Everyone told us such horror-stories about African cities that we were dreading them. Well, having visited them – and driven in them – we were generally pleasantly surprised. Here's a summary of our large city safaris, in the order visited:

Cape Town, South Africa
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Gaborone, Botswana
Johannesburg, South Africa
Maputo, Mozambique
Beira, Mozambique
Blantyre, Malawi
Lilongwe, Malawi
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Stone Town, Zanzibar
Kigali, Rwanda
Kampala, Uganda
Nairobi, Kenya
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Khartoum, Sudan
Cairo, Egypt
Alexandria, Egypt

Cape Town, South Africa

A pleasure, as always, to visit this beautiful old city, but it really should be classified as part of Europe or put in a class of its own, so we won't dwell on it here. Suffice to say that if you are travelling south across the continent, you couldn't wish for a nicer place to end your journey. Allow for plenty of time – you may be tempted to stay forever ! Cape Town holds a special place and special people in our hearts. Without a doubt, it is the most beautiful city in Africa (OK ... we haven't visited West Africa yet ...).

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

A friendly city, which deserves more recognition and which is close to some of South Africa's better spots – the Tsitsikamma and Addo Elephant Parks to name just two. The latter features the “big seven” on its list of wildlife, adding the Southern Right Whale and Great White Shark to the more usual “big five” list of wildlife. And the surfing waves in PE and the nearby Jeffries Bay are reputedly world-class. Not for us right now, thank you ... perhaps the thought of the Great White Shark ...

Gaborone, Botswana

Our home for 18 years, we love the place and the people dearly. Most overlanders pass through the city quickly, though this prosperous city has some hidden gems in and around it. Of course we recommend Pat's book “Gaborone – the complete city guide”, now in its second edition, available from good bookstores in the city. Driving in Gaborone is generally a pleasure, since the traffic is quite orderly and the streets modern and well-maintained. Beware the potholes which appear in the roads during the rainy season, however.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Most people avoid Johannesburg like the plague, due to its reputation for crime. Over the years, we have had three motor vehicles stolen off us in this city – never to be recovered – so this reputation is well-deserved. Nevertheless, if you like big, modern cities, Johannesburg has it all. If you want to equip your 4x4 vehicle for a trip across the continent, then Johannesburg and surroundings is a paradise. We used Frontrunner in Kyalami and can attest to the fact that their equipment is rugged enough to handle Africa – and more. (See our list of Frontrunner equipment in the "Sponsors" section of our website. For obvious reasons, Johannesburg is also a good place to fit a vehicle security system – make sure you know how to bypass it in case of a malfunction in darkest Africa ! No visit to this city would be complete without a visit to Soweto. Once again we can recommend the book “Soweto – the complete township guide”, originally written by Pat, but now revised, revamped and fully funked-out by our talented friend Ellen Papciak-Rose.

Maputo, Mozambique

Driving in Maputo is a nightmare of potholed streets, non-functional traffic lights and predictably chaotic traffic. By foot, it's a pleasure as long as you keep a wary eye on the uncovered manholes and other hazards like the informal water-features. This city really comes alive at night, when it seems every resident takes to the streets. The nightclubs are legendary, though we'll have to take that on hearsay, since our clubbing days are over. Suffice to say that we enjoyed Maputo immensely and found it to be perfectly safe as long as you are sensible.

Read more about travel in Mozambique in the story Mozambique - No trouble in Paradise

Read more about Maputo in the story Maputo, Mozambique

Beira, Mozambique

We arrived in Beira by night and got horribly lost trying to find Biques, the only campsite in the town. We drove around in circles, accidentally visiting the military area three times before eventually finding our way to the campsite at 10 pm. The last stretch of road required us to engage four wheel drive ! The Biques campsite is right on the beach. Sounds nice, doesn't it ? Until you realise, when you wake up in the morning, that it's a public beach. It is the only place on the continent that we have actually felt very uneasy – and have had anything stolen from us. We were the only vehicle in the campsite and were under the constant surveillance of two armed guards – one on each side of the vehicle. Despite the guards, my sandals, which were hanging from the rooftent to dry, were stolen during the night – whilst we were sleeping in the rooftent ! The next day, we were constantly circled, at a distance, by at least three shady-looking individuals, whom we pointed out to the guards one by one as they passed. The guards were aware of their presence, but could, of course, not actually prohibit them from “using” the beach. None of them were wearing my sandals – we did check ! Let's just say that Beira is a bit like an ageing whore – plenty of personality, but whose most interesting bits are probably best left unexplored. Give it a miss.

Blantyre, Malawi

Blantyre is a pleasant, user-friendly town, which we got to know on foot, since it served as the first place to send our vehicle for a major service. We found an efficient workshop to fit two pairs of additional leaf springs in the rear suspension to compensate for our heavy load. The Groblers, ever since the days of the Great Trek, are not known to travel light.

Lilongwe, Malawi

We merely overnighted here at the pleasant Kiboko Camp, so really cannot comment much on this city, except that it was “no problem”.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

“Dar” was much nicer and more prosperous than we expected. It also had the first real supermarket we had seen for months. The diplomatic area along the Oyster Bay seafront is magnificent. Our sincere thanks go to Eve Benckert of the Swedish Embassy who provided our vehicle with safe parking and gave us a lift to the Ferry Port for our visit to Zanzibar.

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Not really a city, but as the capital of Unguja Island (Zanzibar to most people), it deserves a mention. Stone Town is absolutely fascinating and charming – well worth a visit – a larger, more prosperous version of the equally fascinating Mozambique Island (Ilha de Mozambique). We are so glad we did not have to drive through the narrow, maze-like network of streets.

Kigali, Rwanda

Spread out over dozens of hills, Kigali ought to be picturesque. Instead it was merely the most confusing city we have ever driven in. You can see where you want to go, but to get there involves taking the most impossible twists and turns. Our impromptu campsite was in the carpark of a restaurant near the airport. We can confirm from bitter experience that nowhere in the entire city will you find a road-sign to the airport – nor to anywhere else for that matter. Driving in the city was a nightmare. It did not help that this was the first country in which we had to drive on the right-hand side of the road. Nor that none of the traffic lights were working – they need electricity, of course. Nor that everything and everybody was in French. Let us not forget that French is not just a language, but also an attitude.

As in Beira, we took what appeared to be the correct turning for the city centre and ended up in a military area, no less than the Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence. Pointed rifles encouraged us to do a rapid three-point turn ! It says a lot about Kigali that the “highlight” of our visit was the (like everything else) hard-to-find Genocide Memorial, which shocked and depressed us for weeks afterwards.

Read more about Rwanda in our story Rwanda - not a feel-good country

Kampala, Uganda

Kampala was surprisingly friendly and sophisticated. We once again managed to get two new tyres (tires to Amercians) and full service carried out on our vehicle. Even though we could not get the proper replacement part for our air conditioner pipe (which exploded spectacularly in Kenya), the local Toyota agency improvised a temporary repair, which is still working months and tens of thousands of kilometres later. The highlight of Kampala was undoubtedly being able to meet up again with our old Gaborone friends, the Cambridges. Like Kigali, Kampala is built around a number of hills, so roads can be a little confusing, but unlike Kigali, driving is on the left and the traffic lights were working.

Nairobi, Kenya

Nairobi was the one city we were dreading. “Nairobbery” we were told. “Dirty and full of thieves.” Well, we couldn't have been more surprised. We spent days driving and walking all over this attractive, modern city and felt perfectly safe. The traffic circles were very innovative, since they also had traffic lights. When traffic was not heavy, the traffic circles worked well, without being congested. During heavy traffic periods the traffic lights became operational, eliminating the usual gridlocks associated with traffic circles – a good idea well worth implementing elsewhere. The wide streets and highways were well-signposted too. We managed to get maintenance done on our camping stove (melted washer caused by high wind and a moment of inattention) and the corners of our rooftent cover reinforced (hundreds of days of continuous use had taken their toll).

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

You either love or hate Addis. Everyone dislikes it when they first arrive, but after spending a month there, waiting for our Sudanese visas, the city had the sort of easy familiarity of an old friend. We knew every street beggar by sight and they knew us and greeted us like old buddies. On the subject of beggars, Addis has the most fascinating collection of them, in all shapes and sizes and having disfigurements of almost biblical proportions. One man stretched out his hand for money and our first instinct was to dismiss him – until we noticed the seven fingers. Before you get the wrong impression, we estimated that there are only about 600 beggars in this city of 6 million, a much lower proportion than most European cities. It could be said that it has quality, not quantity.

Addis is a polluted city. Make no mistake, the streets are clean – they are virtually polished shining bright at night by an army of mechanical street-cleaners. It's the traffic pollution of old diesel buses and heavy vehicles that make the air a burden to breathe. All this smog is more than compensated by the best (and cheapest) coffee and pastry shops in Africa, thanks to the brief Italian occupation of the city. We got to know the city so well that we knew exactly which minibus to catch to the different parts of the city, especially, of course, to the Sudanese Embassy. There was a brief learning curve when, late one night, we caught the wrong minibus back to our hotel. Philip's comment to Pat was: “It's funny how everything looks so different at night.” We ended up on the outskirts of Addis at the city abattoir in a dodgy-looking area called something like “Bulgaria” instead of our desired destination “La Gare”. Well they sound similar, don't they ? Nevertheless, we felt perfectly safe, as we did everywhere in Addis, including the huge market (Mercato).

Driving in Addis was quite hair-raising to say the least, especially at the huge intersection at the main Meskel Square. There are eight lanes of traffic in each direction, the biggest we have ever experienced. The traffic lights on the far side of the intersection are so far away that you need binoculars to see them and in the sunlight the lights are so faint as to be indistinguishable. So our rule, as in most cities, is to do as the Romans do and follow the locals. So merrily crossing the Meskel intersection, we heard the unmistakable, shrill whistle from a traffic policeman and were duly pulled over. “You have committed a very serious offence by crossing a red traffic light. You will have to come with me to the Police Station.” Well after about five minutes of “I am very, very sorry. But I've been driving accident-free for 25 years now – you know that's a quarter of a century – and more than 30,000 kilometres through 12 countries in Africa without any problems ... and the traffic lights are impossible to see ... and please don't spoil my day / month / life ...” the gentleman just couldn't stand it any more and let us go. A short while later, very carefully crossing the same intersection, we greeted the same traffic officer in passing. He stopped us again, and – surprise – invited us to join him for coffee at a nearby coffee-shop. He simply abandoned his intersection and the left the traffic to cross in merry anarchy. We had a lovely cup of coffee together and chatted like old friends – then he returned to discipline the traffic. A real mensch. Such is Addis ...

Read more about our traffic adventures in Ethiopia in our story Ethiopia - The Gondar Gomma Incident

Khartoum, Sudan

We found Khartoum to be a pleasant, modern and attractive city, stunningly situated at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles. We carefully avoided entering Sudan until the fasting month of Ramadaan was finished, not realising that in fact the week after Ramadaan is even more difficult: everybody goes on holiday and virtually everything comes to a standstill. We nearly starved for the first few days, because all the banks and most eateries were closed. We managed to stretch out the equivalent of about three US dollars by eating (very well, it must be said) at the central bus station for two days, the only part of town where there was any life.

Khartoum was hot ... very hot indeed ... and this was midwinter in Sudan. After the icy mountain air of the Ethiopian highlands, our bodies took a full two days to acclimatise. Our fridge worked overtime and eventually gave up completely ... battery completely drained after two days ! We also felt completely drained and the most we could do was to drag ourselves to the museum, where we spent most of a morning negotiating the necessary permits to visit the historical sites of northern Sudan. It was the first time since Maputo that we had cause to use – and be extremely grateful for – our rooftent “ceiling fan”, which we had until then regarded as one of the few obsolete items we schlepped across the continent. The rest of Sudan, by the way, was unexpectedly cold – in fact far too cold for our liking, especially during the desert nights.

Khartoum is modern – most of it was destroyed in war about a century ago, so it had to be rebuilt. Its ancient neighbouring city across the White Nile, Omdurman, makes a fascinating counterpoint. We caught a taxi there to see the sights, including the market and the much-anticipated “Whirling Dervishes”, the Sufi sect who spin themselves round and round into a trance-like state at the Hamed El-Nil mosque, every Friday. Every Friday that is, except for the one immediately following Ramadaan, when (you guessed) everybody goes on holiday. Luckily for us, who had braved the heat of Khartoum just to be there on the Friday, a handful of “workaholic” Dervishes eventually pitched up. Maybe they were just addicted to the spinning ...

Cairo, Egypt

The big mother of African cities is ... well ... big. The first thing you notice is the unbelievable amount of traffic. Sixteen million people travel around in and on every conceivable form of transport, including donkeys and camels. Finding our way to our campsite in Giza was an experience – we took a wrong turn and the road steadily deteriorated into gravel ... then sand ... then mud ... then our vehicle was pelted by rotten oranges hurled by street vendors – their way of telling us we were on the wrong road !

Whenever possible, we chose to go by taxi instead of risking our vehicle in the chaotic traffic, which never stops, even in the middle of the night. The city planners decided to make the traffic lanes in the roads generously wide, presumably to give vehicles a safe degree of separation. Of course, this means that it is (barely) possible to squeeze five vehicles across a three-lane road by completely ignoring the white lines – and this is exactly what happens. Indicators are unheard of, their function apparently being adequately fulfilled by frequent use of bumpers and traffic horns. It's not at all uncommon to meet traffic travelling in the opposite direction in a supposedly single-direction road – in fact the design of the highways often forces you to use an off-ramp as an on-ramp because there is no on-ramp ! Sometimes it is impossible to get into the opposite stream of traffic for hundreds of metres, so human nature being what it is – always on the look for a shortcut – it's much easier just to drive against the oncoming traffic to get where you need to go. Getting out of the major french supermarket Carrefoure in Maadi city was a major challenge for us, since many of the roadworks in the vicinity had not yet been completed. We ended up having to enter the highway via the wrong lane (everybody does it everywhere else, so why can't we do it here) – and then corrected the manoeuvre by ramping over the central reservation. Piece of cake in a 4x4 vehicle. None of the other drivers or traffic police batted an eyelid.

The most hair-raising drive we had was the 60 km we had to travel to and from Cairo airport in our vehicle to request Customs to extend our temporary import permit by another month. Well, those 60 km turned out to be closer to 180 km by the time we had finished backtracking and circling round the largely un-sign-posted airport ! The drive back was in rain, which on the rare occasions it falls, completely floods much of the highway. Our recently-washed car ended up completely covered in the greasy black remains of about a year's smog and oil – the Zebra stripes were barely visible when we got back to our campsite – mission successful, with temporary import permit duly extended.

When all is said and done, we found Cairo to be a fascinating and friendly city, which we got to know well during our two weeks there. It is a wonderful place to engage in our favourite pastime – people-watching ...

Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria is a much more user-friendly city than Cairo, since it is much smaller – if a population of six million people can be called small. Appropriately referred to as the Pearl of the Mediterranean, it is a beautiful seafront city which we found even more sophisticated than Cairo – almost European in atmosphere. The streets and elegant shops really came to life after dark, when they thronged with people. We discovered the Brazilian Coffee Store, which served the best coffee we have had since Addis Ababa. People were friendly and we were never over-charged – a rare experience for tourists in Egypt.

Being in Alexandria and seeing the Mediterranean (the first sea we had seen since Tanzania) really brought home to us the fact that we had finally crossed the entire continent. We thought back to the start of our journey in Cape Agulhas, 275 days and 14 countries earlier ...