I won’t say I’m taking a wing of new Land Rover Discoverys and Range Rover Sports to their natural habitat because, that would be a valet line on Rodeo Drive. But we are taking these vehicles into the kinds of conditions you usually only see in commercials: the jungles and deserts of Peru.
I guess Land Rover is as bored of that “natural habitat” zinger as I am and wants to prove its vehicles are still up to the overland adventures the brand is built on. So the company’s invited us to jump in on a massive off-road tour across one of the pretties countries in South America using two of its current-model vehicles.
And you’re coming along for the ride too, because I’m packing a Santa sack full with cameras and hoping like hell I can be entertaining for more than 500 miles.
Land Rover actually runs big-budget expedition tours on the regular. And while these trips haven’t had the scale or mystique of the famous Camel Trophy in some time, we’re hoping to change that by joining the party and taking you with us via video. Maybe I’ll blog about it, too. That is my job, after all.
So tell me: what would you like to see while we’re down there? Machu Picchu? That jungle named after the home shopping website? Maybe bring back some fried guinea pig?
I’ll be flying down to Lima all day Saturday then spending the rest of next week land roving. But the khaki shirt crew running the show has gotten my hopes up about having WiFi, so I’ll try and scroll through your questions once in a while and provide updates as possible.
To cover some basics: the route is supposed to take us from Cusco to Huancayo, though I’ve already been informed that massive mudslides are forcing our leaders to get creative. So I guess specifics there are “TBD.” The only way to fly.
As for the vehicles, they’re stock Discos and Range Rover Sports with Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac tires, loads of stickers and, of course, red jerry cans. Red jerry cans are the red brake calipers of the off-road world, except they’re not quite played out yet. You’re not really on an overland adventure if you don’t have any red jerry cans strapped to your truck.
I’ve been promised we’ll see some mud, trees, lots of trees, sand, water and slime to truck through over the course of the trip. One way or another, it should make for a legitimate exercise of Land Rover’s off-road abilities and general durability. And who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and have to do a recovery. Or get really lucky and see a sloth!
There are a limited number of them in Peru. I checked.