Nerves are not a reason to stay at the hotel
You book a seat, not a promise to drive. Nothing is charged online, you pay at the base on the day, and you can cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before departure. Hotel pick-up and drop-off are included, so you are not driving yourself there either.
The base is not built for experienced drivers with beginners tolerated among them. The sequence is long and identical for everyone: registration, information briefing, safety briefing, vehicle briefing, practice drive, the guide's assessment — all before the first forest track.
Four moments when you can still change your mind
You do not have to decide today whether you will drive. The last of these moments comes when you are already in the vehicle.
- At your hotel, up to 24 hours before departure: cancel free of charge, or message us to change the booking.
- At registration: say it is your first time. The guide who rides at the front should hear it.
- After the vehicle briefing: the controls are explained and you have not driven yet. Say you would rather ride along.
- On the practice track: try it for real, then hand the vehicle back if it is not for you.
If you turn out to be the slowest in the group
This is what the convoy is for. Everyone drives behind the guide and nobody overtakes the leader. Overtaking, distance and stopping rules are briefed before an engine runs, so the pace comes from the front, not from whoever is boldest.
Slowing down is what the briefing asks for where the ground calls for it, and this ground calls for it often: forest tracks, dirt roads, dust, mud, uneven ground, small stream crossings. Keeping a safe distance is a rule, not a sign of falling behind.
If you want to stop
Stopping is not an emergency and not an interruption of anyone's day. It is one of the ten topics in the safety briefing, beside following the guide, safe distance, overtaking and appropriate speed.
We print no hand signal here on purpose. The briefing gives you the one that applies to your group on your day, and that is what the guide watches for. Breaks and operational stops are part of the programme anyway.
If you would rather not drive — or the guide decides it for you
The guide assesses every driver on the practice drive and has the final say. Knowing that in advance keeps it from feeling like a verdict: one practice drive, one vehicle, one day, and experienced drivers are assessed the same way.
Either way the decision moves you one seat sideways. The helmet stays on, you keep your place in the convoy, you cover the same route through the same dust and water-splash stops, and you shower at the base afterwards. Passengers skip the practice drive, so nothing is left to pass.
The fare does not change either: you booked a seat, not a turn at the wheel. From age 11 it is €25 on the Quad Safari and €30 on the Buggy Safari and the Family Buggy Safari, driving or riding along.
Why the practice drive answers the fear
The worst moment of a first safari comes before the vehicle first moves, and the programme puts it on the practice track, under the guide's eye, rather than in a convoy on a forest track. Start, steer, brake, stop. Whatever you were afraid of finding out about yourself, you find out there.
The controls help too. The buggy is automatic: a wheel and pedals, nothing to shift and nothing to stall. The quad has handlebars and a thumb throttle, explained while you sit on it. No driving licence is required, because the safari runs on a private off-road course and not on public roads; what is required is being 16 or older with ID, both briefings, the practice drive and the guide's assessment.
So does the clock: approximately 4–4.5 hours door to door, with an 18 km off-road route inside it. Your hotel pickup is earlier than the departure time you booked and is confirmed with your booking; 08:00, 11:00 and 13:00 are departure times at the base.