Two questions about blogging through Africa!

[carderne]

At the end of the year I will be trekking through Africa with a big group of friends, and we want to keep a very simple blog to keep our friends back home informed.

Firstly, as we'll be going through Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique, what will be the cheapest and easiest way of maintaining a wee bit of internet access through the trip? Just enough to upload a some pics and some text every day... We'll be in each country for an average of about 8 days, would it be worth trying to get a local SIM in each place with a small data plan? Or is there a network that covers a lot of these countries?

Secondly, what best to do it with? I don't want to take my laptop with, so the obvious thought was an iPad, but can you recommend anything cheaper and more/as functional? All we need to be able to do is load pics from a camera, and upload them to a WordPress site...

Thanks guys!

[Ianf1]

Here is a lady doing it solo. JORUST contact her on the blog and ask her the questions. She is a very friendly and nice person.

[samr1wp]

there was a UK couple who documented they drive through africa as well

i cant find the blog but i remember he had tips on everything

[abzo]

I'm looking forward to the "We've just been captured by rebels in Uganda" blog post.

[alphabyte]

I seriously suggest you contact Johan Badenhorst of "voetspore" fame, see voetspore.co.za. Their series on the trip from Agulhas to Alexandria is currently being broadcast on SABC. He and his team will be able to advise you on everything from communication, what to take with, what to eat, what to budget, how much to tip the Customs officials, travel insurance, health insurance, and many other factors. Good luck!

[blunomore]

Would love to travel through India and blog about it.

[carderne]

Here is a lady doing it solo. JORUST contact her on the blog and ask her the questions. She is a very friendly and nice person.

Thanks, gonna get in touch with her straight away.

I'm looking forward to the "We've just been captured by rebels in Uganda" blog post.

Hahaha, there are 40 of us, I'm sure we'll be able to come with some kind of defensive techniques!

I seriously suggest you contact Johan Badenhorst of "voetspore" fame, see voetspore.co.za. Their series on the trip from Agulhas to Alexandria is currently being broadcast on SABC. He and his team will be able to advise you on everything from communication, what to take with, what to eat, what to budget, how much to tip the Customs officials, travel insurance, health insurance, and many other factors. Good luck!

Thanks, I somehow forgot about him. He actually came and spoke to us earlier in the year to give us advice and tips, but it was much more general at that stage as we hadn't yet got into the specifics of our planning. Gonna message him now, sure he'll be able to help.

[TowerGuru]

At the end of the year I will be trekking through Africa with a big group of friends, and we want to keep a very simple blog to keep our friends back home informed.

Firstly, as we'll be going through Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique, what will be the cheapest and easiest way of maintaining a wee bit of internet access through the trip? Just enough to upload a some pics and some text every day... We'll be in each country for an average of about 8 days, would it be worth trying to get a local SIM in each place with a small data plan? Or is there a network that covers a lot of these countries?

Secondly, what best to do it with? I don't want to take my laptop with, so the obvious thought was an iPad, but can you recommend anything cheaper and more/as functional? All we need to be able to do is load pics from a camera, and upload them to a WordPress site...

Thanks guys!

I was on the Put Foot Rally earlier this year. We did it by buying sim cards in each country.

In Namibia I had a MTC sim card I bought for R20 and loaded it with R30 airtime. Was enough to get me through six days in Namibia. Theres mostly only EDGE in Namibia. Sniffed some 3G when we went through Windhoek though.

In Zambia get MTN Zambia. They have 3G every where. I mean 2 huts on the side of the road had 3G - you shouldn't have any problems. The sim card cost 100 000 kwachas and I loaded it with 200 000 kwachas which was enough for a couple days of instagramming the hell out of Vic Falls. 5000 zambian kwacha equals US$1.

In Malawi I had airtel. They are not that bad but coverage is patchy. Sim card was 320 kwacha and loaded it with 500kwacha which lasted a couple days even with calls. 270 Malawian kwacha equels US$1.

In Mozambique I had Vodacom Mozambique. DO NOT go with Vodacom Mozambique. But of useless idiots. I had zero connectivity thanks to their non functionioning Rica system. Rather go with MCell.

The best blogging tool that all 60 put foot rally teams found the best was Twitter and Instagram haha. Twitter was our walkie talkie to the other teams.

You often don't have time to charge a laptop but you can always charge your phone in your car.

Hope that helps!

[carderne]

Awesome, thanks TowerGuru! That's perfect. And ya, we don't want to take a laptop with, rather gonna try get a nice tablet with a long battery life.

Hope you enjoyed the rally by the way, a friend of mine watched you guys coming past in Malawi!

[TowerGuru]

Awesome, thanks TowerGuru! That's perfect. And ya, we don't want to take a laptop with, rather gonna try get a nice tablet with a long battery life.

Hope you enjoyed the rally by the way, a friend of mine watched you guys coming past in Malawi!

seriously thats so cool!

We got forced off the road by the Malawian Presidential Motorcade on our way to Cape Maclear...we had just got through Dedza Pass. Absolutely stunning...i highly recommend you stay at Fat Monkeys in Cape Maclear...it is just stunning.

[evilstebunny]

Secondly, what best to do it with? I don't want to take my laptop with, so the obvious thought was an iPad, but can you recommend anything cheaper and more/as functional? All we need to be able to do is load pics from a camera, and upload them to a WordPress site...

A wordpress blog should work, you set it up beforehand and do your updates from the road either from internet cafe's (if such a thing exist in the parts you're traveling) or from your mobile - Wordpress has software for Android and iOS .. so maybe worth checking out.

[patrick]

Buy sim cards wherever you go. Saves you from having to hunt down an internet cafe. Something other than an ipad would be good. It'll be a pain cutting all those sims to fit the ipad.

[carderne]

seriously thats so cool!

We got forced off the road by the Malawian Presidential Motorcade on our way to Cape Maclear...we had just got through Dedza Pass. Absolutely stunning...i highly recommend you stay at Fat Monkeys in Cape Maclear...it is just stunning.

Haha mad, that's exactly where they were staying, and exactly where they said we should go. Just checked our itinerary, and we are! Getting my scuba license in a few weeks to make the most of it.

A wordpress blog should work, you set it up beforehand and do your updates from the road either from internet cafe's (if such a thing exist in the parts you're traveling) or from your mobile - Wordpress has software for Android and iOS .. so maybe worth checking out.

Ya I suppose I might just end up do most of it from someone's Android. Less trouble than taking a tablet of some sort with. Actually, I've just had an idea, does anyone know of an external keyboard that will work with a Android phone!? Will save me the trouble of typing 65 days of blog on a tiny touch screen...

Buy sim cards wherever you go. Saves you from having to hunt down an internet cafe. Something other than an ipad would be good. It'll be a pain cutting all those sims to fit the ipad.

Oh ya thanks, hadn't thought of that! iPad definitely out.

Thanks for the help guys!