Tasty Touareg
Craig Douglas, Dealer Principal at Cape City Volkswagen, is a man who loves taking his family on off-road trips in his Touareg. ‘We especially love the National Parks where we can interact with wildlife,’ he says. ‘To me it’s important that my three daughters meet animals in their natural habitat rather than in a zoo.’
But when Craig recently took his wife and daughters on a game viewing holiday to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, little did he know that some of the reserve’s wildlife would view his Touareg as fair game too.
On an early morning game drive in the vicinity of the Nossob Rest Camp, the family spotted a pride of lions near a watering hole. They stopped to take a look and got really excited when a few of the lions ambled over to their vehicle. One particularly large male actually stood as high as the door mirror.
A few moments later a young, curious male strolled up to the back of the Touareg. Being particularly intrigued by the rear-mounted spare tyre, he raised himself up, placed a powerful front paw on either side of it… and took a bite off the spare wheel cover! After chewing on this tasty morsel for a few minutes, he ran into the bush to play with it, three other lions in tow.
At first Craig and his family couldn’t understand the lion’s behaviour, until he remembered that he had placed some frozen braai meat on the spare wheel to defrost the previous day.
‘I was quite relieved when the lions ran off’, Craig laughs, ‘although I don’t blame that lion for his interest in my Touareg. It’s such a great vehicle, on- or off-road. On the road it’s like driving a luxury car while off-road it’s amazingly stable and capable. And now I can tell my clients that no-one can resist a Touareg, not even a lion!’
