Africa was an expensive trip for me. Totals are in Canadian Dollars  in 1999. Currency converter

Airfare from Edmonton, AB, Canada                 $2448.00
Encounter Overland Tour                                     2772.00
Canoe Safari, Goliath Tours                                   561.00
Whitewater rafting, Safari par excellence              150.00
Internal flights, Zimbabwe                                      392.00
Accomodation, Zimbabwe  (7 nights)                       77.00
Visas, innoculations, supplies (rough guess)          300.00
Various other expenses (rough guess)                     500.00

Total                                                                    $7200.00

Taking so many organized tours bumped up the cost quite a bit, as did the internal flights. Flight cost is also quite high.

Overall the cost of ordinary backpacking (once I got there) seemed to be somewhere between that of travelling in Northern Europe and travelling in SE Asia. A difference is that many of the sites that I wanted to see, things that I wanted to do, were all quite expensive in Africa.

A quick check of organized tour prices off the web in March 2001 revealed that the well known overland companies are comparable, the South African ones are quite a bit cheaper, and the tours designed for the wealthy traveller are MUCH more expensive than the average.