Your guide to crossing Africa in your own vehicle. We drove the route ourselves and wrote down what we actually needed along the way.
Driven 2025/2026 · 23,000 km · 21 countries · 140 days
Getting your head ready, choosing a vehicle and setting it up, documents, visas, insurance, budget and health. Step by step, until you are ready to leave.
How borders actually work, where things stand on safety, and what daily life on the road looks like, from the shopping to the garage.
All 16 countries of the west route, one by one: borders, visa, route, camp spots, and the things we only learned once we were there.
What we underestimated, what we overestimated, and what we would do differently next time.
The whole section for anyone driving with a dog, as we did: entry rules, health, daily life and the flight home.
In the appendix: Visa overview · Shopping list with product recommendations · Packing list to tick off · Fiche template · Nigeria itinerary template
Maybe you already have a vehicle and a rough route, and you want to know what actually awaits you.
You are still wondering whether a trip like this is feasible at all. It is.
Then you will find things here that are written down almost nowhere else.
Even if you never drive it yourself, this is how a trip like this really goes.
Things change quickly on this route, we know that. Two things still speak for this guide. We have only just come back, so the information is as fresh as it gets anywhere. And most of it, how borders run, how daily life works, what the route is really like, stays the same over the years. Updates are free.
PDF · Instant download · VAT included where it applies
Updates included: buyers get new versions free of charge.
Our guarantee: if the guide does not help you, write to us within 30 days and you get your money back. No reasons needed, no discussion.
A PDF, ready to download the moment you buy. You can read it on a phone, a tablet or a laptop, and offline on the road, which is where you will need it.
The west route from Europe to Cape Town, currently the only realistic Trans Africa route. We explain why in the journal, in the article on the west route.
The guide is based on our own drive from December 2025 to April 2026. It does not get fresher than that.
Once a digital file has been downloaded there is normally no right of withdrawal. We give you a guarantee anyway: if the guide does not help you, write to us within 30 days of buying and you get your money back.
We are German and we travelled on German papers, so the visa table records what we paid and where we applied. The requirements differ by nationality. Everything else, the borders, the route, the vehicle, the costs and the daily life, applies whatever passport you carry.
Some things are better sorted out in conversation: your vehicle, your route, your situation. That is what our consultation is for.