Southern Africa on a Honda CTX200 Bushlander
 

Trip Conclusion : 29,000 KM's, 9 Countries in 9 months.



http://i.imgur.com/0TTkUfel.png

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Hi TechnomadicJim here. I have mostly been posting on the Wild Dog forum about my trip as its more local but I'm a member here too and wanted to share with the HUBB.

Time : I have 3-9 months. (I arrived on the 25th September.)
Where : Southern Africa. Maybe Tanzania but definitely South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho.
What : Honda CTX 200 (AG Bushlander)

Here's my "Planning a ride" thread I started on the local WIld Dog Forum : South Africa to Kenya and back in 3-9 Months
Here's my Big vs Small bike discussion in "General Bike Related Banter" : Big vs Small Bike for 3-9 Months to Kenya and back

I bought the Honda CTX 200 for 35,000 Rand (~£2150, ~€2500). Read the big vs small bike thread for more info on why I decided to go for the CTX. I'm keeping the bike mostly stock but I did visit PistonPete at Outriders and had some 50/50 enduro Mitas tyres put on the bike.

I'm actually 3 months in now with 6 months to go but will slowly bring you up to date. This is where I shall begin my ride report :

http://i.imgur.com/p2RqV20.jpg
Cape Point on my first day heading out with all my gear.

I started out from Cape Town and headed to Cape Point (see above pic) where I had 3 ostrich's running just in front of me. They can run! Next if followed the coast on to Onrus camp site. Spent a couple of nights there quite bored to be honest. Saw some whales. meh...

Onwards to Cape Agulhas to visit the obligatory most southern point of Africa. Was tempted to take the bike right up to the sign but there were a lot of tourists around so I just walked up.

http://i.imgur.com/exGPxsh.jpg

I ended up in Swellendam where I spent 4 nights because it rained and I didn't fancy riding in it so I just holed up and got on with some work. Stayed at Swellendam Accommodation | Overberg Backpackers Hostel Lodging | South Africa Nice place and you can camp or dorm bed it and have your bike parked safely round the back of the house next to your tent/dorm.

Next I headed to Mossel Bay for another obligatory tourist thing of shark cage diving. The sea was rough and I was very sea sick and ended up spewing over the side and feeding the little fish. I still managed to get some photo's and did get a suit on to go in the cage while they dragged a fish head in front of the sharks as they bashed into the cage. I'm not sure how humane it is really as I'm sure I saw some lacerations on the shark's noses possibly from the cage :/

http://i.imgur.com/gKMcK7d.jpg

After 3 nights I headed up to Oudtshoorn and sat on an Ostrich. Bit weird.

http://i.imgur.com/UDdzbAM.jpg

Today I drove the Swartberg pass.

http://i.imgur.com/tBWRiXV.jpg

And then descended into "The Hell" and what a great ride! Really awesome twisty roads and small river crossings. I truly christened the bike and cut my teeth on some good off road terrain. The little CTX really performed well.

http://i.imgur.com/9x07PBO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WI9fDOr.jpg

So I left Oudtshorn for Warmwaterberg Spa after having it recommended by two separate people. Its really good value for money. I'm paying 200 Rand for a room with a kitchen and I get my own private massive bath with a huge tap for the hot mineral water. So good I decided to stay two nights.

The power was out so I headed the notorious "Ronnies Sex Shop" for my morning tea.

http://i.imgur.com/AuwMOAj.jpg

I then backtracked to Ladismith today so that I could ride some of the back (off) roads near the Swartberg mountains. There's a really nice road near Zoar that cuts through. Here's a couple of still's from the video (GoPro2 720p/30fps) I took today :

http://i.imgur.com/RbXjkx1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TgaqnST.jpg

I didn't have time to follow the road all the way round so at this point I turned round and headed for a local bikers place. He kindly gave me some new directions and I took a mostly off road way back to warmwaterberg spa. Thanks mate!

Really fun day zipping about without luggage.

I'm back in Cape Town until Tuesday to hopefully pick up my TRN so I can get my number plates. Then I'm heading up north to explore the Western Cape and then Namibia. :biggrin:

I've been going through my video's and pulled out a few more from "The Hell" :

http://i.imgur.com/xCGrBXX.png

This little fellow was frozen as soon as I drove round the corner. There was a second or so when we both just stared at each other. Really cool experience.

http://i.imgur.com/KDCy9hU.png

Crossing through this stream was great fun. I imagine its pretty intense after heavy rains.

http://i.imgur.com/XKcisJH.png

http://i.imgur.com/JAVQJvX.png

Taken at the pass near Zoar :

http://i.imgur.com/ijYfq5L.png

I left Cape Town on Friday and headed to Cerderberg nature reserve for a spit braai at cederberg oasis with some local (wild dog) riders.

http://i.imgur.com/pNVE4F2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AOr5Zqk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/d9s0Rgp.jpg

Went for a really cool ride with some new friends and saw some impressive bushman paintings :

http://i.imgur.com/2JwiYwE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/NlHd893.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XXDozDz.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/fYrI5FG.jpg

Spit Braai! Mmmmmm....

http://i.imgur.com/WX0Tubd.jpg

My camp :

http://i.imgur.com/cI9yxd6.jpg

Went exploring round the camp site and found this old bath. Had to get in it of course :

http://i.imgur.com/dG4DiLk.jpg

The ride out towards Clanwilliam. Nice winding road :

http://i.imgur.com/2R7wjHq.jpg

Just on the out skirts of Clanwilliam near where I am staying now :

http://i.imgur.com/SNtnO5n.jpg

Just an update. No pics. I'm not finding too much interesting stuff to see or do the last couple of days.

From Clanwilliam I decided to head to Elands Bay to get away from the heat. I passed "The Dunes" and thought I would have a gander but dropped the bike on the sand on the way so decided it wasn't such a good idea! I only stayed one night in Elands bay as it seemed like a pretty boring place. I get the impression it is busy at weekends and around holidays. I hit the road the next morning and decided to just drive north until I felt like I had enough which happened to be Garies on the N7. Its a tiny agricultural town. Seems quite friendly here.

The driving today was 50% road 50% gravel / sand and a good learning curve. My off road riding skills do seem to be improving although I have to admit I nearly lost it a few times when I went from gravel thick sand.

Before I head into Namibia I'm going to head to Upington to get my 4k service done as its the only Honda dealership between Cape Town and Windhoek. I'm liking the look of Augrabies Falls national park and may drive here tomorrow : Augrabies Backpackers - Home Its 415 km's so it would be my longest drive yet. Will see what happens.

From Elands bay I just headed north to see where I would end. Garies was where I decided I had done enough km's for the day. I stayed in a nice cheap self catering apartment for 280 rand. The next morning I decided to do the same and drove through Springbok which seemed like a nice place. I would have considered staying there but it was only lunchtime so pushed on. I read about some cathedral at Pella on someone's itinerary and decided to have a look. Pretty cool place. Pella is a very quiet town which some quite spectacular mountains in the background.

http://i.imgur.com/82Ce4Sj.jpg

A local guy told me to just keep driving through to end up at Klein Pella where I knew I could find some accommodation. So I headed off where he pointed and ended up in some spectacular but challenging terrain. Managed to drop the bike in some deep sand. Wasn't going fast so no matter. It quite tough with when you hit that deep sand especially with all my luggage. Fortunately the small bike is nice and easy to pick up again. I ended up doing a bit of a loop for an hour or so and got back on the N14 and headed for Pofadder to try and find a room for the night.

http://i.imgur.com/dyxnKse.png

Turns out they are building some massive solar farm near Pofadder so lots of contractor's have taken all the rooms. I was advised to carry on to Kakamas. The sun was setting so full throttle and I managed to find a room but ended up paying 400 rand for the night! Ohh well shit happens.

http://i.imgur.com/LkTlXo3.jpg

So now I'm staying at Augrabies Backpackers which will be my base while I explore the area for a few days.

Been hanging out in Augrabies the last few days. The backpackers is a nice chilled out biker friendly place to use as a base camp. I have been exploring the local grape farms and getting a few things sorted.

Yesterday I drove a big loop to Riemvasmaak. There's some great 4x4 off roading to be done in the area.

http://i.imgur.com/I5QPbdw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ylejZL2.jpg

I stopped off at the hot springs (50 rand) and chilled in the water by myself for an hour or so. Its really beautiful down there with two pools to choose from.

http://i.imgur.com/E0RqcKp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZvYKoV0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3fGKQje.jpg

I got the bike serviced today in Upington. Its been 4000 kms so far. I also picked up a 10 litre fuel can which gives me a total range of around 450km's. Should be enough for Namibia ;) I also got the tracks4africa Namibian paper map as a backup to my GPS.

I'm hoping to head to the Augrabies falls tomorrow.

Augrabies Falls Gorge walk. Was a crazy hot day to go hiking but the views were very impressive :

http://i.imgur.com/QXoyhPS.jpg

Two balloons took off at 5:30am from the backpackers. Pretty cool to watch. The wind was up and it was touch and go whether they would make it.

http://i.imgur.com/YZCn5VQ.jpg

Just south of the Namibian border crossing at Onseepkans. You leave the N14 by Pofadder and travel 50 km 's on gravel / sand to get there.

http://i.imgur.com/HogERIt.jpg

I made it across the border. The guys on the South African side were really sound. I was chatting them for about half an hour. I crossed at 2pm and I was their second crossing that day. Somehow I managed to loose my little disc along the way as it was attached to the swing arm. Fortunately the cape town municipality issued me two by mistake :)

Goodbye for now South Africa! :)

Hello Namibia!

After crossing the orange river the Namibian's weren't so friendly and berated me for not quite filling out their form's. I was also asked if I was a spy and asked to explain why I wanted a 2 month visa. The small bike was also criticised as the only bikes I think they see are BMW's or KTM's. After stamping me through and reluctantly giving me change for the bike 140 Nab$ fee the guy came out for a cigarette and completely changed his tune. He was interested in my trip and even wanted to buy the bike from me when I was finished! Random...

http://i.imgur.com/mTD2lcp.jpg

There hasn't been much tar in Namibia. Its all pretty much like this. I drove to Warmbad and tried to get some accomodation but was told there's nothing as the hot springs has shut down. Pretty much a ghost town! I drove up the C21 to Karasburg and stayed in the Zebra B&B for 250 NAB. It's run by a nice old man who was more than happy to point out places of interest on my map.

http://i.imgur.com/ctrL2Pz.jpg

After Karasberg I drove to the fish river canyon via Grünau where I stopped for a coke and got told a joke about the English leaving Namibia and promising to come back and then they did with land rovers of something. I didn't get it...

This is my hammock camping setup where I have been for the last 3 nights.

http://i.imgur.com/NKAoyBS.jpg

Yesterday I went to visit Fish River Canyon via Hobas and parked by the edge of the furthest viewpoint. Very easy to bypass all the barrier's and road blocks with the smaller CTX.

http://i.imgur.com/8yGg2rx.jpg

Parked on the edge of Fish River Canyon :

http://i.imgur.com/6YgaNhZ.jpg

Namibia is still waiting for it's rains so the river is running almost dry at the moment. This was taken with my Canon from the main viewpoint.

http://i.imgur.com/fa9Kz50.jpg

Same shot but with the GoPro2 :

http://i.imgur.com/373S05q.jpg

After the canyon I headed down to Ai Ais camp site / resort for the afternoon and chilled by the pool as a day visitor (20 NAB$). Came across this old bullet ridden truck so had to stop for a photo or two.

http://i.imgur.com/hIPffWS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GfHJRpT.jpg

Pretty cool so far! Off to Lüderitz tomorrow.

Some extra photo's from fish river canyon. Here's inside the Canyon Roadhouse bar :

http://i.imgur.com/qhULDtB.jpg

Some of the old trucks outside :

http://i.imgur.com/IH9kqFO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/f4KD7aZ.jpg

An old Honda :

http://i.imgur.com/gybO3qc.jpg

This is Derek. He's cycling the same route I'm doing :

http://i.imgur.com/Xm73bc2.jpg

Gotta do my laundry! :

http://i.imgur.com/dSnclUJ.jpg

I drove 388 km's from Fish River Canyon to Ludertiz yesterday and the bike was a bit sluggish and not giving me a very good fuel economy like I was getting before . I think the air filter needed a good clean. I had been doing mostly gravel since the last service when it was last cleaned so makes sense. Because of this I also managed to nearly run out of fuel on the way to Aus. I kept my speed at 80 km's an hour and my head down and fortunately made it.

I changed the oil today. It was black so certainly looked like it needed to be changed. The local mechanic here helped me and only charged me the 40 NAB$ for the oil. What a nice guy! I will be leaving 100 NAB$ behind his local bar (where I met him yesterday) for his beers. I also took a look at the air filter and blew it through with an air compressor. Not much dust came out but I didn't have the solvents required to clean it properly. I have heard petrol could be used... Not sure on this though and would like to see it done by a professional before I attempt it myself. I'm very much learning as I go here and the last few days have been great for bettering my understanding.

The bike is performing great again after the new oil and air filter cleaning so I went to visit Kolmanscop today.

http://i.imgur.com/kYCbxC8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/NxgI3bm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/D2E2yfL.jpg

Sitting in another bath of course! Couldn't help myself ;)

http://i.imgur.com/2G3fRBY.jpg

This place is so photogenic!

http://i.imgur.com/IzZgJsQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nMTYs97.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/PoSPxvU.jpg

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Hello ? Hello ? Yes Jim here. I would like to order some more sand...

http://i.imgur.com/D8PijhM.jpg

On the way into Ludertiz I came across a road block just outside Kolmanscop. It turns out that a veichle transporting a boat had bought down the 22,000 volt power lines that were now just lying in the road. I saw a Honda Transalp 700 so pulled up along side and met Stefan who had also bought his bike in South Africa. We drove round a few poles down in sand to get by. I dread to think how long the non 4x4 cars were waiting.

http://i.imgur.com/LfWZisk.jpg

Stefan follwed me to the hostel and the day after Kolmanscop we drove a loop round to Diaz point :

http://i.imgur.com/aDW8zVg.jpg

This place is so desolate. The wind was also incredible.

http://i.imgur.com/bJ02qxD.jpg

I spent a few more days in Lüderitz‎ staying at Element Riders hostel. Its run by an all round sound guy called Rainer. Its actually the premises of the old Lüderitz‎ Backpackers.

I took a drive down to Agate beach and tried to find some Agate's. I didn't find any, probably because I have no idea what to do apart from picking up random stones. I later found out you should hunt at sunset / rise and low tide. The low tide exposes fresh Agate's and the sunset / rise makes them appear reddish and more easy to spot.

There's loads of flamingo's in the area too so I snapped a couple of nice pics :

http://i.imgur.com/T6Hva2C.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/K0qibNP.jpg

I also came across this dead shark on the beach. He doesn't look too happy :

http://i.imgur.com/lqK9fI4.jpg

Next I drove to Betta and stayed at the camp site there. Its really good value at only 250 Nab$ per person for a chalet. I met Werner who is managing the farm and had a few beers with him in the evening. Nice chap! Hopefully will meet him in Swakopmund for Christmas.

I stayed 3 nights in Betta and did some day trips. On the first day I went to Duswib castle which to be honest was a bit crap. It isn't that well looked after and unfortunately they saw me as I was about to leave without paying so I had to pony up 65 N$ (i think). Not worth it really.

http://i.imgur.com/E68B6nJ.jpg

Fortunately on my way back round I drove through the Zarishoogte Pass which was awesome and made even more spectacular when it started raining!

http://i.imgur.com/TM6Kfj0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uS9XZ7R.jpg

On the second day I backtracked down the D707 until I hit some sand and got a bit stuck. My sand skills are still a bit rough so I headed back after about 85 km's down the road. I got to see the dunes on the side which was the main thing. Werner said that the sand only lasted a couple of km's so I would have been fine to push on through.

http://i.imgur.com/8TIqFKH.jpg

After Betta I headed the 150 or so km's to Sesriem. Came across this burned out car on the way. Had to grab a picture. Hope nobody was hurt!

http://i.imgur.com/yoF8ZY4.jpg

In Sesreim I camped at the national park camp site which is cheaper than the other two and you can get entrance to the dunes 1 hour before everyone else (5am instead of 6am). It costs 140 N$ per person to camp plus 80 N$ dune permit.

Unfortunately no bikes allowed :(. Fortunately my neighbours were a friendly South African family from Knysna who offered to let me join them. We had a great morning hanging out and visiting the dunes.

Here's the famous dune right next to Sossusvlei. (vlei = Swamp)

http://i.imgur.com/VEpGYuG.jpg

Here's a picture from the top taken with the GoPro's wide angle lens. I was pretty knackered after I got to the top. The two boys must have run up and down it at least 4 times!

http://i.imgur.com/D7Ciwmo.jpg

Next we walked over to Dead Vlei which was my favourite :

http://i.imgur.com/l8RvUDv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YesVrCP.jpg

Had to get in the picture for one at least. (photo taken by Brian, 8 years old) :

http://i.imgur.com/u5ASJIL.jpg

On the way back some oryx took shelter under one of the few still ive tree's :

http://i.imgur.com/YIfxHN0.jpg

At about 11 it was too hot to do any more so we drove back and chilled by the pool. At about 6 pm I went to check out the Sesriem canyon which was pretty cool as you can walk down in to it. Worth an hours exploring.

http://i.imgur.com/GBsHAiG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/I53D86Z.jpg

This morning I packed up and drove to Solitaire where I'm currently camped for 2 or 3 nights. Going to explore the local area tomorrow and if it's worth it stay a 3rd night and do some more.

Currently KM's : 6269.

G'day Jim,i have really enjoyed your blog so far ,some remarkable photo's in the desert.Whilst im thinking of it your air filter,if it is a foam filter wash it out in dishwashing liquid and water then put in the sun to dry properly ,lightly re-oil it,preferably with filter oil but clean engine oil will work ok.Keep a good eye on the chains and sprockets ,as poor adjustment will see the life of the chain and sprocket shorten significantly.Tyre pressures are vital to keep right too ,not just for handling but for tyre life.Hope this helps ,regards Noel:D

Hi Noel

I'm glad your enjoying the report and thanks for the advice. I picked up a second air filter at my last service and when my current one needs a clean I will clean both at the same time. I'm keeping an eye on my tyre pressures and sprockets too. I'm seeing a little wear on the front sprocket and I will post up a picture later on of its current status.

I'm actually nearly 11,000 km's into my trip and maintaining a ride report on 2 other forums (ADVRider and WildDog). This HUBB thread is a bit behind the others but I'm bring it up to date. I just didn't want to spam the forums with 20 posts all at once. I'm going to post some more now :