A Crete quad safari leaves the coast roads for dirt tracks through the hills, farms and old villages of the island. The ride is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville, listed with the other Crete tours.
This post covers the tracks and paths, the rocks and wild herbs, wildlife, olive groves and vines, injury studies, the best months and common questions.
What is a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari is a journey across the island of Crete on a quad. Safari is a Swahili word that means journey. The Swahili word comes from the Arabic noun safar, which means journey, travel, trip or tour.
On a Crete quad safari, the quad is a type of vehicle covered by EU rules. These rules split heavy quadricycles into on-road quads, category L7e-A, and heavy all-terrain quads, category L7e-B.
About 57% of the world’s road length is unpaved, roughly 13 million km. Eurostat data show Greece had 14,210 km of state roads in 2023. It also had 33,013 km of provincial roads.
On a Crete quad safari, almost every road on Crete was built after motors were invented. So the island went straight from travel by pack mule to travel by motor car.
- Origins: Safari entered English at the end of the 1850s, thanks to explorer Richard Francis Burton.
- Mules: A traveller riding with pack mules needed a week to cross Crete from end to end.
- Roads: In 1995, Eurostat counted 3,544 km of non-motorway roads on the island of Crete.
When scholar R. M. Dawkins first reached Crete, only a handful of carriage roads existed. They included Chania to Souda Bay and Heraklion to Knossos.
How do dirt tracks and old paths shape a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari crosses old paved paths and dirt roads. Dirt roads turn muddy and slippery when wet and bake hard when dry. In Australia, New Zealand and Finland, they are called dry-weather roads, since heavy rain can make them impassable.
On a Crete quad safari, the bulk of paved kalderimi roads were made simply. Their paving has a centre line. On slopes, cross ridges throw off rainwater, so paving does not wash away or slip.
Dawkins believed these kalderimi roads date from Venetian times. He called the end of Venetian rule a good time for Crete. He spoke of good roads and plenty of water conduits.
On a Crete quad safari, dry dirt and gravel roads can show washboard ripples. Ripples form under repeated traffic faster than about 8 km/h. Light vehicles are more prone than heavy trucks to cause washboarding.
- Dust: Wheels grind an unpaved surface into dust, and swirling air behind each vehicle keeps lifting it.
- Tyres: Deep ATV tyre treads can dig channels that drain bogs and add sediment to streams.
- Slopes: Widening old forest tracks on steep slopes raises the risk of heavier erosion or landslides.
Before the Heraklion–Peza road, the way to Lasithi crossed the Kaki Rakhi, or “Bad Ridge”. It was a terrible track that deserved its name.
How did the mountains form along a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari crosses an island where the Eurasian, African, Arabian and Anatolian plates meet. Crete drifts away from Europe at 3.5 cm a year. At the same time, Africa moves north at over 2 cm a year.
On a Crete quad safari, the mountains reflect a strong squeeze between the plates. This squeeze pushes Psiloritis upward and breaks the island into pieces. Researchers link Crete’s broad uplift to underplating.
Underplating means material piles up deep along the plate boundary beneath the island. Long-term uplift on Crete ranges from about 0 to 1.2 mm a year. It is fastest along the south coast.
On a Crete quad safari, ancient shorelines sit up to 130 m above sea level. Eastern Crete has 21 mapped marine terrace levels. They began rising about 1.2 million years ago.
- Dikti front: The South Central Cretan fault can be traced for about 20 km along this mountain front.
- Fold museum: The Vossakos Open Air Fold Museum shows bent rock layers on the road from Kato Doxaro.
- Deep cave: One vertical cave in the Psiloritis geopark is over 950 metres deep.
The Psiloritis geopark holds an almost unbroken rock record. It runs from the Permian, about 298 million years ago, to today.
Which wild herbs scent a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari passes land where thyme, sage and dittany grow. Conehead thyme was recorded in 296 of the 343 survey squares covering Crete. Greek sage in western Crete has flat, whole leaves, while eastern plants have small, three-lobed leaves.
On a Crete quad safari, limestone cliffs and gorge walls are home to Cretan dittany. Its roots wedge into cracks in the rock, at heights from sea level up to 1,900 m.
Between 220,000 and 530,000 mature dittany plants grow wild at 60 to 70 locations on Crete. Frequent climbing accidents and rising demand led Cretans to start growing dittany in about 1920.
On a Crete quad safari, herbs have a long history. Digs at Knossos, Zakros, Mycenae and Pylos found seeds of dittany, wormwood and sage. A Minoan fresco at Knossos from about 1400 BCE shows Greek sage.
- Mountain tea: Its genus name, Sideritis, was once used for any plant that healed wounds from iron weapons.
- Dittany names: Old Greek names veloulko and velotoko are thought to come from velos, the word for arrow.
- Red List: The IUCN Red List now rates Cretan dittany as a species of Least Concern.
Forest services set where, when, which species and how much can be picked, or ban picking. These rules carry criminal or civil penalties.
Which wildlife watches a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari crosses land shared with vultures, snakes, insects and small mammals. Greece’s EU habitats report estimated 800 to 1,500 wild goats, Capra aegagrus, in 2015. Crete and its nearby islands have 66 breeding land bird species from 41 genera.
On a Crete quad safari, vultures form an important part of the island’s wildlife story. From 1996 to 2002, an average of 98 griffon vulture pairs laid eggs on Crete each year.
In an EU LIFE project, Crete’s four bearded vulture pairs bred every year, but only two raised young. Separately, extra feeding seems to have helped one Cretan pair breed again after five years without nesting.
On a Crete quad safari, it helps to know the local names for the island’s snakes. Cretans call the leopard snake ochendra, the Balkan whip snake dendrogallia and the dice snake nerofido.
- Ants: Of Crete’s 18 known endemic ant species, 8 belong to the genus Temnothorax.
- Grasshoppers and crickets: Crete and its islets hold 83 known kinds, with 21 endemic to Crete and Gavdos.
- Cicadas and leafhoppers: Crete’s known cicadas, leafhoppers and planthoppers, the group Auchenorrhyncha, now total 177 species.
Unlike a lot of small island mammals, the Cretan shrew never grew larger. It kept about the same size.
How do olive groves and vines mark a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari crosses a farming island of olive trees, vines, carob trees and flocks. The prefecture of Chania alone grows about 7,500,000 olive trees. Cretan vineyards make up 12.0% of Greece’s wine regions and rank third of 13 areas.
On a Crete quad safari, the island’s olive groves are about more than trees. A Cretan olive institute report calls for farm animals in olive groves to be protected and promoted.
Crete raises about 1,270,000 sheep and 580,000 goats. Its flocks give 88,000 tonnes of sheep milk and 52,000 tonnes of goat milk. They also give 14,300 tonnes of sheep meat and 6,600 tonnes of goat meat.
On a Crete quad safari, carob trees also mark the farmland. About 80% of Greece’s carob production is concentrated on Crete. During World War II on Crete, carob saved a lot of lives as food.
- Dafnes: It is the largest of three neighbouring PDO wine zones in Heraklion, beside Archanes and Peza.
- Archanes: Its PDO reds hold more Mandilaria than Peza reds, which gives them a distinct character.
- Handakas–Candia: This is Heraklion’s newest dry-wine PDO, covering the areas of Peza, Archanes and Dafnes.
In a survey, 73% of Cretan red-grape vine samples carried at least one virus. For white-grape samples, the figure was 43%.
What do injury studies teach on a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari gains context from hospital crash data. A study at Rethymno General Hospital counted 1582 road crash patients. The count ran from January 2018 to February 2020. Motorcyclists formed the largest group, at 818 patients or 51.7%.
On a Crete quad safari, the Rethymno data tracks the season. In that study, 1001 cases, or 63.3%, happened in the tourist season. That season ran from the month after April to October.
Limb injuries came first there, in 921 patients. Head injuries affected 541 patients, or 34.4%. Of all 1582, 41 needed transfer to a higher-level hospital, and 13 died in the emergency department.
On a Crete quad safari, UK hospital data on ATVs adds detail. There, 57 of 65 patients, or 88%, had been thrown from the machine. Only 10 of them, or 16%, had worn a helmet.
- Corfu hospital: Traffic caused about 15% of accidents among locals and Greek tourists, but 40% among foreign tourists.
- Greek national study: It estimated 38% of motorcycle deaths were avoidable with a helmet on every rider.
- Alcohol: 43% of ATV drivers killed on American public roads had blood alcohol of 0.08% or higher.
Australian data covers 106 quad deaths from 2000 to 2013. In 55% of recreational cases, the quad rolled or pitched over.
Which months suit a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari meets dry or wet weather, month by month. From 1959 to 2010, Tympaki on the Messara plain averaged 11.9 rain days in December, its highest. Tympaki averages 0.0 rain days in July and 0.1 in August.
On a Crete quad safari, the month after April brings 2.0 rain days at Tympaki. September brings 1.2 rain days. Tympaki’s humidity is lowest in July, at 50.7%, and highest in December, at 73.2%.
Inland Moires sits at 90 m in the Messara. It averages 17 mm of rain in April and 8 mm in the month after April. January averages far more, at 106 mm.
On a Crete quad safari, closure dates count too. A Region of Crete order banned vehicles and day-trippers from 39 listed forests, gorges and trails. It covered all 24 hours of 29 and 30 April.
- Heraklion areas: The order’s Heraklion list named six areas, among them the Rouvas–Zaros forest, Juktas and Epanosifi.
- Public roads: Travel on public roads was exempt, though authorities had power to close road sections too.
- Moires temperatures: Summer highs come close to 35 °C, while winter highs stay above 16 °C.
Greek road crash and injury numbers peak from June to August. They are lowest from January to March.
What do visitors ask about a Crete quad safari?
A Crete quad safari raises questions about helmets, alcohol and licences. Visitors also ask how EU law defines a quad. Emergency care and heat safety are two more concerns. Greek law, EU rules, treaties and health advice cover each point.
Why do helmets matter on a Crete quad safari?
Greece’s road code fines a repeat helmet offence more than a first one. In 2023, missing helmets were a factor in nearly 40% of Greek road deaths involving motorcyclists.
What are the Greek alcohol penalties to know before a Crete quad safari?
Above 1.10 g/l of blood alcohol, a first repeat offence in Greece brings a 7-year licence withdrawal. A second repeat at that level brings a 10-year licence withdrawal.
What licence rules matter for a Crete quad safari?
Under the 1949 Geneva Convention, an International Driving Permit lasts one year from issue. Driving without a licence in Greece can bring up to 2 years in prison.
How does EU law describe a quad for a Crete quad safari?
Under EU Regulation 168/2013, an all-terrain quad, class L7e-B1, steers with a handlebar. It has no more than two straddle seats, and the rider’s seat counts as one.
What emergency facts help visitors on a Crete quad safari?
EKAB, Greece’s National Centre for Emergency Care, was founded under Law 1579/1985. Greece sends emergency alerts to phones by location. Visitors do well to allow them in phone settings.
How does heat affect riders on a Crete quad safari?
Heat stroke can raise body temperature to 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. The CDC’s NIOSH advises building up time in heat over 7 to 14 days.