Traveling around the most Africa, often involves time and patience, as the public transport is unreliable (Lonely planet, 2014), it has a considerable amount of modes of transport, and these include:
- Air
- Car
- Bus
- Boat
- Train
- Bicycle
The main mode of transport to, from and within Africa is air travel. Before the arrival of air travel Africa was considered as practically inaccessible, and the standards of air travel was seen as very poor (Boniface and Cooper, 2001, 240) There is a dependence on schedule flights both within the continent itself and from destinations outside of Africa. As well as scheduled flights there are various priced charter flights, mainly to and from North and South Africa. Africa has developed strong links with European and other airlines (About, 2014).
South Africa has well developed travel infrastructure, with the biggest air and rail network in the continent (South Africa info, 2014), and is also the main developed area in terms of public transport; due to the good travel infrastructure in South Africa the ‘transport sector has been highlighted by the government as a key contributor to South Africa’s competitiveness in global markets’ (South Africa info, 2014). Although there is some development, the travel safety records is poor due to the high incident reports of death due to road accidents. It is a higher rate than the reports of death due to other crime (About, 2014).
After air travel, car is considered as the easiest mode of transport for personal use, whilst bus and rail, create a memorable experience of scenery and culture, but outside the southern and north Africa the rail network is very slow and under developed (Lonely planet, 2014). Depending upon where you board these transport modes, travellers either experience the luxurious side which includes fully air conditioning, with movies or the total opposite cramped and packed busses or rail service with no air conditioning (South Africa info, 2014).
(Google, 2014)
Elephant and camels are used as means of transport in areas such as the dessert, but are also used as a mode of transport within the tourism industry of Africa as a travel excursion (African Travel, Updated).
(Google, 2014)