East African driving trip
Discussion
Hello.
We were thinking of going Japan or Canada for 2/3 weeks at the end of the year, but we have to tighten our belts, and maybe somewhere cheaper.
Ive always wanted to go to Africa, and I have scouted the following countries.
Ethiopia/ Kenya/ Rwanda/ Tanzania/ Mozambique/ Zimbabwe/ Botswana.
You can drive through all of them in about 100 odd hours.
I have drawn up a list of things to do in each, and we would likely spend 3-4 weeks there at the end of the year.
What is car hire like in this area? Can you drive across multiple countries and do a drop off in another country? (For a fee of course)
What are the borders like there?
They all look great, but im guessing even four weeks wouldnt do all of them justice. Has anyone ever travelled between some of these countries/ share experiences please?
Thanks!
We were thinking of going Japan or Canada for 2/3 weeks at the end of the year, but we have to tighten our belts, and maybe somewhere cheaper.
Ive always wanted to go to Africa, and I have scouted the following countries.
Ethiopia/ Kenya/ Rwanda/ Tanzania/ Mozambique/ Zimbabwe/ Botswana.
You can drive through all of them in about 100 odd hours.
I have drawn up a list of things to do in each, and we would likely spend 3-4 weeks there at the end of the year.
What is car hire like in this area? Can you drive across multiple countries and do a drop off in another country? (For a fee of course)
What are the borders like there?
They all look great, but im guessing even four weeks wouldnt do all of them justice. Has anyone ever travelled between some of these countries/ share experiences please?
Thanks!
Get yourself onto the HUBB
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
More overlanding advice on there than you can shake a stick at, often from people currently on the road too.
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
More overlanding advice on there than you can shake a stick at, often from people currently on the road too.
I cant comment on the countries you mention, but I have been to Kenya and South Africa.
Any form of bush road driving you would need some experience, a serious 4x4 vehicle, and a lot of thought, don't forget the security issue.
This is the road we took from Nairobi to Masai Mara reserve, fortunately we had our own private driver.
South Africa was perfect modern roads. We first drove from J/berg airport to Mabula Game Reserve north of Pretoria and back. Then flew to Port Elizabeth and drove "The Garden Route" to Cape Town, stopping off at various locations along the coast road. We had a lovely time.
Any form of bush road driving you would need some experience, a serious 4x4 vehicle, and a lot of thought, don't forget the security issue.
This is the road we took from Nairobi to Masai Mara reserve, fortunately we had our own private driver.
South Africa was perfect modern roads. We first drove from J/berg airport to Mabula Game Reserve north of Pretoria and back. Then flew to Port Elizabeth and drove "The Garden Route" to Cape Town, stopping off at various locations along the coast road. We had a lovely time.
You could easliy spend 3-4 weeks in each country and still miss things out.
I returned to Uganda over Christmas 2019 to introduce our kids to the country - I lived their for 11 years, got married there. We were only there for a week (very cheap airline tickets), and our trip was Entebbe 1 night, Murchison Falls 2 nights, Kampala 3 nights, we had a full day's safari, went white-water rafting and took part in a one day hockey tournament - we took a load of used hockey sticks out for clubs & schools.
Booked a Land Cruiser via Europcar (the only "international" company I could find). Vehicle wasn't ready on arrival at Entebbe, didn't seem they knew anything about the booking. One was delivered to our hotel (in Entebbe) that evening, which was lucky as our luggage hadn't arrived (Eithiopian airlines) - turbo didn't seem to work as it was extremeply lethargic on the roads, fine in the National Park - I still got a speeding ticket though.
The trip was a success and our kids want to return back for a longer visit. We still have to visit Bwindi for Gorillas, Queen Elizabeth NP, Fort Portal for chimpanzees, Mbale for Mt Elgon, plus spend some time with family & friends in Kampala. THis will take at least 3 weeks.
I think that you'd run into the same situation for Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe with the sheer amount of activities you can do. Not been to Rwanda, Eithiopia or Mozambique, so can't comment on these.
You've missed out some countries that I'd have on my list - Zambia, Uganda, Malawi.
All the countries I've been to have OK roads - but can get 4x4 country in some places, eg. Botswana, Kasane to Maun through Chobe National Park, in fact all Parks it is a good idea to have a 4x4, that said, I had a Toyota Corolla when I lived in Uganda and it did me fine when on safari.
I would doubt that the normal car rentail places will allow you to pass across borders. There is this company https://www.safaridrive.com/ that we are thinking of using next year (for Namibia/Botswana/Zimbabwe/Zambia/Malawi - probably not all of them in one go though) that does allow border crossing - but only as far north as Tanzania - and is quite expensive.
Mobile phones work in most places now (certainly in Uganda). In 2004, my clutch became iffy on a hire car (for my wedding) in a place called Butiaba, just before climbing out of the rift valley. I was able to call the hire company and arrange a mechanic in the next large town - Masindi. Whereas 10 years earlier (I was a safari driver for a time), if you broke down in the middle of nowhere,you had to fix it yourself - this was the reason I stopped being a safari driver as I realised I would really be buggered if this happened.
Best of luck with the planning, it'll be a great trip.
I returned to Uganda over Christmas 2019 to introduce our kids to the country - I lived their for 11 years, got married there. We were only there for a week (very cheap airline tickets), and our trip was Entebbe 1 night, Murchison Falls 2 nights, Kampala 3 nights, we had a full day's safari, went white-water rafting and took part in a one day hockey tournament - we took a load of used hockey sticks out for clubs & schools.
Booked a Land Cruiser via Europcar (the only "international" company I could find). Vehicle wasn't ready on arrival at Entebbe, didn't seem they knew anything about the booking. One was delivered to our hotel (in Entebbe) that evening, which was lucky as our luggage hadn't arrived (Eithiopian airlines) - turbo didn't seem to work as it was extremeply lethargic on the roads, fine in the National Park - I still got a speeding ticket though.
The trip was a success and our kids want to return back for a longer visit. We still have to visit Bwindi for Gorillas, Queen Elizabeth NP, Fort Portal for chimpanzees, Mbale for Mt Elgon, plus spend some time with family & friends in Kampala. THis will take at least 3 weeks.
I think that you'd run into the same situation for Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe with the sheer amount of activities you can do. Not been to Rwanda, Eithiopia or Mozambique, so can't comment on these.
You've missed out some countries that I'd have on my list - Zambia, Uganda, Malawi.
All the countries I've been to have OK roads - but can get 4x4 country in some places, eg. Botswana, Kasane to Maun through Chobe National Park, in fact all Parks it is a good idea to have a 4x4, that said, I had a Toyota Corolla when I lived in Uganda and it did me fine when on safari.
I would doubt that the normal car rentail places will allow you to pass across borders. There is this company https://www.safaridrive.com/ that we are thinking of using next year (for Namibia/Botswana/Zimbabwe/Zambia/Malawi - probably not all of them in one go though) that does allow border crossing - but only as far north as Tanzania - and is quite expensive.
Mobile phones work in most places now (certainly in Uganda). In 2004, my clutch became iffy on a hire car (for my wedding) in a place called Butiaba, just before climbing out of the rift valley. I was able to call the hire company and arrange a mechanic in the next large town - Masindi. Whereas 10 years earlier (I was a safari driver for a time), if you broke down in the middle of nowhere,you had to fix it yourself - this was the reason I stopped being a safari driver as I realised I would really be buggered if this happened.
Best of luck with the planning, it'll be a great trip.
Panamax said:
I wouldn't touch Africa without a support vehicle.
This. Having lived in Tanzania and travelled through every country from South Sudan to South Africa, solo-vehicle driving across African countries isn’t for the faint of heart. Outside of the cities you’ll have random road “check points” to lighten the load on your wallet, lack of petrol stations and in some areas extreme poverty. And there are still some very dangerous parts in EA where the likes of Al Shabaab are very prevalent. Not to be a doom monger, but if you’re going to do something like that with a family in tow, I would go with a guided tour option.
I loved living in EA; lots of positives to say about it. But driving is definitely one of the things we had to be extremely careful about.
I’ve also worked and driven a lot around Africa and wouldn’t recommend basing a holiday around driving a lot around Africa. Too tedious. You’d be better off chaining some preferred hotel stays together and using private transfers between them.
If it’s an adventure type holiday you’re looking for then there are some very good operators offering self drive tours of Namibia and Botswana.
A month of that might be a bit heavy, in which case you could do a driving trip (I’d say Namibia, have heard only good things from those who’ve done it) and combine it with a safari stay in the east.
Madagascar is also worth a look as it’s so varied a month would be a wildly decent adventure. Overlooked imo as a destination.
If it’s an adventure type holiday you’re looking for then there are some very good operators offering self drive tours of Namibia and Botswana.
A month of that might be a bit heavy, in which case you could do a driving trip (I’d say Namibia, have heard only good things from those who’ve done it) and combine it with a safari stay in the east.
Madagascar is also worth a look as it’s so varied a month would be a wildly decent adventure. Overlooked imo as a destination.
When driving I was advised to keep everything out of site locked in the boot, so make sure you have a car with a proper boot. No hand bag, camera, phone etc inside the car. In towns keep the windows up and the doors locked. At junctions and traffic lights you will get people tapping the window trying to sell you something. Be nice, smile but ignore them. At petrol stations you will always have guys cleaning windscreens, smile and give a £1 or so.
Out on the open road never ever stop for anyone, be on the ball all the time.
I used to carry a dummy wallet, with a credit card that did not work, a wad of $1 and other small notes. The real wallet was hidden in the boot. The idea was if confronted by a bad guy with a knife, give him the wallet and hope he would run away.
After saying all this during my two trips to South Africa and a trip to East Africa I never had any unpleasant situations. Only a bit of hassle from guys who only want to make a £1 or so out of tourists. Remember its probably the only way for them to get any sort of income.
Going through some of the villages in Kenya I was shocked at the conditions and poverty. We had this lovely private driver who told us he was doing this job to pay for his 12 year old daughter`s education. His annual income was probably less that the cost of our holiday.
Out on the open road never ever stop for anyone, be on the ball all the time.
I used to carry a dummy wallet, with a credit card that did not work, a wad of $1 and other small notes. The real wallet was hidden in the boot. The idea was if confronted by a bad guy with a knife, give him the wallet and hope he would run away.
After saying all this during my two trips to South Africa and a trip to East Africa I never had any unpleasant situations. Only a bit of hassle from guys who only want to make a £1 or so out of tourists. Remember its probably the only way for them to get any sort of income.
Going through some of the villages in Kenya I was shocked at the conditions and poverty. We had this lovely private driver who told us he was doing this job to pay for his 12 year old daughter`s education. His annual income was probably less that the cost of our holiday.
Edited by Old Merc on Saturday 13th August 12:28
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