Free Spirit article in Travel Africa 92
When you have to explain to someone who has never been to Africa what you do and why driving your own vehicle on safari is the best experience and it’s…
How dangerous is the wildlife on a self-drive safari?
Given that many camping areas are completely unfenced and inside National Parks what are the real dangers for a self-drive family in Botswana or Namibia? The answer may surprise you…
Low Season is best
Why Travel in the Low Season? Firstly its a better experience The “low” season is simply travelling when other people don’t which can be for many reasons. It might be…
Why self drive?
Why you should consider taking a self-drive safari for your next visit to Africa and start to enjoy the real rewards of the bush When I first went to Africa…
Article in Land Rover Owner
Baring the soul in a high profile magazine was a little daunting. This is tough reading for anyone that loves Land Rovers and at the time accounted for many years…
Catering & Shopping
Nowadays most African towns have good quality supermarkets where all your food shopping can be done. In some countries the bottle shop is separate so you may have to shop…
Getting around Namibia article in Travel Africa 96
Great edition of Travel Africa magazine focusing on the practical aspects of self-drive journeys in Namibia. To coincide with this we are launching our own back to Africa project that…
Health on the Road
It’s especially important that you take your own health seriously when you are a long way from home in countries that have no National Health service, no Ambulance service, and…
Why you need to be thinking about Safari Drive for your next safari
The travel industry is currently going through meltdown and coming through this is going to take time and patience. We will all be rethinking about how we travel and the…
Why travel rescue is better than travel insurance!
When you have a serious problem overseas; the medical emergency, the car accident, the crashing fall off a mountain bike, the mistimed landing on your paraglider, the rockfall, or the…
10 Ways to Stay Safer
As Andrew Pierre White succinctly put it on a safety video about driving the roads of Africa, the easiest way to stay safe is to …. Slow Down! This simple…
Essentials to Pack
The leatherman is my single most useful and versatile piece of kit – just remember not to put it your hand luggage. As someone who only packs at the last…
How to Spend your safari budget wisely
The game viewing experiences at a waterhole are often the same whether you are paying £500 a night staying in lodge or £25 a night staying in a campsite and…
Travel Rescue is a better bet, article in Travel Africa 93
Don’t you just hate paying for travel insurance? I would rather spend the money on a flight over the Okavango Delta or splashing out on the honeymoon suite at Cottars…
Tjaart Smuts

For more than 30 years Tjaart has been involved with the development of the self drive industry in Namibia. He has also been involved with the motor trade and in the early days of Safari Drive he ran our local operations meeting and taking care of the clients.