I once flew commercial to South Africa, converted my license, and rented a ZA registered Cessna 182 for about three weeks. Some fly a circuit west, with some airstrips in Botswana getting some traffic. I flew east, over the Kruger from Nelspruit, into Mozambique, landing in Vilanculos, Quelimane, Ibo, Pemba, and north into Malawi. I landed on dirt airstrips on islands (like Ibo), and abandoned 9,000‘ Portuguese military airstrips. At Mozambique Island, I was the first aircraft that month, and the 9th that year (it was September).
Very little of the aispace was controlled at the time, and I doubt it’s much different now. Fuel can be really tricky; it’s easy to get into places and not have the fuel to get back out. At the controlled airports, like Pemba and Beira, they don’t really know what to do with you once you land. Your are actually “aircrew”. There were the usually challenges there. Where there was air traffic control, it was always straight forward etc. Either taking off or landing at a controlled airstrip requires a flight plan, but its mostly a formality. The weather forecast don’t account for the “slash and burn” crop fires that can severely limit visibility.
Let us know more about where you plan to go etc.
