Why travel rescue is better than travel insurance!
When you have a serious problem overseas; the medical emergency, the car accident, the crashing fall off a mountain bike, the mistimed landing on your paraglider, the rockfall, or the…
Getting around Namibia article in Travel Africa 96
Great edition of Travel Africa magazine focusing on the practical aspects of self-drive journeys in Namibia. To coincide with this we are launching our own back to Africa project that…
Free Spirit article in Travel Africa 92
When you have to explain to someone who has never been to Africa what you do and why driving your own vehicle on safari is the best experience and it’s…
How to Spend your safari budget wisely
The game viewing experiences at a waterhole are often the same whether you are paying £500 a night staying in lodge or £25 a night staying in a campsite and…
How dangerous is the wildlife on a self-drive safari?
Given that many camping areas are completely unfenced and inside National Parks what are the real dangers for a self-drive family in Botswana or Namibia? The answer may surprise you…
Why you need to be thinking about Safari Drive for your next safari
The travel industry is currently going through meltdown and coming through this is going to take time and patience. We will all be rethinking about how we travel and the…
Self Drive Safari Resource
Self Drive Safari Resource is a free content web site that offers, information, planning, inspiration and on the ground knowledge to fully independent travellers that are driving themselves on safari…
Why Tanzania is a tough self drive destination
Self drivers in Tanzania struggle with finding decent vehicles, making National Parks bookings and the high prices everywhere. Whilst there are the traditional car hire companies out of the main…
Article in Land Rover Owner
Baring the soul in a high profile magazine was a little daunting. This is tough reading for anyone that loves Land Rovers and at the time accounted for many years…
8 Pre-Departure Checks
Setting out for the remote bush in Africa needs some preplanning so that you are self-sufficient and in the event of breakdown or incident you have a plan in place.…
Is Botswana a viable self drive destination?
Article in Travel Africa Magazine by Charles Norwood Botswana is an adventurous and challenging driving destination so be prepared for the conditions. The roads vary from sealed tarmac with some…
Catering & Shopping
Nowadays most African towns have good quality supermarkets where all your food shopping can be done. In some countries the bottle shop is separate so you may have to shop…
Health on the Road
It’s especially important that you take your own health seriously when you are a long way from home in countries that have no National Health service, no Ambulance service, and…
Animal Tails, the tuskless elephants of Ruaha
When I was a small child my Mother mistakenly took me to the cinema to watch what she thought was a child-friendly film about elephants. It was, in fact, a…
Planning
This section covers the many different aspects you need to think about early on at the planning stages of your journey. Research the regions, check the guide books and look at the maps. Mistakes made at this time are very hard to put right later on.
Journey Planning Principles
- The main thing is not to try and cover too much ground.
- Add extra time for the “Africa” factor, you will need it
- Allow time at the start to get over the flight, briefings, shopping etc
- First days driving should be short to allow extra time to set up camp
- Most journeys work best as a mix of camping and lodges
- Use lodges/hotels in towns for security and ease
- Two or three nights camping followed by lodge nights works well
- Try to use owner run and operated lodges.
- Generally, camp more at the start of the journey
- Self-drive trips are very tiring so slow down as the journey progresses
- Build in a few days mini holiday at the end to wind down and relax
- The trip will never be long enough so try to go for as long as possible