Preparing your adventure - What to bring
12V Portable fridge / freezer
I would strongly recommend to bring a 12 volts portable refrigerator to any overlander traveling by car. As far as I know there are three types of car refrigeretors: thermoelectric, air-compressor and gas. Experts do not recommend gas-based refrigerators inside a car. Thermoelectric fridges are a cheap option, but do not really do it. It's better than nothing, but, I guarantee you, they will always keep you wanting more. Thermoelectric coolers draw basically as much power as air-compressor fridges/freezers, but only manage to reduce the heat 18°C (36°F) and that. let me tell you, does not do it if you will be on the road for several weeks. If the temperature outside is just 27°C (81°F). the temperature in your thermoelectric cooler will be 9°C (48°F). That everything going well. I mean, you are not constantly opening the cooler, your electric system is working flawlessly and can afford the cooler on even when parked for several hours (you have, for example, solar panels to keep your car battery alive while the alternator is not running). Home fridges keep the temperature at 4°C (40°F), so 9°C is not too bad, certainly better than no thermoelectric cooler at all. but, believe me, you will keep wishing for more. In real life, it will not be long before your perfect world will start falling apart: sun will fall on your cooler, the temperature outside will start creeping up and your food will go up.
If you want a true refrigerator you need to go for an air-compressor fridge. That will also allow you to freeze, which, believe me, will come on very handy in Africa. Now, air-compressor fridges are expensive: they go for several hundred dollars/euros. Even the really tiny ones (less than 20 liters/quarters), will cost you a couple of dollars. I am of the strong opinion they are worth the money if you are driving through mostly undeveloped countries for several weeks.
Before leaving Spain, we met Jesus one afternoon in Madrid. Jesus is a 4x4 freak, so I thought I would ask me what advice could he give me for our trip. I was expecting him to tell me about tires, batteries, engines and brakes. Instead, the first thing that came out from his mouth was to suggest I buy a good fridge. That did not impress me much, as we already had some experience with that: some years ago we drove about 80000kms (50000 miles) throughout Europe with a thermoelectric cooler. therefore, we know about thermoelectric cooler deficiencies. However, back then, I did not know there were some other kind of 12V fridges that would be more powerful. Hence, I invited Jesus to tell me more. I wanted to see if he knew more than me. He then joked I needed "a good fridge to keep my beers cold; very important!" I got then disappointed: "but I don't drink alcohol!" He explained me it would also work for Coke, but that was not the information I was hoping to get. I wanted to know if there is any technology that would allow me to keep frozen food in the car. nevertheless, Jesus' main point was valid: despite the hefty price tag, I would not regret to buy a good 12V fridge. Not to keep my beer cold, but my food and beverages. I just will he had given me more specific information on air-compressor 12V fridges/freezers.
A couple of months later we went to the dunes 60kms out of M'Hamid, in Southeastern Morroco. We had left Madrid with our thermoelectic cooler, as that was all what we knew. As we approached to dunes, Alia, fully excited, suggested we cook some nice lunch when we arrive. It was plain mid-day and I was starting to feel the effects of the heat. So, I replied I was not sure if cooking a nice lunch would require too much of our energies. Then we arrived and it hit (heat) us. The sun was overwhelming, the sky was on fire and the sand was burning. we were still able to hike a little dune, next to where we have parked. The sun was growing bigger and we knew it would not be long before the heat would knock us out. I tried to hike a bit more, but soon we had to take our way back to M'Hamid. we have brought plenty of juice and water, but our thermoelectric cooler was no match to father sun: our water was warm!! I thought it would be funny to play the game to ask Alia how much would she pay at that moment for an icescream or an ice-cold lemonade. Fortunately, there was nobody there to snatch on the opportunity to rip us off from all our savings of the last years! And I say here: fortunately there was nobody there with an air-compressor freezer...
I know, experts say it is not a good idea to drink cold water to cool off from the heat. Ibrahim explained that to us in Ouarzazate, the entrance to 'le grand desert'. Ibrahim's work was to trade with the nomads of the desert, so he knew well all that stuff. Our body is set to keep our temperature at 36,6°C (97.9°F). When you drink cold water, it brings our body's temperature down, so, basically, our body responds turning on the heater! ...as there would not be enough heat in the Sahara. But C'mon, all that is when you have limited access to water. Hopefully, that would not be your case. If it is, then, undoubtedly you have another problem and you should definitely figure it out before you start considering spending a bunch of money in an air-compressor freezer. So, if you are still here, I think we can assume you will have plenty of water. Talking seriously, we all know how much more enjoyable and refreshing a cold drink is. Besides, as you are driving your car on a hot day, it is not like you can easily stop and heat some tea and Ibrahim would recommend. I can tell you there will be plenty of times where you would pay whatever for an icescream or an ice cold lemonade. You do not want to play chances there, because one day you will run out of luck and there will be somebody there with an air-compressor freezer, ready to rip you off from all your saving of the last years.
Africa is tough, traveling is tough. Hence, traveling through Africa is double-tough. There is no good reason to torture yourself and make it even tougher on yourself. Some years ago I went bicycle-touring across the Western US. i remember with joy the days where I was riding my bicycle from town to town, mountain to mountain. My bicycle was obviously fully loaded and very heavy, and it was tough. After long hours of hard work and pedalling I would finally reach smme town. The first think I would look for was a grocery store. I would desperately ask the first neighbor I could find and run to the store. I would buy a half gallon (1,89 liters) of cold orange juice, go sit outside and drink it in 15 minutes: I was the happiest man on planet Earth! Let me give you one of the best advices you can read for your Africa journey: allow yourself those times of happiness.
You will not regret it. You will have one million questions as you give authorization for that freaking expensive air-compressor fridge; but you will have none when you are in the desert. Then you will think of me and be forever grateful for the advice above. Because, as you are the one with the air-compressor fridge, you will be happy you only ripped yourself off for the amount you paid for the fridge.
But now that you have the freezer, do not be stupid and forget the beverages! Wouldn't it be sad if you have the freezer, but do not have anything to drink. Keep in mind, if you need to buy them, it will be expensive! In fact, you need to bring plenty of beverages, because Ibrahim is still correct: you will drink a lot. Preferably bring plenty of water. Hopefully, it will be water, because, if it is beer or soda, you will end up either drunk or diabetic, or possibly both... Anyway, just joking; happy travels!
Aside from the fun side, there is also a very practical reason to make the investment of purchasing a true fridge/freezer for your car: your food will not go bad. Moreover, you will be able to keep your food longer and healthier. imported food is not only difficult to find in Africa, but when you find it is ridiculously expensive. now, unfortunately in Africa, imported food is pretty much all the food you normally eat on a daily basis. In Africa, imported food is all the food you care about and enjoy. Pretty much all meats and dairy is imported food in Africa. You will still be able to find it, even in deep Africa, but it will only be in the big cities, and it will be expensive. Most likely you will not want to miss the chance to get a bite of cheese, chocolate, meat or icescream. Unless you are African-born, I doubt you will be able to endure going on fufu for several days without getting sick of it. You will suck it up and pay whatever stupid amount those imported item go for. We did that many times, and then put our great western food in our thermoelectric cooler. It was our treasure, but we had to eat it all very quickly, because two days later, it had already gone bad or, at the very least, was not at all appealing anymore. Throughout our trip down the Western African coast, we flushed down the toilet a lot of money in food that went bad in our thermoelectric cooler.
Cooking stove
If you backpack, a stove may be too much weight. But, if you travel with your own vehicle, even if it is a bicycle, you should bring a cooking stove. Food is important. You cannot go on crappy food for any reasonably long period of time. If you do not have good food, you will be miserable. Do your homework and find the stove that best suits your needs. Do not select based on price! Also pay attention your stove can run on some fuel available in your travel region. For your journey through Africa, we found it best to use a stove that runs on gasoline. clearly, it was always easy to find gasoline. Whereas, it was not that easy to find other fuels. The disadvantage of gasoline is that it is dirtier than other fuels. It is therefore necessary to regularly clean the stove.
Mosquito Net
You need to make sure you buy a good mosquito net. Good night sleep is important; very important. If you do not have a good night rest, you are very likely to have a miserable day. So, it is really a very bad idea to select a mosquito net based on price; even more so considering how cheap they are. Mosquito net are very cheap for how important they are.
When we were preparing for our trip, we bought for $4 a cheap mosquito net from China off of ebay. Then we went one day to a national park in Southern Mauritania, at the coast, near the Senegalese border at Djalma. Then we realized it was a swamp, but we though we would be OK, because there did not seem to be much water. We parked and started getting ready to settle for the night. There did not seem to be many mosquitos. Then the sun set. Then the mosquitos started coming out! but there was some breeze, so there did not seem to be too many mosquitos. but then the breeze was just too light, so the mosquitos started accumulating in the car, viciously waiting for us while we were having dinner. Then we went to bed and the mosquitos were hundreds! Then the mosquitos were thousands! We were hoping to quickly fall asleep, but there were thousends of mosquitos buzzing around over our heads and the noise was so overwhelming it became impossible to disengage alertness and attention from it, in order to relax and fall asleep. Then the mosquitos started finding holes in our cheap mosquito net: the mosquitos were now inside; ready to eat us! As they mosquitos were relentlessly attacking us, We tried to save ourselves from being devoured by covering us from head to toes under the blanket. However, it was too hot, there was barely any breeze. Moreover, we had left the back door open, but the breeze was coming from the front of the car. We were getting sophocated under the blanket and still eaten up by the mosquitos. Alia could not do it anymore and got up to drive and reorient the car. Then we broke our car's right rear flange. But we were going to deal with that the next day. After several hours laying there under a buzzing cloud of thousands of psychotic mosquitos, fatigue finally defeated us and we fell asleep completely exhausted.
We continued our trip through Senegal, with our cheap and crappy mosquito net. When we arrived to Bamako, we decided we had had enough and bought a good mosquito net at a pharmacy in Bamako for 4000 CFA (about $8). It seemed really good: the net was even inpregnated with pesticide. We were really excited to try it out. The first night we slept with it, we woke up the next morning to find dead mosquitos all over. I guess they kept flying all through the night, desperately hoping to find some hole in the net, to get inside and take a bite of our sweet blood. Instead they starved to death and we were so happy to get our revenge! I know my dear friend Valentin would be very disappointed to hear me say that, but I cannot help to admit I have always hated mosquitos. But, after that night in Southern Mauritania, I am scarred by the memories and torment; I would not have any problem to see them anihilated and brought to extinction. I know, I know, it will bring very grave and terrible consequences; but I just hate them!
You may now learn from our mistake and spend the additional $4 and get yourself a good mosquito net. It will come with twofold benefits: for sure will allow you a more restful sleep, as you will not need to recklessly battle the mosquitos all through the night. Even if you decide to allow them get a taste of your blood, they will keep your brain in a state of alert that will prevent you from getting a good rest. In addition, a good mosquito net may save you from getting bit by that one mosquito that would transmit malaria to you. in Africa there are many serious, even deadly, illnesses transmited by mosquitos. A good mosquito net is the cheapest, healthiest, easiest and less instrusive mean to avoid such illnesses.
Sleeping Pads
Regardless of how you travel: backpacking, bicycle, motorcycle, car, etc. you should get a good sleeping bag where you will sleep comfortably, period. I travelled some years ago across the Western US on a bicycle. For that journey I brought a feather light, very thin, roll-up foam sleeping pad. I consider it one of main flwws, if not the biggest, of all my gear. It was not really that bad, but it was not really comfortable. It was really light and that was very important traveling by bike, but it was not really comfortable. I could have got a comfortable pad for just some hundreds of grams more. That weight had not slowed me down that much on my bicycle anyway. That weight had not demanded much more energy to pedal my bicycle. I have had twice that energy if I had had a good night rest on a comfortable sleeping bad the night before.
A good night sleep is very important. If you do not have a good night rest, you are very likely to have a miserable day. So, make sure you do good research and do not stop until you find a comfortable pad. It is not difficult to find lightweight, inexpensive pads that are comfortable. One idea may be to use high-density foam. Cut about 2 to 4 blocks of about 600mm x 400mm (your choice). Put each of them in a fabric case (cotton, canvas...), to protect them from dust and dirt, If you want to be able to fold them for ease of transportation, sew your block together. That's all! Whenever you want to sleep, lay down your blocks next to eachother. For example, if you made three blocks of 600mm x 400mm, you will have a nice 600mm x 1200mm mattress. Then, when you need to move, just stack your blocks in a compact shape and go!
Rooftop Tent
If you travel by car, you may find it useful to buy a rooftop tent. They are really convenient, but are fairly expensive. They will save you a lot of time and effort every night, when the time to set up your sleeping arrangements comes. After a long day driving around, you will be happy you have it, as the last thing you will feel like doing is start looking for a good place to pitch a stand-alone tent or move stuff around in your car to set up your bed inside. Rooftop tents are, however, expensive enough that it is advisable to give a serious thought, whether there are worth the money. If you start or can make it to South Africa, you will be able to find one at a very cheap price around $400 - $800. Rooftop tents started in South Africa, they are a South African idea. As a matter of fact, South African are experts and real champions in the art of overlanding, so you will be able to get fully equipped, at very good prices, in South Africa. But, if you come from Ehe North, South Africa is quite a stretch away; easily half your trip. On the other hand, if the alternative is to regularly get a hotel room or buy a bigger vehicle with a fixed sleeping space, the purchase of a rooftop tent may actually save you money from those expensive options. Depending on what kind of hotel rooms you go for, if going without a rooftop tent eventually leads you to get a hotel room 5-15 times, you are already buying the rooftop tent for that money. Needless to say, going for a bigger car is a more expensive option than buying a rooftop tent.
Now, if your question is whether it is possible and safe in Africa to camp on the side of the road, the answer is 'yes'; that is what we have done and never had any more problem than when some kids in Benguela (Angola) decided to park next to us on that beach, turned up their music and started partying their Friday night. Some people may also find it northworthy, once near Cahama (Angola), as we were finishing breakfast, a couple of officers approached us, one from the left, one from the right, because some neighbor had called them on us, thinking we were thieves. OK, fine, so there were a few time where we got woken up, but it would be by some officer who wanted to check on us or Frances, our farmer friend from Ghana who wanted to give us some oranges: "Open the door! Open the door!! ...and take these oranges". You get the point?
GPS Trackers and / or Satellite Phone
Ultralight waterproof Jackets
For your travels, make sure you pack an ultralight, waterproof jacket among your clothes. This can be as simple as thin waterproof shell. Alia worked as a seamstress the year before leaving for our Africa adventure. We had bought some ultralight waterproof fabric to make a tent. Then we thought we could use the leftover fabric to make stuff sacks. Then, we came up with the idea to make some waterproof rainjackets with that same fabric.
Even if you just use plastic, you need something waterproof or you will get soaked in a tropical downpour. If it is really waterproof, it will not be breathable and you will get rather hot; especially if you are in a warm climate. However, that is one of the reasons you want it to be thin and ultralight: as soon as the rain stops, roll it into a ball and put it in pocket (or attach it to your pants with a keychain).
There is a second benefit to use true waterproof fabric: the mosquitos will not be able to bite through it. Even if you wear long sleeve and are fully covered by clothes, if the fabric is not waterproof, the mosquitos will be able to bite through it.
I have used my rainjacket very often and am very happy with it. I not only wore it under the rain, but also at night (even if it was warm and dry), to protect me from the mosquitos; and it work! On warm nights, it was not comfortable, as it is not breathable and I would get hot. But I would not soffocate and would not get bitten by mosquitos. Moreover, on chilly nights (and you will still get quite a few in Africa), the waterproof (non breathable) shell would give me good insulated and help me stay warm. On the other hand, all things said, Alia did not like hers that much: she thought she preferred getting bitten by mosquitos than soffocate inside the non-breathable jacket.
Hiking pants
Hiking pants are ultralight, but strong, and have lots of pockets. They have zippers just above the knees, so, if it is hot, you can easily convert them to shorts. They are comfy even if you keep them long. Moreover, they are quick dry. Putting it all together they have everything to be the perfect pants, essential in any traveller's bag: backpacker, cyclist, car overlander, etc. Regardless of whether you want to go hiking of plan to sit in your car the whole trip, I really recommend you pack a couple of hiking pants.
On the other hnd, experts say jeans are a bad choice: they are heavy and not really that strong. They are thick and not very breathable: they will make you feel really hot and miserable in warm temperatures. Moreover, they take forever to dry. Cotton, in general, dries slow. Snow adventurers like to say: "cotton kills!". On the other hand, hiking pants are generally nylon, so generally thin, light, quick dry and strong.
Hiking boots
Get some good hiking boots. Some that are comfortable to you, but strong. The extent to which they should be waterproof/waterresistent is up to you. If they are waterproof you will be happy when you go through water, but your feet will sweat when it gets hot, and viceversa.
Good GPS Maps
Clearly, your journey through Africa will be much more complicated if you do not have good, accurate and updated maps. I very much prefer using the GPS maps of my GPS navigation of my smartphone. However, we found out, it may also be useful to bring conventional (paper) maps. Let's face it, the level of education in most Africa is very, very low. If you ever need to ask for direction, most people will have serious struggles working with the GPS maps on your electronic device's touchscreen. From Mauritania to Congo Kinshasa it was basically hopeless to ask anybody to show us some location on our GPS map: they will slide their fingers and drag the map left and right, zoom-in and zoom-out, drag the map once more up and down, to finally look at you with very confused eyes: "your map does not have everything does it? You do not have the entire city/country? I think you should get a (paper) map. How can you be traveling all over Africa without a map?!!". I cannot guarantee people will always be able to give you accurate directions if you pull out a paper map, but, in general, they seem to work with those better than with GPS maps on touchscreens.
Years ago we travel through Europe and used Tomtom. It worked perfectly in Western Europe, but it was very deficient in some Eastern European countries like Bosnia or Albania. I investigated on Tomtom's Africa maps and they did not seem they would be of much help. I have always heard Garmin is much better for undeveloped countries. However, we never tried it. I found a free, open-source mobile app called Osmand and thought would try it out. For one thing, it was free! The maps of Africa looked very detailed, so we did not search any further. Actually Osmand has worked really well for us. I had not mind to pay the handful of dollars required for the premium version: Osmand+. But the free version worked well enough we never felt any need. The only country where Osman's maps were really inaccurate or outdated was Gabon. Other than that, the worst we can say is sometimes it did not have all the dirt roads.
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