Overlanding in Africa: Self-drive or group tour?

Practical and personality considerations to help you choose between a self-drive or group tour on your African overlanding adventure

Overlanding is one of the most affordable, thrilling, immersive, and environmentally friendly ways to approach a multi-country African adventure like that between, say, South Africa and Kenya. But should you do a self-drive safari or join a group tour?

Let’s discuss the various considerations to help you identify which option suits you better – practically, financially, and personality-wise.

1. Cost and budget transparency

Self-drive trips come with some notable potential cost savings compared with private, small-group, and large-group travel. Primary among these is not needing to pay a tour operator or tour guide fee.

On the flip side, one of the big difficulties with self-drive overlanding trips – especially long ones – is that it’s very difficult to calculate an accurate budget ahead of time. Even with really solid research skills, you’re unlikely to be able to anticipate all costs, unless perhaps you’ve already made the trip (or a similar one) before.

So the major benefit of a group overlanding tour – particularly if you know you have a hard cap to what you can spend – is that you can buy an (all-inclusive) package deal and thereby know almost exactly what you will spend on the journey itself. This sort of price certainty might be more helpful to budget travellers than the question mark of a self-drive trip.

2. Route planning and flexibility

Flexibility and spontaneity are the most obvious advantages to the self-drive safari. If you really hate having a fixed itinerary or want to be able to stay longer in a place if you fall in love with it, then a self-drive might be the right decision for you.

A self-drive safari also often suits slow travellers. While most group tours aren’t rushed, per se, they don’t linger in places the way slow travellers often enjoy. Hardcore wildlife photographers who want to camp out for a glimpse of that rare painted dog might also want to stay put longer in a destination, but then be able to pack up once they’ve got the shot.

Of course, this also requires a whole lot more from you in terms of your time. You’re going to have to do all of your own research. And not just into where you want to go, but how to get there, road conditions, security concerns, seasonal considerations, and more.

Organised group tours can sometimes offer a degree of flexibility within the schedule, especially if it’s a smaller group. But of course, overall, it’s a fixed itinerary. If you go this route, choose an operator you trust to plan a route and stops that are in keeping with your tastes and prerogatives, like how much they consider the environmental impact of certain decisions.

3. Border crossings, bureaucracy, and admin

Don’t underestimate the bureaucracy of Africa. This is especially true when it comes to land border crossings. The queues can be long, and it’s often a slow and laborious process, with requirements differing widely from country to country. Without belabouring the point, this is Africa, so don’t expect Germanic efficiency.

What’s more, while there are many upright police, border control, and other officials in Africa, there are also plenty of corrupt ones. So self-drive travellers should think through how they will manage any situation where they’re being pressed for a bribe, or in some other way put upon.

This is one of the biggest pros of the organised tour. Your driver-guide facilitates faster border crossings because they have helpful relationships and experience. When you reach a new park, they nip into the office and manage the process swiftly, having already prepped all of the documentation and paid entry fees beforehand. It’s all a much more zen way to go overlanding in Africa.

4. Safety and security

One of the big advantages of a local tour guide when travelling in Africa (or anywhere) is that they know where it’s safe to visit, when, and in what numbers. This can refer to safety from people as well as safety from wildlife, disease, and more. We don’t know what we don’t know, which is what makes a local tour guide who is responsible for your safety an invaluable asset on a long overlanding trip.

Further to this, you want to be around people – or at least one person – who knows how to manage various stressful situations or crises with calm and good sense. Reputable tour companies train their tour guides in vehicle maintenance, emergency protocols, and wilderness first aid. They also have backup vehicles, other staff or contacts who can come to assist you, and knowledge of how things work in each country.

I wouldn’t suggest you approach an African self-driving trip if you’re quite new to overlanding. It would be better to break in your skills, so to speak, in a region where there are more emergency services, and you’re not quite so far from everywhere as you often are in the big, vast wilds of sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, at least two people in your party should be trained in wilderness first aid.

5. Interpersonal dynamics

If you’re a big introvert, a self-drive safari might be less stressful, as you’re going to spend a great deal of time with the others in your vehicle on a long overlanding group trip.

On the flipside, group tours are a great way to meet new people. Often, they’re folks you might never normally meet nor get to know in any meaningful sense. But by sharing a series of novel experiences together, new relationships often develop quite effortlessly. Friendships are often forged on overlanding trips, rooted in jokes on the road to the thrill of a great wildlife spot together to stories around the campfire.

Of course, there’s an element of rolling the dice when it comes to travelling with people you don’t know. That said, there’s a risk to travelling with anyone you haven’t travelled with before. Your best friend could even turn out to be someone you don’t really enjoy under the specific conditions of an overlanding trip. Moreover, having a few people around can be a blessing on a multi-week trip so that you’re not too much ‘in the pocket’ of any one or two people.

6. Learning and understanding vs personal challenge

I would say that one of the core factors to help you choose between a self-drive overlanding trip or a group tour is understanding if you want to learn about the people, wildlife, and landscape around you, or learn about yourself.

What I mean by this is that self-drive overlanding trips are an opportunity to test yourself. If the thought of handling a vehicle breakdown under the hot African sun with predators in the bush and no cellphone signal and no town for unknown miles seems to you an interesting and worthwhile challenge … then a self-drive trip is for you!

I believe the rest of us would do well to book ourselves into a group tour. This is because organised group tours let you relinquish all practical and safety concerns and focus instead on observing and learning about all you encounter.

The tour guide is one of the biggest boons of a group tour. They enrich your experience greatly as they explain local cultures and customs, sometimes serve as social facilitator or interpreter for you, and offer personal perspectives on things. They also sometimes become a pal during the expedition.

A good tour guide is particularly invaluable, in my opinion, on safari. These folks are trained in plant and wildlife spotting and identification. It’s amazing the creatures the untrained eye misses. And the stories they share! Whether it’s learning about how acacia trees communicate with one another or the abilities of a newborn wildebeest, you benefit from their presence in ways that can’t be easily quantified.

Summary: People suited to a self-driving trip

Rooted in the above discussion, I think you’ll agree that you should only consider a self-drive overlanding trip in Africa if you:

• • Have some wiggle room in the budget to absorb any greater or unexpected costs
• • Love to research things and are comfortable with the responsibility of making all your own decisions
• • Are highly introverted or painfully shy, or consider flexibility in the itinerary as crucial to your enjoyment of the trip
• • Fully understand the dangers inherent in independent travel as well as travel in Africa, are trained in wilderness first aid, and are an experienced offroader

Summary: People suited to a group tour

I advise you to book a group overlanding tour like the ones offered by African Overland Tours if you:

• • Value your safety and security above all else
• • Have a strict budget and so need to know the cost of the whole trip upfront
• • Want the comfort and ease of having most of the research and admin handled for you, both before and during the trip
• • Appreciate meeting new people and the potential camaraderie of group travel
• • Want to see as much wildlife as possible and learn as much as you can about all that you encounter

If you have a particular overlanding trip in mind, check out the myriad group tours available with African Overland Tours.

Note: This blog post was first written and published by Jodi Lucas on 1 October 2019. It was rewritten by Megan Abigail White on 5 February 2026.