MAKATI CITY, Philippines - Now that I have converted this blog of mine from a journal on Out-Of-Home Media to a blog on the Outdoor Lifestyle, I've found the perfect place to write about my hidden affinity for a Land Rover.
I've never owned a Land Rover but the first time I came across the name was when my grandfather referred to it as his ride in his ranch in Davao Del Sur in the late 1960s and into the1970s. I do not know what year he purchased it but my grandfather and my uncle who was based in Digos, Davao Del Sur, used it as a daily workhorse. This is also that same Land Rover he used when he brought the great aviator, Charles Augustus Lindbergh to Mount Apo in 1969.
The next instance of a Land Rover being in close proximity was when I was in grade school in Bacolod. At this time, our family had an advertising business and one of its clients was DuPont for its fertilizer products. For a time, the company's Land Rover was parked at the house. Unused by anyone except for this one occasion when my Dad used it on my grade school graduation day.
So while it was never something that we owned, there is this strong emotional connection with a Land Rover. When you take into consideration the kind of terrain we have in the Philippines, one of the few vehicles that was fit for the purpose of handling the very difficult conditions here was a was a Land Rover. Subsequently the Land Rover which evolved in modern days as the Defender are still seen in remote communities in Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar.
We have our own share in the Philippines. In the mid-1990s, I recall having visited Gamboa Hermanos in San Carlos, Negros Occidental, and all their service vehicles were still Land Rovers! One can attribute that to the very functional nature of the vehicle. LR Defenders are built to do a job of work. They're built to be off-road capable and extremely durable. And because of that, as a vehicle, it somehow just transcends the perhaps other vehicle choices that are out there.
In the next few posts here on OUTDOOR.PH, I'll be spending some time talking about the new Land Rover 2020. For now, I'm watching an old film entitled, "The Gods Must Be Crazy".
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