66 day m/h tour Africa (1 Viewer)

May 1, 2009
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Just got info from CCC for a m/h tour of four African countries spanning 66 days.
Not cheap at £9,000 each but includes flights and van hire.I have copied these tours of countries by ourselves such as Iceland and saved approx 50% .
This however has me thinking of the risk,danger,logistics to do by ourselves.
Early days,needs research .
Have any funsters done this tour or happy to go it alone ?
 

PP Bear

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Apr 5, 2013
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Some people can just get up and go without a care in the world.

Me, I'd need to investigate every single step of the way, for safety, fuel, water, sites, hookups, size of leisure batteries etc etc.

Definitely be a trip of a lifetime.
 

Southdowners

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Sounds very interesting! I haven't heard of the tours myself but £9k doesn't sound over the top if it includes the vehicle and air fares. I think safety is going to be by far and away your biggest concern. I assume you mean that you would be escorted. Which countries does the tour cover? Do you have a link?

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Theonlysue

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Not long enough!
Try some overlander sites.
They'll probably have more experience of these places.
 

Franck

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£18000 for two months. Not for me.

.
 
Nov 19, 2013
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If I had the time I would go for it independently.

We are flying to Cape Town over Xmas for around £450 each. Motorhome hire for 11 days is around 1000€ although that is a big van as busy over Easter and we have our 17 yo son with us.

I would have a look on the web. Check out prices for 2 months hire.

There is a South African motorhome group on Facebook that will help, the iOverlander page/web looks very useful.

Massive cost saving to be had.

However, if you prefer the company that a tour brings that is understandable and if you have the cash......
 

Snowbird

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I have a Norwegian friend that runs his 40 year old Volvo bus conversion down to the Gambia every winter. Although the trip is far from uneventful he would not consider anywhere else now. The furthest south I have travelled in Morocco is Laayoune so have no experience of further down in Western Sahara. I suppose flying out and being on a guided tour would be safer and although at first sight £18k for two people may sound expensive, it does include MH hire and flights. There would not be much change out of that by the time you took your own van from the UK and arranged all visas and third party border insurance as there would be no UK insurance company that would cover such a trip.
 
Nov 19, 2013
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I have a Norwegian friend that runs his 40 year old Volvo bus conversion down to the Gambia every winter. Although the trip is far from uneventful he would not consider anywhere else now. The furthest south I have travelled in Morocco is Laayoune so have no experience of further down in Western Sahara. I suppose flying out and being on a guided tour would be safer and although at first sight £18k for two people may sound expensive, it does include MH hire and flights. There would not be much change out of that by the time you took your own van from the UK and arranged all visas and third party border insurance as there would be no UK insurance company that would cover such a trip.
for

I agree re hassle / visas / West African borders / insurances etc.

But the countries listed in Southern Africa should be far easier. If you hire at say 100€/day it should be much cheaper than £18000 for two people for 2 months.
 
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mojo
May 1, 2009
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Hire ourselves is a probable but hoping some replies will be from some who have done it alone.How safe is the big question.

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Nov 19, 2013
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I will send details of who we are hiring from when I get to a computer.

Woman that I work with hired last year and said they were good (she is South African)
 
Aug 26, 2008
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If your route includes dirt roads then I would stick to dry season and avoid the rainy season unless I had 4wd and a winch.

Otherwise stay on tarmac.
 

MattR

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What would be the best season? The CCC use Aug to March

That's late winter through to the end of summer. It'll be cool / cold in some parts at the start of the season and very hot in others times. September - November would be nice but it would depend on what you want to do. Whale watching, wild flowers, safari?

The most dangerous parts of the trip would be in South Africa. Followed by Zim (violence eruptions quite possible, depending on the political situation). Botswana & Namibia would be much safer peoplewise.

Roads are generally good in SA & Botswana. Zim has probably failed to maintain its roads. Don't know about Namibia.

I'd love to do a MH trip but might investigate the chance to spend longer and start in Zim (or at least heading straight to Zim from Jo'burg in late August, travelling down as the weather improves. Leave Zim before the rains start in Nov.

The excursions into the Okavango delta, Vic falls area, safaris etc. will add a reasonable chunk to the expenditure. Check out the best time to visit each main attraction as Vic falls, for example, could be less impressive during the dry season (which includes August) but the river trips can be better.
 
May 30, 2012
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Hi Mo
Sounds like we did the same trip but we went on our own, we used a 4 x 4 with a roof tent. We were happy in Namibia and South Africa but would need company to go into central Botswana and further North in Namibia as two vehicles recommended. We are going again in October 2019. We are looking for someone who may want to share the adventures with us. Check out our blog for info or message me!! Would be interested in info on Iceland we're booked for next year with C&CC but could go solo. Lesley

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pollensabob

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We did the Midlands Meander Natal stayed at guest houses, visited all the famous battlefields. Flew from Jburg to Pietermaritzburg airport picked up Avis car there. Spent a month, including game parks. Most of boarding houses are fantastic value for money. Winter time dry season there is best time to tour as animals can be viewed more easily. Spent our first night in Howick Falls easy drive from PMB Airport.
 
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mojo
May 1, 2009
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Hello Wicketter
Have you got the link to your blog.What timeframe and itinery have got in mind.Have you seen the routes used by the CCC that we thought to copy.
Talking of copying ,we did that also with our Iceland trip.Our friends did the CCC Iceland in their van and disappointed to return to fixed campsites.So we booked the ferry from Hirtshals in Denmark costing £3400.00 return.You get a cabin for two nights each way via the Faroe Islands.You can stop off there if you can get ins cover.Iceland ins on our standard van insurance,like rest of Europe.
We arrived a week before the CCC group .You can purchase for 100 euro approx on board a booklet of campsite vouchers that cover up to 28 nights at all campsites.
They work well and we did 50/50 wild camping and sites.Took one month anti clockwise.No problem booking touristy stuff on arrival.Great scenery,great motorhome trip.
We did every nook and cranny including many dirt roads .Still finding dust in places six months after our return.Food in supermarkets about 50% extra.Did not use restaurant's,too expensive.From memory with did it all for half the cost of CCC .
 
May 30, 2012
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Thanks for all your info Mojo. Our blog is under our name but here you go!
www.4wheelcamping.uk
You will need to scroll down to 2017 to get the first stops of the journey.
We thought next time we would go for around 8 weeks, as last time we only stayed one night on most sites ( three in Kruger, two in Etosha) and wanted to spend longer in the Kruger and Etosha. Next time perhaps 5 days Kruger 4/5 Etosha). We also want to go back to Moremi in Botswana. We did the exact route done by CCC on the Southern Africa trip.

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