So where does all our money go to? In general we can divide our costs into four categories; travel expenses, overland vehicle upkeep, admin, and miscellaneous. Let’s dive into them.

We are going to talk about:

• Travel expenses
• Vehicle maintenance and upkeep
• Admin
• Miscellaneous
• African regions and our expenses there
• How we stay on budget
• Time to start saving up for your trip

Travel expenses

Our general travel expenses are relatively straightforward. We need diesel to power our overland Defender, petrol to keep the stove lit, food to empower us to keep going, and if no wild spaces are around we also need some sort of accommodation.

As we love to wild camp, expenses related to accommodation are limited. We’ve had a few campsites in South Africa and rented a cabin in Hogsback once to launch our merchandise. Overall, accommodations have been absent on our trip, thus keeping costs low. We can kind of ignore our petrol expenses too. Although we love camp cooking, and we prepare delicious meals every night, our stove runs relatively economical, and it’s not worth mentioning the petrol costs when looking at the big picture. To give you an example; we use circa 5 liters of petrol in about three weeks, using it three times a day, often using our oven multiple times a week.

Two of our biggest expense categories are diesel and food. Our Defender isn’t the worst consumer on the planet, but with a fuel consumption of 1:10 (1 liter for 10 kilometers), it isn’t solar-powered either. With, we guess, a fuel price of € 1-1,40 per liter on average, it’s easy to do the math. Every 100 km we drive will cost us about € 12,-, and so far we’ve driven almost 60.000 kilometers, resulting in € 7.200 in about two years of travel.

And although food isn’t super expensive if you stick to the basics, it will add up as well. It all depends on your needs and wishes. Vegetables in season are as cheap as they can get in most parts of Africa, whilst imported cheese or Western products can cost you a fortune.

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Overland vehicle upkeep

Your vehicle and its upkeep are going to play some role in your expenses as well. Getting a reliable vehicle, or making it reliable before you set off, is essential to keep costs down. As Africa is known for its bush mechanics, a breakdown isn’t necessarily detrimental to your budget. However, these self-proclaimed mechanics are doing their best with very slim resources, improvising their way through the day. They are a great help when in dire need, but might not be the most reliable for the long run. Setting off with a reliable vehicle will prevent expensive breakdowns down the line. For us, we’ve barely had any notable breakdowns in the past two years. The two most expensive ones were in Guinea and Gabon. In Guinea we needed a new front differential, and in Gabon a € 1,- engine core plug that came with a whopping € 75,- shipping free from Europe to the capital of Libreville.

Maintenance is another factor to keep in mind. Doing it yourself will prevent unnecessary costs, and besides that, you are sure it’s done properly (as long as you know what you’re doing). Keeping up with a good maintenance routine prevents unwanted breakdowns, and by doing it yourself you keep it affordable. Keep in mind that Africa will require more frequent oil- and filter changes, increasing general maintenance costs. Labor is very affordable, however, so don’t expect to pay more than a few euros an hour in large parts of Africa. We paid anywhere between € 2,- an hour in West Africa, to € 40,- an hour in Botswana.

Admin

Admin costs are going to be your biggest uncertainty and your most unwanted expenses. These can be anything from visas to vehicle insurance, and from road taxes to your Carnet de Passage. Expenses like these are hard to plan and will vary from region to region.

Visas were our biggest expense in West Africa, totaling to a few thousand Euros by the time we made it from Mauritania to Angola. Costs ranged varied from € 25,- per visa (per person) to about € 150,-. Multiplying that with the amount of borders, and a few extensions, it became quite a headache.

Vehicle insurance was relatively affordable, although still, it all added up. At first, we weren’t sure what countries each insurance policy would cover. Later we found out that our insurance from Senegal would cover us all the way to the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville). Initially we paid per month, later on we went for six-month policies. Costs for our local third-party vehicle insurance were about € 10-20 a month. You’re insurance from Europe won’t be valid in Africa, except in Morocco. You can read more about it in our admin blog.

Our Carnet de Passage required a bond to be paid to the issuing authority (ADAC in our case) and came with a cost of € 230,- (currently € 250,-) a year, excluding shipping.

Road taxes, tolls, and internet expenses are all very minimal for the average travel. The latter is somewhat higher for us, as we work on the road as well. On average we paid between € 1-1,50 per GB.

Don’t forget to keep your admin costs from back home in mind as well. This can be health insurance, travel insurance, insurance on the house, etc. Although different for everyone, they can add up quickly. Keeping your costs from home down is a great way to stay in control of your finances while you travel.

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Miscellaneous

Lastly, overland travel in Africa will come with a lot of random expenses, which is something to keep in mind when plotting your budget. Mishaps happen, replacement of gear (clothes, pans, small fixes, etc.) becomes necessary every once in a while, your money devalues when changing from one currency to the next, and ATM withdrawal fees can leave you bankrupt before you know it. Shortly elaborating on the latter, we found out that our standard European credit cards charge huge amounts per withdrawal transaction, whilst debit cards like Revolut and Wise don’t. Once we upgraded to a Revolut card our fees dropped from € 15,- per transaction to zero.

Lastly, keep in mind that long-term travel isn’t like a holiday, and before you know it you are looking at expenses at dentists, new glasses, a visit to the physiotherapist, etc. as well. Although prices in West Africa were much lower than at home, Southern African prices were very similar to European prices.

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Regions and specific costs

We noticed a change in our overall expenses for each region in Africa. Different regions brought different costs and specific ways to deal with them. Although we did very well in noting down all our expenses per category on previous trips, we haven’t done that here in Africa. But bear with us, as we can provide you with an overall estimate per region, something we believe is valuable to showcase full-time travel isn’t actually that expensive.

West and Central Africa

West and Central Africa are the first two very generalized regions where we can say our expenses totaled to about € 1400-1600 a month, based on two persons. Basic food items were affordable because most of it was being produced locally (we tried to stay away from imported goods in capitols as prices were 4-6x as high as in Europe), we were able to always wild camp, and maintenance of the vehicle was affordable (often you would only pay for the oils, not the labor involved, for example). However, these regions of Africa have ridiculously expensive visas, something that has easily costed us a few thousand Euros. These visa prices can be found online, as well as on iOverlander, in case you’re interested in the specific numbers.

Angola

Driving further south Angola provided us with some breathing room in our expenses. The now-free visa (for many countries) was relatively cheap back then, and overall the country was very affordable to travelers like us. Although known for its surprisingly high rent in the cities (amongst the highest in the world), having the freedom to live out of a vehicle made it our cheapest country so far. Exchanging US dollars on the black market provided a great way to increase the value of our money, resulting in very cheap overall travel expenses. Food was affordable, as we sourced vegetables locally, but even supermarkets with luxury goods were affordable for the first time since leaving Europe. Great factor adding to the cheap lifestyle in Angola was the fact that a liter of diesel only cost us about € 0,13. We spent three months in the country and came in at about € 600-700 a month.

Southern Africa

Following our route south we made it to a more developed Africa. The countries of Namibia, South Africa and Botswana related much more to Europe than anything before. Diesel was more expensive, and so was shopping, with prices similar to Europe. In South Africa wild camping was slightly more difficult in certain regions and we found ourselves setting up camp on campsites a bit more often, where prices would range between 10 and 30 euros a night. Vehicle maintenance was more expensive as labor prices were higher. Besides that, we focused more on work projects, increasing our internet expenses. Lastly, it was also here, thanks to the more developed urban areas, that we were able to finally go to a dentist, get new glasses, etc. resulting in an increase due to these expensive odd costs. Overall our Southern Africa expenses totaled about € 1500 – 1700 monthly.

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How we stay on budget

Although our overlanding budget fluctuates per African region, we try to live as frugally as possible. Not only to keep costs down, but it also happens to align more with our passions. We don’t like to spend time at campsites, so we wild camp as much as possible. Besides that, we love to cook and get creative with locally sourced products. As a result, restaurant visits are minimal and we now call them ‘date nights’ to keep them special every few months.

As you might know, we love nature and wildlife, but unfortunately national parks are off-limits because of Nimba. How unfortunate that might be, it does keep the costs down, especially in Southern- and Eastern Africa.

Taking it slow has been a great way to travel, as we get to experience regions more deeply. But besides having a hugely positive impact on the way we live and travel, it also directly keeps our monthly expenses down. Not covering as much ground per month saves on diesel, maintenance, and possible breakdowns. Slow travel therefore is ideal to extend a trip, and for us, it provides us with the time to thoroughly enjoy nature and work on our projects.

Lastly, we have maintained and overhauled Rafiki in the past eight years, making it a very reliable companion to travel with. As a result, costly vehicle repairs have been absent, and overall repairs minimal. Besides that, we carry out most maintenance ourselves and keep check on everything that starts to make a sound. Not having to visit workshops as often has certainly helped our budget.

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Time to start saving for your trip?

We hope that the information above has helped determine the viability of your own adventure. We believe most people can save enough money to at least afford some months on the road.

Feel free to send us a message if any questions pop up. Maybe we have overlooked something, or maybe you just want to know how certain costs would unfold for your specific trip. We are more than happy to help, so don’t hesitate to contact us. You can DM us on Instagram, or send us an email here.