Trans Africa trip 2011
 

Hi All,
Planning a trip for later this year and wondering who else is interested. I have a KLR parked up in West Africa and want to travel down the coast (avoiding CDI if necessary at the time) as far as DRC and attempt to cross over to the east side via the southern Kinshasa - Lubumbasi route. With an eye to exit Africa to the middle east somewhere, taking in Lake Turkana along the way.
Especially keen to have a partner on a similar bike through the DRC stage.
Any takers?
Cam.

I wish I could come with you.:(
If you take the Kinshasa Lubumbasi route, be sure to read this report on the HUBB:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...kinshasa-53285

My friends are as we speak on a boat from Kinshasa to Kisangani:
Home is where we are
follow the blog if you want to know how that ends.:thumbup1:

East Route 31.07. Austria Cape Town
 

Hi, Cam

i go down to Cape Town on 31.07 from Austria. Have a look an my website

Harald ( Harry ) Häninger | freedom-on2wheels ( german )

if you are interested we can ride a view weeks together..

greets

harry:scooter:

Hi Cam,
Saw your question on the other west coast thread.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...d-2011-a-56713

I was planning on leaving the UK mid October heading for Morocco. The route I was imagining would be Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, DRC, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa.

I am flexible though. It has been suggested heading through Togo, Benin rather than Niger. I would love to do part of central and east Africa but havent researched it tbh.
Your DRC suggestion sounds pretty wild, I would certainly be interested. Having read the suggested thread from Titbird, it appears to be a crazy place. I wonder if being on a motorcycle brings less attention ?

I will be on a XT600E, busy prepping it. I have 5 months for the trip. Can you speak French ? - that is my major short fall, I cant.

I see you are in the Sudan currently, where is your bike parked up ?
Let me know your time frame, departure date, route, start, end etc. Similar to you, I am keen to ride with a fellow rider.

Cheers
Steve

Thanks for your replies.
 

Hi Harry, your route will be a lot of fun however unfortunately, my bike is on the west coast so I won't be able to join you on this trip.

Trichelia, seems like we are headed sort of in the same direction although I was planning to start a few months earlier than you. My bike is parked up in Freetown in Sierra Leone, so I'm tied to go back there as a start point for me. Worthwhile destination in itself by the way.

I had already read the suggested thread about the Belgian couple travels through DRC and hope to do the same in reverse. The way I see it, there would be many advantages to traveling by bike through this area. Not having to dig 2 tonnes of Toyota every 5 minutes is one bonus, with the trade off being even less privacy when stopping in villages.

Having done the east coast route and much of the west coast route, I was keen to link up the two. Luckily the people I work for have operations in DRC, so I wouldn't be 'cold calling', I'll have some kind of contacts throughout the country. My high school French is fairly comical, but it is able to prevent me from starving to death.

My start place will be Freetown. The starting date is very flexible, however I was either going to start before wet season kicks in or wait for next dry. If I wait for the next dry, it may fit in to your plan.

As for a route, I was planning to follow the coast more or less, then head across to the east side exiting out of DRC through Lumbumbashi, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti to Yemen (however recent events in Yemen might mean it gets dropped from the list).

This Africa trip is part of a larger trip that I'm making that is taking me in an Easterly direction for further adventures.

How does that sound to you?
CJ.

CJ,
If you were going to hang out until my dates, Id be interested to joining you. Im still am very keen to see parts of Mali, this could be done prior to potentially hooking up. What are the dates you referring to if waiting for the dry season ?
I was initially very keen to see Sierra Leone. The visa fee is quite pricey and that deterred me, however I could certainly add it to the budget or meet you outside. I was in Ghana for Christmas this past year but could pop through again, plenty I didnt get to see. With respect to DRC, the pics looked fantastic, the stories horrific, but the trip would make for fantastic conversation ! - I would be keen.

I would prob travel as far as Zambia with you, from there Id do Malawi, then head on south.

Im on an XT600E, top (comfortable) speed of +- 60mph. Im not in a rush and dont want to charge my way down Africa. Same agenda as you ?

I am unable to travel earlier as my wife and I will be doing a few months back-packing though the US, China and SE Asia before I arrive back in the UK 1 October (when she heads off to Auz and NZ).

Let me know your thoughs, could be possible ?

By the way, what are you doing in Sudan ? - I have a mate there, working for the UN I think, or some NGO as a nurse.

SM

Hi mate,
I've been away from the internet for a while, so sorry for the slow response. It's looking more like an October-ish start for me as well.

Sierra Leone is good place for a bit of RnR after the long haul down from Europe and I've got a few mates there with access to workshops.

As far as agenda goes, I'd like to keep a steady pace, do a few back roads and attempt to camp as much as possible too.

I travel as light weight as I can and end up being a bit of a smelly biker after a few short weeks. I've found that the most memorable trips in Africa I've done are the ones where I kept away from the big cities and interacted more with people in the villages. DRC may test that theory!

BTW, I may be in the UK at the end of this month. We could meet for a beer?
CJ.

Hey guys,

Im off to Africa as well.... probably October or so. Was planning east route because of visa issues. But the more I read here, the better it looks to take the west route.
How far are you guys with scheduling?
I ride a 91 Honda transalp. If I would take the west route, Id definitely be keen on having others around to ride with.

Greetz, Fokke (from Netherlands)

Hi,
I might be interested for early Oct, I will be spending the summer in Western Canada and Alaska with my wife who just bought a 650 GS
I am shipping my bike to Paris in early September, I don`t have any firm plans at the moment for when I get to the old continent.
It doesn`t really matter, East or West coast,
I do speak French, I am riding a Dakar
Cheers

A gang of tall bike riders heading for Africa. Nice one!

Visas for western route are not that bad. Morrocco at the border. Mauri & Mali embassey in the same street in Rabat. Guinea Conakry in Bamako (although very difficult to find consulate). SL in Conakry or border. Apart from that there is a mythical visa for all ECOWAS member states that is apparently available on occassions.

Compare that with the east coast: trying to get a visa for Sudan when you are traveling north and now Ethiopian visas must be issued in your place of residence & that's not to mention the Egyptian chaos at the border.

As I'll be rejoining the road in Freetown, I'm a bit ahead of everyone. Meaning: I was thinking of pushing off from there in October. It takes minimum of 3 weeks to get to SL on a bike from northern Europe, although if you stay off the tarmac roads, it can take 3 months (like what happened to me).
CJ.

Hi Guys

I'm hanging around Morocco at the moment waiting to hook up with one or more people to do the same trip. I live in Cape Town and must go back home at some point but don't want to do it solo. Done the east coast so would like to stick to the west coast.

If you have room for one more bike, I'd like to join in. If you're only leaving in October I might go north again and see what Portugal looks like first.

Cheers
Neville
Ps I'm on a '08 KLR

Hey guys,

As you can see on the Africa trip End 2011 topic, I'm also planning a trip to Africa from Europe starting somewhere in October. So if plans are going to be made to travel in a group I would also like to join in the fun and ride along!! :clap:

@ Fokke: I'm also from the Netherlands. I'm currently studying medicine in Rotterdam, where are you from?


gr
Gideon

I guess we all watch this space as the time to depart gets closer.

I hope to be in Freetown September -ish and can provide a base camp there if anyone is on the way down.
Seems like 6 guys are thinking about the west coast. Even if we don't all travel in the same group, it would be good to keep in touch.

Until then, it's back to the grindstone.
CJ.

Seeing that there are indeed a couple of riders planning a somewhat similar trip in a similar time-frame maybe it's an idea to start a mailing conversation and see if we can sort something out...

If I don't see any responses on this forum/topic in a couple of days I'll try to see if I can find the mail-adresses of those people who seemed interested and try to include everyone in a group-mail. Of course everyone is free to respond as they like (or not respond), but I think it's worth a shot trying to organise a trip traveling together. (especially considering the current situation in a lot of African countries)

Hey All,
I am riding 99.9999%, whatever happens myself and the bike need to end up in SA by +- March 2012 by whatever means, preferrable not air freight.

I will be leaving the UK 14 Oct, so can be a definite in any plan making. If timings arent perfect, I can lasso the hammock between 2 trees and wait it out a bit.

CJ, beer would be good, let me know when you about.

Happy days !