Africa

[Pat Malone]

Am heading over to Africa next year and wondering if anyone has any tips on where to go and what to see, where is safe and where isn't, and any tips on staying safe etc etc. I am spending a month in South Africa with a South African friend who I met last year in Europe. She is going to show me around South Africa and Mozambique so have this part of the trip sorted but looking to spend at least another couple months making my way north and finishing up doing Egypt and Morocco and then heading back to Europe. Any tips would be great. Cheers.

[AFLflyer]

Am heading over to Africa next year and wondering if anyone has any tips on where to go and what to see, where is safe and where isn't, and any tips on staying safe etc etc. I am spending a month in South Africa with a South African friend who I met last year in Europe. She is going to show me around South Africa and Mozambique so have this part of the trip sorted but looking to spend at least another couple months making my way north and finishing up doing Egypt and Morocco and then heading back to Europe. Any tips would be great. Cheers.

sounds like a cracker trip PM!

[redandblack]

Am heading over to Africa next year and wondering if anyone has any tips on where to go and what to see, where is safe and where isn't, and any tips on staying safe etc etc. I am spending a month in South Africa with a South African friend who I met last year in Europe. She is going to show me around South Africa and Mozambique so have this part of the trip sorted but looking to spend at least another couple months making my way north and finishing up doing Egypt and Morocco and then heading back to Europe. Any tips would be great. Cheers.

Cue Q

[Q.]

I can't tell you much about the south, but I could bang on forever about the west.

I guess the first question is - how do you plan on working your way north?

After Mozambique, you could overland through Tanzania to Kenya and use Nairobi as a hub to fly anywhere in Africa.

[Pat Malone]

No idea mate, thats where I am hoping you can help. I am looking to do about 6 weeks of aid work in Malawi after Mozambique through Oxfam and then travel North from there. If that takes me up the eastern side or the western side at this stage I am not sure, am only in my initial planning stages so havent looked into the security side of things as yet. Not one of those travellers overly concerned with security issues but as I am travelling by myself I thought there may be some countries/areas that are recommended to bypass, or atleast not travel alone in. Time isnt really an issue, dont like rushing these things or having dates to be in certain places unless there are significant events on (Anzac Day at Gallipoli etc).

[Q.]

You'll encounter issues whichever direction you travel.

As much as I'm up for a bit of a risky travel - CAR, DRC, Sudan & Ethiopa pose problems and you'll have to cross through at least one of them if you overland north. I'm not even sure the Sudanese and Ethiopian borders are open on the Kenyan and Ugandan sides either and getting visas while on the road could prove difficult. To cross from Angola into Gabon you'll have to go through the Bas Congo region near Kinshasa, which is probably possible, but no guarantees on safety. Again, I'm not sure how you would go about aquiring visas to cross these borders.

Even if you make it through the DRC and onto Gabon and Cameroon, you'll need to cross Nigeria to head further west and when I was in West Africa they weren't issuing Nigerian visas on the ground, you had to have applied for one in your home country before you left.

It's not altogether impossible, you just need to research visa situations and where and how you'll cross borders.

Crossing from Zambia into DRC at Lubumbashi, then heading to Kinshasa at the Gabon border could be possible. Then you'd get to Cameroon (I'd be insanely jealous, magnificent country apparently) and could fly from Yaounde to Egypt or Morocco.

[Q.]

Couple of questions for ya Pat.

How much time do you actually have? It took me just under four months to get from Morocco to Togo (and there was lots of stuff I didn't get to see). Africa is slow going.

Where do you intend to fly home from? London, South Africa, Egypt...

[Wedgie]

Make sure you bless the rains down in Africa and take some time to do the things you never have.

[Pat Malone]

Time isn't an issue really, finishing up at my current job before I leave and will only be returning to Oz for a short time to get a working visa for UK so probably at least 12 months all up, how much of this is spent in Africa and how much in eastern europe I haven't figured out yet. I prob won't figure it out before I go, see where I get to and how far my money gets me until I come back. Could be 12 months, could be 18.

[Q.]

Then anything is possible

[Q.]

Let me expand...

Travel is possible anywhere in Africa, sometimes you just need time, lots of patience and tolerant bum-cheeks.

Your biggest hurdle will be visas and border crossings. Some countries will give you a VOA (visa on arrival) at the border, but often it's only for a few days and you'll need to get an extension somewhere. Generally, your safest bet is to get the the visa to the next country you're heading to from the current country you're in. In most cases this will be done in the capital city at an embassy.

Even after obtaining a visa, crossing a border isn't guaranteed. This year I think Niger closed their borders for a short period after terrorist activity in the country. I hung out with a fella who was waiting for the border to open so he could head north through Algeria. So it pays to keep your finger on the pulse (like in THIS story).

You'll have to sit down with a map and choose a couple of possible routes you'd like to take and research how you'll obtain a visa for each country you come across.

[Q.]

One handy tip: Visa is king in Africa. Mastercard is about as useful as tits on a bull.

[devilsadvocate]

Quichy is the undisputed king of African travel, but by the sounds Pat, you're going to give it a nudge for that title!
Sounds like a pretty challenging, but massively interesting trip.

To be honest, the one tip I'd give, is don't travel anywhere in Africa alone. Whether it be with another random traveler or friend or whatever. I wouldn't be going to places like DRC, Sudan (the southern part), CAR, Ethiopia, Chad, Niger, or Libya by myself.

I'm not as tough as Quichy when it comes to travel (also being hamstrung by a timid missus doesn't help either), so we did arranged tours for much of our travel in Morocco and Egypt. While travel in these coutries is generally fine, there are still places where an armed guard (a member of the military with an AK47 ) will get on your bus to provide a secure escort. We did ours with a Turkish based company called Travel Talk and as far as organised tours go, these guys were nothing short of bloody awesome. Cheap, local guides, huge coverage of important sights and they also delved quite extensively into the average every day lives of locals. We met loads of locals in both Egypt and Morocco while on tour with these guys.

However, that doesn't solve your problem of getting from south to north.

Good luck anyway mate. Sounds like it's gonna be an amazing trip. All we ask is for regular write ups and loads of pics!

[Pat Malone]

Cheers guys, these tips are going to save me a lot of time when I am researching all the relevant info and are also things I would never know until I get there, such as Mastercard. I would love to travel with someone else DA, but none of my friends can afford it at the moment or arent interested in spending that long travelling. I have done a reasonable amount of travel and find its easier to go as a group of no more than 2, too many differing ideas on where to go and stay, how long to stay for and what to see etc. I imagine that I will meet fellow travellers along the way, be they English, French, American, Swedish, even Aussies. And when I do go a bit further off the beaten track where the tourist numbers dwindle, I may then have to consider the tour options.
Plenty to think about guys, the advice so far has been great and any more would be greatly appreciated. Any must see's or significant events to participate in will also be great.
I will try and upload some photos soon from my past travels for everyone to look at (not much of a photopgrapher though).

[Q.]

You'll definitely bump into other travellers. They're not hard to spot either

[Q.]

Tip #2:

Get a Yellow Fever vaccination. Not because you're likely to catch it, but at some borders they check your vaccination certificate and won't let you through without it (or without paying a hefty bribe).

[Q.]

Done a bit of research to help ya (and because I like doing it ).

Seems the best way north is to head to Egypt via Ethiopa.

The border between Kenya and Sudan is closed, meaning to get to Sudan (and onward to Egypt) you'd have to go via Ethiopa. The Kenyan/Ethiopian border crossing is at Moyale.

Once in Ethiopa you'll have to head north to cross the Sudanese border as only the crossing at Metema is open.