Backpacking, laptop ? jungle ? savanna ? volunteering ? ...

[o7aaon]

Hi everyone, I don't know Africa very well, so I need some advice... You can answer the question separately, even if each one may influence the others.

I have two months to travel, July and August. I am adventurous, and a backpacker.

### Laptop or not ? ###

I will have work to do on my laptop(*), so I either take it with me, or shorten my trip by 2 weeks to work back home.

It would be nice and resting to regularly settle down for a few days and work on the computer, but bringing my laptop would make my backpack heavier.

Would it be risky to travel with it ? (stealing, ...).

(*) The work is composing music, so the environment would be nice and inspiring...

### Rainforest, Where to go ? ###

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Africa_FebAug.gif

I can see on that picture that there is clearly one area which stay deep green all year long, I guess this is where the forest is the denser. (with the equatorial climate).

I can go to Gabon, I speak French. Does someone know the country ?

What about the Congo ? The Democratic Republic of the Congo ? Other suggestions ?

### Savanna, Where to go ? ###

The question is more difficult...

From the equator, should I go north or south ? (or east) I tend to think south, but I may be wrong.

How could I move ? By bus ? or hitchhiking ? How are the road ? Is it dangerous ? Is it with a laptop ?

Which country(/ies) ?

### Volunteering, ideas of organizations ? ###

If I get some volunteering opportunities, it may simplify the question of where to go.

I would particularly like to work with animals, but plants and children could be very nice too.

I don't want to volunteer for a very expensive fee supposed to include training and accommodation. That sounds so much like resort hostels !

For me the best situation is a free volunteering work, and accommodation is arranged separately.

Do you know organizations proposing such opportunities ?

### Could I get hosted ? ###

Traveling in the occident, I usually get hosted by locals, for free or for a small fee, depending on the length of my stay. I find people to host me on the Internet, and also on the spot (improvising).

Do you think this can be easily envisaged ? Would it be safe ? would it be for my laptop ?



Thanks very much for your attention.

[robertb]

wrt. laptop, many people travel with them now. If you are careful when and where you use it then people shouldn't really know you have it, and it won't get stolen explicitly.
So, use it in your room or somewhere where there are other people using laptops.

As for the weight, could you not use one of those mini laptops like by Asus?

There was a program about the forest elephants of gabon last week, and it looked absolutely awesome.

I don't know of any volunteering opportunities like what you suggest. Volunteering is really popular now, so that's probably why many organisations charge a fairly large fee.

There's definitely homestays in Africa, I'm sure the usual websites can point you in the right direction. I'd say that in my experience the general safety scale is Europe, N. America, Asia, Africa, S. America. Personally, I felt perfectly safe in Africa, but everyone has their own experiences.
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[TheZanzibari]

If your laptop is a small notebook/net book style one then it may not cope with the heat of Africa. My friend brought over a couple of notebooks and constantly gets the blue screen of death due to over heating, so only bring it if you have a good heavy duty laptop.
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