The rugged Eastern Cederberg, called the Red Cederberg by the locals, borders on the Tanqua Karoo and Ceres Karoo. Besides finding a panacea, Deryck van Steenderen realised expensive tyres are worth it and that a good map is essential.

I’m no Darwin, but if you ask me, snoring is an evolutionary development aimed at scaring away wild animals.

Thanks to my travelling companions, this groundbreaking theory was tested thoroughly on a trip to the Eastern Cederberg … and proved. For four nights we slept under the stars in leopard country, but there were no fresh animal spoor around our camps in the morning.

Of course I was unaware of this effective self-defence mechanism when tour guides Chris McDuling and Philip Sackville-Scott invited me along on an adventure to plot a five-day route that links various Cederberg 4x4 trails.

The plan was to explore the lesser-known eastern part of the Cederberg, the part bordering on the desolate Tanqua Karoo and Ceres Karoo.

Five days, four (sleepless) nights, nearly 900 km and a seriously refreshed soul later, we’ve proved an evolutionary theory, heard about the healing properties of dassie urine, met a German couple who bought a remote farm, thinking it was near Somerset West, saw a 200-year-old prickly pear and met tough people who still farm the way they did a century ago.

Oh, and we drove some seriously challenging trails, and had a grand time doing it too.