Mercedes-Benz gave Europe's truck press the chance to experience the incredible off-road capabilities of the Unimog - albeit from the driver's seat. Although I don't really blame them, as I'm not sure that I would have trusted myself with 100-degree gradients and waste-deep puddles.
Our transport was a fully off-road prepared 4000 Series - complete with two-pedal transmission and a driver who appeared to be bored senseless. Then again this was the fifth day of an international press launch and I suppose there's only a limited number of times you can reverse up a steep flight of steps without losing the will to live.
In short, this truck will cope with just about anything Mother Nature can put in its path - or mankind for that matter.
But highlight was of course the water dip - which we hit at about 50kmph. I attempted to photograph this from the passenger seat but without much luck. By the time I had focussed it was all over. I tried explaining my predicament to the demo driver, but this proved a struggle as he couldn't speak a word of English and all I can muster in German is 'zwei biere bitter'. With the help of an interpreter I finally got my message across, only to be told that he wouldn't do it again because the puddle was running low - and they couldn't find any more to fill it up. It's not like the wet stuff is hard to find in this part of the world - it had been raining for a week prior to our arrival. Then again, maybe they were filling it with AdBlue!
I never did manage to get a decent shot from the driver's seat, but my colleague Colin Barnett shot this great sequence from the bank.
