Advice on choosing an African overland tour

RECOMMENDED
BY Megan Abigail White

9 MIN READ

Advice on choosing an African overland tour

Who is suited to an African overland tour and how do you find the right one for you?

An African overland tour is a wild and immersive trip that’s often life-changing and life-affirming. But it’s not for absolutely everyone.

Then there’s the fact that overland tours can vary greatly depending on where you want to visit and the operator you choose.

With this in mind, let’s first discuss the sort of person suited to an African overland tour. I then offer guidance in identifying the specific tour that’s best for you.

Who should go on an African overland tour?

chantelle merry on tour with her group

An African overland tour is particularly suited to those who want immersive and culturally authentic travel experiences. It’s also a great choice for the responsible traveller, those wanting to see and experience lots but on a budget, those concerned about safety, and those who’d enjoy handing over the bulk of the admin.

Let’s touch on each of these points …

1. Overland tours suit those wanting an immersive travel experience

LAdy with child showing her camera

An overland tour is ideal for anyone wanting a truly immersive, full-spectrum African experience rather than a highly curated wildlife-viewing holiday.

To explain further, many safaris offer fly-in-fly-out game-viewing itineraries, where you see little of the continent beyond its gorgeous game parks and famed animals. On luxury trips specifically, you often fly directly into the game parks via landing strips. This doesn’t expose you to the hustle and bustle of a country’s cities and towns, nor does it acquaint you with the non-touristy sites that also define a society and place.

I’m not suggesting luxury travel is inherently bad (some such operations engage earnestly with sustainable tourism practices). I’m simply saying such operations often don’t have you meeting the Africa that most Africans know and experience.

On an overland tour, by contrast, you enjoy a far more immersive and authentic travel experience, albeit a litle more rugged. You cover the long distances between game parks, sometimes on dirt roads, and see the villages, farmlands, desert, forest, and more that separate places. You visit local markets, shops, and roadside stalls to buy the same snacks that locals eat. And you meet and chat to residents living outside of tourist hotspots.

If you want a trip that will move, challenge, and grow you, then an overlanding tour is right for you.

Related reading

2. Overland tours are a responsible travel choice

local market in Uganda

African overland tours are a natural choice for the conscious traveller.

As described above, on overlanding tours, your environmental footprint is relatively low. One of the core reasons for this is that once landed on the continent, you don’t fly anywhere else, you only drive, and it’s short-haul flights that are one of the biggest climate-change culprits.

Overlanding tours also maximise the sustainability benefits of group travel. For instance, 10 to 20 people are transported in a single vehicle, which reduces the per-person petrol (fuel) consumption.

In addition, you also often camp or stay in simple ecolodges, which puts less pressure on the land than many high-end accommodations. You also spread the economic gains of tourism as you patronise rural communities too, not just the tourist hotspots.

Related reading

3. Overland tours are a budget-friendly way to travel

African Overland Tours

A key reason many choose to embark on an African overland tour is that they want as much bang for their buck. Overlanding tours let you stay for longer and experience more than you could with the same budget when travelling in a different manner.

The reasons why overlanding tours are so economical are various, including the cost-savings that come with group travel.

That said, do note that different overlanding operators offer different levels of comfort, from the vehicle to the accommodation, and so price can vary quite a bit. A budget tour doesn’t have to equal camping.

African Overland Tours actually offers a variety of overlanding tour styles. There are super budget-friendly camping tours, where you embrace a back-to-basics sort of travel experience. But there are also tours where you stay in lodges with hot showers and other creature comforts.

Related reading

4. Overland tours are one of the safest ways to explore Africa

It’s risky, in my opinion, to explore Africa on your own. Especially if you’re coming from abroad.

Safety here often hinges on knowing the different do’s and don’ts when it comes to the environment, wildlife, roads, cities, people, and more. Most times when tourists land in some sort of trouble, it’s because they made decisions that a local could have advised them against.

On any decent overland tour, you have the number one asset when it comes to safe travel in Africa: a dedicated local guide. You also have safety in numbers, as you’re travelling in a group. And your vehicle has been custom-built or specially chosen to handle the various terrains.

Related reading

5. The tour operator takes on the admin and logistics for you

Packages and Safaris in Africa

We can’t be experts on everything in life, even though the internet can make us feel that we should since we have access to so many resources. Rather, when it comes to an exercise as multifaceted as an African overland tour, let the experts guide and do the hard work for you.

An African overlanding company has intimate knowledge, for instance, on the visa requirements of each country, the sort of vehicle needed for different regions and reserves, and how to acquire the necessary entry permits.

So if you want an African trip that’s going to be a holiday rather than a different sort of day job, choose an overland tour where your operator takes care of all the research, admin, and logistical planning!

Related reading

The big advantage of small group travel in Africa

How do I decide on a region and route for my African overland tour?

Giraffes in plains of Africa with moody sky and savannah

Most people planning an African overland trip are coming for the wildlife. So I suggest you start by asking yourself what sort of animals you most want to see, or the sort of safari you most want to experience.

For instance, many are keen to see the Big Five and other really large game like hippos and crocs. So start by researching which countries and parks have all of the Big Five, as many don’t.

Of course, sometimes people have a specific experience or phenomenon in mind, like mountain gorilla trekking or the Great Migration. I suggest you identify which reserves offer what you want, and then start building your overlanding itinerary around that. See which destinations and activities tour operators offer alongside your core one to discover lesser-known activities and places that excite you.

Related reading

How do I choose an overlanding tour operator?

Group smiling at Cape Agulhas on an African Overland Tour

Start your search for an African overlanding tour company by looking at online reviews shared on independent review sites like TripAdvisor.

Next, check if the company’s tour guides are accredited by a reputable organisation like the Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA). You might also like to check for any accreditations from external sustainability bodies, or look on the company’s website to see if they have a responsible travel policy.

Next, once you’ve found a reputable company, check that they offer transparent itineraries. It should be perfectly clear what’s included, like activities, meals, and even drinking water. It should also be clear what’s excluded, which should include anything else you’re likely to want to do or buy during the trip. It’s no help to feel you’re getting a good deal and then while on the trip discover there’s a boat safari, for instance, that will take you closer to the animals, but you didn’t know about it and so don’t have the budget.

Group lunch on safari

So that was a long read. I hope you found it helpful! If you have any queries or would like to talk about an overland tour that’s percolating in your brain, please know you can book a free 20-minute chat with an African Overland Tours travel expert.

Note: This blog post was written and published by Andrew Walton in 2013. It was rewritten by Megan Abigail White in 2026.