The lone wolf marks its territory

■ Roelof de Jonge

The long-awaited launch of Volkswagen’s new Amarok into the ultra-competitive South African bakkie market took place at the beginning of March this year. An Amarok, or Amaroq, is a gigantic wolf in Inuit religion, said to stalk and devour any person foolish enough to hunt alone at night.

Finally, local Amarok enthusiasts who have only seen photos doing the rounds until now, had the opportunity to meet the latest rendition set to take on the ever expanding bakkie-market.

On Saturday morning the 18th of March the staff from Lannie Motors welcomed guests and clients to the introduction of the new and exciting Amarok in Tzaneen

The outgoing Amarok model was launched in November 2010 and has since sold 41 422 units in the local market and close to a million globally. That the Amarok is a popular choice of Bakkie is not disputable.

VW, with its new design second generation Amarok is certainly going to cause a stir amongst the local bakkie market. The Germans have succeeded in retaining the classic form of the Amarok, now more aerodynamically streamlined and much more superior when it comes to engine power, technology, safety, security, space and comfort.

From the bottom of the range model to the top model in the series, the Amarok Aventura with a powerful 3.0 litre V6 turbo diesel engine offering 184kW of power and a sturdy 600Nm of torque, will encourage potential buyers to take serious note.

Another superb function of the Aventura model is the fully automatic security lid for the loading bay that slides open and close with the push of a button.

Instead of Bulletin telling you about all the futuristic advances in the all-new Amarok and all the bells and whistles that are included in each of the different models, rather visit Lannie Motors in Tzaneen today where dealer principal Paul du Toit (Senior) and his staff are eager to show you.

Contact Lannie Motors today on 015 307 5016 or the New Vehicles Sales Manager, Iwan van der Merwe on 082 465 8382 or email him at newcars@lanniemotors.co.za

We did it first, and they will soon follow

■ Joe Dreyer

They say that the highest form of flattery is when your competition copies you. Well, I am truly flattered. Bulletin was the very first independent locally owned and managed newspaper to take the giant leap of faith and move over to a completely digital and online publication. At the start of the lockdowns in March 2020 all presses across the board came to a grinding halt and deliveries to and from these presses became a logistical nightmare. Financially, Bulletin would not have survived were we to have remained completely reliant on ad sales. Ad sales which also came to an ear-piercing halt as our clients were forced to shut down their business operations.

Being an independent newspaper, we do not have the advantage of being backed by a large corporate machine like our colleagues at the Letaba Herald who are owned by Caxton, one of the largest corporate media houses in the world.

We adjusted our strategy and took our paper online through a digital version of the Bulletin weekly which we distributed to our readers over WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook. Accompanying this new medium was the series “The Daily Drive with Joe” which became an instant hit and saw us garnering roughly 2,5 million video views per month, every month.

As the lockdown ended we expected the interest in the digital paper to subside as well. But it did not, and in fact the demand continued to grow to a point where we shifted to digital completely at the start of March this year.

You are reading this piece on a truly revolutionary platform, the very first of its kind in South Africa. This Bulletin is completely interactive (click on one of the adverts and you will see you are directed to the advertiser’s Facebook page or website) and in the weeks to come we will be introducing more and more elements to this platform which will keep you truly informed and entertained no matter where you find yourself in the world. If you have network reception, you will receive your Bulletin. We have also grown our Facebook following and as that platform announced their new integrated subscriber function earlier this year, we jumped on that opportunity as well. We can now offer our subscribers exclusive content only visible to them and not the regular Facebook users, so head over to Facebook and join the cool kids in the VIP section. Simply click the subscribe button and you will be asked how you would like your membership to be deducted. Most people choose the cellphone data option. We just recently moved onto Tiktok as well, and we hope that you will find us there for some light hearted banter about the topics of the day that affect your quality of life. Cheers to all our loyal supporters, thank you and we look forward to blowing you away as the weeks progress.

Hulle lyk so lekker, want hulle eet so lekker!

Om met hoenders te boer is nie perdekoop nie, want ‘n hoender en ‘n perd lyk nie dieselfde nie. En is ook nie kinderspeletjies nie, want kinders is bang vir hane, ook niemand se maat nie. Want ‘n maat is iemand besonders en vir ‘n hoender voel jy eintlik vere.

Dis ook nie vir sissies nie, want as jy in die hoenderhok rondbeweeg, voel dit asof jou skoensole al dikker word. Dit laat my dink aan wyle vriend Daan se vertolking van die bekende lied, Boereplaas.

Die lirieke is soos volg:

O Boereplaas, geboortegrond, net waar jy kyk, lê hoenderstro...ooi want ‘n hoender hou van skrop.

Om vir hoenders name te gee, is ook nie raadsaam nie, aangesien ‘n hoender gou misbruik kan maak van sy omgewing. Dit was die fout wat ek en vroulief gemaak het.

Daar was Antjie, die rooibruin hen, wat ook in ‘n ou Afrikaanse liedjie gevestig is. Dan was die een haan Rooies, Blackie die ander en Jana en Spikkels....nog twee henne.

Spikkels het dieselfde kolle soos ‘n luiperd gehad. Wanneer hulle langs mekaar gestaan het, kon jy maklik sien watter een die hoender en watter een die luiperd was...die luiperd se tande was groter as die hoender s’n.

So raak mens geheg aan die geveerde ‘volkie’. Op ‘n dag kom ons agter dat Spikkels hinke pink loop. By nadere ondersoek sien ons dat een van die tone aan die een poot ‘n sny opgtedoen het.

Dadelik word die noodhulpkissie nader getrek en met ‘n pyndodende salf en pleister word die skade herstel in ‘n vertrek wat van alle kieme en bakterieë gereinig is. SPIKKELS WAS GESOND!

Na ‘n dag of wat kom ons agter dat Spikkels ons agtervolg, waar ons ookal gaan. Dit was duidelik ‘n teken van dankbaarheid vir die behandeling van die toon. Die groep hoenders sal die plaas vol wandel, maar Spikkels sal by my en vroulief staan.

Op ‘n Sondag, nadat Ma en ek lankal uit die Sondagmiddagkoffieklub bedank het, sal Spikkels haar tyd saam met ons spandeer.

Jana was die stompsterthen en vroulief was besonder gaande oor haar. Sy wou net vir Jana vashou. ‘n Plan is gemaak en ons vang toe vir Jana. Vroulief het haar ‘n wyle gesit en streel en toe laat gaan. Tot ons verbasing kom Jana die volgende dag na vroulief toe, waar sy sit, en spring op haar skoot. Nie n bangveer op haar kop nie.

Om ons almal weer na die werklikheid te laat terugkeer, sê Weyers, terwyl hy na die leë glas voor hom staar: “Ja nee, ‘n halwe eier is beslis beter as ‘n leë dop, want ‘n leë dop is soos ‘n haan sonder skop!”