Alone Through Africa
 

Does anyone have any experiece with driving through Africa alone. My intended route will be down the west cost to Cape Town.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any experiences or tips to share.

Get yourself a copy of 'Running with the Moon' by Jonny Bealby. The book's an excellent read, and he did a similar route to the one you're planning.

I'm going cape town to cairo with one other guy ( who may not make it)...
Another irish guy called Hugh bergin did your route and he has just rreached cape town.
I think his site is www.kilkennytocapetown.ie he should have some good tips and is probably worth contacting

best of luck

I just did 6 months in Africa by myself (in a landy) but only made it as far south as Mali and Guinea (which was pretty good as I only left with 800 Euros!).

It was all easy enough. Go slowly, enjoy it when you meet nice people, and enjoy your freedom to do what you want when you don't.

I didn't have any major mechanical problems and was very well prepared. Driving, navigating, being a mechanic, cooking, cleaning, making camp is all quite tiring when there is just one of you, so allow yourself some complete rest do nothing days.

You'll probably meet a lot of travellers who would be delighted to tag along with you, or vice versa and these are some of the best memories I have.

I risked going to quite remote places by myself and was lucky. Breaking down anywhere, or becoming ill, is very diffcult when your on your own.

Trust your instincts not your wallet.

hi darren,

i am planning rtw and first leg would be africa. i am thinking of leaving from istanbul and enter greece and then follow the mediteranian cost to spain then down to gibraltar and morocco.

anyway, my question is did you spent just 800 euros (eight hundered euros) during this 6 months includin petrol (or diesel) + meal + accomodation + visas, etc?? if yes that would be great news for me. i thought i will need much more than that.

thanks in advance

"did you spent just 800 euros (eight hundered euros) during this 6 months includin petrol"

Haha! No way - I mainly lived off selling a couple of dvd's a week and helping out some charity/ngo type people who feed and looked after me in return for mucking in, though mainly just my company in their remote villages - so no money for me, but able to live in Mali for a while not really spending much either.

I spent all of my money preparing my landy and had no major landy expenses which obviously helped heaps.

I then cobbled together some money to get back to Europe offering tours. I would say from Istanbul via Maroc to South Africa, excluding the up ronts costs (carnet costs, travel insurance etc) you probably need £3,000-4,000 as a minimum assuming you want to enjoy yourself a little at times.

Places like Mali are quite expensive - 5 euros a night to camp is not uncommon, 10 for somewhere vaguely nice in a hotel and fuel is expensive etc. Africa isn't India cheap.

It all depends on how cheap you are though, camping free is fine for a week or two but after that it gets boring and/or you need to get supplies of some kind so you seek out a town and your costs rocket etc

And it all depends on who you are and how you travel. The cheaper you travel, the more run down you usually end up and sometimes your trip goes downhill from there....

suggest you talk to Sam Manicom, buy his book 'Into Africa' and attend the Derby meet all of this will help you with your question.

Last autumn I finished solo western route to Namibia (about 40000 km) with 4x4. On my way I met several guys who where travelling alone on a bike (+1 on bicycle) but none with a car alone (but many more overlanders in groups or 2 per car). Not sure what tips you are looking for but if you are already considering going alone then you can do it.

I think there was similar topic up here lately.

I spent 10 of 12 months in Africa “alone” going Norway – Cape Town – Norway. When I say “alone” it’s because you are seldom alone in Africa, there are people everywhere.

Later I have also spend some time there with company and it has some good aspects but when you are “a group” you don’t come that close to other people, the group creates it’s own society instead of participating with the local society and I find that you experience more when you travel alone.

…..opinions might differ.

thanks darren,

actually $10.000 was what i have calculated including, visas+carnet+etc. so the cost is still the same. have to carry on saving ;)

Thanks
 

Thanks for all the positive advice, I'll take a look at the links and books.

solo africa
 

Hi there,
I came back from Africa a couple of months ago having ridden (by motorcycle) from London to Cape Town solo. I went down through Algeria/Niger and then down the West Coast to the Cape via Congo, Angola etc.. A proper adventure with a few hairy moment! My journal entries and photos are on my website Lois on the Loose - follow the Trans Africa link. Hopefully it will be of some help, or at least just give you a taste for it.
Cheers and good luck,
Lois