What to Pack for a Road Trip in South Africa

With thousands of kilometres of (relatively) well-maintained roads, beautiful landscapes, diverse scenery and idyllic towns, South Africa is the road tripper’s dream destination. It’s hard to decide which part of South Africa is best for road trips, and that depends on what experiences you’re after and what kind of landscape you love. I love mixing up beach days with a bit of adventure and for that, the Wild Coast is perfect. We spent three weeks driving over 3500km from Cape Town, up to Coffee Bay and back through the arid Karoo. You may find that you prefer to travel by RV rather than a car for more comfort, just make sure you have a reliable battery RV to keep you going on your travels. If you do choose this mode of transport, it may be in your best interest to do a quick search into something as simple as good sam website, to find warranty plans for your RV, to keep your vehicle protected while on holiday. You never know what could happen, so it’s best to be safe than sorry.

A lot of people find that getting an RV, or even a motorhome, makes for a better road trip by the way. It just makes things a lot easier for them on their travels, as they don’t have to worry about finding a room to rent, and can just have a bit more freedom when it comes to enjoying their travels. Of course, for people who are planning on getting an RV or motorhome, they will need to make sure that it is insured properly. If you are planning on getting a motorhome for your trip then you can compare quotes with staveley head here if you wanted to! Anyway, back to the trip!

The route took us through tropical forests, beaches and desert landscapes, which is typical for South Africa. Here’s my guide for what to pack for a road trip in South Africa.

What to Pack for a Road Trip in South Africa

A combination of items in the same tones makes it easy to mix and match on the road, when you can’t do laundry. Denim is super easy to wear over and over, as it doesn’t get creased and actually becomes more comfortable as you wear it. The weather and landscape consistently change across the country, so it’s important to bring along items for hot days and warm stuff that you can layer when it’s cooler. Also be sure to bring active wear because there are lots of beautiful hikes and walks that you don’t want to miss out on.

For the best selection of cute but functional road trip gear, head straight to Duesouth, where you’ll find everything you need.

Tips for packing for a South African road trip

1. Road tripping means lots of packing and unpacking, so I recommend keeping it light. You don’t want to be lugging around a huge suitcase and digging through mounds of clothes that you’ll just need to pack up again in less than 24 hours
2. My top tip is to pack items that you can easily mix and match, so that you can create different looks. Sticking to a colour palette is helpful too, since it makes mixing and matching even easier. Denim, blues, greys, white and black are great to work with.
3. Pack fabrics that don’t crease easily and dry quickly so that you can wash them on the road if you need to. Items that can be dressed up or down are essential, since you might want to go out for a meal now and then. We camped most of the way and stayed in hotels a few times, so I wanted to pack items that were easy to move in (for setting up the campsite or walking long distances) but I also needed at least one look that I could wear in polite society.
4. Bring along a little bio-degradable detergent, in case you need to wash a couple of things along the way.
5. Make sure to pack some activewear. We found some beautiful hikes along the way. Leggings, a few t-shirts – and don’t forget a water bottle!

Of course, there are so many other things that you need to pack too. When going on any road trip, it’s incredibly important that people pack a health and safety kit. That will prevent any injuries. People can even purchase car and van kits online too. This can be easily stored in the vehicle and used whenever it is needed. Consider packing that as well. I hope this guide on what to pack for a road trip in South Africa was helpful! If you have any questions, you can just pop them in the comments below.

*This post is sponsored by Duesouth.