Showers in Africa

[kayamtom]

I am new to the forum so hello hello,

This time next year my girlfriend and me will be 2 or 3 weeks into an Overland Journey from the UK to the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. The plan is to head down the west coast and return up the east coast and back to Europe via Turkey. We hope to complete the journey in 12 to 14 months.

We are slowly getting the truck together but are now at a stage where we really need to work out and qualify what to spend our money on, and also how to lay out the vehicle's necessary additions and storage. As the £ continues to devalue our purse strings are tightening, and we need to know what things are really needed and those that are not.

So before we can decide on much more there are one or two things we could really do with finding out from anyone who has travelled around Africa.

How often will bush camping will be really feasible?
How much do we need a large water tank?
How much do we really need to fit a shower?
Given that a lot of camping may happen in campsites, missions etc. will these places have showers for campers and travelers passing through?

I guess we are just trying to work out how dependent on the vehicle, and what it carries, we need to be to keep us and our things clean. Is there some kind of rough estimate or ratio of nights camping with and without showers? For example 7 days traveling with 2 showers via other means (campsite, mission, hotel etc). If we can expect to find only 2 showers a week then fitting a shower in the truck seems like the sensible thing to do, 4 showers a week starts to feel a little different.

So, please, any advice or thoughts on showers and personal hygiene whilst overlanding will be very much appreciated.

Best Wishes

tom