Jon athan Titley's company uses imported tuk-tuks to take tourists on trips around Knysna, in South Africa's Western Cape.
Jon athan Titley's company uses imported tuk-tuks to take tourists on trips around Knysna, in South Africa's Western Cape.

Three wheels of fortune



Jonathan Titley, a director of the tut-tuk dealership, Amatuktuk. When I let my flat in London and bought a house at the seaside in Knysna in the Western Cape in 2003, I was thinking ahead. I moved here with my girlfriend, Lisa - now my wife - because we love the climate and can afford life here. I'm 58 and didn't feel ready to retire. Previously, I'd spent 13 years in the 6th Gurkhas, another three on contract to the Northern Frontier Regiment in Oman and six in Nepal, where I recruited ex-Gurkhas for security work and de-mining operations in former war-zones. In truth, I needed a fresh direction that was fun and not too stressful.

At Nepal's World Elephant Polo Championships in Nepal three years ago, I met a man who was importing tuk-tuks to Europe. I'd also just read Tuk-Tuk to the Road by Joanna Huxster and Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent, two English gap-year girls who had driven a bright pink one from Bangkok to Brighton. I was hooked - I hadn't seen any tuk-tuks in South Africa and felt they would go down a storm with visitors in Knysna.

On the way back, I broke my journey in Thailand for a meeting with the owner of the factory where tuk-tuks are built. His are the top export models and I was offered the sole dealership for the whole of Africa. Some months later, two three-seaters and one six-seater arrived in a container at the docks. I had to jump through several hoops - I needed to register as an importer and they also had to undergo a stringent vehicle inspection by the South African bureau of standards. officials were wary and imagined they were the noisy beasts that are often seen spewing out fumes in some Asian cities. In fact, they were pleasantly surprised and our vehicles were approved.

My tuk-tuks have a 660cc Daihatsu engine, which is a four-stroke that can be converted to run on liquefied petroleum gas, giving you an economical 14kms per litre with a top speed of 110km/h. The steering is like a motorcycle with a twist grip throttle, but the brake and clutch are on the floor like a car so it only takes a few minutes to crack it. Last year, we were licensed as Amatuktuk Safaris just in time for the Christmas-and-New-Year tourist season. We fitted stereos and painted them in a smart livery that really stands out. I recruited a more mature team of drivers, most of them semi-retired, as I wasn't looking for boy racers. Including myself, there are now seven pilots, which is how we like to describe ourselves - we're not drivers, we're definitely pilots. They are self-employed. I pay them a salary and they keep their tips.

How we look is important. We wear khaki shorts and shirt with a winged tuk-tuk logo above the breast pocket and a bush hat. Trips are between half an hour and two hours, for which we charge 30 rand (about Dh10) per person per half-hour. We start the day at 9am, when the designated pilots get the tuk-tuks out of their hangar, check the fuel, oil and tyres before driving them to our terminus at the Knysna Watefront. We work on a first-come-first-served basis and will be out and about until late evening.

I'm widely travelled. Although I love driving local South Africans, I really enjoy meeting people from far-flung places. I once really surprised a Saudi couple who were on their honeymoon when I spoke to them in Arabic. They insisted that I was their driver for the entire day. I recently picked up a very jolly elderly couple on holiday from the UK. They were from Somerset. Asked if they had any special requests from my iPod, which I connect to a set of speakers, they said, "I bet you've nothing by The Wurzels." They were very surprised when, in fact, I did.

The business has been a roaring success. We've carried hundreds of tourists over the last few weeks, including TV stars and the ex-Springbok rugby captain Bob Skinstad, who is thinking of buying some for staff and customer transport for his gastro pub, The Toad, in Noordhoek, Cape Town. But as Knysna is a seasonal town I hope to sell more vehicles to new operators in other areas. I can see visitors taking a tuk-tuk from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to Camp's Bay, carrying surfers and their surfboards along the Durban beach front, being used by commuters in Johannesburg and Pretoria when the Gautrain starts to operate or even by shoppers between malls.

When it comes to short journeys in and around towns, tuk-tuks have to be the way forward. They're fun too - everyone smiles and waves when they see them and there's never any road-rage.

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
While you're here
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

Pakistan World Cup squad

Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez(subject to fitness), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain      

Two additions for England ODIs: Mohammad Amir and Asif Ali

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Everybody%20Loves%20Touda
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nabil%20Ayouch%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nisrin%20Erradi%2C%20Joud%20Chamihy%2C%20Jalila%20Talemsi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
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