You are correct Tim, when zooming out you indeed see terrain data.
picking a different map provider in the general settings helped the issue I was facing seeing terrain data at a higher zoom.
enough to what I need to prepare a flight plane at the mountty bush

Guys, you both Rock! dempsey, your tip helped.
BrettT, your source map you advised indeed is the one that yield the best results.
thanks guys..

I am stuck, can't seem to figure out how to display terrain data on the Plan-G main map/window..
I followed the instructions in the manual to copy the DEM files downloaded to the DEM folder but yet it doesn't show terrain data.

here how it is displayed on my computer (no terrain data)





here is how I am seeking for this to look like