To tent or not to tent…
 

Planing a moto trip from Cape Town to Nairobi, starting in March 2025. Roughly 4.5 months, travelling 2 up. Should we bring camping gears? On previous trips we always did. For this one, we are not sure. Opinion?
Thx in advance. Normand

Accommodation is in South Africa quite cheap compared to Europe. There you will find lots of private accommodation, some B&B's, but usually they only rent out rooms. A good search is via "Safarinow.com". You could also check "Wheretostay,co,za".

Unfortunately this doesn't apply to Namibia. There are generally three price levels: locals pay the least, people from other African countries pay a bit more, but what visitors from oversee are charged is a rip-off. So camping is the best bet for this country.
I don't know about Botswana, but they favour high price tourism. So camping would also be the best bet here.


Hope this helps.

Personally I think it is always good to carry at least a simple small tent, especially on longer journeys. Regardless of cost of accommodation it's often good to have the option. Sometimes you can find nice places to stay for free, or paid camping, sometimes on the beach or in nature and also occasionally it is nice to sleep like this rather than staying indoors. Like this you can also stay in some villages that dont have official accommodation and you may also have an emergency situation where the bike breaks down in the middle of nowhere, so I feel like it is essential.

Not sure how to read your question.

Do you like camping? -> Then yes, it's worth bringing camping gear, because there are campsites in most places.

Is camping only your fallback option and would you prefer not to bring the gear if you don't have to? -> Then no, because there are enough cheap guest houses.

I wouldn't bring it just as a fallback option, given the limited space and weight.
Hope it helps. Good luck!