Hiring a car in Southern Africa

Hi, most of South African roads are suited for normal sedan cars, it depends largely on where in South Africa you tend to go. The national roads are in good condition, but there are areas where the road is in a horrible condition. I've been to Botswana the main roads are in a good condition and a sedan will do but I will say it is better to hire a "bakkie" (pickup truck)then you have more space to bring goods with you. Sadly I have not been to Namibia and Zambia.

I agree with Brooms, it depends on want you want to do. 4 years ago we made a 2 month trip, mid November to mid January, starting and finishing in Cape Town. We went in an anti-clockwise direction, up the East Coast Garden Route, through Swaziland, and Botswana to the Caprivi Strip, then down through Namibia and the west coast of S.A., but with several small diversions to take in various features, i.e. Rourkes Drift, The Drakensberg, Fish River Canyon, The Cederberg etc. We hired a Honda CRV with automatic 4 wheel drive and mostly camped. We have done other similar trips with a Quashquai and a Nissen Xtrail. These are sturdy but not real 4 X 4 vehicles. They were more than adequate for what we wanted to do on these trips. However on shorter trips, 1 month, to explore more remote areas, particularly in some of the northern SANParks and in Zimbabwe we have used a Toyota Hi-Lux with high clearance and a rooftop tent. Vehicles such as this are much more expensive to hire therefore we only use them for shorter targetted trips. For general travel a sturdy sedan is adequate. Good Luck. It will be an excellent trip

It all depends on your itinerary, where you want to go and what you want to see and experience. Once you have an idea then the question what type of vehicle to rent comes in.

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