Africa

We chose this route based on time, distance and safety. We also decided it's far easier for us to purchase a suitable vehicle in South Africa, rather than bring a prepared one in from Australia (meaning having to ship the thing Sydney - Ireland - Cape Town - Perth) or from England, where we face Customs problems trying to dispose of a vehicle in Cape Town that is registered in the UK.

A trans-continental route via West Africa or war-torn Sudan was out of the question – the logistics involved with extra border crossings and dangerous areas makes planning and running the trip significantly harder.

We’ve chosen the countries we’d like to visit based on advice from The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (www.smarttraveller.gov.au), previous experience in Africa and the national parks we would like to visit. We’ve also notably avoided Zimbabwe - we don’t plan to visit until Bob Mugabe has fled!

Countries, in order that we will be visiting are:

·        Republic of South Africa

o     Stellenbosch wineries

o     Addo Elephant Park

o     Garden Route drive

o     Port Elizabeth

o     St Lucia wetlands

o     Kruger National Park

·        Kingdom of Lesotho

o     Sani Pass

·        Kingdom of Swaziland

·        Namibia

o   Etosha National Park

o     Skeleton Coast

     o  Walvis Bay

·        Botswana

o   Mabuasheube National Park (Kalahari)

o     Okavango Delta

o     Chobe National Park

·        Zambia

o     Victoria Falls

o     South Luange National Park

o     Lukusuzi National Park (wild dog population)

o     Sumbu National Park (Lake Tanganika)

o     Kasanka National Park & Bangweulu Wetlands (non Government Park - chartiable trust)

o     Kafue National Park

o     Liuwa Plain National Park  (reportedly with difficult access)

·        Malawi

o     Kasungu National Park

o     Lilongwe

o     Monkey Bay / Cape Maclear  & Salima

o     Liwonde National Park

o     Lengwe National Park

o     Zomba Plateau

·        Tanzania

o     Mikumi National Park  (good access)

o     Ruaha National Park  (Tanzania’s 2^nd biggest park)

o     Tarangire National Park , continue on to Ngorongoro Crater & Serengeti

o     Katavi National Park  (famous for the huge pools of hippos) – difficult 550km drive from Mbeya

·        Uganda

o     Bwindi Impenetrable National Park  (chimpanzee and gorilla populations)

o     Kibale Forest Primate Reserve  (chimpanzees and 11 species of monkey)

·        Kenya

o     Amboseli National Park

·        Mozambique

o     Parque Nacional de Banhine

o     Parque Nacional de Zinare