Trans Africa Expedition: Europe to Cape Town
Twenty-one countries and the length of a continent, driven in the car off your own driveway. Four to six vehicles, 125 days, and a guide who has already done it once.
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The route
Twenty-two thousand kilometres, twenty-one countries and around 125 days, from Europe to Cape Town, driven in the traveller’s own four-wheel drive. Four to six vehicles travel together, led by Johnny with a second guide in a separate car, and the group meets for a weekend before anyone sets off. One departure is planned, in December 2027 or January 2028.
Morocco is the gentle start. The route climbs into the Atlas, finds its first off-road sand in the Sahara, then runs down the Atlantic coast through Western Sahara into Mauritania, the hardest stage of the northern half, where camps are pitched between the dunes. Senegal arrives louder and busier, the Gambia River leads inland towards chimpanzee country, and Guinea is among the least developed places on the whole route.
Ghana, Togo and Benin bring markets and coastal culture before Nigeria, which the operator calls one of the most intense stretches of the journey. Mountain tracks lead on into Cameroon. The Republic of the Congo offers gorilla and chimpanzee tracking, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo holds what the operator rates as both the hardest and the finest off-road driving of the expedition.
Angola opens out into wide savannah and empty coastline, Namibia settles into campsites, lodges and wildlife, and the road ends in Cape Town. Visas, borders, carnets and vehicle paperwork are handled by the organisers. Each vehicle carries a roadbook, GPS data and two-way radios, with Starlink where the sky allows. Around fifteen nights are spent in hotels and the rest under canvas, and the group drives five or six days a week with afternoons free. No off-road experience is needed, since the early pistes are easy and the difficulty builds. It is not, by the operator’s own description, an easy holiday.
Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
Trans Africa Expedition: Europe to Cape Town
North Africa and the Sahara
Morocco and the Atlas, the first off-road Sahara sections, then the Atlantic coast through Western Sahara into Mauritania. Sand, heat and long empty stretches, camping between the dunes.
West Africa
Senegal, louder and busier, the Gambia River inland towards chimpanzee country, then Guinea, among the least developed places on the route.
The Gulf of Guinea
Ghana, Togo and Benin for markets and coastal culture, then Nigeria, which the operator calls one of the most intense stretches of the journey.
Central Africa
Mountain tracks into Cameroon, gorilla and chimpanzee tracking in the Republic of the Congo, then DR Congo, rated by the operator as both the hardest and the finest off-road driving of the expedition.
Angola and Namibia
Wide savannah and empty coastline, then campsites, lodges and wildlife, including a Himba village visit.
South Africa
South through the last of the continent to finish in Cape Town.
What's included
- Expedition leadership by two guides in separate vehicles and daily route guidance
- planning and booking of hotels and campsites
- tours including gorilla tracking in Congo and a Himba village visit in Namibia
- a meet-the-group weekend before departure
- travel documents, packing list, photo folder and a film of the trip
- roadbook, GPS data and two-way radios
- Starlink where available and GPS tracking
- around 15 nights in international chain hotels plus campsite nights and group dinners
- help with visas, borders, vehicle paperwork and insurance
- logistics backup, spare parts and a comprehensive medical kit.
Not included
- Fuel and vehicle costs, estimated by the operator at EUR 3,000 to 4,000
- visa fees, estimated at about EUR 1,500 per person
- meals and drinks
- personal spending
- the ferry from Europe to Morocco
- the flight home and shipping the vehicle home
- travel and medical insurance, which is mandatory
- cancellation insurance, which is recommended.
Ready to drive it?
124 days, from £12,683pp
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