What The Gravel! 2.0 is the “new” kid on the block, promoting rural destinations and experiences outside the wire!
Our research has shown that most City-sleekers don’t travel more than 200km away from home over weekends. This “wire” prevents them from the real Gravel experience where the pavement stops, and the sound of clatter under the wheels begin.
Operating only in the Northern and Western Cape, WTG has a selection of curated routes available to members for self-drive tours. These tours are designed to stop at the sites we have selected based on their unique location, friendly owners and staff, and meeting the WTG requirements to allow you to book and pay using your BushBucks.
Join the WTG family and experience life beyond the city limits; where peace, tranquility and real life begins.
Our Reboot!
A tale of perseverance in the face of adversity.
What The Gravel was founded by Rudy Maritz in 2020 at the age of 54, originally as an adventure club for overlanders and off-roaders. When the world got hit by lockdowns and restrictions on movement, plans had to change, and getting back up was quite a challenge.
In June 2023, Rudy was forced to seek permanent employment, but after just 2 months; he suffered his third heart-attack and opted for life instead. But life was not done with him yet.
In May 2024, he was given the option to die in 48 hours, or have a life-threatening operation to save his legs. A month later, he was back on his feet, severely depressed and deprived of ever gaining a full-time job again; besides being a white male in a race-obsessed country with a suicidal government.
In May 2025, life gave him yet another blow! He was forced to join the group of men with 2 divorces on the shelf. Left destitute, he decided to hit the road, and travelled to the Cape Winelands with his video cameras and his new support animal, Mouse, to keep him company.
His journey took him to the first basecamp, South Africa’s oldest Caravan Park, with a history dating back to the 1700’s as a Cape Outspan. It was the start of winter, and he soon learned a few more lessons; one being not to use a tarp as a tent roof during high winds.
After gearing up at basecamp, he set off into the Cape Winelands with a dream. To capture the essence of rural life on video. It all went well, until he met with the South African version of Karen, called Karien.
Rumours of his video series was quickly spread via Whatsapp Groups in Wolseley, and when he called the Winterberg Mountain Inn, Karien told him, he is not welcome. Read this story here.
In August 2025, he received a call from his sponsor that the funding has been stopped due to “lack of support from local stays” citing the Winterberg Mountain Inn as the main reason.
With loads of footage due for editing, he headed forward and found Base Camp 2 in the Tankwa Karoo, where he stayed for a week to regroup. After this, he headed back to Base Camp 1, taking a scenic route to Touwsrivier, Montagu, and back toward Cape Town.
In middle August 2025, he returned to Base Camp 1, where his mobile phone with most of the videos were stolen. That ended the video series; for now at least.
In October 2025, another blow was dished out by life, and he lost 25 years of information backed up on Microsoft Cloud, after he got “helped” by a family member. Attempts to recover the Cloud back-up failed because the 2FA recovery code was sent to the stolen phone.
Fast forward to 2026, Rudy decided to cut Bullshit from his life, even if that included “clever” family members.
But it isn’t over! Yet…
In February 2026, WTG’s internet services were suspended and this website was taken off-line. In a desperate attempt to recover the website, Rudy managed to get the account up to date, only to learn that a notice of deletion was sent to the email address on the suspended account. (Click here to learn how to prevent this from happening to you).
WTG started a new ecosystem on an international server and managed to get online again by the end of February 2026.
On 31 March 2026, WTG partnered with a Canadian service provider, to roll out South Africa’s first ever Coalition Loyalty Program for Rural Tourism and Travel.
The trial version was tested on 2 April, but due to the investment requirement for Partners, we have opted to terminate the trial, setting us back yet another month while we seek out a suitable solution.
A Deck Stacked against all odds.
With the dice once again rolling back to square one, Rudy is now faced with a deadline unimaginable to the average human spirit. It has now become a battle of man against life itself.