Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia! This safari was super long and super intense, so buckle in for quite the expansive article about my time on the road. If you are pondering doing a camping safari, this should give you some insight into how to logistically and mentally prepare for such a journey.
Quick Stats
- Length: 12 nights, mostly camping but a few nights in lodges, so many game drives lol
- Month: November 2023
- Cost: ~$1700 to Nomad Tours, then ~$450 of addons and visas
- Highlights: The lions at Etosha, all of the Okavango Delta, swimming in Devil’s Pool at the top of Victoria Falls
Researching
In case you don’t know, an Overland Safari is generally a longer, cheaper alternative to the fancy ones, where you are driving tons of hours a day across huge amounts of land to see a ton of sights. You and a bunch of other people take a big truck through a variety of national parks, while you all cook food together, camp at park campsites, and trust your guides to handle all the challenging logistics. Pros to this: price, seeing tons of landscapes you’ve never seen before, bonding with your safari buddies, camping if you like camping, and really getting an adventure. Cons: discomfort of tons of hours in a truck every single day, and camping if you’re a wimp about camping like me.
I love knowing people’s booking thought process, so I will explain mine here. Skip this paragraph if you want the practical details. Essentially I was determined to have the trip be 1) two weeks long 2) end at Victoria Falls 3) take place over Thanksgiving weekend 4) be as close to or lower than $2,000 including addons. These parameters gave me options that were definitely limiting but at the same time overwhelming. Limiting because of prices and having availability on those dates, but overwhelming because you can see, I only really cared that I went 1 place, so I had options spanning from Malawi to Namibia to Kruger to Mozambique that would make up a 2 week trip involving Vic Falls. I realized I really wanted to see Okavango, so that is what sealed the deal on this specific trip.
I booked my tour about 5 weeks in advance – I recommend you do so way fucking earlier than I did. When booking an overland, you have to consider trip lengths, specific dates, specific destinations, seasons, and budget all when trying to book the perfect one and hoping it still has availability. The way I did it was a challenge. So plan further ahead than I did haha.
Booking & Prepping
I ended up going with Nomad Africa, and I am so happy that I did. They have super reasonable prices, good last minute deals, by far the best and most trustworthy budget safari website I was able to find, and the most information about their vehicles, which was really reassuring. They are a company based out of South Africa, and run overland trips across a ton of countries. Their operation is pretty impressive, and I had the absolute best time working with their reps and the people running our individual tour.
They send you a massive packet of information, and it gives you everything you need. Please read the damn packet. Tons of people I barely knew who signed up for the trip after me kept harassing me with questions that were in the packet. Ask me questions that I’d only be able to answer bc I’d been there. Not the packet questions. Anyway.
Shopping was a massive pain, mainly bc I hate shopping. I managed to borrow the most important thing, a sleeping bag, from this sweet guy I had just met at salsa in Cape Town who I later ended up dating haha. Then I had to go shopping for things like bug spray, new hiking shoes, a neck pillow, things like that. All in the packet, but do budget some shopping time as you get ready for this trip. You don’t have much space in the lockers on the back of the truck, so you’ll need to keep it light anyway.
My number 1 packing tip is this – buy some water flavor packets. Those little orange gatorade things whatever they are. The water on the bus is outdoor temp, aka warm. It is not yummy to drink, and these packets make you way more hype to hydrate. Plus the people in the lodge rooms will have fridges, and instead of offering to refrigerate your water, they will make fun bc they have cold water and you don’t. So flex your flavor water and feel happy. Tied for top packing tip is this – download your entire Spotify album and bring multiple books and other entertainment for all your hours driving. You can’t talk the entire drive.
Namibia
I joined the overland in Swakopmund, Namibia. Technically, the whole tour was from Cape Town to Vic Falls, so most of the people had already done a week of the journey. I do not much love deserts, so I knew that my part of Namibia would be enough of that for me to not also need the journey from CT to Swak. I got there one day early, since I needed to join at 6am on the day I joined, along with one other late comer to the trip. I did not much like Swakopmund (felt like a ghost town), but everyone else seemed to.
We kicked off from the lodge in Swakopmund first thing, and headed into the desert towards Spitzkoppe. We spent 2 days looking at crazy rocks and some of the oldest cave paintings on the planet. We also stayed at a gorgeous camp site where I saw my first scorpion (sadly, it was in my shower). Relaxing by the lodge pool was heaven after a long day, you really can’t get better than that.
Things really got interesting once we reached Etosha. On my last safari in Kenya, we had only seen 2 lions, and only from super far away. Whereas I think our Etosha lion count was in the 30s, and they were right by our vehicle. It was truly amazing. In Etosha, I got to see a ton of new animals I’d never seen before, and you’ve just gotta go and see what you too can see. We spent 2 nights at 2 different camps there, and in one was this incredible watering hole for sunset where we got to see a honeybadger vs hyena fight. So scary so crazy. Honeybadger won that thang.
We finished with one day and night in Windhoek. We had a super fun time, but mainly bc we were fun, not bc the city was. Again, kind of a ghost town, so I wouldn’t stop here too long when the coolest things in Namibia are out in the wilderness.
Botswana – OkaVango Delta
The Botswana border crossing and drive to Maun felt like they took ages, but we read books and played cards and listened to music, so it all went really smoothly in the end. Plus, I was just thrilled to be entering this amazing new landscape and heading towards the delta.
At our first camp, we learned a ton about the history (old and recent) of the San people in Botswana. One of the oldest hunter-gatherer cultures on the planet, in the past few decades they’ve been forced from their homes into cities, as they cannot continue their nomadic lifestyle in today’s world. They continue to lead tours like the one we went on in order to preserve the memory and tradition for future generations. I recommend googling more about them, since their history is truly fascinating.
The first thing you can do just before entering the delta is one of the few addons: a tiny sightseeing flight over Okavango. The majority of us hopped on a lil plane, and flew for an hour about 500 feet in the air. You got to see elephants looking like little dolls (first pic), the rivers stretched out, giraffes running, and just truly appreciate the size and majesty of this section of the world.
This section of the trip was the only part where we abandoned our Nomad truck and our usual tents to hop on board 4WD safari vehicles and stay in permanent tent setups in the delta. We just packed a small under seat bag, and were off!
These 3 days in the Okavango Delta were literally the best. What safari dreams are made of. If you only have 3 days, I’d probably suggest going here. They say the delta looks wildly different in every season, so it is my safari dream to go again during different months of the year to see the changes in the environment. Truly beautiful, and full to the brim with wildlife.
After the self set up tents, I must say that this camp felt AMAZING. Complete luxury. The main tent for dinner was so snazzy and we got to enjoy a nice camp fire and everything. Everyone who worked there was so kind, though they did kinda freak us out about the animals coming in the night haha.
I could write all day about everything we saw in the delta, but I will give a quick highlights reel here. 1) The biggest toughest scariest leopard I’d ever seen 2) Impalas all working together to keep an eye on the leopard and keep the herd safe 3) Our Mokoro boat ride with the sweetiepie-est captains who gave me a handmade flower necklace 4) A pride of lions with 3 baby cubs taking a nap
Zimbabwe
The morning that we drove into Zimbabwe, we got up super early to beat everyone to the border crossing. We had some crazy Germans try to cut in front of us even tho we drove up first, but we ended up cutting back in front so no stress. Make sure to have cash for a visa, and to google all of the options for visas. I got a multiple entry visa because I knew I would hop over to Zambia for devil’s pool and then come back the same day. Others who were continuing on a longer journey got a visa that covered many countries in one, so you save a lot of money. I don’t have the deets, and I am shit at visas, so I recommend googling yourself and not trusting me.
That afternoon, after settling in to our campsite, we got to go on a river safari. Highlights – lead up to sunset, it was BYO so we had tons of wine, saw a hippo fight, a bunch of crocs and elephants, then saw an insane lightning storm (god bless the rains). Perfect night there; if you can do a river safari for sure join, because it is a totally new way to see the animals.
The next morning you could do an optional game drive for pretty cheap, so of course I did. The river and hills made the safari super unique. We saw the cutest elephants by far, tons of week old baby impalas, a couple lions, and a few smaller animals that we hadn’t seen anywhere else.
My entire main goal for this trip was to see Victoria Falls. Going for a swim at the top of the falls in Devil’s Pool had been at the incomparable #1 spot on my bucket list for years. The logistics were hard, so read this article for deets on that. I was shaking with excitement. But oh boy did it exceed all expectations somehow. Leaning out over the edge of the falls while some guy holds your ankles to keep you from going over, now that is the kind of adrenaline rush I love. Still my top insta post to this day and won’t be topped. Now I am honestly at a loss for what to put on the new top spot of my bucket list, since that can’t be beat.
While at the falls, there are a million other things to do. First off, of course go for a nice long walk along the trails on the Zimbabwe side overlooking the gorge, and prepare to be completely soaked even in dry season. Next, to relax at sunset, go to the Wild Horizons Lookout Cafe and have a nice bevvie. To top it off, go to a cool dance and show experience, which was so impressive and ridiculously fun.
If you want to also decide to retire from your Scary Heights Activities career, go for the huge gorge swing. I had been talking a lot of shit for the entire 2 weeks of the safari about doing the gorge swing from the amazing race, and then I got there and saw it and said no way. Then my trip bff looked at me and said “are you… lame?” and I caved and signed up with him.
It was literally terrifying, but obviously on the other side of fear is the best shit ever. Swinging around in that gorge as they lift you back up gives you a view of the falls you’ll never beat.
Wrap Up
Going on an overland had been on my bucket list for years, and it truly lived up to all expectations. You see so much, gain new besties, and leave with a million memories (and pics that don’t do it justice). Do be aware, you’ve gotta be tough. Don’t get me wrong, the age range on my tour was 24 – 63, so really most anyone can handle it. I was definitely the second wimpiest person on the entire tour, bc I hate camping and bugs and camp showers and re-wearing ugly clothes. I don’t mind the heat or the driving though, so that was definitely a win.
In the end, you can survive the camping (or can upgrade to a lodge 5 of the nights like I did), and in exchange you get the true wilderness at your fingertips. I 100% plan to do a trip like this again, and truly can’t wait. Tanzania anyone?
