Zebras roaming through Etosha National Park in northern Namibia.
Africa is a new and developing region in the eSIM card sphere, so I was excited to test out Airalo’s options on a recent two-month trip in Southern Africa spanning five countries. One of the concerns while planning this epic adventure with my friend Becky was connectivity because we had to work while on the road. (Becky is a content writer and must make daily blog and social media posts.)
We both brought our old iPhones with a physical SIM card tray as a backup. (Spoiler: we didn’t need it!) I always download offline maps before arriving as a safety tool.
Since I’ve written about the pros and cons of eSIM cards, I decided to use Airalo because it is the world’s oldest eSIM store and has the most plan options for the region. From rhino sightings to hiking sand dunes and exploring ghost towns, here’s my honest Airalo review for travel in Southern Africa.
Countries Visited: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia
Usage: WhatsApp for texts, calls and audio messages, navigation apps, uploading video/photos to social media, and using the hotspot to connect to a computer for WordPress.
Promo Codes: NEWTOAIRALO15 for 15% off your first purchase. Existing users can save 10% with AIRALOESIM10.
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: This is a sponsored post with affiliate links. All opinions are my own. If you make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no cost to you, which goes toward blog maintenance costs. I only recommend products and companies I truly love and use.
Airalo in South Africa
Locations Visited: Cape Town, Cape Point, Boulders Beach, Hermanus, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Johannesburg, Kruger National Park
Cellular Network: Vodacom
Is 5G supported? Yes (The plan isn’t supposed to support 5G, but I had it everywhere.)
eSIM Used: CellSA 5 GB for 15 Days ($13.50 USD) and CellSA 10 GB for 15 Days ($24 USD), plus a top-up 1 GB for 3 days ($4 USD)
Airalo in Cape Town & Western Cape
The view of Lions Head and the cable car from the top of Table Mountain.
I kicked off my two-month trip with a few days in Cape Town using the CellSA 5 GB for 15 Day plan. I had 5G coverage all over the central part of the city (CBD, Green Point, Sea Point), which is funny because the eSIM only says it supports 4G. It was a bit spotty at Table Mountain—I had LTE on the cable car and spots on the top.
At the end of the trip, we came back to Cape Town for 15 days and stayed in Green Point. For this, I bought the CellSA 10 GB for 15 Days plan. I did a speed test with the Ookla Speed test app, and it was 370 Mbps download 52 Mbps upload on 5G.
We drove out to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point in Table Mountain National Park. Since it’s a national park, there was no service as I expected. My friend Rolando had the Verizon international service (he gets it free through work) and had a couple of bars of 5G here and there on the MTN-SA network. The service was spotty on the drive back to Green Point for both of us, and there wasn’t any service in Boulders Beach, the famous penguin colony. Keep in mind that you must drive through a mountain pass to get to Cape Point from Cape Town itself, so there will always be some rural areas with spotty service. I had downloaded Google Maps, so there were no issues with navigation.
We did two day trips for wine tastings in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, which are a 1.5- to 2-hour drive depending on traffic. Service was fine in the city centers but spotty at some of the rural wineries. It switched to LTE in those areas. We paid for private tours and drivers for these wine tastings for safety, which I recommend everyone do!
We also did a day trip to the start of the Garden Route near Hermanus and had a similar experience with good service in the town and only one bar of LTE at Creation Wines, my favorite winery. Again, it’s a mountainous area, so this was all expected. We could easily scroll the internet and upload to social media overall.
I went through data a lot slower than I expected. Since my plan expired early on the morning I was leaving, I added a 1 GB top-up at the end because I wanted to have service at the airport because I never trust airport WIFI. A 15-day plan was cheaper than a 30-day plan. Since I stayed 16 days, the top-up was the most economical option. FYI: Airalo offers unlimited plans for heavy data users.
Airalo in Johannesburg and Kruger National Park
A giraffe walks across the road in the southern part of Kruger National Park.
We did a week-long safari by land from Johannesburg to Kruger National Park. We had 5G the entire time in Johannesburg and along the main interstate leaving the city. After that, service went back and forth between 5G and LTE. Becky was busy doing social media posts for work while we were driving with no issues. (We both used the CellSA 5 GB for 15 Days eSIM for the safari.)
Kruger National Park cut off all cell service in the park as part of anti-poaching measures, according to our guides. Occasionally, we had a little bit of service in rest stops (LTE) inside the park and near the entrance gates. (If you see a rhino, do NOT add the location of the photo because poachers use this information. Always wait to post rhino photos. You aren’t allowed to report rhino sightings.)
We spent most of our time in the southern portion of the park, entering at the Phalaborwa and Hazyview gates. Keep in mind that all the main gates are right beside towns with services, food and within cell phone range. I had a couple of bars of 5G in Hazyview, a town near one of the most popular gates. I did a speed test at our Hazyview hotel: 79.9 Mbps download and 4.82 Mbps upload. We also did a day tour along the Panorama Route, another mountainous area with several viewpoints and attractions near Kruger. I had LTE off and on the whole day.
Airalo in Namibia
Flamingos and giant sand dunes in Sandwich Harbor along the coast of Namibia.
Locations Visited: Windhoek, Etosha National Park, Twyfelfontein, Spitzkoppe, Swakopmund, Sossusveli, Luderitz
Cellular Network: TN Mobile 3G
Is 5G supported? No
eSIM Used: Nama 1 GB for 3 Days ($9.50 USD)
Our next stop was Namibia, where we spent most of our time. We spent a week in Windhoek to chill, then did an 8-day safari by land through Botswana before flying back to chill for another week. (We had to catch up on work!) Then, our friend Rolando arrived, and we self-drove around Namibia in a 4X4 SUV.
When I landed at the Windhoek airport, I could not get my eSIM to connect. (I ended up buying an eSIM in the airport from the MTC network, which claims to cover 95% of the country, as a backup. The MTC eSIM had 5G and worked instantly. (MTC just launched eSIMs the month before we arrived!)
The airport is a good 30–45-minute drive from the city center, so I wanted service for safety. When I reached my hotel in the city center, I still couldn’t get my Arialo eSIM to connect. I spent an hour chatting with Airalo support in the app. After a lot of troubleshooting, the support representative said the network doesn’t have good coverage in Windhoek and refunded the cost.
I talked with other travelers who bought the same Airalo eSIM who had similar issues. One person told me they only had spotty service at the coast. Rolando was initially using Verizon’s international plan (he gets it free through work), but it didn’t work anywhere in Namibia either. He ended up getting an MTC eSIM as well.
Every local we met said MTC had the best coverage in the country. We found that we only had service in cities or big tourist areas and were without coverage for long expanses of our drives. I disagree about MTC’s claims about covering 95% of the country because it seemed sparse outside of cities.
Based on my experience, Airalo should be partnering with MTC. I got the impression that the network wasn’t open to partnering with others since Verizon also didn’t work there.
For safety reasons, you NEED cell phone coverage if you are self-driving in Namibia. I would advise everyone to buy MTC as a safety backup, even if your eSIM works when you arrive. Consider even getting or renting a GPS phone as a backup. We had some car trouble about 20 minutes out of Swakopmund and had just enough bars to WhatsApp our rental car company, who sent us help. MTC also came in handy because it came with a local phone number.
It would be helpful if Airalo had coverage maps for eSIM card plans or clearly stated if they didn’t cover popular cities or regions.
Airalo in Botswana
Lions sleeping under a tree after a big meal in Chobe National Park in northwestern Botswana.
Locations Visited: Ghanzi, Maun, Okavango Delta, Nata, Chobe National Park
Cellular Network: Mascom 4G
Is 5G supported? No
eSIM Used: Maun Telecom 3 GB for 7 Days ($23 USD)
We did a weeklong safari by land through Botswana that started in Windhoek, Namibia and ended in Victoria Falls, crossing the northern portion of the country. We drove through Ghanzi, Maun and headed north at Nata along the Zimbabwe border to Chobe National Park. For context, it’s important to keep in mind that over 40% of the land in Botswana is national parks and game reserves. It’s a very rural country, so I didn’t expect much service but was pleasantly surprised!
Once we crossed the border from Namibia, my eSIM connected almost instantly. I turned on roaming then turned airplane mode on/off and got 4G service. (The network showed up as 652 01 4G, which Airalo support says happens on the edges of service range.) I had full bars of 4G at a Charles Hill gas station at a crossroads just a few kilometers from the border.
I was able to load Instagram, download offline maps and surf the web. The Ookla Speed test app said the speed was 14.7 Mbps download and 8.65 Mbps upload. Once we started driving between towns, there was no service as expected.
Our safari guide said service is spotty even with a physical local SIM card. He said Orange and Mas Com (Airalo partner network) were the best networks, but one is often stronger in one place than the other.
I had 4G in Ghanzi and spotty 3G on route to Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta. I had full bars of 4G in Maun with 11.5 Mbps download and 6.79 Mbps upload. While this isn’t lightning fast, we had no issues with navigation, scrolling the web, email and browsing social media.
Our visit to the Okavango Delta coincided with the World Series and the epic 18-inning game between Toronto and Los Angeles. As we were driving into the delta in a safari jeep, we were constantly checking the score for our friend, a Blue Jays fan who didn’t have an eSIM card. We got the final score right before we hit the dirt road and lost service. An epic win for our eSIM card! We had no service in the delta until we got back on the same paved road.
On the paved road that paralleled the Zimbabwe border, we had 4G service along with service on a Chobe River boat cruise. We never had service while on safari in Chobe National Park, even though we paralleled the river where were had been on the boat. The 3GB plan lasted me the entire week.
Airalo in Zimbabwe
Victoria Falls photographed from Zimbabwe.
Locations Visited: Victoria Falls
Cellular Network: Telecell 4G
Is 5G supported? No
eSIM Used: Zimcom 1 GB for 3 Days ($19 USD)
We wrapped up our safari in Victoria Falls, our only destination in Zimbabwe, for two nights. The Zimcom 1 GB for 3 Days was the only eSIM card option for the country, which made me skeptical about coverage. It did not work, and I contacted support again. To save time, I immediately asked the support team if Victoria Falls was covered by the eSIM. (Since I spent an hour with support in Namibia for the same issue, I wanted to avoid wasting time troubleshooting.) As I suspected, it didn’t work because Victoria Falls wasn’t covered by the partner network. I’ve seen other eSIM card companies clearly state that Victoria Falls wasn’t covered, and I wish Airalo did this or provided a coverage map on the website/app.
Airalo support gave me a refund again since the eSIM was not used but made it sound like it was an exception because we hadn’t fully troubleshooted anything. Why troubleshoot if the location isn’t covered?
Our safari guide said that Econet was the best network in Zimbabwe. Also, there’s a good chance Airalo works fine in the rest of the country but just not in Victoria Falls, which is the only location I we visited.
Airalo in Zambia
One of the viewpoints along the Zambian side of Victoria Falls.
Locations Visited: Victoria Falls & Livingstone
Cellular Network: Airtel 5G
Is 5G supported? Yes
eSIM Used: Kafue Mobile 1 GB for 3 Days ($7.50 USD)
Victoria Falls lays on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are on the Zambia side, but the views are often best from the Zimbabwe side. Depending on your passport, you can get a dual entry visa that allows you to cross into Zambia. We ended up doing a day trip to see the falls from the Zambian side and took a taxi (12 kilometers) to the town of Livingstone. The day before, I’d reached out to see if either Livingstone or Vic Falls was covered and was told coverage was limited. This didn’t give me high hopes, but I thought I’d try it anyway with the cheapest eSIM option.
As I suspected, it never worked. The app did show that I’d used a very small portion of data, but I never had any coverage during the trip.
When I got back to my hotel WIFI in Zimbabwe, I contacted Airalo support via WhatsApp this time, which I highly recommend over the in-app chat option that I’d used previously. (If the chat times out, it circles you back to the AI bot. If the AI bot isn’t helpful, I just ask for a person, and it connects me.) They did give me a refund but only after going through the laborious troubleshooting process of changing settings and sending screenshots. (While I understand the process, it seemed silly to do this even though I had left the country already.) It was generous of them to give me the refund even though the app showed I’d used a tiny bit of data. I honestly wasn’t expecting a refund!
Airalo in Southern Africa Summary
African penguins in Boulders Beach near Cape Town.
eSIM cards are only as good as the cellular network they partner with, and Africa is a new and developing market for the industry. I had an excellent experience with Airalo eSIMs in South Africa and Botswana. I had no issues uploading to social media, checking email, using Google Maps for navigation and even hotspot to my computer to work with no major issues.
For Namibia, the only option is getting a local MTC eSIM card when arriving because they have the best network. I don’t know of any eSIM company partnering with the network. Since Airalo’s partner network doesn’t cover the Victoria Falls area in either Zimbabwe and Zambia, I’d focus on finding a network that has coverage there. This likely means buying an eSIM upon arrival.
If you’re going to be traveling in a remote area, research the best cellular network and find the eSIM plan that uses that network. If you can’t find a company that partners with that network, wait until you arrive to buy a local eSIM card. For safety, download offline maps before arriving as a backup for navigation. Since Airalo’s customer support is great at giving refunds for unused eSIMs, I never hesitate to buy one of its eSIMs to try in any country. I always do this as a backup and would recommend doing the same.
We were concerned about the availability of eSIM cards locally in Southern Africa and even brought our old iPhones with physical SIM trays, which we didn’t need. Before our Southern Africa trip, Becky was in Egypt using Airalo with no issues. (She tried to get a local eSIM, but it was such a hassle that she just bought Airalo and loved it.)
Again, I highly recommend Airalo’s South Africa and Botswana. I only used local country-specific eSIMs because they were cheaper than buying the regional Africa eSIM, which covers both countries. To save money on Airalo eSIMs, always use the promo code AIRALOESIM10 to save 10% on every purchase. (To save 15% off your first purchase, use code NEWTOAIRALO15.)
