25 Oct 04
I'm standing on the banks of the Zambezi with what looks like blue smoke rising in the distance. When I get a little closer it dawns on me that it's not smoke, but rather a huge plume of water vapour jetting up from a vast waterfall, what native Africans call Mosi-o-Tunya, "the smoke that thunders".
The famous missionary explorer Dr David Livingstone christened the natural wonder Victoria Falls in the 1850s, and a colonial British settlement bearing his name was founded near the site in the 1890s. That's where our convoy of Jeeps is preparing to make camp for the night.
Everywhere are nods to Livingstone's British colonial past, with ornate anglicised buildings dotted amongst the market stalls and churches. Tucked in a corner is a backpackers' hostel called Fawlty Towers. The wide main road, built to allow for a 16-ox wagon to turn a full circle, has been adapted into a two-way street divided by great Jacaranda trees. When our 23-strong Jeep procession approaches, the locals run up and surround us.
We are here to drive the Jeeps Cherokee and Cherokee Renegade after a mid-life cosmetic and mechanical changes. What a long way these hardy mountain goats have come since their launch in 1974. The last generation of Cherokee (that's pre-2001) sold in huge numbers in America, where it became iconic for its sporty but boxy looks. It was certainly a huge improvement on the drab Wagoneer it replaced. The post-2001 Cherokee's round headlights and soft edges have left many die-hard Jeep fans underwhelmed, however. The 2004/5 revisions haven't changed much, either, the standard Cherokee getting just a slight brush-up. The Renegade version is the brawnier-looking of the two, with a flatter bonnet and higher grille, bolted-on wheel arches over larger wheels and the option of the overhead light bar for when you're in a 'lamping' kind of mood.
