Hi, tempted to skip the overland tours and jump on buses similar what I've done in the rest of the world, there aren't many forums for travellers anymore and the readership is lacking here, being thinking and cementing in July/August as a time to visit Tanzania amongst others if people are interested?
Overlanding by bus in South-eastern Africa
The problem with Africa in small and private vehicles is the cost of national parks and the entry fees as it is charged per vehicle. Therefore if you have 3 people in a car you share potentially hundreds of dollars each entry between that 3. If you have a group of 15 the same cost is shared that many ways and affordable multi entry national park tours is more feasible. So if you're intending to do a lot of game driving etc that could be hard on your own just jumping on public access vehicles then having to stump up the national park entry costs, last minute for yourself. Just saying...