The best way to do it?

Hi,

Was just wondering if people who have travelled in Africa could give me an opinion on the best way to travel in Africa. I will be volunteering in Malawi for four months starting in January and want to travel round East/South Africa afterwards to two to three months. I'm eighteen and wouldn't be hiring a car, have travelled on an expedition in South America before and am wondering whether it would be possible to travel on my own, or if not having a car would make it difficult to visit places like national parks, or if my age might prove a problem. I'm basically trying to decide whether to go for it solo, and cross my fingers that after 4 months I will have enough knowledge of the area to do this or whether to join an overland truck trip. Any feedback would be a great help and much appreciated.

TIA,

Chlo Squires

hi.i am a kenyan living in the capital nairobi.
just get in touch and i can give more information about the east african region.

there is a bus service aimed mainly at the young international backpackers which travels just about all over south africa check out their web site on www.bazbus.co.za
other than that i have to admit the best way to get around south africa is by car because unfortunatly the public transport system is a joke.
if you would like any other info on s.a. please don't hesitate to contact me i'll try and help you out as best i can.

Tim.

Is Chlo a male or a female name/alias? If you are a male I would actually suggest that you at least do parts of your travelling by train. Train travelling is really a way of meeting locals and of seeing parts of Africa that has no other connections to the rest of the world but the railway. When I travelled by train in South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya by train in 2001 I was the only "muzunga" ("white man" on the trains Komatipoort-Maputo-Komatipoort, Livingstone-Kapiri Mposhi and Dar es Salaam-Mwanza respectively.
If you are female however I would not recommend you to travel alone at all.

I will be travelling around Tanzania and the surrounding areas March, April and May. If you are interested in travelling with another person, please let me know.

thanks, christa