Motor Trend - USA (2020-06)

WORDS CHRISTIAN SEABAUGH

B

efore us lies a seemingly endless

gray desert moonscape, our silver

specks of overland-loaded 2020

Land Rover Defender 110s, dancing

over sand dunes, splitting the horizon

with the churning South Atlantic Ocean,

are the only sign of humanity.

I snap back to reality as my Land

Rover’s nose aims skyward as we struggle

up a dune. Throttle in, the engine

roaring, we rocket up the crest. Suddenly

floating over the desert floor, we hear

a thunk from all four corners of our air

suspension—signaling we’d temporarily

left earth somewhere over Namibia’s

Skeleton Coast.

It’s not often a new Defender comes

around—the same holds true for a

new Jeep Wrangler or Mercedes-Benz

G-Class. Yet all three of these legendary

overland-ready off-roaders have been

revised during the past three years: The

Wrangler was new for 2018, the G-Wagen

for 2019. Now it’s the Defender’s turn.

Over the next three days and 500

miles, we would conduct an expedition

through Namibia’s northern Kaoko-

land in the Kunene Region, an under-

developed area populated mostly by

the nomadic Himba people. Our route

will take us from the regional capital

of Opuwo, over the treacherous Van

Zyl’s Pass, through the Marienfluss

Valley, down the Skeleton Coast, and

then back to Opuwo.

Terrain here varies wildly, from

sandy two-tracks and riverbeds

to rocks, gravel, mud, and water

crossings. The only sort of terrain

We are well and truly alone.

2020 Land Rover Defender 110

ESCAPIST

UTOPIA

A JOURNEY FROM THE HEART OF NAMIBIA

TO THE SKELETON COAST IN LAND ROVER’S

STUNNING NEW OFF-ROAD CHAMPION

JUNE 2020 MOTORTREND.COM 39