Our Trans-African Safari
In and around Africa
We saved and saved, and trawled through websites and brochures, planning our trip through Africa. Early on we decided we had to do a truck "safari" as we didnt have the money required to buy and kit out our own vehicle, and finally we chose Oasis Overland to go with.
Here is an account of our travels through Africa, on a big yellow truck with 20 or so other people. These blogs are based on emails we sent at the time, so some are short and some contain more detail. If we can (ie if we feel like it!) we'll flesh out some of the shorter ones. And we will be adding photos, they are just taking a while to scan in! This trip was before we went digital. But if you want to know more, just ask us, we're always happy to talk travelling, be it our trip or yours!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler twotravelbugs
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1
The Rock - Starting the Trans.
We are traveling from Gibraltar to Cape Town in a large truck with 22 other people, none of whom we knew before we started this crazy venture (we... Continue reading »
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2
Rainy days and nights
All I can say about Morocco is that the weather this time of year sucks. On the coastal side of the Atlas mountains it is very wet; we have had s... Continue reading »
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3
Western Sahara
I seem to be missing a lot of stuff out, about the camping, the trucks, our new friends...We have camped on rocky football pitches, sandy hollows, i... Continue reading » -
4
Out come the sand mats
As you are not allowed to take alcohol out of Morocco, and Mauritania is almost a dry country (upwards of US$4 for a beer, who is going to pay th... Continue reading »
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5
Tarmac and Desert
We have now arrived in Bamako, the capital of Mali. It is roasting here, up to 37 C in the shade, and I am sure that things will get hotter.&nbs... Continue reading »
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6
Christmas in Mali
Thanks for all your messages, sorry that the weather in the UK is not good, its really hot and sunny here!
We are of course still ha... Continue reading »
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7
The end of Mali and into Burkina Faso
Hello and a Happy New Year to everybody!
We had a big New Years Eve at a free camp outside of Sevare (near Mopti) shared with the 40 or so p... Continue reading »
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8
Paradise, Ghana
Burkina Faso is a pretty small country and we didn't get to see a lot of it. We headed south from Ouaga through some national park (didn't see any w... Continue reading » -
9
Togo very briefly
Since Accra, we have been back to paradise (beach resort - good food, beer, waves, sun, palm trees...) for a few days more R & R, then we headed... Continue reading » -
10
Stilt Village
Benin was much the same as Togo, only a 48 hour transit visa but we did do a little bit more. We went to Ganvie, a stilt village on a... Continue reading »
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11
Friendly people - and our first wildlife
From Benin we crossed into Nigeria and we have spent the past few days driving almost non stop to Abuja, stopping only for eating, sleeping and buyi... Continue reading » -
12
Cameroon highlights
We pretty much drove straight from the border to Limbe, stopping once for a swim/wash in a roadside creek. The first night we camped at Mile 6 Beach,... Continue reading » -
13
Chad without SIFCAS rations
Leaving Waza, we flew along decent roads till we got to Kousseri, the last town on the road to Chad. We stopped here for food, partly as Cameroon i... Continue reading »
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14
A brief account of our time in Sudan
When we finally got to the border after a couple of very long days driving, no one there had heard anything about fighting, and our trucks had al... Continue reading »
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15
From Ethiopia with love
Dear Everyone!
Firstly thank you very much for all the great emails you've sent us. We are sorry that we cant always reply to you... Continue reading » -
16
Have you ever...
...had a 200kg Silverback Gorilla throw a tree at you? No?! Well, we have.You want more details?!?! Well, OK then..... Continue reading »
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17
We're having a rhino of a good time!
Hello all, Hope you all had a good Easter break, and those that are allowed, plenty of chocolate! We had two small marshmallow "eggs" each, eate... Continue reading »
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18
Now we've seen some big cats!
Yes, we have now seen some cats! Lions, a cheetah and a serval so far, but the leopard is proving elusive. We saw most of o... Continue reading »
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19
It's getting cold down here
Recently the nights have been pretty chilly, the fleeces have come out, the sleeping bags are zipped up, and we even, gasp shock horror, put on s... Continue reading »
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20
Mozambique - too brief, must come back again
From the idle beach life of Malawi we spent a day in Lilongwe then crossed Mozambique. The road we drove along was the worst for ages,... Continue reading »
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21
Walking the lions
Harare was a great city, suddenly really civilised! We went to the movies a couple of times as they were only 35c US. At that price it d... Continue reading » -
22
Victoria Falls
The train from Bulawayo to VIc Falls was ok, nothing flash, just two small bunks in a very small room, an unlockable door and a window blind that kept... Continue reading » -
23
Okavango Delta
From Victoria Falls we headed into Botswana and the Okavango Delta. We went on a three night Mokoro (canoe) trip into part of the delta.... Continue reading »
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24
Namibia
Next stop was Windhoek, Namibia, our second to last country on the trans. We spent a short few hours in the city as we were all eager... Continue reading »
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25
On our own again
As you can see we have reached the other end of Africa now. South Africa has been great (so far), we are really enjoying all we are seeing... Continue reading »
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26
the end
Well, this is it, the end of our trip. We arrived back in the UK on Saturday morning to grey skys and drizzle. I cant remember right... Continue reading »
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