There is an easy way to ruin a corporate offsite: put everyone on a bus and switch on a guide with a microphone. And there is the opposite way: split the team into crews of three or four, hand them prepared 4x4s and send them where a bus physically cannot go.
We run that second format in Vashlovani — a reserve in Georgia's southeast, on the border with Azerbaijan. People call it the “Georgian savannah” or simply “Mars”: instead of the usual green mountains you get sun-burnt steppe, layered clay canyons and total silence.
Why a jeep convoy works on a team
The mechanics are simple. For a few hours each car becomes its crew's own little world: inside jokes, navigation arguments, a push out of a dry ford. Office hierarchy doesn't survive the ride — everyone in the cabin is equal.
Those who want to drive take the wheel themselves, with an instructor alongside: switchbacks, rocky climbs, dry riverbeds. It isn't a theme-park ride — it's real driving, which is exactly why people remember it.
And in the evening comes the part many sign up for: a chef-run picnic on a canyon rim with the Alazani river and endless steppe below. Vashlovani has zero light pollution, so after sunset the program continues with stargazing.
What the team sees in a day
- Bear Gorge — a dry riverbed between sheer clay walls with fossilised seashells in the rock: millions of years ago this was an ocean floor.
- Pantishara canyons — the “Martian” badlands themselves, layered ridges without a single bush.
- Wild pistachio groves — rare trees several centuries old. From afar they look like an apple orchard, which is where the name Vashlovani comes from.
- Vultures and eagles — the reserve is an internationally recognised birdwatching area; black and griffon vultures soar right over the route. We bring binoculars.
- Takhti-Tepha mud volcanoes — bubbling miniature cones, included in the two-day program.
Logistics
From Tbilisi to the visitor centre in Dedoplistskaro it is about 130 km — two hours on asphalt. Then the dirt begins: another 1.5–2 hours of off-road to the key spots. If your group is based in Kakheti (Telavi, Sighnaghi), the start is 1–1.5 hours away.
Two formats work well: a fast one-day trip with an early start, or a two-day expedition with a night in bungalows and a campfire evening. The best season is September to June — summer in the steppe is hot.
What it costs
A one-day Vashlovani jeep tour starts at roughly $110 per person for groups of four or more: prepared 4x4s with drivers, park permits, a picnic and insurance. For larger groups we scale the convoy to 10–15 vehicles.
You can preview the route on our interactive 3D map of jeep tours, and we'll send a quote for your dates after a short brief — request a proposal.
