We went on a five week road trip through South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia (the last two on a day trip to Victoria Falls). This was our third time visiting Southern Africa, with our first time in 2018. We were looking forward to the adventures of safari, visiting the Namibian deserts in Sossusvlei and Spitzkope and visiting the most picturesque city in the world (and with some of the best coffee 😁) – Cape Town.
Mohammad has always loved Africa. This trip was a bucket list adventure for him. After marriage, I found hand written plans and itineraries to visit the sights in Africa that he wrote up years before we were married, even more years before we were able to come here. His love probably started from his love of the Lion King, a movie that he has watched probably over a hundred times, and he still tears up in till today when Simba finds Mufasa following his fall. 😔
In our experience, the African people have been the friendliest people we have met so far (comparing to our experience with locals in many other parts of the world). Our baby got a cuddle or a loving smile and play from many people, which was so heartwarming to see.
Before we began this journey, as with every other new experience I’ve had in my life – I was quite anxious about how things would go. I was worried about whether the kids would remain healthy, what would happen if anything goes wrong, what happens if one of them has an allergic reaction – the list went on. But I have to say – Alhamdulillah, I am glad we did it!
We were pleasantly surprised to find halal food almost everywhere. All major grocery stores stock certified halal chicken and many fast food chains (including KFC, Hungry Lions and Nandos) also are halal certified. The respect and facilities for Muslims were also great and South Africa is the best country in the West where Muslims can live with respect and dignity as Muslims.
Concerns about a self-drive in Southern Africa – Safety, Driving conditions, Border crossings
Safety:
People tend to get worried about safety in Southern Africa due to some of the high crime rates in the major cities. We found these countries to be generally safe, but you need to have your wits about you and take precautions. Drive in the day, be vigilant about your driving and surrounds, keep a watch over the kids and don’t go into unsafe areas where crime is generally higher such as townships.
Road conditions:
The road conditions were generally pretty good with highways in South Africa to rival those in Australia. Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world (after Mongolia), and there are hours where you are driving and don’t see anyone. Namibia has a lot of gravel roads, and for those it’s wise to slow down a bit, lower tire pressure and driving a car with tires that has more traction helps as well.
A lot of the sights and places of interest are quite far apart as well, so we had multiple 7 hour driving days. We love road trips as it allows the family to be in the one space and talk to each other. To entertain the kids, we had nasheeds, practised their Quran, had activity books and also bought a kids camera which they had endless fun with.
Accommodation quality:
It was pretty easy to find decent accommodation in the towns along the route as well with kitchens, bathrooms and wifi. If you are not up for a camping adventure, which seems to be the typical way others have done it, you can do it the more comfortable way.
This is the route we took:
In the 32 days we drove 8,105 km through 5 countries (we did a tour to Victoria Falls from Kasane Botswana, so didn’t drive to Zimbabwe and Zambia).
Here is a summary of the itinerary:
Here is a summary of our costs:
Our overall cost for the 32 days (excluding flights and souvenirs) was $11,279 made up of:
- Accommodation – $3,351 (~$110/night). We mostly stayed at one or two bedroom self contained apartments with cooking facilities. In Kruger, we stayed in the camps inside the park.
- Car hire, fuel and toll roads – $4,332. We hired a Nissan X-trail since it had enough boot space for our family, as well as had some 4×4 which helped in Namibia. Car Hire including the child car seats was $2,271 , the Cross Border fee (to be able to drive the car into Botswana and Namibia) was $535 (3000 Rand for each country), fuel was $1,476 for the 8,105km and fuel costed around $2.10/litre
- Activities and Tours – $1,910. This mainly included getting the WildCard which is the Annual Park pass for South Africa (cost of $660 for a family and worth it if going to parks for more than 3 days), Victoria Falls tour and game drives and boat cruise in Chobe National Park in Botswana
- Eating Out – $560. We ate out around once every three days. Halal food was relatively easy to find in the large towns with some of the fast food places halal certified.
- Groceries – $700. We cooked for most of our meals and halal chicken was available in all of the countries we went to at the big grocery stores (Spar, Pick N Pay, Checkers, Choppies) with B making his signature butter chicken or BBQ chicken.
- Visa – $295 – Only Zimbabwe required a Visa and that was US$30 per person for a single entry visa
Our flights were booked through Qantas points (some of the best use of points), and flying from Sydney to Johannesburg costs 150,400 points and $663 in taxes for our family of 5 (although baby Zahra is basically free).
Southern African can be a very expensive place to do with a tour. Some of the tours that we saw that followed the route we took were over $37,000 (including flights) for less time than what we had. We would highly recommend doing the road trip yourself and interacting with the nice people along the way.