General Driving Tips

Never drive at night

Wild animals such as kudu are confused by car lights, and often jump into the light causing extreme damage and death to vehicle occupants. Domestic animals such as donkeys seek the warmth from roads at night especially in the winter periods when tourist traffic is highest – they are very difficult to see at night and swiftly immobilise a vehicle and can cause injury or death.

Undertaking repairs or doing vehicle extraction at night increases the risk exposure to opportunistic dangerous wild animal such as lion and hyena.

The roads in Namibia are some of the best maintained in Africa, however, this often leads to higher road speeds which increases the damage/injury risk such roll overs and suspension damage for the following reasons;

• Roads suddenly take a sharp turn just over blind rises
• Flash floods create deep channels across roads

Wild animals actively cross roads during the day and Warthog can cause substantial damage to a vehicle or injury/death to occupants if collided with.

Water crossings

Never cross water without walking the crossing first and ensuring the vehicle track is safe to negotiate. Water depth should not be more than waist deep.

Do the following;

• Ask other travellers, camp and park officials about route conditions before travelling.
• Adhere to written and verbal signs of deep water and deep mud crossings – take detour.
• Always engage low range and diff lock and engage gear for steady walking pace – maintain steady speed and do not let water come over the bonnet/hood.
• Don’t panic when vehicle suddenly dips half way – this is mostly caused by a channel made by hippo using the streams and rivers as their highway – maintain steady forward momentum and do not panic.
• Rather look for an alternative route and try avoid making a water crossing when possible. Always put your safety first.  

Drive responsibly and respectfully consider

• Africa’s beautiful flora and fauna.
• Use only existing well used vehicle tracks – the surroundings have been this way for millions of years so please preserve them for future generations.
• Do not remove firewood from the natural environment as this destroys the balance of nature, as it regenerates the ecosystem – take your own as we supply plenty of wood storage space.
• Clean up behind you and remove all refuse or waste you create.
• Take time to acknowledge local inhabitants and respect their natural heritage and culture.
• Respect and care for your vehicle – it will reward you if you do or, be very costly if you don’t.
• Take your time and connect with glorious Africa.