It happened to me: we got hijacked on the open road between Ermelo and Piet Retief last night on our way to Ponta du Ouro.

We (my wife and I) got assaulted and thrown behind the front seats, driven about 60kms like that and marched into the plantations on a dirt road 11km past Piet Retief where they stripped the Cruiser looking for a Tracker. I was forced to divulge my pin, emails, usernames etc. They eventually 'only' got away with R8k - and my LC 200 diesel.

They hijacked another driver with a Fortuner simultaneously, also stripped it but missed the Tracker.

They tracked the Fortuner this morning somewhere in Swaziland on its way to Moz.

I only had the Cruiser now for 6 weeks and installed the T/C lockup kit and a pedal booster. It made a massive difference. The fuel consumption dropped considerably. I was so looking forward to checking the consumption but it was taken before I could. At the time of the hijack, the tripmeter stood at about 240km with the needle not even touching the 3/4 mark.

They came up at speed from behind me with blue lights flashing. And I mean they really came up fast, pushed their bumper almost onto mine. I think it must have been a small Ford Fiesta ST or something similar because I was travelling at a true speed of 140kph (I just fitted very nice powerful Hella led spots the day before) and they EASILY caught up with me.

Being blue lights we assumed it to be traffic cops or SAPS and pulled off but when TWO of them tried to open my wife's door we knew something was wrong. My wife yelled. The one on my side knocked me senseless with his gun and they pushed me between the front seats into the space behind the front seats. My wife was hit in the face numerous times and bundled onto the rear seat. In the commotion my wife's handbag must have fallen out.

We drove like this for about an hour and a half, went thru Piet Retief - I assumed, correctly - because we could see the streetlight glare. When we eventually stopped after driving on a gravel road they pulled us out of the Cruiser and walked us at gun point into the plantation. We walked past a white Fortuner with its doors and bonnet open.

I thought this is it and expected the shots anytime. But they forced us to lie down and left one armed guy guarding us.

In the background I could hear them ripping and stripping the Cruiser looking for a Tracker. They continuously came to ask us about money and my pin, passwords, where the Tracker is and email addresses.

After they found the Tracker, they threw it at us and accused us of again of lying. It was the previous owner's Tracker they found, I did not have time to have one fitted. They forced me with a gun to my head to enter my username and pin on my banking app on my iPhone.

The Cruiser started and we again thought this was it. We prayed aloud and made our peace, hold each other's hands and was just very scared. I selfishly hoped I would be first. I had a major emergency op recently where a part of my colon was removed (I am now wearing a bag also) and also had a heart attack two weeks later and is still recovering, but with guns involved, I think it to be stupid to resist.

But they tied our hands and feet with thick white cable ties, warned us not to come out for 45min because someone is waiting if we do and will shoot us. They all left in both cars.

After they left I broke the cable ties around my wrists and I freed the others with a nail clipper I found in the other driver's bag. They left one crate with my hunting torch jackets and other stuff in. Our stuff was strewn around. We found a rucksack, clothing, a tray of eggs!, a bag with some clothes etc.

We walked 5kms on a gravel road between plantations to a farm workers house next to the road where we summoned help from his cell phone.

The police arrived later and after we visited the site with them again - in the dark, this was now around midnight, I picked up my wallet and ID book,- I have marked the road with pieces of the Cruiser, tissues, my handkerchief, rocks and even grass, took us to a B&B ('Deloft' of Marinda and Leon - extremely helpful and sympathetic people, they even borrowed us their Pajero to run our errands that day) where we booked in for the rest of the night.

I must say the people of Piet Retief are very friendly, helpful and understanding. That goes even more so for the mostly white Afrikaans SAPS members, especially captains Henn and Gouws. Also w/o Danie.

What could we have done better or otherwise? Nothing. Just play along. But I would say not to stop for anyone at night. But again, with guns involved it's better, I think, to just go along. And with their faster car I could never have outrun them.