Namibia's deserts, Botswana's delta, the Cape, Victoria Falls and Kruger — the part of Africa you can drive yourself, and the reason a lot of people do.
What it is
South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini. Between them: the Namib and Kalahari deserts, the Okavango Delta, the Zambezi and Victoria Falls, the Cape’s mountains and vineyards, and some of the best-managed wildlife areas on earth.
The thing that separates it from East Africa is self-drive. In South Africa, Namibia and much of Botswana you can hire a vehicle, drive into a national park, and find your own animals. That is not permitted in most Tanzanian parks and is difficult in Kenya. It halves the cost of a safari and changes what the days feel like.
Seasons
May to October is the dry season and the main window: little rain, cool nights, and animals concentrated at water, which is what makes game viewing work.
June to August are the coldest months — genuinely cold at night in the desert and on the highveld, which surprises people.
November to April is the wet season: green, dramatic skies, migrant birds, calving, far fewer people and much lower prices. Some camps close and some roads become impassable.
Victoria Falls runs opposite to the game seasons. Peak flow is March to May, when the spray is so heavy you cannot see the falls; low water is October to December, when you can see the rock face and swim in Devil’s Pool.
The Cape has a Mediterranean climate: its summer is November to March, which is the reverse of the safari season further north. A trip combining Cape Town and a Kruger safari always compromises one of them.
Country by country
South Africa is the most developed and the most varied: Cape Town and the winelands, the Garden Route, the Drakensberg, and Kruger, which is the size of Wales and entirely self-drivable with rest camps inside it.
Namibia is the great self-drive country. Sossusvlei’s dunes, the Skeleton Coast, Etosha’s waterholes, Damaraland’s desert elephants, and 2,000km of gravel road between them. A 4x4 with two spare tyres is standard advice and is not paranoia.
Botswana has deliberately pursued low-volume, high-cost tourism, which has kept the Okavango Delta and Chobe in remarkable condition and made them expensive. The self-drive alternative through the Kalahari and Moremi is possible for experienced, well-equipped drivers only.
Zimbabwe and Zambia share Victoria Falls and both have excellent, under-visited parks — Hwange, Mana Pools, South Luangwa, where the walking safari was invented.
Mozambique is about the coast: the Bazaruto and Quirimbas archipelagos, diving, and a Portuguese-inflected culture unlike its neighbours.
Self-driving, practically
Drive on the left in all of these countries.
Distances are enormous and fuel stops in Namibia and Botswana can be 300km apart. Carry more fuel and water than you think.
Gravel roads cause most incidents. The advice everyone ignores and should not: slow down, keep tyre pressure right for the surface, and do not brake hard.
Animals on the road at dawn and dusk are the main hazard. Most rental agreements prohibit night driving outside towns, for good reason.
Cross-border paperwork for a rental vehicle must be arranged in advance and costs extra.
Costs
South Africa and Namibia are excellent value — a strong currency position for most visitors, good food and wine, and reasonably priced accommodation. Botswana is expensive by policy. Park fees across the region are lower than East Africa’s.
Safety
South Africa has a high crime rate and it is concentrated in specific places and situations rather than distributed evenly. Standard practice: do not walk in central Johannesburg at night, keep valuables out of sight in a car, use secured parking, and take local advice seriously rather than as scaremongering. Most visitors have no trouble at all.
Malaria is present in Kruger’s lowveld, the Zambezi valley and northern Botswana and Namibia. The Cape and the central plateau are malaria-free.
More Regions
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The region that taught a generation how to travel cheaply and is still the easiest place on earth to do it. Warm, connected, and far more varied than the circuit suggests.
The Andes
The longest mountain range on earth, running the length of a continent, with the altitude that shapes every decision you make about travelling in it.
East Africa
The Serengeti and the Mara, Kilimanjaro, the Rift Valley lakes and the Swahili coast — and the safari industry that sits on top of all of it.