Well, I would say that the traditional opinion of European colonies pre-Scramble is vastly overstated:
France- a few forts in West Africa, Algeria, some outposts up river in Senegal, Réunion.
Spain- Fernando Poo, claims to Annobón and the coast of the Gulf of Guinea but no actual control.
Portugal- Loanda, Benguela and Namibe in Angola (along with some forts near Loanda and possibly some influence in the interior). Delaoga Bay, Inhambane (probably) Sofala-Beira, the Isle of Mozambique and control over a semi-independent zone stretching up the Zambezi to Tete.
Britain- outside of the Cape and the protectorate over Egypt, a few forts in West Africa.
Really, the Cape was the only area of European penetration to any great degree (Algeria and Egypt saw French/British residents near the Med but not really getting much beyond that), and that was because it had the right sort of climate for a settler colony. For the rest of the continent, you had a few scattered outposts along the coasts, but nothing at all otherwise. Considering most of the native states were in the interior, that's a pretty significant lack of control.