I have been reading alot of posts regarding budgets for an Afica trip and it seems absurd that when doing a comparison(exchange) from euro to SA rands that the average amount that EU travelers require to tavel Africa is around R6000-R7000 per day. This almost sounds like luxurious traveling from my point(albeit that EU tavelers do not think so).
I would be keen to find out what South African travelers think about this amount and if it is unreasonable ....or NOT.
In SA rands what do you think is an feasable amount per day??

Hi,

Just to make sure that I understand you correctly: do you mean €440 to €515 euro a day? If so, that's about 10 times what many overlanders consider an average budget for all "on the road costs", including visa and fuel two people.

Cheers,

Gee

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Africa is big. Did you want to cross africa? Stay in Tunesia for 2 months and heading back?

The costs may vary from east and westroute, from visas costs, ferrys, hotel & Campsite usage and how often you eat at the restaurant. And the fuel/milage usage is important to calculate.

Food is mostly cheap when you cook by yourself - so that the ammount of time you will spent in africa - don`t will touch the costs heavily.

So the costs of a 2 or 8 month africa trip dont differs much.

If you are on job and earn money are the main costs of such a trip the "pensions loss" - because you did not earn money and pay your pension taxes. Many people dont think about that, when they plan their 2-3 Years trip.

For the west route did we spent 3800 USD for fuel (with a usage of 16.55l per 100km -diesel), 1500 USD per person for Visas (some of them with muliple entry for be able to head back and try other borders), 450 for the ferry between Spain and Marocco, and maybe 300-400 USD for misc stuff on the road like food. And then we spend 3500 USD for shipping the car home.
Also the carnet or temporary import papers will costs a small ammount of money, togehter with local insurances. We travel with carnet and international car insurance - therefore we dont had this costs (would be arround 300 USD)

The big rest is up to you, additional isurance (healing stuff/ Car), hotels who arent necessary, expensive restaurants in the capitals which arent necessary too.

Gorrilla Tracking for 600 USD, or helikopter/plane over an delta and and and - all up to you.

You will find calculations of 50 USD/day and so on, but like described - the transport & visa costs are the main part. If you travel slow you will use less per day, if you are in hurry - more per day.

So i suggest to give us more details about your travel plans - to get a better answer.



All the costs named above dont look at the costs of the car, and the equippement - there is a lot more of "up to you"

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Can't give you a daily breakdown but Mike and I travelled around southern Africa with a budget of R8,000 per month - the equivalent of our UK pension- and managed very nicely thank you !!!! We even managed a few meals (usually lunch) at restaurants / farm shops and B&B's and remained in budget. Shipping/insurance etc were all saved for and paid before we left the UK.

Apologies for misprint there Gee...it was meant to read R600-R700p/d which equates to around the euro 45-65 mark per day.

Surfy, alot of threads is mentioned in dollar and euro but bear in mind that in Africa the currency exchange differs when dealing with euro, dollar and south African rands.
I was assume that the rest of Africa currency was to say the least on par or less than south Africa, if this is so then the euro exchange would be a damn cry better than anyone traveling from Africa south. Or is it that all North, West and East Africa charge everything in euro or dollar.
When you exchange to the local currency, does that not better the perpective if coming from EU.
I am trying to make a case here of the average cost for EU traveler going through Africa as opposed to an South African traveler.

Understandably the cost of traveling has alot to with the way one has decided to "live" on the road it remains difficult to actually account for a perfect budget but in saying that I consider what is the feasibilty/legality if one runs out of capital and wants to carry on traveling. Can one sustain travel and survive by working at odd jobs as you go....

Way.of.life, R34000 per year seems vey reasonable from a South African perpective and gives some insight into my original post which had more to about average travel budget with reference to currency exchange.

Hi all,

The exchange rates for the euro against the dollar have changed a lot in the past 18 months. Considering that much of Africa is dollar-oriented, my overlanding trip will be some € 1.500,- less expensive , which compares to a month on the road.

Happy travels,

Gee

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Depends on:

- if you also include costs before you leave - which is a high percentage when you take into account the buying of your bike/car, all the equipment and stuff you buy for the trip, insurance, camera etc etc

- if you include the costs at the end of the trip - if your vehicle won't pass the safety test when you get home without spending 2,000 Euros do you include that?

- and the most obvious, what you do each day ;-) Sitting in the jungle in Gabon all day relaxing and walking around will cost you just the food you eat. But there is also a day charge for each country made up of the cost of visa/insurance/vehicle tax divide by the number of days.

The longer you travel then usually the cheaper it is, as you spend a lot more days hanging out. One day of driving in my landy and buying 3 meals could easily cost me 70 euros on fuel and food etc in Namibia for example. The next day spent sitting in a campsite would cost me 10 euros on camping fee and food i cook myself.

So you have basic costs we all face - visas, road tax, fuel, food from the market etc. Then on top of that is how you travel, hotels, game parks, restaurants, 20 s every night, mobile sim cards in every country.

The faster you travel, the more you will spend. I always try to spend my first day or two in each country by just staying put, learning some of the language, seeing what things cost etc i.e.: basic country research. This usually means I save money as I go as I have an idea of what things should cost etc.

Over 3 years I usually spent between £500 and £1,000 per month depending on various things as above. This was driving a diesel landy costing 10 litres per 100km on average and almost always camping (99% of nights).