May 7, 2023 - Continuing our video journey through life in Croatia with the Paul Bradbury Croatia Expert YouTube channel, a Croatian journey crossing the Sahara in an electric car. Whyever not?

What happens when you combine a Tesla car, a bottle of rakija and two crazy Croats?

"Did you know that a Tesla has never crossed the Sahara Desert?"

"Why am I not surprised?" "Shall we become the first?"

And so, a few years ago, a crazy journey was conceived by Sasa Cvetojevic and Oleg Mastruko, to drive Sasa's Tesla across the Sahara Desert as part o the Budapest to Bamako Rally.

I was fortunate to join them for the start of the race, accompanying them from Zagreb to the Hungarian capital. The story of the first attempt to drive a Tesla electric car across the Sahara.

Video produced by Igor Vuk of Wolf Media.

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July 28, 2019 - They were the first people to cross the Sahara in a Tesla last year, and the Crazy Gang have reunited to take on Put Foot Rally 2019 in southern Africa. 

Early last year, two dear friends, Sasa Cvetojevic and Oleg Mastruko, picked me up for the motorway entrance near Varazdin and drove me to Budapest. A small part of me thought that I would never see them again. 

The reason for the journey was that they were attempting to become the first people ever to drive a Tesla through the Sahara Desert on the Budapest to Bamako Rally. Given that the range of a Tesla is about 400 km and the Sahara a little longer than that, I genuinely thought they were nuts. 

I decided to interview them before the trip, as I wanted to have some memories for their unborn grandchildren about what Adventurer Grandad was like. 

I went with them to Budapest for the start of the rally, then watched their journey into the Sahara and beyond. They were accompanied by a third member of the team, from Czechia, Tomas Ceh Bez-Fejsa. 

And they did it! incredible achievement. 

The crazy three guys are now back in Africa and joined by a fourth member, Marin Frcko. They are taking part in the 2019 Put Foot Rally across six countries in southern Africa. The official website describes the rally like this:

Is it a race? NO…

Is it a test of survival and endurance? MAYBE… 

Is it an EPIC African Adventure with challenges around every corner, wild animals, deserts, canyons, mountain ranges, forests, lakes, oceans and national parks… a chance to meet great people, experience different foods, cultures and traditions the most incredible opportunity to see the very best of Africa?

You can get a flavour of the rally from this great video overview from a previous participant, who looks a little more attractive than our Tesla Saharan heroes.

The four will be divided into two teams - Oleg and Marin in Fat Buryats powered by BOSCH, Sasa and Tomas in Foot Rally Africa Powered by RWE.

The rally starts in Cape Town, before heading into Namibia, Botwana, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, with the possibility of ending in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) if they don't make it that far. 

There will be regular updates on the two team Facebook pages above, and you can learn more about the rally from the official rally website. 

This year will see the third edition of the 3T - Tourism, Travel and Tech conference. This conference has the goal of connecting tourism and IT professionals, and this year, the main focus of the conference lectures is smart tourism.

The share of tourism in Croatia's GDP is close to 20 percent, which is the highest percentage in the European Union. Tourism and IT are the two fastest growing and successful sectors in Croatia and therefore should collaborate more and use each other's strong points. Tourism should use innovative start up solutions and follow the trend which implements technology's role in travel and vacation. The role of smart tourism is growing and tourism businesses should use it, technology is here to support all of this.

The first keynote speaker is Miikka Rosendahl, who will explain how Helsinki obtained the prestigious title of the Virtual Capital of the World and what Croatian tourist destinations can learn from this practice and experience. The keynote speech will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic “What really generates bookings” which will be moderated by Ilija Brajković.

Finally, another keynote speaker, Natalija Havidić from the Ministry of Tourism will present a digitalistion project for public services in the tourism sector. The conference will see about fifteen other lectures, presentations and discussions.

“Helsinki recently won the European Capital of Smart tourism competition and I’m happy to have the representatives from Helsinki here to let us listen to their experience in using the technology to improve their tourism offer. When we organised the first 3T conference in 2017 in order to connect the IT and tourist sector, it was a bit of a risky move. An excellent response to the first and the second edition of the conference proved we offered professionals and visitors what they wanted. This year will bring various content”, said Oleg Maštruko, director of the 3T conference.

The third 3T conference will take place on March the 12th in the Kaptol Boutique Cinema in Zagreb. Make sure to get your tickets in order to keep up to date with all of the rapidly developing technology trends in tourism.

For more information and tickets, click here.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

January 28, 2018 - History is made, as not only has Croatian Team Tesla - Powered by RWE become the first electric car to cross the Sahara Desert, but also the first to complete the gruelling Budapest to Bamako Rally.

After a period of radio silence,our intrepid Croatian adventurists, Sasa Cvetojevic and Oleg Mastruko, are making fantastic progress in their bid to become the first electric car to complete the Budapest to Bamako Rally. A fantastic update from Oleg on their recent travails on January 24, 2018. 

The first electric car to take part in the Budapest to Bamako Rally is at the gates of the Sahara. Tesla passenger and pioneer Oleg Mastruko filed his first progress report on Bug.hr on January 17, 2018.

The 2018 Budapest to Bamako Rally kicked off on January 12, 2018, with the usual array of crazy vehicles. And a new addition - the first electric car attempting to make it across the Sahara. TCN joined Team Tesla - RWE for the beginning of what will be a fascinating (and possibly record-breaking) 16 days. 

Welcome to Kratke Rukave TV, a new video interview feature on TCN, which launches on December 22, 2017, with a really interesting chat with two crazy Croats who are attempting to be the first (as far as we know) to cross the Sahara in a Tesla on the Budapest to Bamako rally next month. Fantastic and crazy idea - now let's take a closer look... 

A crowdfunding campaign is off to a good start for a Croatian duo who are looking to drive their Tesla where no electric vehicle has gone before

At the recent “3T – Tourism, Travel and Techn” conference in Zagreb on March 30, 2017, TCN caught up with Oleg Maštruko, director of the conference, who was happy to answer a few questions.