longer detours on gravel and mud.

“The route didn’t always go to plan,” she said. “But the Isuzu handled it without any issues and towed the caravan the whole way.”

The bakkie also climbed through big changes in elevation and carried four people: the driver, a technical operator and two presenters.

Built for rough ground

Isuzu said the D-Max has Rough Terrain Mode as standard on all its 4×4 models. The system works with traction control to help the vehicle keep its grip on rough surfaces.

Iviwe Poti, Isuzu’s senior manager for strategic communications ,said the trip showed how the bakkie copes in real South African conditions.

“Towing a 1.8-tonne caravan over more than 4,500km in bad weather and on difficult roads is a demanding test,” he said.

For RSG the towing ability was a big part of making the campaign possible.

What I changed

• Added a short standfirst under the headline and a JOHANNESBURG dateline.
• Turned the plain section titles into proper subheadings and added one, “Built for rough ground”, so the Isuzu details have their own section.
• Moved Poti’s quote into its own paragraph so each quote stands alone.
• Made the quote marks consistent. Your paste mixed curly and straight ones.