Rally to Read’s primary focus is promoting literacy at a grassroots level, in rural schools across South Africa. From the 25th of February 2022 till the 1st of March 2022 we joined Ford South Africa and Rally to Read for their annual event which was held in the Eastern Cape.
Eight schools were selected to receive learning material to better learner literacy skills. Many to these schools were farm schools and township schools, this meant that in order to get to them a lot of gravel roads needed to be covered. Ford South Africa provided us with a number of their Ford Everest models, namely the XLT, Sport and top-of-the-range Limited.
We were divided into four groups and each group visited two schools. My Rally to Read group’s first stop was a Farm School called Rocklands Intermediate farm school which is found in Kariega. We received such a beautiful and warm reception as we drove into the school.
The second school we visited was a township school called David Vuku found in Ibhayi and just like Rocklands as we entered the school we received a warm welcome and this time it was met with also a well-orchestrated marching band. The principal at the school immediately made us feel at home and before we proceeded with the day’s activities.
Following the Rally to Read school visits, that’s when our journey with the Ford Everest properly started. On day 3 we started our drive from Gqeberha to Johannesburg with a few stops and a two night stay before heading towards Johannesburg. On our way to our resting place for day 3 which the picturesque Hogsback area we first made a few stops in the town Fort Beaufort that’s where we had our lunch stop.
I was in the Ford Everest Limited which made the trip a joy despite the fact that it had 20-inch wheels and low profile tyres. We did a significant leg on gravel roads in Elundini which finally lead to our stay for the night in Hogsback.
Day 4 we made our way to a beautiful town with amazing roads and great landmarks called Bethulie that’s where we spent the night. The following morning was our last day heading to Johannesburg and we had about 700km to cover. First thing we did before we could begin this journey was watch the next generation Ford Everest which went live at 09h00 local time.
The drive back to Johannesburg was an effortless ride in the Everest Limited as the vehicle handled both the on and off road sections well. The fully loaded Limited model made this drive much easier as it’s fitted with lane keep assist and an intuitive adaptive cruise control function.
At the end of the day I thought to myself about the events that happened over the last few days and came to the conclusion that for the conditions and the distance covered Ford Everest was very well suited for the trip and remains a good adventure SUV. With that said I cannot wait to see how the new model improves on this recipe.
Words: Nicky Netshifhefhe
