BootsnAll Travel Community

My boyfriend and I are interested in going overland from Cape Town, South Africa to Uganda for 2-3 months.

We're both independent budget travelers so the idea of paying up front for a packaged tour didn't really appeal to us at first. However, we've never been to Africa before and would really like to spend less time figuring out logistics and more time seeing the sights and taking it all in- especially since it's such a vast continent.

Does anyone have personal experiences (pros/cons) they can share about going overland on their own or through a tour?

I'm headed to South Africa in September to do a similar trip and I was up in the air about the same thing....what sort of African experience do I want?

If I were going to use an overland tour package... http://nomadtours.co.za/index.html really seemed like the most reasonable and most aligned with my interests. The iteneraries are packed and they take care of everything--I think it was boiling down to about $100/day not including any major excursions which they offer as add-ons. It seems like a good deal if you want to see a lot of sites and don't want to spend a great deal of time worrying about safety and logistics.

That being said...I've opted for the independent experience, which isn't to say I won't be borrowing details from their iteneraries. I'm hoping for a more 'at my pace', whatever strikes my fancy and holds my interest sort of trip--hopefully more relational and personal with locals.

Either option is perfectly valid...neither more authentic than the other...that you're going makes it traveling--not whether you go alone or through a guided tour. IM me if you have any questions as I'm educating myself as best as possible about all things Southeast Africa between now and then. I know you'll both have a blast, congrats on deciding to make a trip to Africa happen!--eddie

Thanks for your reply Eddie. I recently read that the overland route from Cape Town to Uganda is fairly well traveled with good transportation and therefore, easier to explore independently than perhaps other parts of Africa.

Will you let me know how your trip goes in the fall? We won't be going until next year...

My partner and i did a 30 day overland last year from Vic Falls to Cape Town with absolute Africa. It was fab.

Pros - you can sit back and let someone else do the worrying, and it's nice being with a group of people, if you are restricted by time it's a good was to make sure you get to see everything

Cons - you see it all pretty quickly and you can;t just decide to spend a bit longer somewhere because you like it, truck politics (who sits where, who does what), long drive days.

We haven;t been any further North than Vic Falls, but i would say that SA, Namibia, Botswana could easily done independantly, with a bit of research.

Don;t miss Etosha and the okavango delta.

s xx

I just spent almost two months traveling in Southern Africa with a friend of mine. We loved doing it ourselves! Taking public transportation was one of the highlights of our trip... breakdowns, sharing snacks with other passengers, listening to the singing, shopping out the window... I can't say enough good things about it. As long as you are patient, you will really enjoy traveling on your own there.

Good luck!

hey,
im heading 2 do that area in 3 weeks (after 2 months in europe) and i did alot of research into all the different overland tours and found that they r all pretty similar in price about the $100 a day mark. I found that the diffence with most is how much is included i found that Kumuka is a prob one of the best.

i cant say i can compare it 2 on ur own in africa as such, but when i did europe with my parents we often ran into trouble with language barriers and if u rn't patient it can b rather frustrating at times.

Troy

I recently returned home from a trip that went from SA to Uganda, and I did a combo of independent travel and overland tour. I had heard that especially in southern Africa public transit is often restricted to major towns and then you have to use organized tours anyway to see the parks and so forth, so I did a 6 week trip with Dragoman from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam (including Zanzibar) and then traveled more of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda with just one or two others, or solo. I enjoyed the overland tour for its convenience, and my solo travel for the independence. And for me, it was a good balance. I had an amazing time in S & E Africa; I hope you and your boyfriend enjoy your trip!