History
Tobias, founder of Rafiki on Tour, started traveling as soon as he turned 18. He didn’t even have is drivers license when he bought a Land Rover Series 3 Ambulance. A veteran vehicle that drove across Africa three times. The perfect camp vehicle for the summer holidays to come.
But after some years, in the fall of 2015, it was time to upgrade. That’s when Rafiki the Defender was acquired. A no-nonsense vehicle as the base for future exploration. During the first few months it was outfitted for overland travel and was used for many holiday trips in the months and years ahead. But we soon realised this car had way more potential, bigger plans were lurking around the corner. That’s why in 2017 we undertook a 8,5 month journey across Europe, beating 36.000 km of tracks. It was the adventure of a lifetime and the start of something bigger: a dream to explore the world overland.
Then at the beginning of 2020 Sven and Tobias had the plan to go to South-America. Unfortunately that trip didn’t come to fruition due to the pandemic, but we did travel 10,5 months through Europe! All the way from The Netherlands to the North Cape in Norway and then all the way south to Portugal and the most southern tip of mainland Spain!
After returning home and working for a year it was time to hit the road again! That’s why we, Tobias and Manon, will head for Africa! We started on the 26th of July 2022 and we have no end-date in mind!
Let’s venture out, explore places and keep pushing further. The world is ours to discover.
The name – Rafiki on Tour
The first camp vehicle, the Land Rover Ambulance, that Tobias acquired was called St. Baraka, which translates to ‘Blessing’ in Swahili.
So when the Defender was purchased Tobias decided that the name of this vehicle should match that of St. Baraka. That’s when Rafiki came into existence, meaning ‘Friend’ in Swahili. It’s not by coincidence that the monkey of the Lion King is called the same. That monkey is a true friend and a source of wisdom. Wisdom that we hope to acquire with our international travels. Rafiki on Tour – Friends on Tour.