Oasis Overland Review: Across Africa – Nairobi to Cape Town

It was an incredible adventure to take an overland trip across Africa, 56 days coast-to-coast from Nairobi to Cape Town. Finding it difficult and costly to pursue such a trip independently, we put our faith with adventure tour operator, Oasis Overland, to pursue this trip.

And since returning from this grand journey across southern Africa, we’ve had so many questions about our experience with Oasis Overland. Ultimately, it has gone down as one of our favorite travel adventures during all the years we’ve been roaming around the world.

We were equally astonished at all the amazing African destinations we visited as we were by the fantastic value this overland trip across Africa offered.

Be sure to check out the highlight video below, before we continue with this Oasis Overland review.

Ahh, it was really such an awesome overland trip across Africa!

It was such a great trip with excellent value. But we realize people also want to know:

• How was camping for two months straight?
• How much did this Oasis Overland trip cost, including extra fees & excursions?
• What was it like traveling long distances across Africa in the Oasis Overland truck?
• What did you eat when crossing Africa overland?
• Was this overland trip across Africa safe?
• What are some travel tips to know before taking an overland tour across Africa?

We’re here to explain everything to you in detail during this Oasis Overland review to show what it’s like to take a two-month Africa budget safari from Nairobi to Cape Town. We had no idea what to expect going during this overland journey across Africa. So we’re now happy to fill in these gaps from our first-hand experience.

The Camping Experience with Oasis Overland Africa

In our travels, we do occasional camping trips. So we’re no strangers to tents. But prior to this Oasis Overland trip across Africa, the longest consecutive nights we’ve camped out was four nights in a row. We feared that camping for 56 days straight would be downright draining!

Turns out, it was okay. Overall we were quite content with the camping situation during the Oasis Overland, Nairobi to Cape Town, trip.

It Actually Wasn’t All Camping

First off, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually wasn’t 56 days of camping.

Oasis Overland cites on their website that you’ll be camping for 90% of the trip. Yet during our trip, we found that we had beds included for over 25% of the time while overlanding from Nairobi to Cape Town!

Traveling as a couple, we even scored a private room for six of the 56 nights, which was included! For another nine nights, we had a bed in a hostel room that was shared only with our new friends that we were traveling with.

Being able to sleep in an actual bed one out of four nights really helped to break up the camping! But we actually never really tired of camping. It was a lot of fun and we were pretty comfortable! (Also, know that each individual tour may do something slightly different for each journey, so other Oasis Overland Coast to Coast itineraries may not match up to this exactly.)

Tent Life during an Oasis Overland Africa Trip

For all those other nights, we were happy campers in our tent. The tents provided by Oasis Overland were good quality and super easy to set up.

All tents are individually named and you are assigned a tent for the entire trip. We had the “warthog” tent.

Each passenger is responsible for setting up and breaking down the tents themselves. We found the tents that Oasis Overland uses be the quickest and easiest tents we’ve ever assembled. We got our tent set up in about 2-3 minutes!

It rarely rained during our overland trip across Africa in the dry season. But the few times it did, the rain stayed out of our tent.

You bring your own sleeping bags and mats. So the comfort of your tent was entirely dependent on the quality of the gear that you packed.

Africa’s Campgrounds Are Actually Really Nice!

Another pleasant surprise during this Oasis Overland trip across Africa was that the campsites themselves were really nice. Most of the campgrounds we stayed at actually had swimming pools and drink bars!

We had this stereotypical vision of camping in Africa in the middle of nowhere. While we did have a couple of “bush camps” that were indeed away from it all, most nights we camped in some pretty posh campgrounds with great facilities.

The majority of the campsites used in this Oasis Overland trip across Africa not only had hot water showers, but also had full cash bars, inviting pools, and even WiFi!

Often the campgrounds shared the space with a hotel, in which we were always welcome to use the hotel amenities too. We certainly weren’t roughing it most nights we spent overlanding across Africa.

Bush Camping – Unique to Oasis Overland’s Tours

Meanwhile, we did have the joys of two “bush camps” during our 56-day Coast to Coast Oasis Overland trip. For the uninitiated, a bush camp is when you camp out in the bush, right in the African wilderness. When doing a bush camp, there certainly are no proper campgrounds, no facilities, no toilets, no showers, no bars, and no wifi.

And it’s great!

Although we enjoyed the amenities of Africa’s campgrounds, the bush camps were really awesome to get away from it all. Oasis Overland is one of the few overland tour providers in Africa that actually do bush camps. Other Africa overland tours go strictly to campgrounds only.

It was amazing to camp out in the middle of Africa under the cloak of stars, with no noise or light pollution whatsoever.

In addition to the bush camps, Oasis Overland also brought us to a handful of “rural camps.” These were somewhere in between bush camping and full campgrounds. These rural camps had designated campsites, but no amenities.

Oasis Overland Accommodation and Camping for Two Months

Really we never got tired of camping with Oasis Overland like we thought we would. It simply became routine and we grew accustomed to it. Most days we were so exhausted from a long day of adventuring that we never had any trouble falling asleep.

For anyone that wanted the luxury of a bed, most campsites had an option of upgrading to an onsite room with a bed. The upgrade charge was about $20-$25 per night on the low end and went upwards of $100 per night on the high end at some of the nicer hotels we camped at.

We never found these upgrades to be worth it, as we preferred to spend our overland budget on excursions. A few fellow Oasis Overland passengers during our trip across Africa did splurge for the upgrade when it was priced more towards the low end. They seemed happy with their beds as they gazed out the windows and watched us set up our tents.

Oasis Overland Coast to Coast Nairobi to Cape Town Itinerary Review

We absolutely loved Oasis Overland’s 56-day Nairobi to Cape Town itinerary across southern Africa. It’s a great journey that packs in so many different environments. We loved that.

This Coast-to-Coast trip takes passengers from serene island beaches to African savannah. You travel from scorching deserts to freezing cold mountaintops. You venture from swampy deltas into vast arid sand dunes. The variety of landscapes that this two-month itinerary covers is astonishing.

While there are more direct (and arguably less interesting) routes to overland across southern Africa, Oasis racks up a total of 6,900 miles (11,100 kilometers) traveling from Nairobi to Cape Town.

This Nairobi to Cape Town adventure travels through eight countries:

• Kenya,
• Tanzania
• Malawi,
• Mozambique,
• Zimbabwe,
• Botswana,
• Namibia, and
• South Africa

For us, highlights along this route included:

• Watching the Great Migration in Ngorongoro Crater
• Hiking around the base of Kilimanjaro
• Enjoying the beaches and marine life on the island of Zanzibar
• Tracking a wild rhino and coming face-to-face with it in Zimbabwe
• Flying above Victoria Falls and hanging over it!
• Taking a river safari past hundreds of elephants in Botswana’s Chobe Nat’l Park
• Floating past hippos in a traditional dug-out canoe in the Okavango Delta
• Being dazzled by the nighttime wildlife at one of Etosha’s waterholes
• Riding over Namibia’s vast sand dunes on fat tire bikes
• Trying to decide what was more beautiful in Stellenbosch, the wine or the views

And that’s just a few of many personal highlights along the route. For a complete itinerary, you can visit the Oasis Overland website.

During our overland journey across Africa, we noticed that there were a handful of other Africa overland tour companies that also ran trips from Nairobi to Cape Town, or some portion thereof. While many aspects of their overland tour itinerary seemed similar, there are some notable differences in the Oasis Overland itinerary that we feel compelled to point out in this review.

This 56-Day Overland Trip Across Africa Really Three Trips in One

Many people simply don’t have the time to take two full months off work to roam around Africa. We found out that this 56-day Coast to Coast itinerary actually forms the combination of three shorter Oasis Overland trips. Most passengers on our truck did these shorter segments and not the entire 56 days. Only one other person during our trip did the entire Coast to Coast journey. We picked up and dropped off travelers along the way in Harare and in Victoria Falls.

The first major segment during this overland trip across Africa is 22 days long, venturing from Nairobi to Harare. This journey, known as Savanna Dawn, covers Tanzania (Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Kilimanjaro base, Zanzibar, etc.), Malawi, briefly transits through Mozambique and then ends in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The middle segment of the 56-day journey is 12 days long traversing across Zimbabwe. This section is unique to Oasis Overland, as we’re not aware of any other Africa overland tours that spend this much time in Zimbabwe.

The itinerary of this route goes to the Chimanimani Mountains, the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a renowned wildlife park (Antelope Park), Matobo National Park (rhino trekking), and then concludes in Victoria Falls. This 12-day segment from Harare to Victoria Falls actually is not something you book by itself. Rather, this forms a longer 34-day version of the Savanna Dawn trip, extending it to Victoria Falls. This 12-day portion through Zimbabwe also serves as an extension to the final segment, adding 12 days on the front end of the Victoria Falls to Cape Town overland itinerary.

The Victoria Falls to Cape Town trip, known as Deltas & Dunes, takes in Victoria Falls, Botswana (Chobe and Okavango Delta), and Namibia (Etosha, Cheetah Farm, Spitzkoppe, Swakopmund, Namib Desert, Fish River Canyon), before winding down in South Africa’s wine region of Stellenbosch and concluding in Cape Town.

Don’t Miss Maasai Mara

While many other overland trips visit Kenya’s famed Maasai Mara, Oasis Overland does not. And it’s important to understand this because Maasai Mara should not be missed, particularly if during the Great Migration. But Oasis does offer Maasai Mara as an add-on before the 56-day Coast to Coast journey. It is easy to book this side trip independently or directly through Oasis Overland.

At first, we were disappointed the Maasai Mara excursion wasn’t part of our overland tour across Africa. In actuality, it may have been better this way.

Maasai Mara is one of the few national parks in Africa in which safari guides aren’t required to stay on dirt roads. Therefore, you can often get nice and close to wildlife scenes that are unfolding.

Meanwhile, the big overland trucks that include Maasai Mara aren’t able to get off the path as the smaller safari vehicles can. Plus at $300 for an all-inclusive 3-day safari inside this incredible game park, it’s one of the best safari values out there that you can book.

So in retrospect, we preferred experiencing Maasai Mara separately, and in a smaller safari vehicle.

But whether part of an overland tour or not, we highly recommend going out to the Mara. This amazing game park amazed us with arguably the best wildlife viewing throughout our 3+ month-long journey across Africa. Again, don’t miss the Maasai Mara!

Oasis Overland Travels at a Pleasantly Slower Pace

During our trip, we noticed that Oasis Overland spent more time in the many locations visited compared to the other overland trucks on similar overland itineraries across Africa.

For example, with Oasis Overland, we were fortunate to be able to enjoy four full days and four nights in the island paradise of Zanzibar. Other Nairobi to Cape Town overland itineraries whiz by the island in three days, or even a quick two-night stay.

With Oasis Overland, we stayed two nights on Lake Malawi’s Chitimba. While there, we were astonished to find another overland truck roll up at 10 pm at night, only to leave before we even ate breakfast the very next morning. I don’t think they even got a chance to see Lake Malawi in the daylight while they were there.

Meanwhile, since we spent two nights in Chitimba, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to go on a great all-day hike to the colonial hilltop town of Livinsgtonia and see the incredible waterfalls that surrounded it.

It seemed like many other overland Africa itineraries are filled with one-night stays, which doesn’t give you a chance to do any full-day activities in these incredible places you’ve traveled so far to visit.

Only Dipping Into Zambia

Zambia is not a big part of the Oasis Overland itinerary, as it is included in some other Nairobi to Cape Town overland routes across Africa. Some of the overland trucks spend a few days in Zambia visiting South Luangwa or Lake Kariba.

Oasis Overland gives passengers a chance to dip into Zambia while in Victoria Falls, but that’s about as much of the country as you’ll see. Yet instead of driving through Zambia, Oasis Overland is the only Nairobi to Cape Town overland truck (we’re aware of) that ventures into Mozambique and then spends some significant time in the intriguing country of Zimbabwe.

Extensive Time in Zimbabwe for Awesome Explorations!

Oasis Overland spends nearly two weeks exploring the fascinating country of Zimbabwe. Other overland tours across Africa skip Zimbabwe altogether, aside from Victoria Falls. Yet a few others may spend just a couple of days scooting into the northwestern corner of Zimbabwe to check out Matobo National Park.

Oasis Overland begins the 12-day Zimbabwe journey by visiting the country’s interesting capital, Harare. Then Oasis Overland is also the only overland tour in Africa, to our knowledge, that ventures into the remote Chimanimani National Park in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands.

Another highlight of Oasis Overland in Zimbabwe was the UNESCO-listed Great Zimbabwe Ruins, which is the greatest medieval city south of the Sahara Desert. This Zimbabwe itinerary also includes a 3-night stay at Antelope Park wildlife park to get up close with lions.

Oasis Overland then visits Matobo National Park where you can go on a trekking safari to track wild rhinos! The Zimbabwe adventure is all tied-together by ditching the Oasis Overland truck to take an overnight train ride to Victoria Falls where subsequent adventure ensues at one of the world’s largest waterfalls.

We hadn’t really considered spending much time in Zimbabwe during our overland trip across Africa, but we were so glad that Oasis Overland showed us how awesome the country is. Now, we can’t imagine bypassing Zimbabwe during an overland trip across Africa.

Just check out our Zimbabwe video highlights below. Hopefully, that will help to show why Zimbabwe is so incredible.

Oasis Overland Allows Flexibility to Their Itinerary Across Africa

With Oasis Overland, the tour leaders have some flexibility to alter the itinerary. Most other overland tours across Africa stick to a strict schedule that is set by their corporate office.

A stringent itinerary does have its benefits, as you know exactly what you’re getting into. But it’s also nice to have the flexibility to alter plans based on seasonal events or passengers’ interests.

We usually travel independently, and not on a tour. So we loved being able to have a say in altering the itinerary if we wanted to venture elsewhere along the way.

A tour leader told us that when she first took an Oasis Overland trip across Africa as a passenger, she and her fellow passengers really wanted to explore Namibia’s Skeleton Coast. As a result, they changed the itinerary to do that. Another tour leader told us how she once made a slight detour to take passengers to a local music festival in Zimbabwe she had learned about.

During our trip, we made an unscheduled stop at a tea plantation in Tanzania to help break apart a long stretch of driving that was caused by road construction. On another stretch, we made an unscheduled stop in Botswana’s Kalahari Desert where local San people taught us how they foraged for food. How cool!

Was Overlanding Across Africa Safe?

We received a lot of questions about safety during our Oasis Overland Coast to Coast trip. Overall, we did feel safe the entire time. We further found Africa to generally be way safer than our preconceived notions.

People, Crime, Safety, and Annoyances Traveling Overland Across Africa

Local people throughout Africa were usually super friendly. As we drove across the African countryside, people tended to greet us with wide smiles and big waves. We felt like celebrities at times. In some more remote areas that we toured, people would even come up to us asking to take pictures with us!

Touts were surprisingly at a minimum compared to other places in the world that we’ve traveled to. There were only a few harmless hawkers in Victoria Falls and also some persistent but very friendly woodworkers in Malawi.

The rural settings we frequented felt very safe. As for the cities in southern Africa, we found that you simply needed to take the same precautions as you would in most other cities around the world. In the handful of larger cities that we stopped at, it seemed that petty crimes like pickpocketing were a real threat. Yet even that threat appeared to be minimal. Thankfully, pickpocketing never occurred to anyone on our trip.

Camping was usually within private, fenced-off campsites and no one ever bothered us. While bush camping, we were usually the only people around for miles and miles, so there was never any safety threat from anyone there either.

Meanwhile, in small villages across Africa, we always easily made friends.

Staying Safe from Dangerous Wildlife While Overlanding Across Africa

So how did we keep safe from being trampled by a stampede of elephants or mauled to death by a wild lion?

First, you have to understand that in many of the campsites we stayed in with Oasis Overland, there simply wasn’t any dangerous wildlife nearby. Not all of Africa is covered with hungry leopards on the hunt. These are rare sightings, usually within National Parks. So often there was no threat of wildlife near where we camped.

In campsites where wildlife did pose a threat, the campgrounds use fencing to ensure campers’ safety. These campsites are completely enclosed by a fence so no big animals can find their way in.

Still, there were those few occasions bush camping in which there was a real, but very unlikely, threat that an unsuspecting guest could have paid us a visit. While camping in the Okavango Delta, we noticed some relatively fresh elephant dung on the island we camped at and later saw an elephant in the waters nearby. A guide kept watch here to ensure an elephant wouldn’t wander into our camp, creating destruction.

Usually, the biggest wildlife threats were monkeys and baboons. And we did have a few visits from the occasional primate foraging for food, which made it important to keep anything edible locked up.

During game drives, you’re in a secure vehicle, which really minimizes your threat from wildlife unless you have the desire to reach out the window to pet a lion (don’t do that).

There are some rare opportunities to take a walking safari excursion, such as in Zimbabwe’s Matobo National Park. In these instances, the ranger is armed should a wild rhino charge at you.

Keeping Valuables Safe during the Oasis Overland Tour Across Africa

There was a great system in place that kept passports, cash, and any small valuables totally safe.

We feel that we’d be doing future Oasis Overland passengers a disservice if we were to reveal the system in this blog post. So I’ll only say that we felt entirely comfortable with how this was handled. Any valuables are kept completely safe and secure.

Safety while Overlanding: Road Conditions Across Africa

Road conditions varied across Africa but most of the time we traveled on paved two-lane highways. Roads were in mostly good condition and felt safe. In Namibia, we began to hit rougher corrugated dirt roads, which just made for a slower and bumpier ride, rather than posing any danger.

There typically were few other vehicles and virtually no traffic on the road, aside from when traveling through Tanzania’s busy capital, Dar es Salaam.

The truck was equipped with seatbelts that were always encouraged, but almost never used.

Riding On The Oasis Overland Truck

When taking an overland trip across Africa, it’s really important to choose an Africa overland tour company with a good truck. Passengers spend countless hours in these machines traveling across Africa. So it’s important to understand what you’re getting yourself into.

Overall, we loved Josie. That was the name of our truck. Yes, she’s got a name. And we got to know Josie very well over the 56 days. We even miss her today.

Oasis Overland uses these big custom-built yellow trucks:

Oasis Overland’s Truck Configuration Is Very Different

One of our biggest hesitations in booking with Oasis was the truck configuration. The inside of the Oasis truck is different from most overland trucks because the seats face inward, running alongside the big side windows.

We worried that we would get car sick. The configuration simply didn’t make sense to us because your back is facing the window. Most all other overland trucks are set up in a typical bus fashion, with seats facing forward.

As it turns out, the sideways seats on the Oasis trucks were actually one of the things we ultimately liked best. We now understand all the benefits of the Oasis truck configuration and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Although your back is facing one side window, you get the benefit of gazing out into the window across the truck. You’re essentially forced to be looking out the window in front of you.

Just sit back and watch the sights of Africa pass you by. If there’s something interesting on your side of the truck, you can simply turn around. We loved waving to all the children greeting us on the side of the road just as much as the occasional wildlife sightings.

We found the side-facing seats to actually be better than the forward-facing seats we’ve been accustomed to when traveling on buses. We never got carsick even once during the journey, which is a testament to the trucks because Heather usually gets motion sickness very easily.

And with Oasis Overland trucks, everybody gets a window seat! So there’s never a need to fight for a coveted window seat to greet locals or spot wildlife.

But during long travel days and after a late night, sometimes you just want to lay down and take a nap. Given the fact that the Oasis truck seats are one big line down the side of the truck, you can easily lay across four seats and get some solid rest. Unlike other truck configurations, there’s no seat in front of you ever. So go ahead and stretch out your legs!

The Oasis Overland Truck Has a Bed With a Sunroof …and It’s Awesome!

Perhaps the best feature of the Oasis Overland truck is in the front, which was called “the beach.”

This was an area of the truck that has a big sunroof that opens up and allows passengers to tan under the Africa sun if they wish. Hence it is referred to as “the beach.” The beach also sports a comfy bed with pillows, making it a great place to nap during those early mornings overlanding across Africa.

Yet the beach was best used during game drives. It provides a birds-eye view to spot all the wildlife down below and towards the horizon. It can be important to stake out a spot on the beach early because this is a piece of truck real estate that is always in high demand!

Storage on the Oasis Overland Truck

Storage for luggage was inside the truck and under a designated seat. We brought an absurd amount of luggage that we were able to fit with no problem. It also was convenient to have access to all your personal belongings while riding on the truck. Meanwhile, tents, water jugs, cooking supplies, and other camp gear are stored in locked compartments on the outside.

The truck was equipped with a stereo that had four speakers so you could connect to your phone to play your tunes. Each speaker could be manually turned off if you were trying to sleep or didn’t like the music. The truck also had a small library with travel books about Africa and a hodgepodge of other books.

A Few Missing Features with Oasis Overland That Weren’t Missed

A few features missing from the Oasis trucks that you can sometimes find on some other overland trucks were:

• wifi,
• airconditioning, and
• a refrigerator.

You can find some of these things on other Africa overland tours that are priced much higher than Oasis Overland. We were happy to go without them and pay far less.

For the Internet, we bought cheap SIM cards for our smartphone and also used the campsite wifi to stay connected along the way. So we didn’t miss having wifi on the truck. Besides, if you’ve traveled all the way to Africa, you should be using your time to enjoy the scenery you’re traveling through or bonding with your fellow passengers; not scrolling across your Facebook feed.

As for refrigeration, we had three coolers (or “eskies” for our British friends) which were filled with ice that the tour leader occasionally purchased. These coolers kept our meat, and perhaps more importantly, our beers, cold. They also made for makeshift tables on the truck to play games with the people in the seats across from you.

The truck isn’t equipped with air conditioning, as air conditioning was not at all needed. Throw away your preconceived notions of a sweltering hot Africa. The weather in most places from Nairobi to Cape Town was downright frigid. We actually wore jackets on the truck most days and would plead to keep the windows up during particularly cold mornings.

Oasis Overland Truck Condition and Maintenance

The Oasis Overland truck was in great condition overall and never broke down or had any problems during the 56-day Coast to Coast trip from Nairobi to Cape Town.

Whenever stopped, our driver was constantly working on the truck and doing a series of preventative maintenance to help ensure this. Meanwhile, keeping the truck clean was mostly the responsibility of Oasis Overland passengers. But it did get a thorough cleaning by a professional cleaning crew twice during the two-month overland trip across Africa.

Passing Time During Long Travel Days with Oasis Overland

Travel distances varied throughout this overland Africa tour, from as little as two hours between destinations to the longest drive time being 12 hours. Typically, it was somewhere in between those two extremes. A 4-8 hour drive during any given transit day was fairly normal during this overland tour across Africa.

So what do you do while riding on the truck all day? Looking out the windows and watching Africa go by was our favorite pastime. People often read books, napped, and chatted too.

We occasionally played games to help keep each other entertained. Perhaps the most fun was having a “truck party” a few times during the trip. Music was cranked up and booze was flowing. Good times!

Using the Bathroom During the Oasis Overland 56-Day Coast to Coast Trip

So what happens for all those times when you’ve got to go during this two-month overland tour across Africa? At all campsites that we stayed at there were toilets. Most campsites had proper flush toilets and a couple of others had pit toilets. Almost always, toilet paper was provided. But it certainly never hurt to have a roll stashed on the truck for the few instances when there wasn’t any.

At bush camps during the 56-day journey, we used what we affectionately called the “bushy-bushy.” This involved digging a hole with a shovel, squatting down to do your business, and then covering it up.

During travel days, periodic stops were made at petrol stations, which usually had flush toilets, in varying conditions. Otherwise, passengers could ring the bell on the truck to signal to the driver that you had to go, a very regular occasion for those with small bladders.

In this case, the driver pulls over on the side of the road where you could then pursue a “bush wee.” Alternatively, the “bushy-bushy” method was used if you had to go #2 during this time. But that was rarely pursued in favor of waiting for a petrol station. Hand sanitizer was always available on the truck after these inevitable pit stops.

Eating Across Africa

Eating across Africa with Oasis Overland was quite a fun affair! Sometimes we ate at local joints and occasionally the campgrounds would provide meals for us.

Yet for most meals with Oasis Overland, we shopped at local markets and cooked our meals across Africa!

African Cuisine and Dining Out Across the Continent

We really enjoyed eating at local places, which were often included as part of the Oasis Overland tour cost. There were also opportunities, usually when in cities, to eat local meals in restaurants that were covered at our own expense.

The local cuisine across Africa was pretty good and varied from country to country. Stews were the most common dish, typically served with a thick cornmeal porridge known as pap, ugali, or sadza (depending on what country you’re in). Rice could often be substituted. The ubiquitous side items were cooked greens of some sort.

As for mains, beef and chicken dishes were common. Fried chicken, in particular, seemed to make an appearance on just about every menu.

As we traveled through Botswana and Namibia, the presence of game meats became more frequent. Various types of antelopes were often available as stews, steaks, or German-style schnitzel.

We don’t typically care for the tastes of gamey meats but we found antelope such as kudu, oryx, and impalas to be very tasty and not carry that gamey taste. We found warthog to be a particularly delicious choice of meat that was tender, sweet, and didn’t taste like pork.

Seafood became prevalent on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In Zanzibar, seafood dishes were heavily spiced and influenced by traders passing through from India, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Some of the best meals we ate in Africa were this Zanzibar cuisine.

Meanwhile, in Namibia on the Atlantic coast, the German influence on food was easily spotted with its many schnitzels, bakeries, and even the presence of spaetzle as a common side item.

Cooking Groups with Oasis Overland

There are no chefs that come along as part of the Oasis Overland tour across Africa. Other, more expensive, overland tour companies do provide a chef for the passengers. Yet this comes with a very significant added cost to those tours.

During Oasis Overland Africa tours, it’s the passengers themselves who are responsible for accomplishing the task of cooking dinner while at camp. This greatly helps to keep Oasis Overland’s prices as low as they are. But it’s also just a fun challenge to attempt to whip up a good-tasting meal from a varying supply of local African food supplies, collaborating with other fellow passengers.

While it may seem like a daunting experience, most camp dinners turned out very well. It was fun to put our culinary skills to the test in outdoor “kitchens” in the middle of Africa!

How it all works is an Oasis Overland tour leader randomly assigns “cooking groups” that usually consisted of about three people. They’re tasked to procure the food and then cook the night’s meal. Your group’s night to cook is scheduled on a rotating basis so that you will end up cooking about once each week. Dinner is covered on the other nights by other cook groups or going out to eat. During the entire 56-day trip we each were on cooking duty for a total of eight dinners.

The Oasis Overland truck was fully stocked with so many cooking supplies containing basics like pots & pans to more obscure utensils like a big cast iron cauldron and a rolling pin. Oasis Overland even provided a well-stocked spice rack to really jazz up meals.

Those assigned to cook dinner are also responsible for providing breakfast and lunch on the following day unless a fast-food stop or supermarket visit is planned. And while cooking was done by the assigned cook group, cleaning was always an effort for everyone to chip in on.

Shopping at Local Markets across Africa

To gather supplies for each cooking night, the Oasis Overland truck makes planned stops at both local markets and supermarkets for passengers to gather the belongings necessary for each group meal.

In Tanzania and into Malawi we shopped mostly at local markets, which provided a fun cultural experience to procure cooking supplies. It was great to interact directly with the locals to pick up some fantastic and fresh produce.

Money is allocated to passengers, provided by the tour leader to do these shops. Usually, passengers were given about $30 to procure all the food supplies. This amount varied based on the country, the number of people, and the number of meals.

We never thought that $30 would be enough to gather enough food to feed over a dozen people. Yet during our first shop, we were surprised to have only spent about $20!

Prices at the local markets were usually very good but you could almost always stretch the food budget further by negotiating the price down, which was typically easy to do considering you’re often buying in bulk.

As we got to Zimbabwe and beyond, traditional supermarkets were more of the norm for food shopping, rather than local markets. There were some surprisingly great supermarkets too! One chain we frequented called “Food Lovers” was essentially the African equivalent to Whole Foods. You could find ultra-high quality food here to allow you to get creative in the kitchen, and just to pick up some fun snacks for yourself.

Breakfast while Overlanding Across Africa

Breakfast was usually a no-fuss affair, given the many early morning starts. Most often we simply ate a bowl of cereal with coffee or tea.

Occasionally we’d make toast with toppings like tomato and avocado, or baked beans. Sometimes we’d have the foresight to cook hard-boiled eggs the night prior, which would add some protein to the breakfast the next day. Every once in a while, when time permitted, we’d cook up a proper breakfast like french toast or scrambled eggs & fried potatoes.

Oasis Overland Lunches

Lunchtime usually coincided with an excursion or traveling in the truck. In these instances, we simply pulled off on the side of the road to chow on something that was prepared the night before. Pasta salads and cold rice dishes proved the most common. In other instances, sandwich makings were a go-to.

Yet about half of the time, we stopped for a fast food meal or a grocery store lunch, which was at our own expense. For supermarket lunches, common selections included a sandwich or grilled/fried chicken. Fast food options usually consisted of fried chicken, grilled chicken, pizza, or fish & chips.

Camp Dinners Overland Across Africa

Camp dinners were all over the board. It really depended on who was cooking and what supplies were stocked. Curries were a popular meal to cook among our British friends, as were bangers & mash. Cheeseburgers on the grill became my go-to meal when it was my turn.

Meanwhile, chili was one of our favorite dishes made and was a big hit on those cold nights. Pasta dishes, rice stir-fries, chicken casserole, and hearty stews were other fairly easy camp meals that often made it onto our bowls and plates.

There were camp recipe books on the truck to browse through and get some culinary inspiration. But usually, someone on the cook group had a meal idea to offer up. Most meals turned out great!

Passengers & Crew Traveling With Oasis Overland

When traveling overland across Africa, it’s nice to know who you’re traveling with. Fellow travelers can help to make or break any trip.

While any Africa overland trip will undoubtedly have a different composition of passengers and crew, we wanted to give some idea of what can be expected.

Oasis Overland Crew

There is a two-person team on each Oasis Overland Africa tour to help ensure everything goes smoothly:

• one driver and
• one tour leader.

We really enjoyed the crew on our trip and thought they did an excellent job.

The Oasis Overland driver does exactly what you’d expect. He’s responsible for getting you to all those incredible destinations while you sit back and enjoy the ride.

But it doesn’t end there. The driver also doubles as a trained mechanic who is constantly doing preventative maintenance to the truck and is ready to fix any problems that may arise.

Meanwhile, the tour leader takes care of all the day-to-day logistics by planning your itinerary, making all accommodation arrangements, and connecting you with the many excursions in each destination.

The tour leader is not a tour guide that provides detailed information about the wildlife or filling you in on things like the politics in Zimbabwe. Our tour leader actually did provide us with some fascinating insight into the political climate of Zimbabwe, but really, that was just a bonus as this is not part of their job. The tour leader is there to coordinate, organize, and lead each Oasis Overland trip across Africa.

As you might imagine, it takes special people to drive and lead these overland trips. Our Oasis crew was great. They weren’t just drivers and tour leaders. They became friends to have a beer and a laugh with at the end of the day.

Passengers Traveling With Oasis Overland Coast to Coast

One of the aspects that drew us towards Oasis Overland was that it seemed very inclusive of all ages. Other Africa overland tour companies cater exclusively to a young demographic. One of the trucks we had considered even states on their website that the trip is designed for 18-34 year-olds.

We both celebrated our 35^th birthdays during this overland Africa trip, so that left us feeling a little uneasy about partaking in an overland tour marketed exclusively to travelers below that age threshold.

But during our Oasis Overland trip, ages ran from young twenty-somethings to sixties. During one segment of our trip, there was literally at least one person representing each decade (ages: 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s). We loved that.

Still, ages on our trip did skew more towards the younger end, but everyone on the trip was completely young at heart.

Speaking of the mix, we also had a nice mix of nationalities on our trip, varying from us Americans to Turkish and Korean. Oasis Overland is based in the UK, hence Brits are the most common nationality of passengers.

Aussies and Kiwis seem to be fairly frequent passengers too. Americans were actually a rare breed for Oasis Overland, as we were the only passengers from the US on our trip. The tour leader said we were the first Americans that have joined her during two years of leading these Africa trips!

Despite varying ages and nationalities, there was one common trait that seemed to be shared by all Oasis Overland travelers: a passion for travel & adventure. This was the common ground that everyone could bond over.

And you most definitely do bond. You’re camping together, cooking together, traveling long distances in tight quarters together, and often drinking lots of alcohol together. This is a recipe connecting. We felt we made some lasting friendships during the trip with people that we most definitely hope to see again!

So What Does the Oasis Overland Coast to Coast Trip Cost?

There are a lot of different costs factored into this trip. Here are the major costs in a nutshell:

First, these are the mandatory costs before your trip begins:

• £1,395 ($1,770 at today’s rate) paid by bank card or credit card before the trip
• $725 USD paid to the tour leader upon arrival in Nairobi

= $2,495 trip cost for two months from Nairobi to Cape Town

This breaks down to about $45 per day, or $312 each week. Considering this covers your entire transportation across Africa, most meals, camping, and even a handful of included excursions – we find this to be an absolutely amazing travel bargain.

But you’re still left with additional costs that you need to be aware of. Passengers cover about 40% of your meal expenses on your own. It doesn’t add up to much.

The biggest added expenses were the pricey once-in-a-lifetime excursions to splurge on. Adventures like Serengeti safaris in Tanzania and Devil’s Pool Victoria Falls each came with some significant costs.

Finally, you needed to budget for Visa expenses when crossing borders. This all broke down as followed, but would vary by passenger.

• Optional Excursions: $1,144
• Meals on our expense: $311
• Visa costs: $242

=$4,192

Combined with the upfront trip costs, this made for a grand total of $4,192 per person for the entire two-month trip.

There are some additional expenses to budget for too that aren’t accounted for in the categories above. Do know that most passengers will likely need to budget for the expense of gear and medicine/vaccinations before the trip. Additionally, passengers will likely spend on alcohol, souvenirs, snacks, and wifi/data during the trip.

For what amounts to just over $2,000 total per month, we found the Oasis Overland Coast to Coast trip to deliver exceptional value for all that is covered.

So a grand total of about $75 per day, or $525 each week, took us to witness the Great Migration in Tanzania, hiking at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, snorkeling coral reefs in Zanzibar, hanging off the side of Victoria Falls, on a riverboat safari with hundreds of elephants in Botswana, cycling down sand dunes in Namibia, wine tasting through South Africa’s vineyards, and so much more!

Travel Tips To Know for an Overland Africa Tour:

During our Oasis Overland tour across Africa, we spent some of those long drives discussing with other passengers some of the best travel tips we would pass on an overland tour across Africa.

⏰ Be considerate and on time. When there are set times to depart by in the morning, ensure you give yourself enough time to pack up the tent, make coffee, eat breakfast, use the bathroom, or whatever else you may want to do. It can be discourteous to make other passengers wait for you.

☕ Bring a portable coffee mug. This is invaluable advice for coffee drinkers and caffeine addicts. Breakfast is often a rushed affair in order to quickly get on the road. A portable coffee mug will save you much time to make a big cup of coffee that you can then sip on from the truck. Otherwise, you’ll have to slam a hot cuppa before departing.

🩲 Bring more underwear. Jeans and other clothes can be worn again and again between washes. But underwear cannot. Everyone had wished they brought more underwear. Pack extra. Socks too.

🧤 Help with washing. After a long day, chipping in to help with the dishes can feel like quite a chore. But such efforts will be much appreciated and will help the task get done faster.

🧹 Keep a clean truck. It’s the passenger’s responsibility to keep the truck clean and it can easily get neglected when on such an exciting adventure. Make some effort every few days to keep it clean, as you’ll be spending much time in its confines.

👕 Pack old stuff. It’s nice not having to worry about expensive, new belongings. Also, you can donate or barter with clothes and other personal items you may not need anymore. This also helps to free up space in your packs for souvenirs.

🤯 Keep an open mind. Experiencing other cultures and traditions while traveling across Africa can feel different, be eye-opening, and sometimes even uncomfortable. Keep an open mind with cross-cultural encounters.

💇 Get a haircut before the trip. Salons and barbershops will be far & few between. Also, many places may not be equipped to cut your hair. Get a fresh cut before the overland tour so that it will last a lengthy trip.

💬 Learn the basics of each local language. Even in African countries that speak some English, learn how to say a few basics like “hello” and “thank you.” It can be appreciated and is usually received very well.

💦 Stay hydrated. Sometimes when it’s cooler out, you may not realize how dehydrating Africa can be. Combine that with an increase in walking, alcohol, and altitude, and it all helps to dehydrate passengers. Drink lots of water. It’s provided by Oasis Overland.

🏋️ Consider physical excursions to stay fit. Most people on an overland Africa tour actually end up gaining weight! You eat quite well. To help counter this, consider excursions that include hiking, rowing, swimming, and other physical activities that go beyond simply sitting in a safari vehicle.

📷 Have a good camera & maintain it. These are once-in-a-lifetime photos. But mobile phones don’t have proper zoom. So consider bringing a camera with a mega zoom. If it has detachable lenses, be sure to have a method to keep the lens clean amidst Africa’s dust.

🤫 Be quiet in/near tents. It’s easy to forget how easily sound travels through tents. People retreat there to, sleep, rest, read, and relax. So go elsewhere to have conversations.

😴 Snorers move away if possible. For those that snore, we know you can’t help it. But it can really be loud for other campers. So if you know you snore, simply move your tent away from others, when setting up.

🚧 Don’t pee on the electric fence. Many electric fences are set up to keep wildlife out of camp or for livestock to remain in place. Be careful! Peeing on it can have shocking consequences.

🧻 Carry some toilet paper with you. You never know when nature may call. Come prepared with a wad of TP, just in case.

🤝 Haggle, but not too much. At local food markets and souvenir stands, it can be customary to bargain down the price. Do so to get a fair price. But also put things into perspective and don’t go too low. Sometimes we saw haggling down trying to talk some produce down to what amounts to a half-cent. Trust us, they need that half-penny more than you. Don’t be that cheap.

💰 Budget for activities. There are so many awesome yet expensive excursions to consider during an overland trip across Africa. Ensure that you have funds for these additional safaris and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

💸 Bring more money. The overland budget in this post is just an example of costs. You’ll likely need more money if you don’t want to miss out. Money seems to go quickly when you’re having fun. Also, costs may have risen, and/or currency fluctuations may have occurred from our late-2016 trip.

💵 Tip for tour guides and wait staff. It’s customary to tip tour guides and to tip waitstaff throughout southern Africa. Be sure to budget for this and tip people accordingly. Even the Oasis Overland crew will be very appreciative of tips.

🌤️ Pack for the weather. Sunglasses and hats can be a good idea. But it can get cold during this overland itinerary. Be sure to research the weather conditions in the various places being traveled to during the time of year visiting.

📰 Read up on current events. It’s good to have some background on the political situation, recent news, and other current events going on in the countries being visited. Do a bit of research to inform yourself before the trip.

🦟 Figure out a Malaria medication. We’re not in the medical field, so we feel ill-equipped to provide medical advice on this subject. Yet it’s important to read up on the different malaria prevention options and choose accordingly. Much of this overland Africa itinerary is within malaria zones and mosquitos are encountered. So consult a medical professional to figure out which anti-malarial may be best for you. Also, take precautions to avoid mosquito bites altogether.

⚠️ Get travel insurance. Travel insurance is not a suggestion. It’s a requirement for Oasis Overland and most all Overland Africa trips. It can help with unexpected medical expenses, emergency evacuation, accidents, sickness, theft, and so much more. We use World Nomads, with what we’ve found to have the best price and coverage combination. Enter the dates for your trip to get a quick estimate.

Oasis Overland Africa Review & Recommendation

If you haven’t already noticed, we loved our Oasis Overland Coast to Coast overland trip across Africa, so we most definitely recommend the journey! For those who want to cover a lot of Africa but not spend a fortune doing it, this is the trip to take.

The truck is great. We really liked our crew. The campgrounds were astonishingly nice. And we absolutely adored the experiences of a lifetime that were encountered during the Nairobi to Cape Town itinerary across southern Africa. We wholeheartedly give Oasis Overland a great review!

But make no mistake about it, Oasis Overland is unabashedly a budget travel trip.

This is not a sit-back-and-relax vacation. It is a rugged overland trip across Africa, not a luxury safari. Instead, you’ll be camping and cooking meals. This style of travel was not only fun, but it’s what helps tremendously at keeping the costs down to make this what we think to be one of the best travel values we’ve ever experienced.

That said, an Oasis Overland Africa tour is just not for everyone. Passengers must be prepared to help out around camp and get a little dirty.

Overall, this trip was such an incredible experience. From nervously watching a lion prowling around our safari jeep during one of our first game drives in Tanzania to sipping on bubbly in a South African vineyard, this journey packs it all in. It’s this huge variety of experiences that really left us in awe. Every day is an entirely different adventure to embark on that delivers an endless assortment of surprises.

Any overland Africa trip is truly a trip of a lifetime! And Oasis Overland certainly proved that for us. It remains high among our favorite travel adventures during our many years of roaming around the world. We can only hope to one day get back on a big yellow truck to traverse more of Africa’s open roads!