our schedules may converge crossing to morocco motomon. I'll be shipping from CA to London end of July.

Hi Gary,

No I didn't mean to drive to Cape Town in 3 (maybe 4) month's, but I only have 3 month's to escape my work and girl XD. So I was planning of leaving you guys early somewhere in Ghana (Ghana is best because its an English spoken country I guess).

Kind Regards,

Jeroen.

Hi Joren,

Ahh...got it. That might work out fine then! Check I'll check in as the fall approaches and we're all getting geared up to go!

Gary

Adding myself to this thread as well - I plan on riding both sides, ideally down the west, and up the east, but i could go the other way. Starting in Aug/Sep, and finishing sometime in 2014. I'm fairly flexible.

Drop me a line if you will be there at the same time.

welcome to the party NY - just sent you a PM.

Has anyone figured the best time of year to leave for Africa (assuming 12 months to go around it all), and then which order: east/west and up/down?

My best guess is that its Sept ish in Morocco, arriving in South Africa for January/Feb, and then up the east arriving in Sept again.

That avoids the heat of the Sahara, give you good game viewing in East Africa in Mar/April, and tries to avoid the rains in the middle, but doesnt do that perfectly.

Anyone have better timing/route info?

ALL on Schedule
 

All on schedule for October:)

Got everything apart from the carnet, ready to go now, just got a few more months to finish up at work and we're off. Wahey!

Hi all,

Sorry, I'm new here and don't quite know the posting etiquette. I am definitely going on a trip from Mozambique (where I currently live) to Madrid (where I will be starting school) from August - November 2013 via west coast. Sounds like I may at least cross paths with some of you? Ideally looking for travel mates.

i am there soon
 

i arrive jo burg ,2nd of may and will be heading ,lesotho ,durban ,cape town ,namibia ,botswana ,zimbabwe ,then wiggling north,not rushing
dave

Have been exploring getting a carnet, but Egypt seems ridiculous with 800 percent duty! How do we get around that?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

carnet fun
 

hey motomon,

Yeah, that really sucks about Egypt. Riding across Saudi Arabia doesn't seem to be an option for US citizen either. Seems to be no way around it so I plan on putting up the 5K indemnity bond with the Canadian Automobile Association (our Carnet issuer), which will also hopefully serve as post-trip survival cash..

Gar

Hi guys
I'll be following this VERY CLOSELY , i'm planning on doing as much of the WEST COAST from the north as possibly (evil money) in spring 2014.

I been to Maroc twice on my 96 DR650 (mainly hard core off road) but bought a XTZ 660 TENERE (2010) for the Africa trip but to be honest i think the DR knocks the socks of the Yam .....we'll see !!!

If things change i wouldn't mind following your tracks in October.

By the way i'm English but lived in SW France for the last 9 years

Phil

$5k Indemnity Bond
 

I don't really understand the "Ïndemnity Bond," business, but I do know that I don't have $5k to spare to put up. I'm trying to sell my Wee Strom that I just returned from South America on and put 21k miles/32k+ k on. Probably won't get much for it, but I really want to do this trip.

Guess I'll write to CA to get clarification. It seems like I have to pay $950 + $3-4k (if Egypt included) for the indemnity which will be about $4-5k, which is a lot of money for me. I already checked with my IRA account about getting an irrevocable letter of credit and they don't do that.

Chris

CAA carnet
 

The bond option for me is more expensive upfront, but much cheaper as long as I'm able to get my bond back. I had the same trouble with my bank not knowing what on earth i was talking about for a letter of credit. I wrote Suzanne Dennis at CAA who was very helpful - here is her reply:

Once we receive your application and we figure out how much of a financial guarantee you will require we make up the draft letter of credit for you to take to your bank along with a letter of information in order for them to understand what we are talking about. Please wait until that is done before going to your bank again.

We have dealt with almost every bank in the US.

If you choose the Indemnity option and you will be travelling longer than 1 year, you will have to pay the carnet fee and the bond amount every year.

If you use the letter of credit or put up the cash you would only do that once and it is good for 5 years however you would still have to pay the carnet fee every year no matter what.

Anyone thought about doing Africa without a Carnet? I was going to pay up, but then i read this thread:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...0-tenere-64769

I'd rather be greasing the locals palms this way, than having an expensive document, and likely having to pay bribes on top of things.