African Self-Drive Adventure

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African Self-Drive Adventure

For our next adventure, we are planning an African self-drive tour of four countries in Southern Africa. If you are thinking of making such a trip, here is all the information you need to plan it, or follow along with us. There is also a lot of information to plan your trip to any foreign country.

Previous Adventures

We drove all around the coast of Australia, covering 27,000 kilometres in seven months, camping all the way. You can read about it here.

We drove from Mexico to Tuktoyuktuk on the Arctic Coast. Read about the last leg of the journey in Arctic Canada, which involved 700 kilometres of isolated gravel roads and lots of bears. Click here.

We travelled all over Mexico. Mexico is a great place. Lots of info here.

There were also trips from Germany to Lapland and throughout the Middle East, from Lebanon to Cairo.

Getting Ready

New Passport

New passport. Check. My passport was almost expired. You don’t need a new one if it has more than six months remaining after your departure date.

GoPro

Many people like to make YouTube videos these days, and so I will give it a try. I will include many tips for beginners like myself. If you are an experienced GoPro user or not interested in it, you can skip over this section.

Learning to use the GoPro. In Progress. There is a lot to learn about these amazing little cameras. I got the GoPro 11. I found out that versions 11 and 13 have built-in GPS, but version 12 does not. Version 13 is the latest model, but version 11 is much cheaper and will be more than sufficient for our needs.

GoPro memory card. The GoPro takes the tiny Micro SD memory cards. Memory cards have two qualities: capacity and speed. Everyone knows the capacity measured in gigabytes. However, the cards also have a speed at which they can receive data. It is a small number starting with the letter “v”. For example, it might say v10 or v30. The v10 disk is too slow for recording videos. The camera will record faster than the disk can save the data. Ensure you get a disk with a speed of v30 and lots of gigabytes.

Vehicle

Rental vehicle booked. We booked a Toyota four-door with the following included.

1. Air conditioning (a must. Make sure you get a veh with air)
2. Radio and CD player
3. USB connection (charge batteries while you drive)
4. Alarm and central locking
5. Two spare tires (flats are common. Make sure you know how to change the tires)
6. An air compressor.

Mythathedhut Travel Tip. Purchase a tire plug kit before you go. They are not included with the vehicle. If you get a flat, you might be able to plug it. If you have a compressor, you can pump the tire up again, and it should be good enough to get you to the next town.

8. Jumper cables

9. Second vehicle battery.

10, Tow Rope. (Hopefully, you will not need many of these things, but you should have them just in case.

11. Axe

12. First Aid Kit (very important)

Mythathedhut Travel Tip: Make sure your rental vehicle has full insurance plus separate window and tire insurance. Also, make sure taxes are included in the price and that you have unlimited kilometres.

Accommodations

Accommodations booked. We are not going on an organised tour with a guide, but we had a tour company make all our accommodations and vehicle bookings for us. This is much better than dealing with each company separately by yourself and is much cheaper. Of course, the tour company will make a profit on this, but they make hundreds of bookings and can get a much more affordable rate.

You can choose between hotels, lodges, or camping. Rental vehicles with camping equipment, including a roof-top tent for protection from animals during the night, are available.

I will put links to the tour company and all accommodations at the end.

Organised Tour vs Self-Drive

Should you go on an organised tour or a self-drive? They both have advantages and disadvantages.

On an organised tour, you have nothing to worry about. Just show up, and everything else is taken care of. You will have a choice of several routes, but you cannot just go whenever you want and stay where you want. You will be in a vehicle with several other people on a package deal. With a self-drive, you have your own vehicle and can stop wherever you wish. This is great if you want to stop to photograph a bird or another animal. The organised tour vehicle will not stop whenever you ask. With a self-driving tour, you can plan your route and go wherever you want. and stay at each location for as long as you want.

Because you will not have a guide, self-driving is much cheaper. The cost of a guide is the major expense on an organised tour. I arranged a 23-day trip for $5000 (Canadian dollars) for two people. I see organised tours charging more than $10,000 (U.S.) each for a one-week trip. Self-driving is much cheaper.

With a self-driving tour, you have to be adventurous and self-reliant. I think it is much better, but you will be on your own if you have problems or get lost.

Electricity in Foreign Countries

If you travel to another country, you will probably find that the electricity is different from that in your home country. The 110-120 volt system is used from Canada south to Ecuador, as well as the northern half of the Caribbean Islands, Japan, and Taiwan. Most of the world uses the 220-230 volt system.

If you plug a device into 220 volts that is meant to use only 110, it will be destroyed, and you could also risk an explosion or fire.

Most laptop computers and some battery chargers are designed to work on either system. Battery chargers from NIkon and GoPro will work on either system. I imagine that Canon does, too, but I am not sure. Perhaps someone can let me know.

Be sure of the voltage requirements of your device before plugging it in.

One thing you can do is purchase a converter that will change the voltage from 220 to 110 or vice versa. There are basically two types. Some can accept any device, like the one on the left, while others can handle only low-wattage devices, like the one on the right. If you get one of the small, inexpensive, plastic types, you cannot use devices with a high wattage, such as a hair dryer. Also, they come with a warning not to use them for a long time. How much is a long time? Is that more than one hour? They don’t say. Some things take a long time to charge.

Be careful. Plugging a device into a converter that has a higher voltage than the converter can handle might destroy your device or the converter. It could possibly start a fire or blow a fuse. Also, keep in mind that small converters can only be used for short periods of time before they overheat.

Electrical Socket Adapters

Be aware that these adaptores do not change the voltage. They only change the shape of the plug.

Also, be aware that these adaptors have a voltage rating. Although they do not change the voltage, they have a limit on how much voltage can pass through them. If you are in a country that uses 220 volts, ensure your adaptor can accept this much voltage. Even if the adaptor fits in the socket, that does not guarantee that it can accept 220 volts.

Each shape of adaptor has a letter designation. For example, plugs used in North America are type A, those used in Peru are type C, and those used in southern Africa are type M or D.

Before travelling, do some research on the country you are going to. Find out the voltage and the shape of the socket that they use.

Here is a description of various-shaped plugs used around the world.

Here is a list of voltages and adapters by country.

Updates June 2025

Visas

If you are travelling to another country, you might need a visa. It depends on which country you are going to and which country you are coming from. For example, some people need a visa to enter Canada, while others do not. It depends on the country where you reside and have a passport, not the country you are currently in.

Canadians need a visa for Namibia and Zimbabwe, but not Botswana or Zambia. The visa can be purchased upon arrival or in advance on the internet. We bought our visas in advance to avoid an hours-long queue at the airport with a planeload of passengers trying to get a visa. Then we can skip that line and go straight to immigration.

We received our visa for Namibia in about five hours. Apparently, the visa for Zimbabwe will take until the end of August.

Malaria

Check to see if the area you will visit is an area where Malaria is present. If malaria is present in your destination area, you need to take precautions.

There is no malaria in Windhoek, Swakopmund, or southern Namibia. However, it is present in Etosha and further north, in Caprivi and northern Botswana, and around Victoria Falls.

Shorts and T-shirts are okay during the day, but you should wear long pants and long-sleeve shirts at dusk, dawn, and after dark.

Another prevention is to have a mosquito net over your bed. Some hotels and lodges provide these, but some do not. We intend to bring one. A large net can be packed into a very small bag and does not take up much space in your suitcase.

GoPro Battery Charger

The GoPro camera comes with a cable to charge the battery, similar to charging a cell phone. However, there are several problems with this. It has to be plugged into the camera and charges the battery while it is inside the camera. This means that you cannot use the camera while the battery is being charged.

The other problem is that the cable has to be plugged into a USB device. Your adaptor for USB cables may not be able to handle 220 volts. You could plug it into a laptop instead. This works, but charging from a laptop is very slow.

This charger will work anywhere in the world, but it will still need an adaptor to fit the socket’s shape. Make sure that the adaptor can handle 220 volts.

Health Insurance

Whenever you travel internationally, you need to purchase health insurance. If you are involved in an automobile accident, get otherwise injured, or have some kind of health problem that causes you to be hospitalised, the medical bill could be astronomical. Medical bills are especially expensive in the USA and Europe, but can also be very expensive in all but the poorest countries. A serious medical problem in the USA could cost more than one million dollars.

In Canada, Medipac is a popular health insurance company. World Nomads is an American company that sells health insurance to anyone worldwide, but only to people under the age of 66. I suggest buying your insurance from a company in your home country. If you have problems, it will probably be easier to deal with a company in your home country and with your local laws and language.

Tire Plug Kit

Flights

Flights booked. Check. We are going to Africa.

The further ahead you book your flights, the cheaper they will be. As you get closer to your departure date, the price will increase. The price also increases when the aircraft is almost full. It is also more expensive on weekends and holidays, so try to book midweek.

Also, prices increase during summer or the high tourist season. Tourist season varies from country to country, so investigate when this is for your destination. No one wants to vacation when it is cold or always raining. A cheaper alternative is to go during the shoulder seasons between high and low tourist times.

Flight and Baggage Insurance

In addition to health insurance, we purchased non-medical travel insurance. This insurance will refund your money if the flight is cancelled or you must cancel your trip.

Tip: Some airlines offer flight cancellation insurance, but it is cheaper to purchase it separately and include insurance for lost or stolen luggage.

Stay Tuned

We have much more information and tips to share, and all about our trip once we get there. I am just getting started. Bookmark this page and check back weekly. Videos will begin in September.