safarinow

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Facts and Questions

Buffalo Campers aim

To offer travellers to off-road destinations in South Africa the opportunity of camping in comfort with minimum fuss and more time to enjoy the trip. The campers had to be equipped with everything needed for an off-road trip/safari. Every item had to be classy, durable, practical and lightweight.

Before they started off, they had to do thorough market research, not only on who or where their competitors were, but also the tourism figures, the figures of new
4x4’s sold and various other factors.

Our vision

Despite the Beach Ban, the growth in the 4x4 market over the last decade has been phenomenal: All indications are that this market will keep on expanding.

  • The person, who buys a 4x4 today, does not buy it just to park it on the pavement.
  • When buying a 4x4 that person has something in mind, whether it is the feeling of safety or security or whether deep inside him/her is that feeling to Experience Africa.

Buffalo Campers wants people to use their 4x4 vehicle responsibly and to tread lightly wherever they go. Especially the impact their 4x4 vehicles make on the terrain and the environment wherever they go. We want people to be aware that a road between point A and point B belongs to somebody – whether it is a public or private road doesn’t matter. It belongs to the people of that country or a tribe or an organisation or a private person. Use that road responsibly and have respect for other users, the land and environment. Research has shown that many South Africans and tourists from abroad do not always want to Experience Africa in expensive and luxurious lodges and haotels. People want to experience the real bush and what better way to do it, than by showing their class and style and to rent a 4x4 vehicle and off-road camper from us. Busy executives or professionals do not always have the time to plan their own safaris and this is where Buffalo Campers can assist by giving them a service of just hook and tow.

Responsibility

We believe as one of the niche 4x4 and Camper Rental business currently in the market, to take on the huge responsibility on us to set standards of excellence in service and in our products. We are pleased to see that our competitors are copying these standards.

Reliability

Not only will the products we rent out have be reliable but as our business is family owned and operated, we will back up our products with excellent service.

Awareness

We believe that people should be educated and made aware of the environment and have respect for their surroundings.

1 comment:

Michael said...

Buffalo Campers, who rented a vehicle to me, in which I was subsequently involved in an accident. My wife, who was driving the vehicle, suffered a broken neck. The accident occurred on the 02/05/2010 - at about 1.30pm in Botswana she was flown to Johannesburg from Maun.

The vehicle that was hire was a Toyota Hilux 4x4 with caravan - having a foldaway tent mounted on its roof. I took the vehicle on the 29th as far as Zeerust on the N4 and stayed in a chalet for the night. During this first period of our journey we noticed that the radio did not work or the CD player. The cigarette lighter used to power the sat nav did not work - the sat nav we hired went flat. The heater did not work. When reversing in the dark at Zeerust the reverse lights did not work. We continued our journey to Francistown were we stayed the night and realised that the vehicle tended to wonder from side to side and speeds higher that 100 KPH. There was also section on the road that had pot holes and we drove in a manor as to avoid hitting them and causing damage to the vehicle and tyres. I drove from Francistown to Nata were we stayed from something like an hour, bought some gift items from the shop and a soft drink to refresh ourselves and wondered around to have a look. I then took the vehicle a Little way from Nata and Teresa then took over the driving. Teresa also drove to avoid the pot holes prior to the accident although my wife does not remember the accident I am assuming that as she approached a pot hole she turned the steering wheel and the vehicle turned sharply to avoid the pot hole the vehicle went out of control and rolled into the bush. The Air Bags did not deploy on both the drivers side and passenger side. No other vehicle was involved.

When the Botswana police attended the scene, they noted that the licence disc on the windscreen was dated 2008 - together with the faults with the vehicle make me suspect that the maintenance of the vehicle was not to a sufficient standard for a vehicle rented out to the public, there is a duty of care here. There should be records of the service history of the vehicle to show that repairs and maintenance was carried at a regular basis and for accounts and tax purposes. The owner of Buffalo Campers, Mr Vaughan Colette who rented the vehicle to me will not provide this information. I believe that there was a lack of maintenance due to none functioning of electrics and the large side to side movement of the vehicle at over 100kph - this would have contributed to the loss of control and if properly maintained may have prevented the accident altogether.