Border crossings go smoothly when your paperwork is in order. Before the tour I will ask you for copies of your documents, and your tour dashboard covers the specific borders on your route.

Your vehicle

• Registration certificate: you need a copy of the vehicle’s registration certificate (the RC1 document, not an old licence-renewal form with the disc cut out). You do not need the original in the vehicle. A plain copy is generally fine; a certified copy is better if you can get one.
• Who has the original? If the vehicle is still being paid off, the bank has it. If it is a company car, the company has it, and if it is registered in a trust, the trust has it, even if you are the trustee.
• If you are not the registered owner (bank, company, trust or anyone else), you need a letter from the owner giving you permission to take the vehicle across the border. This letter should be an original, showing your travel dates, and signed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths. The bank will usually first want a letter from your insurer confirming the vehicle is insured, and will then send you the authority letter and a copy of the registration certificate.
• ZA sticker: display one on the back of your vehicle. They are sold by AA agents and outdoor stores.
• Vehicle markings: some countries require reflective strips or warning-triangle stickers. See Vehicle Markings.
• Police clearance: a vehicle police clearance might be necessary on some tours, for example in East Africa. Check the rest of your tour’s preparation pages, which will confirm whether you need one. See Vehicle Police Clearance.
• Carnet de Passages: only needed on some routes further north. Your tour dashboard will say. See Carnet de Passages.

Border fees and third-party insurance

Most countries charge road-user fees and permits at the border, and some require local third-party insurance: for example Namibia’s road users’ fee, Botswana’s road permit and Temporary Import Permit, and Zimbabwe’s carbon tax and compulsory insurance. These amounts change often, so carry some cash (rand or the local currency) in case the card machine is down.

On some routes in central and East Africa you need a COMESA Yellow Card, a regional third-party insurance accepted in several countries. Your tour dashboard will say if it applies to your tour.

Vehicle insurance and repatriation

Short-term (vehicle) insurance is something you arrange yourself. Make sure your vehicle is insured as it normally would be.

Vehicles in South Africa are generally insured against damage as long as the vehicle is in South Africa when the claim is made. For example, if you have an accident in Tanzania you cannot leave the vehicle there: the insurer will not collect it, and you will have to pay to get it back before the insurance pays out.

Normally the vehicle has to get back to the nearest South African border. You then phone your insurer, and they send a tow truck to collect it from the border and take it for repairs. I am not aware of any insurer that will collect a vehicle from a country outside South Africa, except perhaps some of our neighbouring countries, and nothing too far.

Before you go, ask your insurer:

• Are you covered if the vehicle is stolen in a foreign country?
• What are their rules on repatriation, and where do they take ownership of the vehicle?
• What is their emergency number, and what should you do if something happens?

Passports and visas

• Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the tour ends.
• Blank pages: two is enough for most tours; four is good enough even for a long tour.
• At the moment, South African passport holders do not need visas for any of the countries on our tours except Uganda.
• Not travelling on a South African passport? Check the visa rules for every country on the route with that country’s embassy, and arrange visas in good time.
• Remember the countries you only pass through. For example, going from Botswana to Zambia via Katima Mulilo takes you through Namibia, so you may need a multiple-entry visa.

Travelling with children under 18

South Africa’s Border Management Authority checks documents for children leaving the country:

• Both parents travelling: the child’s unabridged birth certificate, showing both parents.
• One parent travelling: the unabridged birth certificate plus an affidavit from the other parent consenting to the travel (or a court order granting full parental responsibility, or the other parent’s death certificate).
• Travelling with someone else’s child: the unabridged birth certificate, an affidavit from the parents or guardian permitting the travel, copies of their IDs or passports, and their contact details.

Check the current requirements with Home Affairs before you travel.

Driver’s licence

Your South African driver’s licence works in all the countries we visit, including Morocco. Make sure it will not expire before or during the tour. An International Driving Permit is available from the AA if you want one, but it is not necessary.

Yellow fever

• Yellow fever vaccination is not needed for our southern African countries anymore. These days it is typically required in East Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Malawi still ask for it from time to time, and for Rwanda you might as well have it too.
• Coming back to South Africa: you do not need a yellow fever certificate to come home from Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe or any of our other southern African countries. On East African tours, where you need one to enter countries like Kenya or Uganda, that same certificate covers your return to South Africa.
• Once you go as far as Zambia, it is a good idea to start thinking about it for health reasons. Getting the yellow fever vaccination usually comes with the other travel injections, such as hepatitis, so it is good to have rather than not.
• If your doctor says you cannot have it (for example because of your age or other risk factors), ask them for a letter stating that you are medically unfit for the yellow fever vaccination, and bring that letter along.
• See Yellow Fever for more.

Medical cover

Medical cover for travel is generally part of your South African medical aid. You can usually print the travel cover document from your medical aid’s website. If you are not sure, contact them and ask for travel medical cover; they will issue you with a letter confirming it.

Copies and originals

• Keep photos of all your documents on your phone.
• Almost no documents need to be certified, but certified copies are better to carry.
• You do not need originals in the vehicle, with one exception: the authority letter from the vehicle’s owner should be an original, because it is easy to get one.