South Africa To Namibia In Scorpio N - Road Trip | Faisal Khan

It's time for Africa! Oh f**k I have no grip! But we don't have it on our car so they're gonna stop and enquire for sure. They were flashing to alert that there's a speed camera ahead with cops. It's a Mahindra bro. Who lets you into the country? That's a big problem. Hello and welcome to another unplanned travel trip wherein me and my good friend Gagan go exploring in and around South Africa in a Mahindra Scorpio N. On the first day, we went to the dunes. This is Gagan trying to climb this steep incline and failing at it miserably. Probably we needed a G-Wagon here. This is obviously a body-on-frame platformed car which means that it's very rugged and then we have also got a low range transfer case but I'm on 4 high. In case the situation becomes very tricky, I've come to 4 low as well and then ground clearance is okay, approach angle is good but breakover angle is fine. Departure angle is a bit of a problem here, not a bit, quite a bit of a problem here. That's the reason the rear bumper keeps getting out. Yeah, the rear bumper keeps coming out and now it's cracked. Ouch! So you can just slot it back into place but if you drive it with the rear bumper out, it's going to get cracked and that's something I suspect might just happen today. Okay, look at this car. I mean, it's quite effortless because steering is light. Steering doesn't have any feel, yeah, that is the only issue. There is no feel in the steering wheel. Onto the throttle. Other issue I face here is that if I want to drift and slide and all, I can't do it because ESP is very intrusive. It keeps kicking in. Yeah, oh my god, that is quite the decline there but it's so much fun. This sand is not very loose as such, it's a little bit hard. You won't get stuck and then obviously I've deflated the tyres a bit so it was like 30 PSI regular. So I've deflated it to around 20 PSI though I should be deflating it even further. Want to climb something as aggressive? Very much possible. Only thing is when you do that, you are 100% going to get the rear bumper out of the car. There, ESP kicking in continuously is such a pain now, this ESP system. Torquey engine, so much fun. And you know what, I've just paid Rs. 1000 to access all of this for the whole day. Yeah, the car has to be yours. If you want to go in an ATV, you have to pay around Rs. 5000 for one hour because apparently fuel is the expensive thing. Look, look, I'm pointing here, where am I going? Anywhere. So, let's try and do some stunts right away. Oh my god, I am getting into the wrong place because it's a bit water there. So that's a bit of a problem but, oh yeah. I am just throwing so much, oh my goodness, opposite lock kicked in. That is the real fun of doing this madness right now and then traction control turns on at certain speed but, I am loving this. It's all fun and games. Till you realise you're breaking something in the back because a lot of our luggage is also lying and now traction control is not giving me the power which I need. But this is just phenomenal. Oh man, I had a phenomenal time in the dunes with the Scorpio N minus the cracked bumper. Dune bashing done, it was time to re-inflate the tyres, fill up diesel and also remove sand from the car. Hey man, check out this cool road. This single carriageway had a speed limit of 120 kmph. By the way, this dollar sign means no stopping here whatsoever. And then the bumper came out again. Johnny Sins aka Mr. Gagan Chaudhary then fixed the bumper with some glue. 30 minutes later, we were back on the road and reached our destination for the day. We woke up to realise we stayed at a very beautiful place. But today's drive was long so we hit the road. Take off bro, take off. Can you believe it, we are still in South Africa and there is not a single soul in sight. That's because we took a small diversion to take these shots. Slightly off the road but extremely beautiful. The roads are just unbelievable, completely empty, no speed limits. I mean there is no speed marking as such, there are no speed cameras here which means you can go. And of course the scorpion is moving a lot here because of the wind. But the drive has been absolutely phenomenal. Un-freaking-believable. Stop bro, stop. I don't know what Hari Gagan has, I think he wants to hit the loo like always. So you can see, what a beautiful route. And they have these lay-bys here. So in these lay-bys you can just stop and remove your picnic and eat in those huts. Isn't that super cool here? The car is not getting dirty, I mean it's a little dirty but it's not got as dirty as I expected it to considering we went through some really bad patches of road. Yes, a good road ends abruptly and you end up on such roads which isn't an issue for the Scorpio N. Even on these bad roads, the Scorpio N is unfazed. This car is rugged and built for such kind of terrains. And that is the reason my friends why you need real SUVs, not fake pseudo front-wheel-drive jacked-up hatchbacks. And since our Scorpio N is equipped with four-wheel-drive, we were quite relaxed when driving on such terrain although we did not have to engage four-wheel-drive mode yet. Part of our journey today had aero-straight roads but because of the lack of tarmac, the Scorpio N was spraying a lot of mud all around which meant rear visibility was quite poor. So we decided to fly the drone. This amazing dead straight non-tarmac road gave us an opportunity to test the top speed of the Scorpio N and boy oh boy, we didn't think we could hit top back on such a road but the Scorpio N surprised us. We had our own private runway where we realised that the Scorpio N sold in South Africa has a limited top speed of 160 kmph and at that speed, it did not frighten us. We drove non-stop till we found a place to stop and stretch. Basically, we had to go to the toilet. And I am not Gagan that I will water the plants or the flowers. And it is the season of flowers so you will see crazy amount of flowers all around here, I think 200-300 km. See, we have orange, we have yellow, we have purple as well. So, all kind of flowers, my goodness, this is so amazing. Bio break done and now we were crossing through the mountains. And because the roads were so good, we decided to stop and fly the drone again. The road was simply mind-bogglingly high in terms of quality. Super smooth and devoid of even a single vehicle around and just look at that view. Doing the top speed runs, we realised we were running out of fuel. So, we stopped to fill diesel, check tyre pressure and clean the windscreen. Where has everybody gone? Should we be happy or should we be scared that we are the only ones on the road? Remember, it's South Africa and this place is known for mugging. But since the sun was setting, we stopped quickly to fly the drone because this was the most beautiful part of today's journey. In fact, everything around here was so mesmerising that we took the car on an off-road trail around here to get some amazing shots against the sun. Our initial plan was to stay near the South Africa border, spend the night to research about where do we head next but then I suggested to Gagan, let's just drive to Namibia today. If you notice, they have this NAM sticker which is for Namibia. We should be having a CA sticker, CA sticker is needed, right? ZA. ZA sticker for South Africa but we don't have it on our car so they are going to stop and enquire for sure. I then bought a ZA sticker for Rs. 200 and stuck it on the car because we were heading to the border. First, we had to exit South Africa which meant some formalities like filling forms and getting an exit stamp on our passport. And then we entered the Namibian border. We went to their office and they asked us vehicle papers and Rs. 2000 to enter Namibia. The process was so fast that we were pleasantly surprised and happy too. Goodbye South Africa and hello Namibia! We straight away went to a resort and called it a night. The day started with sounds of the orange river waking us up. Yes, that's the view from our campsite. And time to exit the resort. Without wasting much time, we hit the road. Today was a long drive and since we had to cover a lot of distance, I didn't hesitate to hit the top speed of the Scorpio N right away. We stopped at a village to get some ice cream and now we had 80 kilometres of horrible roads to drive on. While the roads were bad or either going from bad to worse, but since there were mountains around, the view from the top was absolutely scintillating. This particular road wasn't just straight, there were twists and turns, inclines and declines and a lot of change in scenery every now and then. But finally, the 80 kilometres were over so we stopped to check the tyres once again. Thank you to all the insects that sacrificed themselves and made their mark on our Scorpio N. We stopped for fuel and spotted a Tata Indica. So Gagan went and spoke to the owner and he was very unhappy with the car. He asked us to take it back. By the way, Gagan and his weird fantasies. We spotted a Scorpion signboard so we stopped to click some pictures. The road here was butter smooth which meant we were averaging really high speeds and then all of a sudden, we saw this signboard. We became curious, how is there a runway around here? So we went there only to find a makeshift one. It was time to test the Scorpion's top speed again but the runway wasn't long enough for the car to max out. It's then we realised that this is for smaller planes like Cessnas and this runway seems to be rarely used, maybe just for emergencies. After this distraction, we realised we had a lot of distance to cover today and soon the road disappeared but that did not stop an ostrich from racing us. These are the kinds of roads I am driving on and even though there are no roads, at least you have a pathway and it's not that bad because there are no big fat potholes and the Scorpion is really gliding through here because, oh my god, there are so many of these insects all over the place because the suspension makes no sound whatsoever, really very smooth, the ride quality, engine has good amount of performance as well. We can pull it to 140, 160 as well. The only big issue happens to be the ESP system of this car, it's super duper duper duper intrusive, it kicks in abruptly, applies the front brakes, you can hear it, it does and then it's obviously going to eat the brake pads as well which is a bit of a worry because Mahindra cars tend to do that. But look at this, no network, no roads and we are having a jolly time here. Right foot on the brake, right foot on the accelerator, start-stop system has turned off the car and off we go! So today's journey is 680 kilometres which is a lot under 8 hours which stops and everything which is absolutely insane, traction control light blinking right there and we are doing 120 kilometres per hour. The car is all over the place at higher speeds because there is no traction here which doesn't really inspire confidence to push it hard actually but then on the road I am doing 160 kilometres per hour quite comfortably. Another nice big bump, oh my goodness! Oh there, ESP system kicked in like really abruptly. So yeah, no traction here, you have to really hold the steering hard, continuously counter-correct because you can see it's wavering all over the place but what an engine and the ride is absolutely unbelievable. Look at the car swing almost right, left and centre. At these speeds, it's kind of unbelievable how this Scorpio is so freaking stable. Imagine this with another Mahindra car, not possible at all. Oh my god, where is the car going? I have no freaking clue. And is there a big bump coming ahead? I think so but... Whoa! There, we have hit vehicle top speed, it said vehicle top speed for a bit. My heart is in my mouth honestly because I don't have the confidence in a Mahindra car to do all this but yes, it's able to manage such kind of speeds which is unfreaking believable. All this height and poor centre of gravity and aerodynamics of a refrigerator, it still doesn't really feel like it's a heavyweight car and obviously, it's in rear wheel drive mode right now. That's why it's sliding all over the place. We can put it into 4 high but then it will consume more fuel and talking about fuel efficiency, it's returning around 9 kmpl which isn't bad but then, we are also driving at such insane speeds wherein it's drinking fuel right, left and centre. I wish it could have gone faster still because 160 kmph is good but it could be better. Yeah, there is some noise which is coming from outside. Look at the engine, it's so freaking comfortable. 160 plus, no problem at all. The only thing is I can't really see anything behind because it becomes so freaking dirty continuously keep counter-correcting at times. Now, the car will also kind of go sideways. ESP will kick in very very very abruptly and then thankfully, you are back on the road. 162, that's about it. Can you believe it? On such a road which is sort of off-road or no road, this car is maintaining such speeds and now, the speed alarm is buzzing. No speed alarm at 120 kmph which is the USP of this car. So, we started off from the border of Namibia and we are going towards the interiors not towards today because the drive is really very long. We are driving at such speeds and obviously, there is nobody on the road at all. Absolutely nobody but if you can see the amount of dust which is being kicked in behind, very crazy indeed. Now, of course, we are approaching some road. Hopefully, it's tarmac but leave the steering wheel and see the car go little sideways here and there. It will go sideways and then ESP will kick in and the problem is you can't turn off ESP because when you turn it off, it will turn on at around 60 kmph which is actually a turn-off for you because then you can't go sideways. Otherwise, this is a very capable car. Trust me on this. There is some dust coming inside the car even with all the windows rolled up now. Everything has become dirty. I actually cleaned the instrument cluster right now but you can see it's full of dirt. It's crazy. Road is so arrow straight and endless that I can keep my right foot pinned to the throttle, to the ground and I don't know till how long I can just keep doing that and you can see I am counter-correcting on the steering wheel continuously because the car is sliding here and there. Rear-wheel drive for the win! So much fun happening here and oh my god! This has become officially the test track for a lot of automakers because this is the place where you can test the top speed of a car as well as the suspension and the sound and the insulation. Oh my god! And also if there is any leakage in terms of dust which is coming from here or there. This is just unfreaking believable. Are those mountains over there? No, no. It just goes down and comes up. Okay, true. Those are sand mountains. I feel that it's sort of a water body there. Hands are sweating. Look at my hand, it's gone completely red holding the steering with that intensity. Although I can currently relax also. I can hold it like this as well. Style, man! Singer in the house, Gagan Chaudhary! Everyone take a snap! Sing! Amazing and private terrain. Nobody around at all which means that you can drive this car at its top freaking speed. Yup, that's me. And that's a very tired me. So I just decided to take some rest on the road. But we had reached today's destination. We quickly checked into our campsite and headed for dinner. What are you making? Stir fry. Stir fry? Alright. The food lacked taste though and it was time for stargazing. Woke up to a very cold morning and even the Bichchu N was freezing. So we warmed the car up. No matter the terrain, this car manages to make mincemeat of the worst of roads. Quite impressive. Crazy, crazy, crazy tyres. After driving 3000 kilometres, I am here. That is the Big Daddy Dunes. If you notice, people are actually climbing down and climbing up from there. And we have come in the Big Daddy of SUVs. Not really because the Big Daddy of SUVs happens to be the Toyota Land Cruiser, the LC300. So what is the story of this place which is known as Deadly? Actually, around 900 years back, the climate completely dried up. And because of dunes all around, the river could not flow here. So this is actually a river bed. Yes, this is a river bed. And this completely dried up. It dried up so bad that these 1000-year-old trees did not have any water to decompose. So they are just completely burnt under the sun and they are standing like this ever since. And these trees are like super duper duper crazy dry. But it has now become a tourist spot. They have told us not to touch the trees or to sand on them or to sit on them or break them. So that future generations can also come and witness this madness. So you see, super duper duper duper dry trees. But what an amazing place. In fact, if you notice one tree and that background, that is what you see exactly in the song Guzaarish from Ghajini. Asin and Shahrukh Khan, sorry, Amir Khan were dancing somewhere here. I like Shahrukh Khan so I always remember him. I don't remember Amir Khan honestly. But yeah, somewhere there this happened. To reach here, you have to really climb and walk and drive insane amount of kilometres which we have done. So I kind of feel stupid now. But yeah, this is an amazing place. You should visit if you are a little bit mad like us. So this is actually the entry gate and that's the reason. All two wheel drive cars are actually standing outside right there. That's what happens when you get Thar rear wheel drive. You are subjected to standing or rather parking your car here in the parking lot. Losers! The tyres have been deflated to go into the dunes. Right now, I am just going to maintain a speed of around 800 kilometres per hour. Otherwise, you can just drive as fast as you like and as fast as you can keep the car under control. And this car is quite under control which is fantastic. The only issue is that the tyre pressure sensor for the rear left tyre has gone for a toss. It says error there. So yeah, that's not kind of reassuring. And these dunes are absolutely stunning to look at. This is of course captured on a drone. But the drone won't make it back. The point where the drone is going to fall. 1000 metres. Where is that point? There. Where? Okay. We had to drive towards the dune to recover the drone. So here we are. The drone landed right here. The sky and its movements. The drone obviously fell down because it was out of battery. We then started our journey back. At the exit, the security personnel was very inquisitive about the car which now needed air in its tyres. Look, a Tata truck and Gypsy is here. Now it was time to head back to Cape Town. A distance of 1400 kilometres that would take around 16 hours of driving. And we were in a rush because Gagan had a flight to catch the very next day. Cruising speed, insane. Which meant I had to drive the Scorpio N at its top speed for sustained periods of time. We were making good progress but then came to a halt. By the way, lot of Mahindra's here and then we came to a halt again. Even though the roads are fantastic, we have stopped here in front of the stop sign. Because there's a waiting of around 10 minutes as roadworks are going on. So first that side traffic will come, then they'll release us and they'll stop them. This is leading to a lot of delay because we're stopping for 10 minutes every 10 kilometres. I'm kind of sad and disappointed because the roads are just phenomenal to drive really fast here. I tried to cover up for lost time by driving at top speed but... Next level stuff happened. While driving at around 157 kilometres per hour, trucks are flashing from ahead. And I'm like, I'm in my lane, why are they flashing? They were flashing to alert that there's a speed camera ahead with cops and the cops obviously stopped us. And they're like, you're driving at 150 kilometres per hour. They showed us in the book, as per your driving speed, the fine is 3000 Namibian dollars. Which is approximately 15,000 rupees. So we're like, we don't even have that much money. So then we were discussing, Gagan is like, how much do you have? I said, I have approximately 400-500 rands. And I'm like, I'll give 200. Gagan is like, no, no, no, you can't give so less. And plus you have rands. I have Namibian dollars, let me remove it. We were discussing this inside the car. The cop comes, he's like, whatever you have, you give. We gave him 200, which is approximately, how much? 850 rupees? He's like, good, good. I'm like, I'm so sorry. He's like, no, no, no, it's very good, it's very good. You go, go have, enjoy your trip. The cops are having fun here. Since we had so much distance to cover, we drove non-stop with an average speed of 161 kilometers per hour. We were heading to the border to cross from Namibia to South Africa. This dude is the reason for all the trouble. When we came, we were told to go to that office. Someone was there who was standing to the next gate. Yes. Sorry, but we were not told. Two hours later. He said, you are illegal in Namibia. It's your fault, why did you let us go? Your process is wrong. Gagan told him straight away. This officer was also asking us about the car. Anyways, we were now in South Africa, where we were escorted due to roadworks. We reached the hotel and simply crashed. It had been a very long day. Next morning, we straight away headed to the pump. The car had just 5 kilometers of range. At the fuel station, some ladies were very inquisitive about the car because it's a Mahindra, bro. Can you hear the sound? It exactly sounds like an aircraft at around 30-40,000 feet with all the wind noise, the turbulence and yeah, I feel I'm at... I'm flying right now. In South Africa, when there's a speed camera, they clearly tell you that. See, there's a marking saying speed camera and they actually flash from the rear. Okay, finally reached the fuel pump. I started driving when the car had full tank and now the car has zero fuel. 4 kilometers is the range. I've driven the car flat out, continuously. Yes, I've driven the car continuously, non-stop for around 400 kilometers with an average speed of 130 kilometers per hour plus enough fill-in fuel, of course. Where the pump attendants felt bad for the car and started to clean it voluntarily, only ruining their filling station in the process. It started to rain, but that did not stop us from driving at top speed. Remember, Gagan has a flight to catch, which he managed to, thanks to my brilliant driving. After 3,500 kilometers, it was time to say goodbye to the Scorpio N. The next day, I went to the airport and boarded a flight back to Mumbai. It has been one epic adventure.