Languages
I remember very well that little boy who lived just some steps next to the campground in Senga Bay, Malawi. He lived in a little mud-hut, which served as a restaurant. One day, I asked him what his mother was preparing for dinner, and he answered in fluent englisch, if I would agree to eat hippopotamus and he already started explaining me all the different pieces of a hippo and I had the choice of whatever piece I wanted. He dissapeared to the beach, where a big hippo was shot that morning, and two hours later the big piece of meat was on the table waiting for me.
So you ask me about communication problems in Africa? Even the smallest kindergarden-boy in Malawi speaks fluently englisch! Their motivation for school is just incredible, and although one class consists of almost 100 children (all of them under a big baobab-tree) they learn faster and better english than most continental-european children during years and years! I can say the same thing about Zimbabwe, too.
Kenia is a little bit different in rural areas, may be not every person speaks english, but english is certainly the language to speak!
The hardest place to find english-speaking people is Tanzania! Probably one out of ten people speaks english, but this is still enough to get by all the time and everywhere!
Moçambique is - together with Angola - the only portuges-speaking country in southern Africa.
In South Africa, many black people speak english, but many of them not very good.
If you don't speak english, it will be very hard to communicate in these countries. Don't expect to find local people who speak german, french, spanish or italian or so.