A family of five, Tobias and Sylvie and their three pre-teen and teenage sons are living their best lives touring Africa. We caught up with them to talk about their recent travels through breathtaking Namibia.

First up, a few details about their vehicle, a MAN TGS 26.500 6x6. It is a truck with three axles, 11.4m long and 3.75m high. The full travel weight is 20 tons. It is equipped with roof solar panels. The vehicle features two 400l fresh water tanks, a 180l blackwater tank and a 380l grey water tank. The gas tank carries 560l Diesel and uses approximately 27l per 100km. A KTM Motorcycle is a fixed part of their general setup.

Here you have the chance to get to know this inspiring family who sets the ultimate travel, culinary and family goals all at the same time!

Who is behind T-High-5-worldexplorers?

Tobias is an entrepreneur in the real estate industry and a manager in the motorsport sector. When he is not working, Tobias spends time with his family, enjoying sports like biking, hiking, skiing and yoga.

Sylvie is a devoted mom and manages the family’s busy schedules. She keeps everybody on track throughout their eventful life. Her second passion is cooking fresh, healthy and beautiful meals for family and friends. You will find her in the kitchen every day! Sylvie also loves fashion, interior design, biking, running and yoga.

Their three boys attend the same Waldorf school. Each of them have different interests but all share a passion for sports and the great outdoors. The oldest, a teenager already, is a fearless  downhill mountain biker and loves water sports, especially scuba diving. Their second son, a pre- teen, enjoys spending time on the trampoline and is into music and fashion.  Their nestling isn’t as small anymore either, and enjoys riding his scooter, playing track and field, and creating Lego builds. The brothers are big motorsport fans,  just like their Dad! The one major thing that connects the family is their passion for travel.

Not too long ago, Namibia was their stomping ground, with a total of eight weeks spent in the Southern African country. Namibia’s western border is the Atlantic Ocean, and it has shared land borders with Zambia and Angola to the North, Botswana to the East and South Africa to the South and East.

Sylvie planned the entire trip from their home base in Germany. A lot of prep time went into locating grocery stores or markets, accommodations and gas stations. The length of their daily route, as well as break times were considered to get the best estimate possible for how long they would be on the road.

During their journey, reality hit more often than not with challenging road conditions and swiped supermarket shelves. Their experience quickly taught them to always keep an emergency stock of food, fuel and water. The first leg of their Namibia adventure brought them to the southern part of Namibia for two weeks. A while later, they completed their journey from South to West, and North to East, arriving in Windhoek after six weeks.

Some more touristic spots were less enjoyable because of the negative consequences of tourism within the communities. Heart wrenching scenes played out where locals carried their crying babies and begged for money or blocked-road situations needed to be resolved, while streams of over-curious flocks of people kept arriving.

Slowly but steadily, they made their way to less frequented locations. Then, Tobias, Sylvie and the boys were able to relax and experience beautiful encounters with Namibians. Those included connections on a deeper level sparking fantastic conversations and inspiring moments with the locals.

Naturally, their active boys needed regular breaks from the endless driving and opportunities to move around. Sylvie recounts that sometimes that was a challenge in certain areas, but that they could strike a balance easier after a while.

Reminiscing of the highlights, Tobias and Sylvie share the following:

It seems impossible for them to pinpoint one event as major highlight, rather the whole journey was a highlight in itself. The rougher driving parts are certainly to be remembered, especially one extremely narrow and very steep passage. It was a wild experience for the family, and it took hours to move forward a few meters. Patience certainly pays off a great deal in these situations.

The family’s original plan was to continue on from Namibia towards Zimbabwe and Mozambique, but when the pandemic hit, they decided to postpone these plans. Now their truck is in Germany, so they can cross off some other countries on their bucket list like Norway, Iran, Moldova and the country of Georgia, as soon as borders are open again.

Patience is yet again a key quality, but that would never dampen the wanderlust to discover the world for Tobias, Sylvie and their three youngsters!

Here you can find a tightly curated list of special spots in Namibia not to miss, courtesy of Tobias and Sylvie:

Follow Tobias and his family on Instagram @t_high_5 to stay up to date with their adventurous life, and definitely keep an eye on Sylvie’s feed for a continuous flow of eye-popping and mouthwatering plant based dishes.

Favourite Travel Recipes from Sylvie

Sylvie is a passionate cook and likes to nourish her family with healthy, delicious meals made from scratch. On Full Circle, she exclusively shares some of her favourite travel recipes. Also she will give us tips on how to eat healthy by using their Krug Expedition outdoor kitchen. Sylvie shares the following wisdom exclusively with us: First of all, our trips through Europe were extremely helpful to get a hang of the kitchen set up. I learned what food will last long and doesn’t need refrigeration. I dedicated one storage container in the truck for all my cookbooks and magazines. While on the road I read through my recipes and create new meals with the food we have on site. One of the most helpful items in my kitchen is the Thermomix which is a multi purpose cooking device. In my opinion it is the perfect cooking tool for roadtrippers like us.

I always make sure to have tons of apples, carrots, celery, oranges, pears and turnips on board. Also cabbage, potatoes, onions, ginger and all citrus fruits don’t need refrigeration. Additionally I store different nuts, seeds, grains, cereal products, pasta, cans of tomatoes, dried beans and many dried herbs, also some different oils and vinegars.

In my two fridges I store everything that needs to stay cold. Additionally we also have one freezer available.

And last but not least, I bake a different type of bread everyday.

Enjoy a taste of some Namibia favourites by Sylvie, a hearty dish of noodles made from scratch. ‘Schupfnudeln’ , and an equally delicious desert recipe of German ‘Nusstriezel’.