A couple with zero camping experience took on an ambitious 11-day self-drive rooftop camper trip through Botswana during wet season, encountering lions alone for an hour, camping by hippo pools, and trekking with mountain gorillas in Uganda—providing rare insight into budget safari options beyond expensive lodge packages.
The detailed account on r/travel challenges the assumption that African safaris require luxury lodges and organized tour groups, showing an accessible alternative for adventurous travelers willing to camp.
The couple drove from Kasane through the Chobe River front, down through Savuti, and continued to Khwai—where they camped outside a hippo pool. They then drove to Maun, Nxai Pan, Elephant Sands, and back to Kasane over 11 days.
Traveling during the beginning of wet season (December) meant they "felt like we had the entire park to ourselves." They experienced multiple lion encounters where it was just them alone with the animals for an hour—the kind of intimate wildlife experience that crowded high-season safaris rarely deliver.
After Botswana, they continued to Victoria Falls, then Mafia Island in Tanzania for beach relaxation and diving with whale sharks. The trip culminated in Uganda with a 7-day safari covering Murchison Falls, Kibale Forest for chimpanzee trekking, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for a 6-hour mountain gorilla trek. A final stop in rounded out the journey.
