Africa: general query

Brussels Sprout

I'd like to visit Africa but I'm not quite sure where to go. Are there any countries where it would be safe to travel around on my own (possibly using public transport)?

I know that a lot of companies do all included tours but I'm looking for alternatives to that. Ideally I'd like to go for 10-14 days and visit 1 country.

ardmacha

Africa is a big place. South Africa has a well developed infrastructure, likewise places like Morocco.

Brussels Sprout

ardmacha wrote: »

Africa is a big place.

Fair point. Ok I'm not interested in visiting any of the Arab countries or West Africa at the moment. Countries I'd be interested would be Botswana, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

iusedtoknow

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Fair point. Ok I'm not interested in visiting any of the Arab countries or West Africa at the moment. Countries I'd be interested would be Botswana, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

We went to Ethiopia , Rwanda and Burundi a few years ago. Completely stunning, and blew away my preconceptions about the places. Have also been to South Africa a few times for work - I'd steer clear of jo'burg and tbh the entire country around now. I would probably steer clear of Zimbabwe as well

wagtail99

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Fair point. Ok I'm not interested in visiting any of the Arab countries or West Africa at the moment. Countries I'd be interested would be Botswana, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

I also posted the same reply on another thread, but as your reply regarding 'Arab countries' was in direct response to someone mentioning visiting Morocco, I thought I'd also post it here.

Morocco is very long way from any of the current trouble spots in Middle East / North Africa and is probably as safe a destination as any at the moment. It saw minimal activity during the Arab Spring and indeed when the small number of liberal activists saw what happened to the mainly secular uprisings in other countries, they took a big step back.

As a comparison it's a little like tourists saying they wouldn't visit the Rep of Ireland during the recent past because of what was happening in the 6 counties.

Morocco has an excellent and great value public transport system of both Trains and Buses, and even shared taxis to get to many of the more remote spots.

Have a good holiday wherever you choose to visit.

Brussels Sprout

iusedtoknow wrote: »

We went to Ethiopia , Rwanda and Burundi a few years ago. Completely stunning, and blew away my preconceptions about the places.

How did you get around? Was this as part of a private tour group?

wagtail99 wrote: »

I also posted the same reply on another thread, but as your reply regarding 'Arab countries' was in direct response to someone mentioning visiting Morocco, I thought I'd also post it here.

Morocco is very long way from any of the current trouble spots in Middle East / North Africa and is probably as safe a destination as any at the moment. It saw minimal activity during the Arab Spring and indeed when the small number of liberal activists saw what happened to the mainly secular uprisings in other countries, they took a big step back.

Sorry, I should have clarified. The reason that I'm not interested in visiting the arab African countries is that I've already experienced Arabian culture in Asia before so for visiting Africa I'd like to see some sub-saharan culture.

iusedtoknow

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

How did you get around? Was this as part of a private tour group?

No, we were independent for most it except for some most of Burundi. For the most part we hired drivers with cars to get us from place to place.

gypsy79

10-14 days isnt long.

Ghana would be an option. I spent just over 2 weeks there. Cheap as chips with some great beach resorts and English is the official language. Cross over to Togo for a day or two for a completely different experience

Ethiopia requires 3 weeks minimum imo. Amazing country. Domestic flights are cheap as chips and best way to get round as it is massive

Rwanda is small and very easy but painful to get round (4 hours to travel 90km on a good road). Nothing in Rwanda is cheap

Uganda is a great country with really friendly people and cheap

I loved the DRC (visited gorillas and climbed Mount Nyarinanga) but probably not for first timers

South Africa - garden route could easily be done in your time frame but not really an African experience per se

ancapailldorcha

iusedtoknow wrote: »

We went to Ethiopia , Rwanda and Burundi a few years ago. Completely stunning, and blew away my preconceptions about the places. Have also been to South Africa a few times for work - I'd steer clear of jo'burg and tbh the entire country around now. I would probably steer clear of Zimbabwe as well

Would South Africa not be worth visiting then? I've always wanted to visit it and Kenya but safety concerns among other things put me off.

gypsy79

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Would South Africa not be worth visiting then? I've always wanted to visit it and Kenya but safety concerns among other things put me off.

South Africa has a very high crime rate all over. Kenya is probably safer at the minute as it is mostly incident sparked violence rather than that directed directly at tourists like South Africa

trasver

I'm living in Cape Town for the past five years and we absolutely love it! I think the whole crime thing is really blown out of proportion...yes there is a much higher level of crime here and there are areas one should definitely avoid but those areas wouldn't be on the tourist map anyway. We've done various parts of the Garden Route multiple times and it's stunning but if you're looking to experience "Africa" (mud-huts, wild animals etc) then this wouldn't be the place to go. That said I'd recommend it to anyone in a heart beat....stay in luxury, see amazing places, eat amazing food and drink beautiful wine for what will feel like peanuts when you're spending euro.

I travel to Jo'burg regularly and wouldn't recommend it as a tourist destination. Durban, on the other hand, is beautiful and can be used as a starting point for more "African" adventures.

One thing I would recommend is renting a car...that gives you the freedom to go exploring rather than be brought from tourist attraction to tourist attraction.....its the bonus surprises in between (farmers markets, wine farms, beaches, craft beer breweries, farm stalls etc) that have have been the highlights of all our trips!!

gypsy79

I loved the Garden Route too.....but Cape Town is European and crime rates are not comparable to other parts of the country.

On the whole Africa is a very safe continent despite media reports to the contrary

ancapailldorcha

gypsy79 wrote: »

I loved the Garden Route too.....but Cape Town is European and crime rates are not comparable to other parts of the country.

On the whole Africa is a very safe continent despite media reports to the contrary

Really? That's the main thing that'd put me off going.

gypsy79

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Really? That's the main thing that'd put me off going.

Yes I felt safer in most places I have been in Europe

I will list some countries safety levels I felt. I have been taking low as a European standard

Cape Town and - low to medium
Rest of SA - medium
Ethiopia - neglible
Rwanda - negligible to low (sure Kigali may be in Europe)
Uganda - low (people amazing friendly)
Ghana - low
Togo - low to medium - this may have been noise craziness etc and lack of any language skills
DRC - medium to high (it was less than 3 months since ceasefire but didnt actually feel too unconfortable)
Egypt - pre trouble and in the height of tourism was medium

Uganda, Rwanda Ghana and Ethiopia are all far safer than when tonnes of tourists were flocking to mainland Egypt (the Sinai was always different)

ancapailldorcha

It's a continent I really want to visit. South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia were the only ones I briefly looked at though.

KevinK

I would really recommend Tanzania. I have been three times and always felt very safe. General cost of living is very cheap - even though safaris and some other tourist stuff is more expensive than elsewhere in Africa.

I found it easy to get around on public transport in the north and east of the country, but it is probably harder in the west and the south.

Malawi or Uganda would also be nice. Namibia is spectacular but probably hard to do independently as the sites are so spread out, it also didn't really feel like Africa to me as it is a relatively affluent country.