Independent travels around Southeast Africa [closed]

Me and my girlfriend are going to travel around Southeast Africa from May to July. We haven't made any specific plans but we will likely visit Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and/or Botswana.

We have no interest in touristic attractions and avoid them (e.g. Victoria Falls). As our budget is very tight, we're going to have to skip Serengeti and other major national parks. We enjoy hitchhiking, wild camping and making friends with locals. We would like to just go wherever the road takes us.

I am aware that in South Africa, where we'll be starting and finishing our trip, travelling like this would be extremely dangerous. I am not sure about the other countries, though. From research I have done, crime rates in those countries are much lower than in SA, but still rather high.

Question: Can we wander around the countries mentioned above without exposing ourselves to a significant risk of getting seriously hurt?

Background: We are 25 and 27 years old, white Europeans. I am currently staying in South Africa. We have hitchhiked around Europe in our teens, backpacked in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Mongolia, Siberia, Indonesia, Morocco, etc. Both of us have also lived abroad several times. We have a lot of respect for other people and have always managed to get out of any difficult/dangerous situation.