BootsnAll Travel Community

Ok, i know this is a really broad question, but any insight would be appreciated. I'm planing a trip through east and southern africa, mostly independant, though i know i will need to take some organized tours to get to the parks. I will be hostelling, and eating as cheap as possible (but allowing for the occasional splurge). I'm hoping to go to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Namibia. I'll be mostly going for the "highlights" as I know it would take years to really explore these areas.

So, how much time should i plan? And how much money should I bring (not including flights, of course)?

i flew into nairobi and flew to zanzibar the next morning via precision air. in stone town, i stayed at hotel international for one night before meeting up with scifi-sara

send a PM to scifi-sara. she started her RTW trip in south africa and went up to tanzania for our kili trip. she spent some time in other parts of TZ as well, aside from zanzibar and moshi. hopefuly you'll get a response soon - she should have just arrived in bombay.

as for me, i flew into nairobi and flew to zanzibar the next morning via precision air/air kenya. there's a hostel in nairobi for 10USD a night, offering airport transfers for 15USD. in stone town, i stayed at hotel international for one night before meeting up with scifi-sara and finding out about florida guesthouse. hotel international was 45USD a night, great view of stone town with own bathroom, AC.. but florida guesthouse was 20USD a night (it was 15USD for her.. the longer you stay there, the more of a discount you'll get), with a boarded up window, own bathroom, AC, much better location than hotel international. if you have USD, bring that.. everyone wants USD on zanzibar (you get better rates with USD). also, no one takes travellers cheques there, but there is an NBC bank with an ATM (you can exchange travellers cheques upstairs). there's a park/pier that has a whole bunch of food stalls every night.. you can eat a whole meal for a couple dollars. they grill it right there in front of you.. yum! i only spent a couple days here unfortunately.. i would have liked to stay for at least a week. look into doing a spice tour (10USD) or a dolphin tour (25USD).

from kilimanjaro airport, a taxi into moshi costed fucking 45USD! if you wanna climb kilimanjaro or go on a safari and plan on booking one there, then you have no worries.. everyone comes up to you asking if you want to go on one. also, you can rent gear at the YMCA but there's a 100USD deposit. there's also rooms available at the YMCA.. i think around 10USD a night, shared bathrooms and fan. i stayed at the kindoroko, about a 20min walk from the YMCA, for 15USD a night (own bathroom, fan). the buffalo hotel right down the block has similar rates, but their restaurant is cheaper than the restaurants at the kindoroko. there's a restaurant right across the street from that, costs about the same (indotaliano).

a shuttle from moshi back to nairobi airport usually costs 30USD but if you're lucky, you might be able to get it for half of that. single-entry visa for kenya (which still allows you to go into one other east african country), and a 3month visa for tanzania are both 50USD. transit visa for kenya costs 20USD but only lasts 2wks or something like that.

hope this helped! i would have loved to stay longer in TZ. i was there for 3.5wks.. couple days on zanzibar, couple days in moshi before and then after a kili climb and safari. hopefully i can make it back there at the end of this year.

I spent about 3 months doing a very similar trip a few years back. For reference, I also have itchy feet and never spent more than 3 days in any one place.

As far as costs, the main thing is to just factor in all the big ticket items since they will suck up most of your funds. Safaris, kilimanjaro, rafting on the zambezi, okavanga delta (if you end up in botswana), etc. everything else is pretty cheap relatively, especially malawi.

i personally think the best way to see namibia and botswana is with a tour company. mainly due to distances, costs, logistics, time it takes, etc. the rest of southern and eastern africa is great to solo.

Thanks for the advice Xoom and half-nine!

I'm not really sure what all the big ticket items will be, as I'm not sure where and how far I'll be able to go. I'm currently living in Uganda, and I've been tracking my spending on weekend trips, but my weekend trips are almost all big ticket items, so its a bit skewed.

So, how much time would you alot for trip from Kenya to Namibia? Hitting main highlights, and I too have ichy feet, not staying in one place for too long.

Also, half-nine, do you recall the name of the company you used in Namibia? and how much it cost?

Laurie,

I believe the company was called CampWild and they originated out of South Africa. It was in '99. Back then there was only a few companies doing the journey, but there are probably loads of companies now. It was a 20 day trip from Vic Falls to Cape Town. But for all intensive purposes all the time is spent in either Botswana or Namibia.

I think I have some costs for all my time in Africa around here somewhere. When I locate it, I'll send it on to you.