15/12/05 It's tremendous
that we will again be a threesome of Kay, Myself and the Motorcycle
travelling on this next section. With just 33 of the worlds 192 countries
not visited yet by the motorcycle we are planning, and hoping, to
visit all the missing countries of Africa this trip. The weather seems
better for a clockwise circumnavigation of the continent, winter in
the south the only possible downside. The plan is to return to Bahrain
on the 31st of December. Leaving Australia on the 26th Dec with a stopover
in Dubai enroute should enable us to get a Sudan Visa. There is no Sudan
embassy in Australia and the Bahrain Sudan Embassy required an invitation
from Sudan, whilst the Sudan Embassy in Dubai only required a letter
of introduction from our embassy. Having received an invitation from
a Saudi company, obtained through connections at the Harley Davidson
shop in Bahrain, and applied for at the Saudi Embassy in Australia we
were initially thrilled with getting a three month single entry visa,
but on a personal approach to the embassy, whilst in Canberra recently,
we managed to have that one cancelled, and at much expense, $US 200.00
each, received a multi entry three month visa, an incredibly pleasant
surprise. This should allow us greater flexibility whilst in the region.
Bahrain to Saudi (by trailering the bike across the causeway, as motorcycles
are not allowed to be ridden on it), then Qatar, back to Saudi and across
the country to Jeddah and the Red Sea with a boat to Eritrea in early
February. As Eritrea is basically landlocked, the Sudan border being
closed to foreigners, and the south road to Djibouti almost non existent,
we will likely ship to Sudan, either directly or back via Saudi Arabia.
Sudan to Ethiopia and onto Somalia (Somaliland) then to Djibouti in late
March. Visas and border problems in Africa are always a headache. We hope
to get Eritrea's visa in Bahrain, Ethiopia's in Saudi Arabia (supposedly
difficult in Sudan), Somaliland's in Ethiopia (it's only embassy representation)
and Djibouti's visa in Eritrea. Hopefully a boat will be going south from
Djibouti to the Seychelles, but if there is one at all, it will more likely
go from Mombassa in Kenya or Dar-es Salaam in Tanzania where we will need
to find another boat to the Seychelles. Of the 12 countries the bike has
not yet visited in Africa, six are islands, three are separated by border
conflicts and the remaining three are scattered. This makes for a logistical
nightmare of shipping and travelling in a difficult part of the world under
normal travel. We expect to have to ship back to mainland Africa from the
Seychelles before a boat to the Comoros and Madagascar. Suprisingly there
is a regular shipping, freight and passengers from Madagascar to Mauritius
and Reunion islands, further to the east. Shipping again back to Tanzania
and a quick ride across Zambia and Namibia to Angola about July. The Angolan
visa is one of the most difficult to obtain and is still on the drawing
board of where, when and how. A boat around Congo Zaire and onto Congo Brazzaville,
Gabon, and another boat, to Sao Tome and Principe, a small group of islands
forming a country offshore from Gabon. The Cape Verde islands to the west
of Senegal and Sao Tome and Principe were both former Portuguese colonies
and we hope still have shipping between each other and Portugal as we hope
to ship along that route. Portugal to Spain and a boat to Algeria, our
last, hopefully, country in Africa that the bike hasn't visited. The trip
is expected to take 12 months, but must be incredibly flexible due to the
uncertainty of ships and visas.
Morgan and Wacker in Brisbane Australia have again provided
us with parts from our long list, all at cost price. Some parts are
being replaced for the first time, like the windshield, rear brake disk
and rear brake calliper. Maintenance items of oil filters, fork oil, brake
fluid, brake pads, wheel bearings, spark plugs, grease, air filter and
more often replaced items like the speedometer cable, drive belt, belt
guard, stone deflector, engine stabilizers, a couple of oil seals and
bushings. A bike with 443,000 hard km's ridden is likely to cause problems,
and with the only Harley Davidson dealership in Africa, in South Africa,
a country we don't plan to visit, we are expecting a lot from the worn
motorcycle on this trip. The engine was already noisy, again, and burning
a litre of oil per 1000 km's, at the end of the last trip, but not wanting
to repair it prior to visiting Africa, we will cautiously wait and see
the future.
You can now move onto the first country of the twelfth
trip if you wish. Start Travelling
