Back in the early ‘90s, due to Apartheid sanctions, it wasn’t easy to import aircraft, parts and kits into South Africa. So the popular Kitfox 4 was remodelled to become the Bushbaby. Nols de Bruin, the initial developer of the Bushbaby, used the Kitfox and the Avid Flyer as the baseline design for the Bushbaby. He wasn’t striving for innovation, but rather set out to design a locally-built plane with similar characteristics to the two aircraft. Over 160 Bushbaby airframes were produced, with small structural upgrades along the way, but no major changes took place until 2003, when the Explorer was born. The Explorer is a beefed up Bushbaby. In 2008, the Explorer Mk2 was developed. It has a larger luggage area than the Mk1, longer engine mount for better centre of gravity placement and a re-designed engine cowl. 2008 also saw work begin on the Safari LSA, and in 2010 the first Safaris were sold. It is an even bigger evolution than that of the Bushbaby to the Explorer. For the full development history and a flight test report, click here. The specifications above are for the intermediate model, the Explorer.
