Mombasa to Capetown

[Crispin]

I am thinking of driving from Mombasa to Capetown using the following route.
Does anyone who has done this trip have any advise on road conditions and places to see along the drive?
DAY 1 : Mombasa –to Arusha Dist 383 kms 6.10
DAY 2 : Arusha - Dodoma Dist 423 kms 5.47
DAY 3 odoma – Iringa Dist 264 kms 4.00
DAY 4 : Iringa – Mbeya Dist 338 kms 4.30
DAY 5 : Lake Malawi
DAY 6 : Mbeya – Mzuzu Dist 381 kms 5.0
DAY 7 : Mzuzu – Kasungu Dist 230 kms 2.55
DAY 8: Kasungu – Chipata Dist 162 kms 2.10
Day 9 : Chipata - chipata
DAY 10 : Chipata – Lusaka Dist 575 kms 7.28
DAY 11 : Lusaka – Choma Dist 284 kms 3.45
DAY 12 : Choma – Victoria Falls Dist 216 kms 2.50
DAY 13 : Victoria falls – Victoria Falls
DAY 14 : Victoria Falls – Francistown Dist 502 kms 7.00
DAY 15 : Francistown – Gaborone Dist 435kms 5.40
DAY 16 : Gaborone - Gaborone
Day 17 : Gaborone – Kimberley Dist 511 kms 5.52
DAY 18 : Kimberley - Beaufort west Dist 490 kms 5.00
DAY 19 : Beufort west – Capetown Dist 463 kms 5.10
Thanks for any advise !!

[Bennie Bester]

Hi Crispin,
i recently travelled from Arusha to Cape Town. I can help you with road conditions. Please PM me.
Greetings Bennie

[Wazungu Wawili]

For background, we drove UK-Cairo to the Cape and then back to Kenya from August 2013 to December 2014 - just under 35,000 miles. I am also Kenya born and bred.

First of all, where are you getting the timings from? Some don't sound realistic to me. I will concentrate on what I know best which is East Africa.

Day 1: Which route are you planning on taking from Mombasa to Arusha? With the border crossing either Lunga Lunga, Taveta, or Namanga the drive will take more than 6 hours. As you live in Mombasa, you will know about Kenyan roads.

Day 2 and 3: Why are you going to Arusha from Mombasa in order to head south? If, as it looks like, you have only 19 days to do the journey, it would be faster to do Mombasa - Lunga Lunga/Horo Horo - Tanga - Segera - Morogoro - Iringa - Mbeya. But that is about a two to three day drive. Others on this forum have driven Arusha - Dodoma - Iringa - Mbeya more recently than we have so they will give an update on this route.

We always left sufficient time for border crossings so that we never drove in the dark. If the border crossing only took a short time, then all good, but one never knows even with all paperwork correct and a Carnet de Passage.

As for things to see en route, there is so much that it would take all night to answer your question. In brief, in southern Tanzania there is the Ruaha which ought not to be missed amongst many other places further west.

Safari njema!

[Crispin]

Asante Sana !!
Yes just did not want to go the Tanga Morogoro route as I don't like the area's as much as the Moshi Arusha roads.
Its planned for next year so still plenty of time !!
Thanks
Crispin

[Crispin]

Hi Crispin,
i recently travelled from Arusha to Cape Town. I can help you with road conditions. Please PM me.
Greetings Bennie

Sorry Bennie,
New to this forum !!
Whats a PM ? And how do I do it ?
Crispin

[Tony Weaver]

Sorry Bennie,
New to this forum !!
Whats a PM ? And how do I do it ?
Crispin

Hi Crispin, a PM is a personal message - click on the member's user name/CP and it will open a blank message form for sending.
Safari njema.

[D4D 4x4]

Hi, I'f done
South Africa to Kenya with the following road.
Groblersbrug - Kasane - Lusaka - Nakonde - Iringa - Arusha

Day 1 - Groblersbrug ( South Africa/Botswana) - Kasane via Francistown, road works and potholes but in general the road is good
Day 2 Kasane (Botswana/Zambia) - Lusaka via Livingstone, road is good but a long day's driving, the ferry and passport control on Botswana side is quick, The Zambian side can take lots of time (an alternative is VicFalls into Zimbabwe) We stayed at Eureka Camp in Lusaka, did shopping at the new mall.
Day 3 - Lusaka via Kapiri Mposhi - Mpika to Nakonde, its a long drive for a day, but you can do it, the last 150km's before Nakonde the road is getting bad, slow driving.You can overnight at Mpika.
Day 4 - Nakonde to Iringa (Zambia/Tanzania) passport control not to bad on both sides, the road is good but lots of rumble-strips ( speed humps ) and slow driving in towns make this a long drive, stay at Old Farm house near Iringa (50km's)
Day 5 - Iringa - Dodoama - Arusha, you have 2 options from Dodoma to Arusha
The good road or the ban road, the good road, and I'll recommend this one is
Dodoma - Singida - Babati - Arusha
From South Africa to Arusha you will have lots of options for Fuel.

Enjoy

[mdegale]

Hi


We did a bunch of these routes April -May this year. Some notes below:

DAY 3: Dodoma – Iringa Dist 264 kms 4.00

Very good, empty road. No problem. Dodoma is pretty boring but friendly. Iringa has 2 nice campsites, and a good coffee shop, restaurant in town. If you have a full day, 24 hours in Ruaha NP is really worthwhile. Extra 4 hours return from Iringa.
Easy in a day.


DAY 4 : Iringa – Mbeya Dist 338 kms 4.30

Didn't enjoy this stretch of road - bad trucks, *terrible* cops, but no problem achieving it.

DAY 5 : Lake Malawi
DAY 6 : Mbeya – Mzuzu Dist 381 kms 5.0


Not sure how you're planning this bit. A scenic route would be Mbeya-Matema Beach (lovely Lake Malawi resort (Lake Niasa actually as its in Tanzania) - one of our favourites), Then Matema Beach -> Mzuzu (though thats quite long- but you could compromise at a number of places before)

We liked Mushroom farm in Livingstonia so much that even though its an hour to do the 10kms from the main road, I would recommend it. That would make your trip:


Mbeya -> Matema beach (stunning, quite tough, drive - misty mountains then tropical villages)
(pref 1 day on the Lake here)
Matema Beach -> Mushroom Farm, Livingstonia
Mushroom Farm -> Kasungu

You'll have enjoyed being in the lake (Matema Beach, and seeing the Lake (Mushroom Farm).

Lots of Malawi-based Lake Malawi variations here, but we dawdled coming up through Malawi and Mushroom Farm and Matema Beach (Blue Canoe Resort) were a cut above the other options.


The border crossing between Malawi-Tanzania is pretty good - took us 45mins.


DAY 8: Kasungu – Chipata Dist 162 kms 2.10

If you're South African, border crossing here is a breeze. Our Swiss and German friends had problems and it took over 3 hours).

Day 9 : Chipata - chipata

Why a day here? Thinking of going to South Luangwa NP? You should probably choose between SLNP or Ruaha and enjoy one of them - both about 2hours 1-way off the route. Personally I'd do Ruaha from Iringa...

DAY 10 : Chipata – Lusaka Dist 575 kms 7.28

Ugh. Break this up. Unless road construction miracles have a occurred this was a horrible leg - so many roadworks that its a *hard* 12 hour trip. We couldn't even do Luangwa Bridge - > Mfuwe in a day and had to break in Chipata.


DAY 11 : Lusaka – Choma Dist 284 kms 3.45
DAY 12 : Choma – Victoria Falls Dist 216 kms 2.50

If you need to catch up (see above) Lusaka Vic Falls is not too unpleasant in a day (certainly better than Chipata->Lusaka!

Happy to chat further ;-)