African Self-Drive Holidays

Hitting the open road on African self-drive holidays can be a great adventure. Under your own steam a self-drive holiday in Africa becomes a journey of discovery and is not as daunting as you might imagine.

Although many roads in the rest of Africa are in poor condition and nearly impossible to navigate without a death wish, the self-drive holidays through Namibia and South Africa, suggested here, are perfectly manageable and will introduce you to the magnificent, constantly changing scenery of Southern Africa.

Roads in South Africa and Namibia are tarred, well- maintained and well-signposted with service stations along the way. In fact, you can usually choose to stick to the wide national roads, or veer off onto secondary tarred roads, which wind their way through scenic countryside or over magnificent mountain passes.

Once in the reserves and wilderness areas you may encounter graded gravel roads that even the smallest hire car can manage without difficulty. The game lodges will take you to those wild and rugged places in their fully equipped 4x4 vehicles, so you'll miss nothing.

You could try a self-driving safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park - something that many South Africans do regularly. Include a drive along the Panorama Route in your journey to view impressive scenery and quirky towns, as well as the wild beasts in the park.

There are also the reserves and wild coastline of KwaZulu Natal that make this an exciting African self-drive destination. Include in this journey the rolling landscapes of the Midlands Meander and the high peaks of the Drakensberg to get the most out of your self-drive holiday.

Of course, the picturesque Cape Winelands near Cape Town, the Whale Coast and the beauty of the Garden Route all fit together nicely to create an easy-to-drive, self-drive route.

Be aware when planning your African self-drive holiday that distances on this continent can be vast. Your African Travel Specialist will advise you on what is achievable for a day's drive as you'll still want time to explore and enjoy your surroundings. In fact, they'll tailor-make your journey complete with car hire, carefully selected accommodation and detailed directions.

Other African Countries

We don't arrange self-drive holidays to countries other than South Africa and Namibia. Botswana has good main roads but is a serious 4X4 destination when in the parks and reserves, although driving from Sun City to Gaborone is no problem.

Zimbabwe suffers from chronic fuel shortages while Mozambique and East Africa have extremely poor road conditions and "kamikaze" local drivers.

Probably the single most prohibitive factor is that South African rental cars may not legally be taken across an international border. However, it's possible to drive to the border and take a transfer from there, and we'll happily arrange this for you if you desire.

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