Odyssey king a local man

POLOKWANE – Johan Retters from Polokwane and his teammate, Oan de Waal from Pretoria, are the winners of this year’s Ford Ranger Odyssey Africa.

Retters and De Waal were announced as the winners during an award ceremony at De Rust Outdoor near the Hartbeespoort Dam recently, coming full circle to where their Ranger Odyssey experience began with a boot camp in August.

As winners, Retters and De Waal will get to drive an Odyssey-spec Ranger for a year with R5 000 worth of fuel per month.

Retters and De Waal became a team during the team selection at the start of the main event on September 7 at Kamanjab in Namibia.

They competed for over 12 days on the tough 2 500km route and claimed victory through numerous special tasks.

At the age of 41, Retters is a keen outdoor enthusiast, regularly venturing off the beaten track on 4×4 trips, as well as riding motorcycles and quads.

“I had a passion for the outdoors since I was young. I used to go camping, even when I was in the army, and I will always enjoy it,” says Retters.

Retters, who is a businessman and owner of number plate and key cutting company with shops in Polokwane, Mokopane and Phalaborwa, was born and raised in Limpopo.

“My whole family, my wife, Mariaan, my daughter Chené, and the twins, Wian and André, enjoy our camping trips tremendously.

“All of us enjoy riding motorcycles and quad bikes too,” he explained to Review.

He says it is essential for him to expose his children to camping and nature.

His opinion is that camping is more educational than television and video games and reckons it is cheaper to camp than to buy video games.

“Camping is also a great way for a family to bond and to really appreciate one another,” he said.

Retters said his wife was his biggest supporter throughout the Ranger Odyssey adventure.

He explained that all forms of communication with his family was limited during their adventure in Namibia, but he managed to get hold of them through wi-fi communication.

“As much as I enjoy the outdoors, camping is about quality time with the children and to watch them have fun. Camping is family time for us.”

He said his family enjoyed trips to the Kruger National Park, although Botswana remained their favourite camping destination.

He also encouraged people to visit the outdoors more and to take time to appreciate what nature had to offer, especially for the children.

De Waal is a 23-year-old adventure athlete who specialises in obstacle course racing, both locally and internationally.

He is also an active rock climber, and together Retters and De Waal made a formidable team.

“I want to thank and congratulate De Waal, who I think was an excellent teammate.

“The competition was extremely tough and competitive, but we managed to pull off the win by a single point.

“We’ll take that win nevertheless,” said Retters.

During the Ranger Odyssey expedition, the 20 contestants, divided into 10 teams, were scored daily on driving techniques, camp craft, teamwork, vehicle maintenance and technical, as well as general knowledge of the areas visited by the instructors.

Several specialised tasks were also staged and scored during the trip, including winching and vehicle recovery exercises.

The route for the 2014 event focused on the Kaokoland region in the far north-western corner of Namibia, renowned for its remote and extremely challenging 4×4 trails.

Retters thanked the following people and companies who supported him throughout his Odyssey-campaign:

• 4×4 Mega World;

• Stephan Hatting from Tyre Rack;

• His wife, Mariaan Retters for her support;

• Polokwane Galactic Auto, and

• all the personnel who work in his business franchises who stood in for him during his absence.