Isuzu Ikhaya lekhaya trip 1: To Villiersdorp, with Charl-Johan Lingenfelder Posted by Anita Froneman on 17 October 2022 A trip down memory lane can deliver some surprises – as musical director Charl-Johan Lingenfelder discovered when he drove from Cape Town to his childhood hometown of Villiersdorp for Isuzu’s Ikhaya Lekhaya campaign. “I absolutely love being behind the wheel,” says Charl-Johan Lingenfelder as he leans casually against the Isuzu D-MAX he’s driving around Villiersdorp. He’s been navigating the tree-lined streets of the town with Nita, a friend he’s known since primary school, reminiscing about the places they went and the things they did. “Our maths teacher lived over there; that house used to belong to my uncle – he was the caretaker of the church, and also my hairstylist; a friend lived in this house – her bedroom window faced the street and we used to prank her often.” At the town’s agricultural show grounds, Charl and Nita climb out of the D-Max and walk in through the gate. The show grounds played a significant role in Charl’s formative years. “Back then, this was where I was my most creative,” he reminisces. “In spring every year there is an agricultural show – it’s a huge event, and a time when everyone gets to celebrate the best of who we are as a community. My mother used to enter flower-arranging competitions; she was very old-fashioned and traditional, and I wasn’t very fond of what she did. When I was 15 I bought an entry to the flower-arranging contest… and I won best in show in the junior section. It was a huge deal, and I was mocked by everyone for being the only boy taking part, and also for winning a prize. But I continued with it. The older I got the weirder and bolder I became with my arrangements. I really tried to push boundaries.” The show grounds, Charl admits, is not only where he explored his creativity – it’s also where he learned to drive. “It was an old farm bakkie, with the gear stick on the side of the steering wheel. Luckily I’ve never had to drive a vehicle like that again – it was terrible,” he laughs. Charl’s ride today is, of course, considerably more luxurious than that old bakkie but nevertheless, he admits, he felt a bit intimidated when he first saw the Isuzu D-MAX. “I’d never driven a vehicle like it before,” he explains. “I absolutely love to drive – a true holiday for me is when I hire a vehicle and head off, without much of a plan, to wherever the road takes me – but I never thought I belonged in a vehicle like this. “I thought that ‘4×4’ was something that you studied at a college,” he jokes. “I just did not see myself ever, ever being a 4×4 driver – but low and behold, when I drove off-road yesterday I discovered there were two buttons that I had to click, and the D-MAX then did everything by itself! I was amazed – and I’m still amazed – at what this vehicle can do. In fact, I just wanna go back and do it again…” Follow the three journeys in the Isuzu D-MAX and Getaway Ikhaya Lekhaya campaign and you stand a chance to win a spectacular five-night holiday for four people to the Indian Ocean paradise of Seychelles. For more details and to enter, please click here. The competition closes at 15h00 on 2 December 2022. Related Posts Quiz: Are you a one-trip wonder or multiple-mini breaker? 1 June 2023 Take this quiz to find out whether you are a one-trip wonder, a multiple mini-breaker,... read more Running rampant in Stanford, the sleeping beauty of the Overberg 26 May 2023 Stanford invites you to do exactly what it has been doing while its neighbours frantically... read more Waterberg wanderlust: 5 reasons to visit the Waterberg 22 May 2023 PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE
Quiz: Are you a one-trip wonder or multiple-mini breaker? 1 June 2023 Take this quiz to find out whether you are a one-trip wonder, a multiple mini-breaker,... read more
Running rampant in Stanford, the sleeping beauty of the Overberg 26 May 2023 Stanford invites you to do exactly what it has been doing while its neighbours frantically... read more