Trans africa, east or west?
 

Hi all
I am planning route down to Cape Town from the UK. (Oct/Nov 07) Would like to travel down east coast but because of Sudan am also looking into the west coast down throught Algeria (via Tamanrasset) I know alot could/will change between now and departure. Are people getting through Sudan? i will prob be solo, defently on motorbike. How do the guide system in Algeria work (also what areas can you travel to with out a gide?) I plan to take a Armstrong MT500 has anyone used one of these for a trans?
P.S. Is there anyone else planning a trip around this time would be great to hear your plans too.
Regards George

Take a look at what the commercial (truck and 4wd) companies are doing (not just what is advertised - what they are doing).

[This message has been edited by Frank Warner (edited 22 March 2006).]

Same route, same time. Not doing any planning now as will most probably be a total different story in 6 month time. So for now just keeping up to date with news (Local African; not BBC)and any other info to hand. Will start making more serious plans early next year.

Current issue almost bigger than Sudan is the drought in Kenya and Malawi. Very very sad but not surprisingly there are more reports on BBC about Pop Idol than the suffering of millions.

Considering going around Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt...

If you are doing the normal east coast route - eg Egypt (or Saudi) - Sudan - Ethiopia - Kenya - etc then you should be fine for getting through.

If you are starting on the west side - eg either on the atlantic coast or going south through Algeria - Niger then your going to have difficulties cutting across to the East coast based on the current situation. Your either going to have to cross through either Chad - Darfur or possibly through CAR and then into Southern Sudan, northern Congo - all of these are currently higher risk. Probably possible to get through depending on whether you want to take that risk. You may instead want to look at going down the west coast through Cameroon, Gabon, DRC, Congo, Angola, etc.

The standard east coast overland route through Sudan is still fine, and allegedly Sudanese visas are still easy to get in Cairo (or at least were a few months ago).

The main route from Wadi Halfa down to Khartoum (either via the Nile or the train tracks) and then on Gallabat & the Ethiopian border avoids the main problem area of Darfur (and the potential conflict that may soon arise on the Eritrean border)

If need be you can also stick your bike on the train from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, although this would miss the Nile route, which I consider is the best part of the whole East Africa crossing.

Hi Bossies thanks for you reply i think i am going to take the east coast route, and have the sahara /west coast as a alternate which i can change to in case Sudan/Kenya/Malawi is looking not too good. I have throught about going around the Med, what time scale are you working on? I plan about ~7/8 months. What bike are you taking?My e-mail is george_guille@hotmail.com if you want send me a mail.
Yes very sadly it is ture concerning Pop Idol
Regards George

I'm not sure about the MT500 , but my wife and I have just come back from crossing Algeria on MT350's - the replacement to the 500.
We rode the bikes from Banjul ( Gambia) east to Agadez (Niger) and up through Algeria to Algier.

Judging by the way the MT350's behaved in the sand you should have little trouble. The worst niggle I found was that the gearing is wrong for tarmac ( though perfect for soft sand ) and I got a little frustrated on good roads at being only able to do 90kph or so...

You will probably need to keep a good eye on chain and tyre wear ( we destroyed both chains and tyres in 6000km ) , and judging by the 500's reputation I would suggest you take a spare reg/rect unit since the heat may destroy yours ( hard work in soft sand , engine gets very hot and there's bugger all ventilation at low speed).
I would also suggest you take a spare 'road' front sprocket with you with 1 or 2 more teeth than you use in the sand, i.e. gear for higher revs in sand where the power is needed at low speed. We didn't carry spare road sprockets and it cause a few frustrations.

Ray