This off-road vehicle in Zambia faces extreme conditions, but is fitted with a standard TyrePal system to keep track of tyre pressures. It works well despite being covered in mud, wading through rivers, and even when attempting to rescue a baby elephant!

Advanced warning

Steve Tolan, Director of Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust in Zambia decided to fit a TyrePal after a friend ‘shredded’ a brand new tyre on their large Swiss-built Pinzgauer 4×4. Under these off-road conditions, a flat tyre is not always obvious from the driving seat and Steve realised that by monitoring tyre pressures, they would have advanced warning of punctures. The cost of a TyrePal could be recovered by saving just one tyre.

Standard system

Steve runs the four tyres on the Pinzgauer at around 36 and 42 psi, so the standard car TyrePal system was suitable. After six months, Steve commented “The system is still working well, despite the terribly muddy, wet conditions we often suffer here in the rains.”

Through mud and water

“After the first heavy rains of the year, these were the conditions facing the Pinz when we tried to check the track from our home to the settlement of Mfuwe 10 miles away. We never made it, and got stuck several times, having to self-recover using ‘waffle’ tracks and a Brano handwinch. You can see the TyrePal valves are underwater, but they worked fine.”

Young elephant

“Recently the Pinzgauer was involved in the attempted rescue of a young elephant that had fallen into a deep chasm caused by water erosion and it had become stuck. It had been there at least 4 days when we found it, so it was dehydrated and hungry. We fed and watered it, then set about digging it out, at first by hand. I parked my Pinzgauer over the gulley to shade the animal and he put his powerful trunk on the Tyrepal valve. I thought he would rip it off but he didn’t.”

“After dark, a bulldozer arrived and dug across the gully so that the Pinz could pull the elephant into the opening. Armed Scouts were then left on the animal, as there were lions around. In the morning we returned with a digger to try and lift him to his feet but we think that he had nerve damage as a result of lying on his back legs for so long, and sadly he failed to stand, so was put out of his misery to prevent further suffering.

Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust

The Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust is a registered charitable trust for local children to learn about the value of their natural environment. It was established by Steve and Anna Tolan, who emigrated from England to Zambia in 1998 and are now deeply involved in school improvement projects and in anti-poaching work and forestry protection. They are authorised to rear and rehabilitate orphaned and injured wild animals. www.chipembele.org

TyrePal

TyrePal provide tyre pressure monitoring systems for all kinds of vehicles and trailers. Valve cap sensors transmit temperature and pressure data from the tyres to a monitor in the cab that displays information and sounds an alarm for any abnormality. Under normal road driving conditions, the system helps to save fuel and tyre wear, and can give advance warning before a damaging blow-out