25 days of camping. 25 days of sitting on a truck over rocky and dusty roads. 25 days of incredible sights and crossing over most of southern Africa made everything worth it.

An overland safari is a great option to seeing so much on a budget. Our safari cost us around $5,000 total. This includes transportation, game drives, food, park entrance fees and camp site fees. We booked with Acacia Adventures via a recommendation from other RTWers and we felt like we got a great value for our money. We spent additional on excursions including our walk with the lions and the 4x4 trip we took over the dunes.

Each tour starts with a pre-meeting to review rules, fill out paperwork, meet your guides and fellow travelers, and to provide the local payments the guides use for entrance fees ($1,020 USD per person.)

The mornings are always early to leave time for any border crossing, activities or hiccups along the road. Our average time hitting the road was 6:45 am, after breaking down tents, eating breakfast and packing up.

Most truck groups are divided into teams: packing, cleaning and cooking teams. This helps things to go smoothly and is also an "all hands on deck" mentality. This is a budget tour, and budget means pulling your fair share of the work.

We slept in tents nearly every night, with a few opportunities to upgrade to lodge rooms. Mattress pads are supplied but sleeping bags and a blanket were up to us to bring along. We quickly bought a blanket on the road as the nights were much colder than we expected. The tents were easy to set up and break down and by the third day the process only took about 10 minutes. We slept in the tents 90% of the time, once upgrading for a private room and three times sleeping under the stars.

We slept in tents nearly every night, with a few opportunities to upgrade to lodge rooms. Mattress pads are supplied but sleeping bags and a blanket were up to us to bring along. We quickly bought a blanket on the road as the nights were much colder than we expected. The tents were easy to set up and break down and by the third day the process only took about 10 minutes. We slept in the tents 90% of the time, once upgrading for a private room and three times sleeping under the stars.

All of our belongings fit into one locker, which is secured with our own personal lock. Laundry is done in the sink and hung to dry when we had rare two-day stops. Some lodges would offer laundry services as well.

We weren't on a full tour, which was extremely nice. Our custom tractor trailer-turned-safari truck seats 25, but thankfully, we only had 10-12 people at a time, giving us each our own two seats. A full tour of 25 would feel extremely cramped, especially on some of the longer driving days.

Our longest day on the truck was nearly seven hours and those days feel much longer than it sounds. The trucks are as comfortable as can be when you are traversing 2nd and 3rd world countries with awful roads.

This isn't a trek we would do in our 50s or 60s, when financial means and physical constraints would make us take it slower, but it would be a really fun trip with young kids.

In our 25 days on the road we saw some amazing things including:

- Spotting the "Big 5" in our first two hours of safari at Kruger National Park (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and water buffalo)

- Walking with lions at Gweru Lion & Antelope Park in Zimbabwe

- Tracking the rare serval cat in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe

- Seeing two lioness and their cubs wrestle in their hiding place among rocks

- Seeing Victoria Falls

- Watching the sunset over the Chobe River

- Camping in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

- Watching elephants just 20 feet away at the Elephant Sands watering hole

- Racing across dunes in a 4x4 at Sandwich Bay, Namibia

- Hiking the Big Daddy dune and seeing the iconic dry pan at Sossusvlei

- Hiking to the top of Dune 45 to watch the sunrise

At the end of this overland safari now, we won't lie. We are tired. This style of travel is not for high-maintenance traveler or those seeking R&R. Sleep is never quite satisfying. Dust and sand get in EVERYTHING you own (including cameras). You drive at least 3 uncomfortable hours per day on jarring, dusty, hot roads.

However, taking an overland safari gives you the opportunity to make friends from around the world, safely see countries which most Americans couldn't find on a map, observe all sorts of wildlife, and visit countless stunning natural wonders. This region of the world has as many breathtaking geologic phenomenon as the entire western United States and an unparalleled diversity of wildlife.

Africa is a wondrous place with head-turning beauty around every corner. We are happy we decided to take this tour and it will remain one of the most special, unforgettable experiences of our lives.

Zambia

Our time in Zambia was extremely limited with only two full days spent there. It was more a meet-up point for all the Acacia tours coming from different directions.

We didn't see Victoria Falls from the Zambia side and skipped the very pricey excursions available at the Riverfront Resort. The Riverfront in general felt so commercial and like sensory overload after our backwoods evenings across Zimbabwe.

We did enjoy the sunset on the Zambezi River and a trip into town. Livingstone is very touristy, as can be expected from one of the biggest attractions in southern Africa. The town is worth an afternoon to wander through the craft market (be prepared to negotiate and walk away) and the History Museum, which seemed a bit dull at first, but showcased the crazy history of political changes and witch doctors in Zambia.

Botswana

We spent four days in Botswana and covered a fair amount of ground on our trek to Namibia.

Elephant Sands was a true highlight for us in Botswana. The lodge is settled around a watering hole and we spent nearly an entire day and night watching the elephants come and go. A surprisingly hilarious fact is that elephants have poor digestion systems and sitting this close to elephants isn't pretty when they keep ripping farts, which happened frequently.

The experience was such a unique one, though, and we were so close to the elephants at times that we would have to lean back when they would turn around.

The Okavango Delta was a beautiful experience. We left our camp site early one morning for an open-air, two-hour drive to where we would be picked up by canoe. I can honestly say I've never experienced bone chilling wind like this before. Our entire group was absolutely frozen by the time we had driven two hours on the highway and then through the bush.

We spent the night at a lovely campsite nestled on the banks of the Chobe River. It was incredibly peaceful to watch the sunset.

The bush walk we went on was borderline terrifying as our guide had nothing for protection save for a stick. As we were tracking a water buffalo, the most unpredictable animal of Africa, we asked what we did if one charged us and our guide replied, "Run up a tree." Gee, that makes us feel better, especially when half of the trees are covered with thorns!

I was so relieved to be back in the canoe and just as we boarded, a herd of water buffalo ran across the bush. It was amazing, but scary to see, knowing we had been so close to the area minutes before.

Botswana had many things to see and we were impressed by the infrastructure. We wouldn't rush back to the country any time soon, but it certainly wasn't our least favorite place.