The idea of doing an overland trip through Africa sounded as foreign to me as it does to you. Isn’t it dangerous? Can people speak English? What will I eat and can I drink????
My sister and I looked through the plethora of companies out there and decided that Acacia was our choice. It was honestly one of the best choices I ever made and, dollar for dollar, the best money I ever spent travelling.
Over the next few weeks i will be adding to this blog as we travel through the countries on our Desert Tracker – DTR19 tour. Today’s post includes an introduction to the truck, the camps, the food and drink, the guides, and the conditions. Here is our 1st part of our adventure:
The Truck
Our truck, called Mara, was a beauty and a beast all in one. The guides will point out to you very early that Mara is not a bus, it is a truck. You are over-landing in Africa, not on a senior citizen tour bus. The truck is fully equipped with mostly everything you need. It was really impressive to watch the truck transform daily into a fully equipped camp-site and kitchen within minutes of landing. The lockers at the back are large enough to hold your backpack, sleeping bag, and snacks you pick up along the way. There is fortunately a separate cooler for beer and other drinks. The truck is basically your second home. Everyday you will spend hours gazing through the large windows at the beautiful African scenery, dozing on the comfortable seats in the afternoon sun, or, if you are lucky, dancing on the tables at night. The truck will bring you on game drives, along the desolate dessert highways, and into bustling cities. The truck can be a quiet place to read, relax, or sleep. The truck can be a place for lively card games, excited chatter, and disco dancing.
The Camp
Every night or almost every night you will be at a different camp site – sometimes in the forest, sometimes in the desert and sometimes by a river. No matter where the campsite is located they are all beautiful and those that are in close proximity to a city and are heavily fortified. Most of the time these camp-sights are fully equipped with hot showers, bathrooms, swimming pools or a river, and of course, a bar. When the truck stops you will set up your 2 man tent which only takes a few minutes. As there are only 2 people per tent, unless things get a little crazy, there is lots of room in it. You are also provided with a mat and a tarp in case it rains. Readers beware, it can be cool at night, so proper sleeping bags in the winter are required.
There are a lot of different activities that will take place at the camp sights depending on where you are and what’s available. An activity that you will be sure to take part in is star gazing. All of us on our tour were blown away every night by the amount of stars in the sky and the clearness of the Milky Way. For most of us it was our first time in the southern hemisphere and we spent a many of nights making up our own constellations and philosophizing about the deepness and vastness of space. As our guides said, the stars are “sky news.” If you are one who gets cold easily, no worries, every night there is a warm fire, aka “bush T.V.” While staring into the flames the guides often asked us what channel we are watching on “bush T.V”.
Food & Drink
Ohhh, the food. Honestly if you think you are going to shed some pounds when you are here you have the wrong idea. Breakfast is usually pretty standard cereal and bread, but occasionally the guides will bust out the bacon and eggs and we would have a full on breakfast. Lunch could be sandwiches, leftovers made into some type of salad or a local delicacy, but dinner, dinner was where it was at! We had t-bone steak feasts, BBQ chicken, stir-fry, and spaghetti. We even attempted to try and cook some of these massive dinners ourselves. Cooking for 20 people is much harder than it looks but our group was able to pull of some amazing fish and chip, Mexican, and traditional north American fare.
The Guides
There will be two guides. One will be the driver and the other will be more like a guide. Although I cannot comment on all of the guides I can say that ours were excellent. Our driver was able to spot countless animals, including a honey badger! All the while navigating the bumpy and livestock ridden roads. Our guide was amazing. Not only was he able to provide us information about the area, the culture of the country we were in, the gestation period of the animals we saw, but he was an amazing cook, a great story teller, and a friendly yet strict time keeper. They kept us safe, in order, on time, but most importantly let loose with us at night.
Stay tuned for our next post as we travel through the countries and share some of our personal highlights.
Written and images by: Kyle & Chelsey Acierno