The second outdoor adventure event planned with the kids in mind was the off-road buggy adventure, which we set aside as the main activity for day 5 of our 9 day Bali trip. The sum of it is highly recommended for most visitors, though there are some things to be mindful of nonetheless.
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There are several ‘adventure’ activity companies operating in the general area, with many offering more o less the same variety of tours: off-road riding and white water rafting. They seem to share tracks though, even if they’re running around in the same broad area – which is well outside Ubud. While on the road to the company rural location, we drove past several similar companies, each separate by a kilometer or so.
The company we opted for – Bali Quad Discovery Tours – is a little more expensive than its competitors. But as our driver quipped, it’s also possibly because it’s foreign-owned (by a Dutch I think I heard the driver say), and thus likely held to higher standardrs of equipment and safety.
I was actually quite interested in white water rafting, but Peter was too young to attend one. So, we opted for the off-road riding, and the company offers different options on these: those old enough can go individually with quad bike, or a buggy. Since we were with kids, the only practical option for us was to go with two tandem buggies: P with Ling, H with myself – with the adults as drivers, obviously LOL.
Upon arrival, we were introduced to the general compound and the lockers where we could drop off belongings. After that, we were shown a video with what I guess is the Dutch owner about what off-road riding is, the kind of equipment they have, and rules, and liabilities. The rules included not to high-five the locals when we are going past them, not to litter, not to speed, not to go off-off-road, safety first etc. Liabilities basically can be summarized like this: if you break any of the rules, you’re on your own LOL. Briefing done, we had to sign off some insurance and liability documents.
Next, each of us were fitted with gear. Since we were in buggies, the equipment outlay was simpler: a head cap for hygiene, a helmet – the company has different sizes – face mask, and goggles for those of us who don’t wear glasses. Advice: bring along your own face mask, as the ones we were given didn’t fit the kids well and kept slipping off. The company advises that guests wear shoes during the drive, but both Ling and I wore sandals and were totally OK.
The adults get to their buggies, and each of us are shown how to turn on the engine, the gear stick, and accelerator/brake pedals. The buggies are on semi-automatic, which made them very easy to operate. The driving wheel is a different story though: be prepared to turn it hard to do those very tight turns! Each driver sans passenger then goes three laps on a short training circuit to get the hang of handling the buggy.
After that, we’re off. We opted for the early bird programme that we booked online for SGD436, and there were just two other couples beside us: a young Japanese couple, and a New Zealand couple, and there were two guides: one at the front of the group, and another behind to make sure no one gets lost. For the first half-hour of the route, a photographer also followed us on a motorcycle, and assisted the group to take all those shots you see here of us driving. There’s nothing particularly fancy about these ‘action’ pictures by the way too: the photographer had a tendency to fill the entire vehicle in the frame, so there’s little sense of motion in the pictures. But it’s practically impossible for you to get action shots otherwise, unless you have a passenger who’s brave enough to risk riding pillion without holding onto the vehicle’s safety bars!
The route is indeed off-road for the most part, with some fairly short stretches that cut through reasonably well-paved village routes. The off-road segments are very bumpy, and there are numerous up and down slope segments – so you won’t feel short-changed in this regard. The weather for the last few days had been quite dry too, so there were just two segments where we crossed some areas with water.
The dust however is a completely different matter: there’s a lot of it. If you’re bringing along digital cameras and the like, make very sure they are dust-resistant, or keep them in a bag that you can secure to the vehicle. Be warned: a camera that you sling across your shoulder – e.g. one of those BlackRapid straps – will get ruthlessly bumped around in the vehicle. The Sony A73 suffered in this regard, with some minor and visible paint chipping off at the top-edge. /heartpain
The entire route from start to end I reckon was about 100 minutes, with two stop-over points for a quick break. No, there are no toilets or refreshment snack bars. Just a place for you to stop the vehicle, get out and stretch your legs.
It might just be my buggy, but I had to practically jam the accelerator pedal down hard for anything other than the level paths and the gentlest of slopes. At no point did I feel that the buggy was in danger of falling on its side when it was on extremely uneven ground or rounding a tight corner on a slope, and the buggy seems to have excess power to navigate those more tricky areas. Just jam the accelerator down hard LOL.
The circuit finishes at the start-point. We then returned equipment and had about an hour to wash-up (towels are provided so you don’t have to bring your own), had a simple buffet lunch, and finished the event by completing a fairly comprehensive survey form.
The group photo I think is complimentary and sent through email within a fortnight. We opted for the full deck of digital pictures on a USB thumbdrive, and that cost 400,000IDR. It seems pricey at first, but we received more than a hundred full-resolution JPGs taken on a Canon EOS550D – and more than half were good enough. There’s no other way to get decent pictures while on the route itself, so we recommend you just go for it.
In all, the kids loved this off-road trip, and we really recommend it too. We can’t speak for the other companies offering similar experiences, but ours at least ran like a slick operation and without incident, albeit it being also fairly expensive. I think persons who’re particularly susceptible to vertigo might want to think carefully about joining the event as a passenger though. I could manage just fine as I was the driver of my buggy, but I reckon I would have returned all of my breakfast had I been a passenger with off-road riding!
I had the Xiaomi Mijia action camera mounted on my buggy too, and recorded long segments which I’ll post edited segments of when back in Singapore.
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