Overlanding in Africa isn’t necessarily for the faint of heart. It can be amazingly rewarding, but tough as well. Border crossings, visas, dirt tracks, people, heat, everything can be intense. Throw a dog in the mix and uncertainty kicks in. Since you have all been asking about overlanding in Africa with a dog, it’s time to answer the most asked questions.
We are going to talk about:
- Paperwork and borders
- Influence on your travels
- National Parks
- Transportation and sleep
- Keeping your dog healthy
- Availability of dog food
- Conclusion
Paperwork and borders
This topic can be the easiest, yet most uncertain one to cover. Paperwork for your dog directly relates to how easy it is to cross borders, or not. Although our experience is from Nigeria southwards, and then onto east Africa, friends of us have traveled from Europe all the way to South Africa. In general we can say it’s essential to have the basics in order, and it depends on your comfort levels if you want to prepare for each country individually.
Firstly, you need to have a passport for your dog. This document should include a photo and all vaccinations that he or she has received throughout his/her life. The more the merrier, as border officials love stamps and stickers ;). The most important vaccination is the one against rabies, so make sure you have that one covered and that it is up-to-date (three to start with, and a booster shot every three years).
Secondly, it might be smart to bring along a valid titer-test for rabies antibodies, and maybe a blood test for common diseases. We didn’t have either of those at first, and Nimba’s passport has always been enough. However, we did carry out the titer test later on to clear Nimba for our return to Europe one day.
Thirdly, when flying into a country, import- and export permits are necessary. And although this might be applicable for land borders too, this is often very unclear and rarely asked for. Some persuasion and the passport will generally suffice. West Africa is all about paperwork, stamps, and official letters. A travel clearance for your dog would fit right in. We are not saying you should, but some creative work on your laptop will get you a long way.
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Influence on your travels
Your dog will definitely influence your overland trip in Africa. Luckily it’s a mix between positives and negatives, and in our opinion it’s mostly good. Let’s start with some challenges before moving on to all the good stuff.
Challenges
When traveling with a dog, you are fully responsible for keeping him or her fit and entertained. As there’s no fenced-off garden, it’s up to the region and your comfort levels if you need to keep your dog on a leash or not. As a consequence, you are responsible for providing your dog with enough physical and mental stimuli. This can be quite a challenge on some days, believe us.
Another challenge is that your dog may prevent you from accessing certain regions or hikes, as dogs aren’t always welcome. Besides that, you might not be able to attend all activities – such as restaurant visits, kayaking, mokoro trips, etc. -, something that you should certainly keep in mind.
The last challenge we’ve experienced first-hand is the ability to fly home with ease. Firstly, flying with your dog can be stressful for him or her, and it certainly becomes more expensive to fly. Secondly, getting back into Africa (if that is your plan) might be more difficult, as this might require blood tests, quarantines, etc. Although Europe requires a positive titer test against rabies, this is still very doable. Flying back might be the real challenge. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anybody with recent experience in flying into Africa with a dog, so we can’t share any info with you in that regard. The uncertainty of the latter has prevented us from flying back to Europe with her, not knowing how the return trip will unfold once we land.
Rewards
Then it’s time to talk positives, because those reasons are why you want to bring your dog along. Your furry companion will certainly spice up your trip, in a positive way. We found that having a dog certainly helps to stay in the moment, as they will always need your attention, no matter what’s happening in our human-lives. Having a doggy friend with you can provide you with comforts and a sense of rhythm, which is more than welcome in this hectic lifestyle.
Besides that, your dog will surely force you to explore the areas around camp, as he or she needs to do her thing. The daily dog walks in the morning, afternoon, and evening will steer you away from your comfy camp, and make you actually explore your sceneries a bit more.
Lastly, your dog will definitely attract cool people, and he or she’s a great conversation starter for sure! On the other hand, your dog will also scare off people with undesired intentions. We notice a huge difference in Nimba’s behavior when suspicious people are approaching us, and she’ll alert us when somebody is coming too close to our camp. So besides the conversation starter and people-magnet, it works also the other way around to keep people away from your vehicle depending on the scenario.
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National Parks
This is a tricky one. Depending on the country you are visiting National Parks are okay(-ish), or off-limits. We were lucky enough to bring Nimba into a National Park in Angola, and the rangers were even eager to bring her along on a safari drive. However, in general, National Parks will be off-limits for your dog, especially in Southern Africa. There might be a solution though, as bigger parks in South Africa and Namibia sometimes have kennels, and so do some campsites or Airbnb accommodations. That way you can leave your dog there – if you are comfortable with that – and visit the park yourself.
We tackled the challenge by including more bordering regions around National Parks, and skipping the parks themselves. Although it might be more challenging to spot wildlife that way, it surely provides a different sort of adventure. If time is on your side, we are convinced you will see plenty of wildlife outside of National Parks.
Transportation and sleep
This is going to be fun! Let’s dive into where your dog lives during the day, and where he or she is going to stay at night.
So, where does your dog sleep back home? As we adopted Nimba on the road as a neglected puppy, she was in dire need of love and attention. Because of this, – as soon as we got her cleaned up – she joined us in our rooftop tent and never left. So that’s that, Nimba definitely sleeps in our bed and loves to cuddle up underneath our blankets.
But this is seriously a good one to dive into. Smaller dogs are easier than large dogs in this instance. Letting your dog sleep outside might not be the wisest, with wildlife (not only predators but snakes and scorpions too) being a danger. Depending on your setup your dog might be able to sleep inside the vehicle, or join you up top as well. Whatever you choose, it might be worth going on a weekend-trip to find out what works for you and your dog.
Transportation during the day is another big factor to look into. Will your dog live freely in the vehicle, or are you going to bring a crate? Both options have pros and cons. We opted for an IATA approved crate, so we can provide Nimba with her own protected space, and have the option to fly back home with her in case necessary. Once we got the travel crate, we noticed a big difference in her behavior, as she settled in more and calmed down in the presence of certain wildlife around the vehicle. Besides that, having her in one space instead of on our laps kept us sane too. Maybe, if we convert our vehicle and have more free space in the bag, she can live freely there. For now, she is thoroughly enjoying her own space in the crate (with or without the door closed).
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Keeping your dog healthy
This can be a different and more complex story than back home. You have to consider vaccinations, tick and flee prevention, repellent of bugs, disease transmission, heat stress, and wildlife. In our blog ‘Overlanding in Africa with a dog – disease risk’ we wrote about the disease risk for overlanding dogs in Africa. It covers mostly ticks, flees and other insects that are not only annoying, but also a high-risk vector in transmitting diseases. We cover the risks and the preventative measures in that blog.
The topic of vaccinations can be concise. You should make sure that your dog is fully vaccinated, especially against rabies. The latter is not only very important for your dog, but also for border crossings.
Keeping your dog healthy on the road is not only a matter of good food and disease prevention. Heat stress can become something to deal with too. We’ve traveled through Namibia when it was 45 degrees Celsius, and we can confirm it wasn’t pleasant for anyone. Luckily, Rafiki has aircon and we can turn it on most of the time, but not always (as our engine is underpowered to deal with it). Keeping your dog comfortable in the heat is essential. It’s important to listen to your dog’s needs. Give him or her rest when he/she wants it (especially during the hot afternoons), don’t forcefeed, but rather present food whenever he or she indicates to be hungry (in our case late in the evening and early mornings) and lastly make sure there’s at least a somewhat cool area where your dog can hide. Nimba loves to sleep underneath the vehicle when at camp, but when we drive we also give her a wet towel and turn on the fan in her crate. That way she’ll stay cool and comfortable. When that’s not enough, we provide her with homemade ice creams from our freezer to give her some extra coolness. She loves it! Dog ice-cream recipes can be easily found online, but our go-to solution was a mix of milk and water.
Lastly, it’s important to remember there’s always a wildlife risk in Africa. And although predators – leopards love to eat dogs – become a slightly larger risk in Southern- and Eastern Africa, it’s mostly snakes and scorpions that you should watch out for. Provide your dog with a stretcher, or an inside bed, where he or she can rest during the evenings when some poisonous animals become active. It’s important to get your dog off the floor, and never leave any blankets outside during the night, which might harbor scorpions and pose a danger in the morning.
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Availability of dog food
We hope your dog isn’t too picky, or else this topic can become a challenge. When we got Nimba in a remote part of Nigeria, dog food wasn’t a thing. She grew up on boiled eggs, rice, and fish, supplemented with boiled carrots and potatoes. Later on, once we got the chance, we got her boiled eggs in the morning, and dry dog food supplemented with fish in tomato sauce in the evening.
The biggest challenge has been finding high quality dog foods, and sticking to a specific brand. Each country – or even region – has its own specific brands, making it very hard to stick to one. For example, SPAR has certain brands on its shelves, as does Pick’nPay or Checkers (various supermarkets in Southern Africa), but those brands are never the same across supermarkets. It’s a challenge every time we run out, and finding high-quality food is mostly a trial-and-error quest. Of course, it doesn’t help that we can only bring along a few kilograms at a time due to a lack of space.
If your dog doesn’t have any specific dietary wishes or needs, we believe it will be fine. However, if that isn’t the case, it can become challenging. In that case it’s essential to have enough storage space so you can bring along one or two bulk bags (15 kg). A good place to start looking for high-quality dog food is in capitals, or more specifically at veterinary locations near expat communities and/or embassies.
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Conclusion
We hope that this elaborate blog has provided you with some insights beneficial for overlanding Africa with a dog. Don’t be too scared by borders and paperwork. It’s more important to think about how it’s going to influence your trip – the pros and the cons – and think it through. Think about what you want to see and experience, and if you can make that work with workarounds (different locations, time investment, etc.).
All in all, we are super happy to have Nimba with us. She’s been such a happy and positive soul, even when we had our challenging days. A dog will cheer you up no matter what.
We are glad to help out, so feel free to DM us on Instagram, or send us an e-mail here.
I have experience in flying our dog from Europe to Namibia and from there it is easy to go to South Africa (by car) for example. From South Africa you can easily get an interritorial movement permit for all the countries that border South Africa. For Namibia you do need a lot of blood tests and you need to start about 4 weeks before your departure date. But the dog can join your flight. My dog is 7 KG so can be in the cabin (up to 10 kg with bag) Bigger dogs go in the haul. To South Africa all animals need to arrive as cargo which is way more expensive and a whole different process. Contact me if you need more information!