|
Sydney to Germany - the African way
It's only one week to go, one week and the greatest adventure of my life will start. On Sunday the 7th August 2011 early in the morning my good old bike will be packed and I will leave my lovely hometown Sydney, not seeing this beautiful city for a whole entire year.
The plan is to first ride across Australia from Sydney to Perth, 4000km away. When I say 'we' I mean my humble little Suzuki DR650 and myself because for this first leg of the journey it's only gonna be the two of us. From Perth we will fly across the Indian Ocean to Johannesburg, South Africa. And then keep heading north towards Westafrica and Morocco. Catching a ferry from there will see us arriving in Gibraltar and will start the final leg of the journey to Germany. Finally we will arrive in the small town of Schoenheide in Germany, the place where I grew up and which most of my family still calls home. But at this stage Germany still seems a world away, much too far to worry about. For now. Somehow our story will remind you of the famous tales of Don Quichote and his fearless horse Rosinante. A very able horse ridden by a rather clueless hero through the most incredible of adventures. The 'hero' in our story would be me. A 1977 German born Australian who, until last year, has never ridden a motorbike. So the term 'clueless' fits perfectly. My own 'Rosinante' stood by me on the big adventure of me learning to ride motorbikes. And she is the one who paid the price, being dropped many times in sand and dirt and dust by her swearing rider. She's the one teaching me the secrets of her kind while bits and pieces of her spread out across the footpath in Sydney during various 'improvement' surgeries. She was always there and never complained and we properly checked each other out on a 3700km team bonding tour through the Australian outback and became good friends there and then. By now we are a proven team for almost 10000km worth of good times together. I am a very happy man to have her by my side for our first ever adventure trip. But back to the real topic here – the journey. Once we made it to the other side of Australia we will both fly across the Indian Ocean to get the adventure really started. My old best friend Martin will be eagerly waiting for our arrival in Johannesburg. He will be there on his Honda Africa Twin. And we all will then travel together through Africa. Back to the old home country, back all the way to Germany. Passing through Central and West Africa on the way and meeting as many people as we can. At this stage I would be incredibly nervous if I hadn't had the support of the Horizons Unlimited community. You guys gave me lots of great advice and patiently answered all my questions :thumbup1:. So here I am, still nervous but ready to go. On a second thought – still incredibly nervous actually. Provided there is an internet connection where we are going this thread will tell our story in text and pictures live from the road. So stay tuned and wish us luck and see if this newbie on his bike can make it through Australia and Africa and Europe! |
Good onya Marco! I look forward to hearing more about your adventures!
|
Quote:
|
Nice One
Good luck Marco, have you got a trip website we can follow?
|
Cancel That
Argh! Apologies, cancel the above, I just found your website through your profile:
foreverfree for anyone else who wants to follow his adventure. Cheers, Bruce |
Sydney to Germany - the African way
BikingMarco i wish you the best for your trip...!!:thumbup1:
I will waiting for your reports!:clap: bier |
Follow your journey
Hi,
I'm preparing my own RTW. And I have lot of interrogations for my road thru Africa. I'll follow your adventure with a great interest..... Safe travel. |
Thanks for your thumps up guys! :thumbup1:
Just a quick update about the remaining few days. Departure day is getting really close. Everything is still set for an early Sunday start. And Sunday is only THREE DAYS away! All those of you who went on a big trip before surly can remember what the last few days at home felt like. It will be the first such long adventure for me. And so, not unexpectedly, I feel like living on pure happy adrenalin at the moment. There are lists everywhere: Things-to-do-lists. Stuff-to-buy-lists. People-to-call-lists. And whenever something gets ticked off a list it results in another little celebration. The perception of everyday’s things seems to change because these everyday’s things will soon disappear for a long time from my life. Things like having a place to live. Or a TV. Or a job. Day after day means saying good bye to another friend. And there is all those little farewell dinners, last drinks, going-away-lunches to go through, each putting a big smile in my face. And despite all those million things in my head my life has now such an incredibly intense focus. What a feeling! Can’t remember the last time when excitement did let me get some sleep at night but that doesn’t matter because adrenalin keeps me awake during the day. Three more sleepless nights to go! |
South Africa
Hey Marco,
I noticed that you plan to go from Jo'burg north... I know this is not of my business (and that you have to meet Martin in Namibia) but please be aware that the garden route (near Cape Town) is one of the most beautiful rides in the world! You probably know this... but just to convince you that it may be worth it! I have done it and it is amazing. Have a wonderful journey and try to keep us updated when you can! :clap: |
...and the baviaans kloof to PE as well :)
LG, Tobi Riding the rough west coast through Africa part 3 |
This sounds absolutely fantastic. Good on ya matey!
p.s. Make sure you remember to pack a couple of pairs of shoes!!:clap: |
Finally the big day has come. I can't believe it myself but the tour has started!
Early today, after another sleepless night in an empty appartment, it was finally time to get the packed bags onto the bike and get started. Some of my good friends in Sydney got up really early to come around to say good bye, some even joined me for the first few km. It all mixed around heavily with my emotions. Excitement to get the trip started, sadness to say good bye to good friends, happiness to sit on the bike riding west and more sadness to ride out of Sydney, my beautiful home for many years. But alltogether an overwhelming urge to go and live the life on the road. Just go. We started with four bikes from Sydney, riding west, along Broadway, Parramatta Road, the M4 motorway and the Bells Line of Road through the Blue Mountains, a beautiful winding road through the National Park. One by one my fellow riders had to turn back to Sydney. The last one in the town of Orange, some 250km away from Sydney. And then it was only me, still going west. And so I kept riding, happy for having had such a great start to the journey. And for having had such good company at my departure and for the first leg of the trip. The sun was shining now, the sky was blue. And west we went, my little Suzuki and me. With a big smile on my face. And a happy bike enjoying 5th gear. Just cruising. Cruising west. Into the sunset. As we will do for many more days to come. It really feels good to be able to just keep riding without the need to be somewhere at the end of the day. I finished the day camping in the Goobang National Park near Peak Hill. I have never heard of this National Park before. And it might not be as spectacular as the Blue Mountains. But for my little Suzuki and me - it was just perfect. Perfectly located for our arrival at sunset. And it is a great spot for camping. Not much else to say about the first day. The plan from here is to go along the Barrier Hwy through NSW and via Broken Hill into South Australia. Going the distance mainly on paved roads but also finding little loops of gravelroads whenever possible to have some extra fun. I'll keep you posted... |
Thanks emiraff and ta-rider for your South Africa advice! Both, Martin and me went to South Africa before. And we loved the Garden Route. You are absolutely right, it really is one beautiful stretch of road. Not sure though if we will do it again this year. Main reason is, it is so cold in South Africa and we are both keen to get into somewhere less cold. Somewhere north. But we will see, once we are all in South Africa including our bikes and we managed to find each other - we will just take it from there.
|
I wish you a good start and the best for your trip.bier
|
Three days into the tour - it's time for some pics!
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/IMG_1670.jpg About to play with the big fellows. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/IMG_1669.jpg The old open cut gold mine in Peak Hill. One big hole. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/IMG_1671.jpg The Barrier Hwy - not changing my road for a thousand km. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/IMG_1673.jpg Aboriginal rock art at Mt Grenfell. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/IMG_1680.jpg How would you like a few thousand km of this? Just you and your bike? Same in the rear view mirror. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/IMG_1688.jpg For all you Mad Max fans out there: this is Silverton, NSW, where Mad Max was filmed. And this is the original Mad Max film car. Chatting to my proud little Suzuki. |
Hey Marco, good to hear you have started well :) and nice photos!
Sorry I couldn’t ride out with you guys on Sunday. Hope you didn’t get caught in that heavy thunderstorm in the afternoon! :stormy::stormy::stormy: Looking forward to seeing the updates of the trip. All the best mate! bier |
Just a quick update from the 5th day on the road. I am typing this in my tent, somewhere nowhere, a little conservation area 100km east of Ceduna in South Australia. Yep, I made it across the border to South Australia yesterday. And will cross another border once I made it across the Nullarbor, entering Western Australia.
There is actually not too much to write about. I wouldn't be able to point a finger towards any particular highlights during the last few days. There has been just an abundance of nothingness which in itself is a highlight. The road simply stretches on forever. Straight and flat. And there is nothing beside the road either. Just more flat ground. Some might find it boring but I love it. I can't really explain why. Being just a little dot in such a massive landscape is just awesome. It is hard to tell how far away the horizon is, maybe 10km, maybe 20. You are able to see such a huge and vast area, it just makes you feel ever so small. And free. There are some scattered trees, pretty far away from each other. But because you can see so far, you see so many of them, it looks like there is a forest at the horizon. But it's not, it's just scattered trees. With lots of space in between. So as you go along you will always find yourself in an empty landscape with an imaginative forest at the horizon. And because you can see so far, you see areas of rain with towering clouds and rainbows. And at the same time you see other areas of sunshine where the redness of the ground shines bright within the grey areas of shade. And you can see this spectacle many times as you look around you. There is hardly any others on the road. A big road train every now and then. Or a 4WD towing a caravan. But I have not seen another motorbike for probably 1000km. Sometimes it is hard to stay focussed and I need to stop, dismount and have a short brake. Once the engine stops it's dead silent. There is no sound at all. You can hear your own pulse. Every now and then I find a little dirtroad bypassing the highway which is good fun and a welcome change. There are some roadhouses every few hundred km which are a livesaver, serving hot coffee or Milo to warm up a bit. Some other travellers told me that after a few days on tour you develope a routine. And they are right. After a few days I learned what works best and what does not work, learned where in my panniers I can find my stuff without unpacking the lot. Getting up at dawn means being on the road at sunrise. Just cruising along till around 5pm by which time the 400km mark is achieved, looking for a nice spot to camp, pitch the tent and watch the sunset for dinner. Not missing a sunrise or sunset in five days, pretty much owning these days completely, is quite an amazing feeling. Quite cruisy really. At this speed I will reach Perth Wednesday or Thursday next week which gives me just over a week time to get the bike prepared for it's flight. And to get some bits and pieces replaced. Thought about putting a new chain, new sprockets and new brake pads on. And a new set of tyres, just dont know which ones yet. Considering some Heidenaus or Pirelli Scorpions. And then, in less than 3 weeks time - we will be in AFRICA!!! My travel mate Martin and his bike are already in Africa. It is just awesome to read his emails and I can't wait to get across there myself... http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...barrierhwy.jpg Anywhere really. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...03-halfway.jpg The official halfway mark. Kimba, SA http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...-meandbike.jpg Almost forgot to introduce ourselves: that's me and my little Suzuki |
Hello Marco,
You are writing about the landscape : The road simply stretches on forever.Some might find it boring but I love it. I agree totaly what you explain here. I crossed lot of time USA, especially cross the prairies. Is just awesome. You explain with good words the sensation, the feeling when we travel inside this type of landscape. Some people don't understand that when I'm trying to explain. During this period we feel free, and your spirit could raise... Same for your routine... After some days, and after some travels, we develop a form of routine, and it's not necessary to unpack all the stuff. You know what you need and where is. Same when you travel with someone (in my case my wife...) not necessary to speak. Each know exactly what we must do when we stop for the night and in the morning..... Continue you report !!! I'm waiting for AFRICA ! |
Hi Marco
Hi Marco it's Quentin,
Am reading your description on Monday morning before going to work. Could almost cry that's how envious I feel of what you are doing! Must be an amazing feeling, that sense of freedom. Look forward to more stories so keep up the writing. Cheers QB |
It's the end of day six into the trip. And I made it across my last Australian border crossing: this morning I crossed from South Australia into Western Australia. 3000km since leaving Sydney. All day yesterday and most of today I spent in an area called the 'Nullarbor'. It is huge plains along the Great Australian Bight with, as the name suggests, no trees. Not one single tree for almost two days. What remains is the usual flat landscape and the narrow straight line of the Eyre Hwy. It feels like an ocean, just made of land. But, for a change, there is a real ocean as well. Through the Nullarbor NP the Eyre Hwy runs just a few km parallel to the Southern Ocean. The Nullarbor plains is an elevated plateau around 60m above sea level. So if you just venture off the Hwy a bit you arrive at the cliffs where Australia ends and the Southern Ocean starts and you are looking straight towards Antarctica (which unfortunately remains hidden behind the horizon). It's quite a spectacular sight after days of desert and I just couldn't get enough of it and tried every little dirt path off the highway to adore the beautiful ocean from the cliff tops. I noticed then how much I missed the ocean.
It was one such spot where I camped last night, on the cliffs with the ocean in hearing distance. It is hard to describe the awesomness of a sunrise and a sunset over a landscape which is flat all the way to the horizon, in every direction, half land half water. No one else there. And listening to the sound of the waves breaking at the rocks below while falling asleep. I really love camping for moments like these. Travelling further west today I reached the end of the plains just this afternoon. Crossing the border into Western Australia had a feel of an international border crossing to it. First a friendly roadhouse with the big 'border kangaroo' sculpture, then a quarantaine checkpoint where you need to stop and declare pretty much all food items in your luggage to the friendly officer. I had to negotiate a bit to keep my bag of fruit and nuts but at the end the officer was happy for me to 'import' them into WA. Once through there, one or two km down the road there was the Police checkpoint. Every one had to stop, the vehicle was briefly checked for it's roadworthiness, the driver was checked for the correct licence and had to pass a breath test. No drunk people will get into WA today! The rest of my time travelling through WA went by rather eventless. Tired and exhausted from so much riding in a straight line I was looking for a suitable spot to set up camp near the Madura roadhouse. There is a dirtroad connecting the Transaustralian Railway Line and the Eyre Hwy near Madura, the railway line runs approximately 100km parrallel to the North of the Hwy. Sounded like a good road to look for camping. So I went up from the plains onto the small escarpment. And what can I say - just a few hundred meters along a small dirt track - the best ever camping spot. It's in the middle of nowhere but there was a little fireplace and two chairs, overlooking the plains from the edge of the escarpment, surrounded by beautiful grass. No idea what two chairs were doing there so far from civilisation. But I took it as it came, sitting on a comfy chair watching the sunset over the plains. And typing this report. Life is awesome! http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...9-nullsign.jpg The eastern entrance to the Nullarbor Plains http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/10-ocean.jpg Back at the ocean http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...11-sunrise.jpg Sunrise in the Nullarbor http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...2-waborder.jpg The border into Western Australia - the 'Border Roo' http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../13-chairs.jpg Two chairs with a fireplace in the most unexpected place - thanks, much appreciated. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...14-camping.jpg Camping is fun |
Thanks for the thumps up guys! And sorry for the time lag. The post above was written a couple of days ago but today is the first time to have mobile internet reception. I made it all the way across the endless plains and am having now lunch in Norseman, WA. Good to be back in civilisation. From here it is only 600km to Perth, the end of the first leg of the trip. And admittedly the easy leg of the trip. And from now it's only two weeks till Africa!
I'm extremely happy with how it's all going. Apart from a few lost bolts on the bike (just can't keep away from shaky dirt roads) everything just works out perfectly. People, the weather, the roads - all have been very friendly to me so far. I will go through my pics tonight and will send an update with some more photos soon. See you all later... |
Cheers again to all you guys following my thread, much appreaciated.
@Kurt: we were lucky, no thunderstorm where we rode last Sunday. Hope you have time for another ride back in Sydney next year! @Quentin: Good to see you on the forum, mate! Thanks for your comment, hope you keep liking the story! @Motarddumonde: yeah, it's strange how supposedly boring things can make you feel all excited. Looks like you have your own countdown going for THE big trip. I like your website, really cool. Hope you're enjoying the preps for your own journey! |
As promised another quick update about the last couple of days touring Australia. It's the end of day nine into the trip. And I am back in an area where actually people live. Which is cool after a lot of nothingness. I could even buy stuff in a supermarket today! The place I'm at when typing this report is called 'Disappointment Rock', around 85km west of Norseman in Western Australia. Don't get what they're on about with this name but it's an awesome spot. A big red granite block rising out of the plains, it takes around half an hour to walk around it. And there is a great view from the top. After getting here I thought it's the perfect place to camp for tonight. And it is.
It has been another couple of days in an amazing landscape, flat, vast and empty. Kilometer after Kilometer of nothingness flew by beside an endless straight road, in fact the longest straight road in the country. One section was called the '90 mile straight'. The name is absolutely correct, 146km without the slightest bend in the road. You can see the headlights of an oncoming car ahead of you appearing on the horizon and it still takes nearly exactly 2 minutes before you actually meet that car! The road just disappears into a mirage like appearance at the horizon, a picture which does not chance for one and a half hours. And who did I meet there? A cyclist! Carrot and his dog Coffee on a bicycle on a fundraising trip for the Cancer Council and MS Australia. It really puts things into perspective when it will take them the most of two days just to get through this one straight section of highway. Carrot & Coffee have a few months of cycling ahead of them before they reach their destination Sydney. Please say hi to them when you see them in Sydney, they deserve it! There is actually a lot of great people out there. Whenever I stopped at a roadhouse or a viewpoint I got easily into a conversation with someone, a retired couple on a four year trip with their caravan, a motorsport fan driving almost 4000km to see that Bathurst 1000 supercars race, a road train driver who does the distance Sydney - Perth in three to four days and has done this countless times, another Sydney guy who's girlsfriend broke up with him so he is now on his way to Perth to try a new start or the motorcyclist who is about to ride from Perth to Sydney on a vintage BMW airhead. The stories you hear on the road are quite different from the ones you hear in the cities. And you meet a lot of happy people on the road. It is now only 600km to Perth along a 290km gravel road from Norseman to Hyden where I plan to see the Wave Rock, a big red rock shaped like a breaking wave (what else?). And the rest of the distance will be on paved roads to Perth. My current plan is to reach Perth Wednesday morning, take the bike straight to the guys at the motorcycle shop for them to take measurements for the crate and to order the few bits I want to have replaced. And then explore the area around Perth a bit, visit a few friends who live in WA and then prepare the bike for it's first ever flight. Less than two weeks to go till Africa! My little Suzuki has done an awesome job over the last few thousand km, she's been to places she's never dreamed of. Starting out in her first few months being a city bike she really enjoys as much as I do the open road, the use of more than just first and second gear, the rocky bits and sandy bits and muddy bits, the little wobbles along gravel roads, both of us getting wet, getting dirty and being covered in a thick layer of red dust. Chasing road trains, going for hours at a time and going where there is no road, we're a great team! Doing one of my walkarounds around her today I noticed a few missing bolts. They must have shaken loose on those corrugated roads, pretty much all bolts on the underside of something (fuel tank, bash plate, horn mount) were either gone or halfway there. But only $1.90 in the local hardware store in Norseman bought me a handfull of new bolts and washers. And a friendly guy from the caravan parked next to me gave me a helping hand replacing them all. Good to be in 'no-worries-country'! http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...90straight.jpg The next bend in the road will be in 146km from here. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../16-mirror.jpg Perfect mirror effect at a small lake in the Dundas Nature Reserve http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/17-rock.jpg A rather rocky bit of road http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/18-lake.jpg Ever ridden through a lake? Near Norseman, WA http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/19-lake.jpg Endless spaces - that's why I like Australia http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/20-road.jpg 290km of this will take me to Wave Rock http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/21-rock.jpg At 'Disappointment Rock' http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/22-eagle.jpg Eagle over the plains http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../23-sunset.jpg Sunset at 'Disappointment Rock' - nothing disappointing here! |
Great report.Keep up BikingMarco..!:thumbup1:
|
THX! Great one! We will be there in 5 Month time! Have fun in Africa! Keep on posting!
Good luck in all you ways and stay safe! You just remindet me to secure all my bolts and washers with this "screw glue" lock tite .... |
The final stretch of Part 1
Time flies and a lot has happend since my last update from 'Disappointment Rock'. It was meant to be an easy few hundred km, the last stretch to Perth. But the event that really started up the adventure was the rain. While camping at Disappointment Rock it started raining heaps during the night. One of those strange nights when it keeps bucketing down for 10min, followed by the clearest sky imaginable with millions of stars, followed by another downpour. It was the wind that made the rain clouds travel so fast. And since my old tent has proven many times before that it can withstand whatever the weather throws at it, I wasn't worried. The big awakening came the next morning, reminding me that I was some 80km into a 290km dirt road. Or now: mud road. The rain overnight transformed the top few centimetres of the road into a brown slimy slippery something to negotiate a way through on my little Suzuki. It was a really wobbly affair, often going more sideways than forward, just impossible to judge the depth of the soft surface. And not helped by the hidden ruts under the soft stuff either. Throw into the mix a few oncoming trucks and you can imagine the walls of brown stuff that followed them. If I was lucky they only created a cloud of fine brown mist which instantly turned hard on contact with my visor. If I was unlucky it was a whole swell of mud being flung right towards me. The average speed was down to 40km/h or less, so it took the best part of the day to get through this. I will never forget the sweet look of the tarmac when it finally started in Hyden. By then bike and rider where just soaked in brown stuff, head to toe, helmet to boots. There were kilos of mud, now hard as concrete underneath the fenders, the panniers enjoyed a new nature inspired look. And me, pretty much wearing all my clothes because of the cold had suddenly all my clothes looking a bit brownish.
Apart from that the route between Norseman and Hyden is really stunning. The sun was shining and the sky was clear. The state government introduced a discovery trail along the route with many viewpoints and displays, picnic areas and free camping spots. There are dry salt lakes, huge granite rock outcrops, weathered cliffs etc. , all stretching along a beautiful winding road. However, it was all dwarfed by the giant Wave Rock at the Hyden end of the road. That rock is just massive! Wave Rock is a huge red granite boulder, so big that they collect the surface flow of rainwater from the rock to fill a dam as water supply for the town of Hyden. One side of the rock, the famous one, forms an impressive huge shape of a breaking wave of granite. Really awesome and worth a look if you are in the area. Also, much to my enjoyment, the compound included a picnic area with a water tap. Still proud of my invention of a high pressure bike cleaning device I was actually able to clean at least the moving parts of my little Suzuki from their brown mess. If you ever find yourself in this kind of dirty situation: just have lunch, finish all your sliced bread, take the empty plastic bag the bread used to be in, fill it with water and poke a little hole in it and voila! - you've got a stream of water with adjustable pressure! Easy bike cleaning. In the meantime my own clothes dried nicely in the sun and a bit of shaking changed their look from deep brown into a hint of brown, overlaying their original colour. It took a while but at the end both, bike and rider, were a happy and presentable team again to take on the big city - 320km to go. It was already late and the sun was low so we wouldn't make it that day. But we would give it our best shot to get as close as possible. So in the town of Hyden we stopped to get some food for the road. For me in the town store, for my little Suzuki at the town's service station. Which was appropriately branded 'Liberty'. Now it was time to hit the road, heading west in a race against the setting sun, powered by Premium 'Liberty'. I gave up setting my clock and adjusting it to all those time zones we travelled through. Some time zones only affecting two roadhouses. Usually it was time to find a camping spot when the sun was only about 200mm above my left mirror, thus just running on my own time. Today the sun was still above that benchmark. So we kept riding. The bike was just running perfectly, smooth and powerful along a beautiful road lined with tall gum trees, winding it's way west through yellow fields of canola crops. The air was filled with the sweet smell of the canola flowers and the aromatic eucalyptus oils of the gum trees. No one else was on the road. Just my little Suzuki and me, flying towards the setting sun. Hell yeah, we were the kings of the road. It was one of the most enjoyable bits of roads we ever travelled on. Humming the theme song from the 'Where the hell is Matt' Youtube video inside my helmet over and over again. As many of you might remember from your own big trips, after a few days on the road you stop worrying about things and then things just tend to work out in your favour. You set the parameters of what you want and things in between happen automatically. And so it happened to us that day too, just as the sun reached it's critical level above the horizon a little nature reserve appeared just North of the road, with a little dirt track leading into it. The perfect camping spot for our last night on the road. 160km to go to Perth. Those were easily done the next morning and all too soon we were back inmidst multiple lane roads, traffic lights, cars, bicycles, pedestrians and tall buildings. That Wednesday morning the first leg of the trip ended. In the sunny city of Perth at the Indian Ocean. 11 days and over 4000km since leaving Sydney in the far East on the Pacific coast. Some people asked me why I was not flying from Sydney to Johannesburg but adding these extra 4000km to the tour. It's hard to tell. It's not the money since flights to South Africa cost roughly the same from Sydney as they do from Perth. It was more an inner urge to go and ride. Ride from my own door step. Start the tour at home. Start the tour riding. Not cheating and taking the shortcut. There is a big distance between Sydney and Germany and I want to see most of it. There is no other reason behind introducing this first leg to the journey than that I really wanted to do it. And indeed I loved every bit of it, the long roads, the far horizons, the people along the way, the camping, the riding, even the cold, the rain and the mud. And when I finally get onto that plane to Africa in ten days I will smile and I will think to myself: man, what a farewell from Australia! |
more pics
...and some pics from the last stretch of the road to Perth:
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../24-3trees.jpg Three gumtrees in the dried out Lake Johnston http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/25-rock.jpg one of those big granite outcrops - McDermid Rock http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../26-bushes.jpg Little bushes at McDermid Rock http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../27-wattle.jpg It is approaching spring and flowers start appearing everywhere http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...rockgarden.jpg A little natural 'garden' on the granite of the rock http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...breakaways.jpg The 'Breakaways' - a weathered cliff formation in many pretty colours http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...-dirtybike.jpg At the end of the mud road in Hyden - finally getting the look of an adventure touring bike http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...1-waverock.jpg Wave Rock - you can judge the scale of it by the size of the little kid playing on the floor http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...-bikeperth.jpg Arrival in the big city http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...33-meperth.jpg Made it to Perth |
Hi Marco,
Nice report and pictures. Thanks too for your comment about my website. The preps of my own journey is long to do. My job... and sometimes fear. I could understand your choice to cross Australia instead of take plane directly to Africa. It's not the same feeling, your journey start at the door of your home, no in one airport. And you could more prepare your mind, you start your adventure and you'll be more ready in Africa. |
Hi Marco,
Thanks for the report so far - the rest of your trip will be amazing. Enjoy. Are you still in Perth? When do you you leave - assume you you are staying with friends. PM me if you need any assistance while in Perth |
Thanks Rob! I am still in Perth till the 29th, staying in a lovely hostel in East Perth enjoying my last few days in OZ while the bike is getting prepared for it's flight. Perth is a great place, probably even better when it's raining a bit less. However, the rain greatly helps in cleaning the bike from all the accumulated mud and dust and dirt which is quite handy :)
|
It's been a while since the last update and it is certainly time for a new one. The last one to be written on home turf. Because tomorrow the big adventure will begin with me boarding the plane to South Africa.
There was not all too much to do here in Perth since I arrived last week, quite a relaxing time really. Visiting friends in the area. Some sightseeing. And enjoying good times at friendly backpacker hostels. My little Suzuki had to be prepared for the flight which would take around a week to do. So I took her to a motorbike shop near Perth Airport on Monday morning. A shop which sounded good on the internet and the guys seemed to be friendly enough on the phone as well. And in reality they did an AWESOME job. Awesome in terms of getting all the parts together within a week, installing the lot and packing the bike up. And also awesome for their flexibility amidst the chaos caused by the freight forwarding company. Freight forwarders are very special people indeed. In the belief that we sorted out terms and prices for the transport months ago I suddenly got emails along the lines of: important paperwork was forgotten to mention which would cost an extra $300. Or accidentially the quoted price was based on actual weight and not volumetric weight which is twice as much. And culminating in the fact that a flight was booked for the bike leaving Sydney instead of Perth. It was quite scary really and I hope so much to see my little Suzuki again in Johannesburg. It took a few angry emails, a few annoyed phone calls and information gathering from a competing cargo forwarder until the mess was sorted. So the bike has been booked from Perth, the price was suddenly based on volumetric weight and alltogether with the $300 for the additional paperwork the final quote was even below the original one. With the only difference that the bike would depart on Friday, not with me together on Monday. So the pressure was on for us to finish up crating the bike for delivery on Friday morning. And I was happy and so relieved having the guys from the bikeshop on the phone calmly declaring it a 'no worries' issue. And after all they were able to reduce the dimensions of the crated bike to a degree that saved me another $500 compared to the freight quote based on my estimated dimensions. So a huge 'Thumps up' here! The way it looks like my little Suzuki should be in the air right now. While I'm typing this. Fingers crossed... Also she has a brand new set of Pirelli Scorpion MT90 A/T tyres on. And a new chain. And a new 15T front sprocket. And a slightly larger than the original 42T rear sprocket. And a set of new brake pads. And new spark plugs. In other words - she is as ready for Africa as I am. Or more. So yeah, I am flying to Africa tomorrow!!! Whatever it is that will start tomorrow, it will be big, adventurous, awesome. And unknown. And probably very different to the first leg across Australia. And more fun for there will be two of us. Also unknown is the fact of how easy it will be to find internet in Africa. So I hope to be able to stay in touch and keep posting how we go. Crossing fingers. |
Hi Marco
Joined the forum too. Great that the Oz-Africa crossing has come together so well. Thinking of you, and am very much enjoying your descriptive stories and inspiring photos. S x |
Thanks CruisySoozi! Great to see you here!
|
freight forwarding company
Hey Marko,
Thanks for taking us with you in the trip! Some information about the company would be appreciated though. Also what airline did the bike fly with? Was it treated ok? Well... of course no worries in replying soon. When you will have some time in your adventure! Good Luck for everything! |
Hey Marco, Looking forward to the next update! :mchappy:
Any issues with the crate/bike once you got there? Hope the Africa leg is off to a good start! bier |
Firts message from Africa
Hi everyone,
just a quick update that finally we are in AFRICA!!! I am typing this in the first internet cafe we found in a week. It's in Mbabane, the capital of the tiny country of Swaziland. It's amazing to be here and everything went fine so far. My little Suzuki arrived just like myself in a really good state. Only one mirror did break on her flight but that one was easy to replace. The Perth bike shop did an awesome job in packing up the bike on a crate too, so no worries here. The Cargo forwarder has always been a bit chaotic but still friendly enough and at the end everything worked out just fine. So if you are the type of person to check and doublecheck things, I would even be able to recommend them. It's a company called WWCF, based in Melbourne. The bike flew over on South African Airways. However, during the last couple of nights I typed a few reports which I will upload below for you guys to read. Unfortunately photos don't seem to work for an upload in Mbabane. Thanks for your messages again and hope from here it will be easier to conect to the www. |
First days in Africa
It really happened! Finally I am in Africa, I am here and my little Suzuki made it as well! What a feeling!
Since this date is so significant, lets start numbering the days from my arrival in Johannesburg. 30th of August 2011 - day 1. I will do my best and continue typing the reports as we go. And upload them in bulk as we find internet connections. So the reports might not be up to date when you read them but they certainly are when the are written. Day 1 I have been on the move for almost 20 hours between the departure from Perth and the arrival in Johannesburg, including a four hours stop in Kuala Lumpur. My little Suzuki should be in Johannesburg since the 28th and hopefully be waiting for me. Martin, my friend with whom I will be travelling for the next many months through Africa just sent an SMS that he is still in Port Elizabeth and will meet me on Wednesday, day two in our Africa timeline. With so many hours in the plane I started mentally preparing myself for day one. A to do list to hit the ground running along the lines of: getting myself through customs - easy, find the cargo terminal - medium tricky, get them to hand over my little Suzuki - complicated, unpack and reassemble the bike - easy, find petrol for the fully drained fuel tank to make a short (?) drive to the next servo - potentially very tricky, find a place to stay and get the contents of the panniers back in order - medium tricky, go to sleep and meet Martin the next day - big relief. The uselesness of planning became evident just after arrival. Tired and groggy at 6am local time I made my way through customs and baggage collection into the terminal and look who was there: Martin just waiting outside the barriers! AWESOME I thought, it was so cool to see him there so unexpectedly. Martin did some insane mileage to get to Johannesburg in time from Port Elizabeth, slept in the airport terminal over the night just to be there and pick me up. At 6am. It was almost unreal to see him there waiting. Everything else seemed a lot easier now. On his bike we quickly found the Cargo terminal, on the way there we bought some fuel too. And Martin already arranged a place to stay for two nights with friends he just made in South Africa and who kindly invited us to their home in Pretoria. So all we needed was my little Suzuki and off we would go. And it all started so smoothly. The bike was quickly located. The fact that is was the freight forwarder's name and not my name in the Consignee field of the paperwork was quickly fixed with a few phone calls and a faxed letter of authorisation to release it to me. Customs clearance was quickly achieved thanks to the Carnet I had available. So all there was left before they could hand over my little Suzuki to her proud owner was the payment of a small handling fee. Easy you think? Me to. But not the payment system of the airline. Which simply stopped working. With no payment system there was no way of payment being made. And with no payment there was no way the bike could be released to me. But at least there was a promise the bug in the system would be fixed within 10 minutes. And it was this promise which I heard repeated many fimes over the next few hours. Unfortunately there was no backup system and there was nothing that could be done. Except for waiting. And the queue grew longer. And no one in the queue had any trouble with waiting. Well, I have of course heard that patience is a valuable skill in Africa. I just did not expect it happening that soon. And also, where the cargo terminal was there was nothing else. No drinking water. No food. Waiting for a payment system to accept a laughably small payment. Waiting for 6 hours. After 20 hours of overnight travel. However, it was all worth it. Just for the moment when finally the forklift came around the corner with the crate with my little Suzuki on it. Oh, she looked so beautiful that moment! The two of us quickly took the crate apart, got the handlebars back on, filled in a few litres of fuel and it was finally time to push the start button. And well, she just did not seem to feel like starting. It took us a while until we noticed the duct tape across the exhaust. And once that was removed she started straight away. What a beautiful sound that was, the sound I was missing so much during the week in Perth when she got serviced and packed up, the sound I was so anxious to hear while being stuck in the plane and later stuck again at the airlines office. Finally there it was - the beautiful sound of a 650cc single cylinder engine. My very own bike's single cylinder engine. Breathing in African air. The sound of freedom. And it sounded beautiful. The first few km on African roads felt great, the excitement quickly overcame the tiredness and not much later we arrived at our newly found friend's place in Pretoria. Having picked up some groceries (finally FOOD!) along the way. And two sixpacks of beer to celebrate the occasion. And we were treated with some fantastic home made South African dinner (a meal of which I forgot the name) and some great company. Day 2 Our to-do list for day 2 was to get Martin's bike sorted. The day before we did find a friendly repair shop and would go back there today to get Martin's mighty Africa Twin a set of new tyres, new sprockets, a new chain and her oil changed. I also noticed that my own new front tyre has been installed the wrong way around in Perth so the guys here kindly offered to turn it around for free. So quickly our two bikes were lifted up and the wheels taken out. And not much happened thereafter. For many more hours. While waiting for a courier to deliver the new sprockets for Martin's bike. Stuck with both our bikes partly disassemnled all we could do was waiting. And it was not until almost 7 hours from when we presented the bikes that we got both our bikes back in action. So far to the link between 'being in Africa' and 'patience'. However, it was also worth it for the fact that the guys in the shop did an extremely thorough job and both our proud bikes are now ready to go the distance. And their riders are keen to start going too. So tomorrow it will finally be time to hit the road and go and explore and ride Africa! |
Day 3 South Africa
Day 3
Finally meeting each other in person Martin and I could do some planning. We heard of other motorcycle travellers about their experience in Botswana, the country we initially planned to travel to next. And what they said sounded rather less encouraging. The Chobe NP cannot be entered on bikes. That was our main point of interest in Botswana. Also they said Botswana is incredibly expensive. As a result of that and our common interest for exotic places we decided to skip Botswana and to head straight east to go to Mozambique instead. About Mozambique we heard a lot of good things, describing beautiful landscapes, beaches, wildlife. So east we headed today, first proper day riding in Africa. And although I can not point out any spectacular highlight of the day the day was very exciting. The chaotic traffic in the towns, the unfamiliar sounds and smells, the golden colour of the huge dry grass plains. Just a beautiful warm and sunny day, so much warmer than I expexted South Africa to be in the late winter. People were lining the streets, either selling things or trying to catch a lift with someone. The first golden African sunset. And a great camping spot somewhere just down a small gravel road. And the same clear night sky as I became so used to during my camping nights in Australia. The Southern Cross dominating the millions of little dots above. I guess we are very lucky to find ourselves in these circumstances: we are in Africa. And we have our bikes. And we have time. Lots of time. And no comittments. Finally the dream comes true. Our plan is to ride to the Blyde River Canyon tomorrow, spend however much time we like to spend there and then head further east towards Swaziland and Mozambique. See what happens... |
South Africa
Days 4 and 5 - Blyde River Canyon, South Africa
I can't believe we are already at day 5 of our Africa Trip. We still have not come across any internet cafe so I hope all of you are patient with me and keep following the reports when there is an opportunity for me to upload the bulk of the last few days onto the HUBB. The reason why we have no internet anywhere near us is our location. We are in the wild. In the Blyde River Canyon to be precisely. It is an incredibly beautiful place, a couple of days ago I didn't even know of it's existence. We arrived here yesterday after a long day of riding with many highlights in between. Once we reached the small town of Sabie there was just loads of stuff to see. There are waterfalls, so many of them I forgot the name of most. There is the 'Mac Mac' pools where we could go for a short swim in the cold water of the natural rock pools along a little river. And there are viewpoints into the canyon which defy belief. Unlike the Grand Canyon, the Blyde River Canyon has no steps in it's canyon walls. It is much more an area of steep vertical walls, some weathered rock domes on the top, sometimes plane rocks not unlike table mountains. They are coloured in red and often coated in some oxidised copper green or sulphurlike yellow. And these walls are high, man are they high. Standing at those viewpoints it is rarely possible to see down to the bottom. Add to this the haze of some grass fires in the area and the typical smell of burning grass in the air, add a warm spring evening, warm enough to wear T-Shirt without being cold, add a clear blue sky and no wind at all and you get the idea. However, before I keep writing and writing about the canyon, I am aware that this is a motorcycle forum so let's come back to the bike stuff. And riding skills. Or the lack thereof. Apart from some little dirt roads yesterday today was a pretty hardcore day in dirt riding. Our map showed an unpaved 'Panorama' road just on the north east of the canyon, leading to a picnic point at the river inside it and a waterfall from the rim of the canyon. So 'cool' we said and set off to find that road. And we did. It started pretty easy with some sandy patches, nothing much to worry about. Just enough to give me a little scare every now and then because I still find sand a pretty tough challenge to my riding skills. Soon enough sand turned to rocks. Flat road turned to incline. Incline turned to steep incline. Rocks turned to big rocks. And soon big loose rocks covered the whole width of the steeply inclining road. So finally we found our first real riding challenge. I kept reminding myself of all the rules - weight forward, look ahead not down, stand up. And it just happened again and again: oh s...t look at this massive rock, don't hit it, oh NO don't look down... and there it goes, the massive rock, flying away, catapulted off the road by my front tyre. If it wasn't for the awesome easy handling of my little Suzuki we would be in big trouble. But she was just flying across the terrain, over the rocks, up the hills and along the ruts with no complaint. She is an awesome little bike and surprised me once again of letting me go where I never thought I can go on a motorbike. Focussing on following the rules makes it actually quite easy. And I can't wait to get more experienced in that sort of stuff and can match the capabilities of my bike because it is already so much fun. Martin's Africa Twin handled the road equally well but came in trouble a few times for it's lower ground clearance when you could hear the typical bang and grinding noise of rock against aluminium bashplate over the intercom. Many of the rocks were pretty sharp edged but I am also glad to say that our new tyres held up very well and my fears of flattening one were unfounded. The waterfall up on top was still hard to find and required some bushbashing to get there (on foot though) but was very well worth the effort. Coming down the road from the waterfall to the canyon picnic spot was more of the same in reverse. Truckloads of loose sharp edged rocks, ruts and a steeply declining road for another ten odd km. Which we navigated through, rolling down in first gear, blood pressure and pulse through the roof for the focus it seem to require to get through. At one stage I had to stop because the road declined so steeply that my panniers kept sliding forwards to a degree that they almost slipped of the racks. 7km before we reached the picnic spot there was the usual scenario for this part of South Africa. In the middle of nowhere, hours away from any town or even paved road, there was a hut and a boom gate across the road. And one lonely figure appearing from the hut and selling us the permit to go the remaining 7km down to the bottom of the canyon. I mean what a job - sitting there miles away from everything, waiting for the one or two cars a day which are even able to navigate this sort of road without falling apart halfway through and selling permits for 16Rand a person (= $2.40). He mentioned something about camping would cost extra but we were only to go down and have a look around. The guard also said he would be leaving at 4pm which was only half an hour away. How he would get away from there is still beyond me because there was no car in sight. However, he would leave the boomgate open for us and asked us to close it when we get back which we promised to do. Once we made it down that road and blood pressure and pulse normalised after another million rocks threatening to send us sliding off the road or slice our tyres in pieces we found a beautiful spot down right in the canyon. The clear and cold Blyde River making it's way over and through the rocks in the riverbed, huge walls of rock forming the canyon walls towering on either side, the setting sun intensifying their red and green and yellow colour. And a friendly young South African couple camping down there, chatting to us and inviting us to share their fire. So quickly our decision was clear to stay and spend the night down here. While I am writing this I still don't know what will happen once we reach the boom gate back up the hill tomorrow. How badly the poor guard will tell us off for not closing the boom gate as promised and for not paying the camping fees the night before. But I guess we will worry about that one tomorrow. |
Pics
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/34-bikes.jpg
Our two bikes the moment just before leaving Pretoria http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../35-sunset.jpg First sunset in Africa... http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...36-sunrise.jpg ...and the sunrise the following morning http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...7-pinnacle.jpg The 'Pinacle' near the Blyde River Canyon http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...erlinfalls.jpg The 'Berlin Falls' in the Blyde River area It's incredibly slow to upload pics. So I hope it works below: http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...blyderiver.jpg The Blyde River Canyon http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...ikescanyon.jpg The road just east of the Blyde River Canyon http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...-canyondam.jpg The Blyde River Dam inside the canyon http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../41-canyon.jpg Blyde River Canyon |
Sitting here in Brisbane loving this adventure
|
Howdy Marco,
Great to see the photos and read your ride reports. They have made my day! You travelled very quickly through Australia, which leaves me thinking, I hope you don't expect to be able to travel so freely and easily in Africa... Looking forward to hearing about the real adventure now you're in Africa. Take care and stay safe. PS when you arrive in Europe drop by Switzerland, they'll be a room and cold beers waiting for you. Cheers!! |
Thanks for the great bedtime story Marco :thumbup:
|
bike shop Perth
Hey Marco,
Great story so far. Read about the first leg with particular interest as I am about to fly my bike to Perth (from Indonesia) to head for Sydney. You were very positive about the bike shop that helped out near the airport. Which one is that please? My poor old Africa Twin needs some attention when I arrive there. Thanks. Have a great time in Africa! Tijs |
Great report, and Marco, could you point out where the cargo terminal is in relation to the passerger terminal, is it signposted? I'm thinking of flying the bike to Johannesburg too, as it is cheaper than Capetown and as it seems so easy from your experience.
Keep up the reports. East Africa 2012 |
Hi from Maputo
Hi everyone and thanks for still following my posts, that's awesome. We made it across the border to Mozambique today and are now in Maputo which is an amazing city. But more about Maputo later. Internet time is limited so let me just quickly answer some questions and then it's time for another report...
@Turbocharger: it is true, the Australia leg went past quite quickly but since Australia is my home I did not plan to spend all to much time there. Saved most of my time for Africa. The bikeshop which helped me in Perth is called X-treme motorbikes, they are easy to find on Google. The Cargo Terminal in Johannesburg Airport is only about 1km from the passenger terminal. If you ask anyone at the airport information desk, they will point you towards it. It is really quite simple. There is also a petrol station next to the airport, 10min walking distance. In case you need to empty the tank for the flight. |
Swaziland
Days 7 and 8 - Swaziland
Our trip got just a little bit more exotic when we left the well developed South Africa and crossed the border into Swaziland near Bulembu. The border crossing was easy and straight forward, no more than 10min at the South African exit point and also no more than 10min to enter Swaziland. The difference in the road quality though was massive. On the South African side we rode on perfect tarmac all the way to the border. Once past the border the road changed to a narrow strip of steep dusty gravel road with lots of potholes and corrugations. The sort of road requiring 1st or 2nd gear max. However, the sealed surface started at the first town again, a town with the beautiful name of Piggs Peak. Swaziland is close to South Africa in various ways. Many of the South African brand logos for banks, supermarkets etc. can be found here. The currency is at a fixed exchange rate of 1:1 to the South African Rand and in fact the Rand can be used to pay for things just as easily as the Swazi Emalangeni (beautiful name for money, isn't it?). There are some significant differences between the two countries though which move Swaziland more into the corner of the typical african stereotype country. In Swaziland life seems to take place on the road. There are so many people on the road just everywhere, in towns and in between towns. Kids play on the road, people stand on the road chatting. And it's not just people, it's also their lifestock. On a beautiful winding passroad we once came across a whole herd of cattle just standing on the road in one of the tight corners typical for mountain passes. It's quite a shocking surprise to find them there when zooming around the corner, enjoying the view down into the valley and suddenly you have to hit the brakes and stop just a meter away from a very happy and unsurprised cow. Which then slowly starts to move out of the way. Lonely planet says that in Swaziland almost all people are Swazi. And sure enough we did hardly see any white people here. Even in the capital Mbabane we encountered the same as elsewhere. Lots and lots of people on the streets, no white people around. It somehow feels more like the 'true' Africa if compared to it's big neighbour. Lonely Planet also says that Swazilands biggest problem is HIV, a staggering 39% of people between 15 and 49 years of age are infected which results in an average life expectancy of just 33 years. Being here in the country this is quite hard to believe. Swaziland does not appear to be a poor country. In contrary, you don't see any shabby townships, you see a lot of good modern western made cars, people appear to be happy, everything is very clean. But we too did notice that there are only young people around. An average life expectancy of 33 years seems to be true. But it is still a scary thought that I am already beyond that age. Another interesting observation we made is the layout of the settlements. Apart from a few towns the map of Swaziland is pretty empty. However, in reality there are scattered square brick houses everywhere. You cannot determine which town they belong to but there's always houses, people, livestock, general stores, 'supermarkets' the size of a cornershop and handicraft stalls. It makes it pretty hard to find a quiet camping spot. We tried very hard and rode many km on bone shattering dirt roads to find one on our first night here. But no success. So we ended up camping near the geographical centre of the country in a field some 100m off a dirtroad. It took no more than 15min until we had a group of visitors. A very friendly bunch of people just as everyone else here, just checking out what we were doing. We learned that we were supposed to report to a 'chief' before setting up camp. A short mobile phone call from our guests to the 'assistant chief' quickly sorted out that we were welcome to stay where we were for one night. They just wanted to make sure we were not up to something evil or how they expressed it, we were not 'Gaddafies relatives'. Well, we obviously looked nothing like the Colonel, sitting in the grass and cooking our cheap roibos tea. In terms of riding we did some beautiful passroads through Swaziland as well as some pretty rough dirt roads. Dirt roads of the kind with many rocks sticking out and corrugations to shake the poor bike to pieces. Which was another good training session for me. And I must say my confidence level of riding my little Suzuki has steeply risen. However, we have not encountered the two things that scare me most yet: sand and mud. So I guess we're still doing it easy here. In Swaziland we also came in contact with the Police for the first time in this journey. It was pretty funny actually. We had in incredibly hot day. And when I say hot I mean this sort of hot when you start sweating even before sunrise. And for the rest of the day you're just boiling in your sweat. Usually I am wearing my motorbike jacket when riding but today I was just melting inside and just rode along with my T-shirt. Martin went one step further and rode topless. Before I am grilled about our attitude to safety here, I must say it was really really hot and the road quality made us ride really slowly and our bike jackets would have exhausted us in this heat to an extent that it would not actually have improved our safety. We needed full focus for this dirt road. Funny thing is that Police thought differently and fined Martin 60 Rand (=AU$ 8.50) for failing to wear protective gear which apparently is compulsory in Swaziland. I was not fined because a T-shirt is considered sufficiently protective. Makes total sense, doesn't it? Much more exciting however was our visit to the Hlane Royal NP near the border to Mocambique. Usually National Parks where you can see any member of the 'Big 5' (elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo and leopard) will not let you in on motorbikes. At least in the touristy countries like South Africa, Botswana or Kenya. However, the Lonely Planet said about the Hlane Royal NP that even mountain bike tours are on offer. So no worries on motorbikes then. We thought. We thought wrong. They didn't let us in. Because the elephants would be too aggressive. But we still had a Plan B up our sleeves. Leaving our bikes behind at the boom gates and asking drivers of the cars behind us if they would have room for two dusty smelly bikies to tag along for a self drive trip through the park. And amazingly success came with the first car - two Dutch girls in a tiny Chevrolet rental car, one of those small ones the size of a Toyota Yaris. But for the chance to see some big animals Martin and me, we were more than happy to squeeze into the back seat and the girls were happy to take us along. And what an amazing little trip that was. There were rhinos so massive they seemed to be bigger than our car. Twice we surprised them sleeping on the road, just a huge mountain of muscles and fat blocking our path and shocking us just as much as we surprised them for none of us expected to come that close to each other. And there were elephants and various species of antelopes - all just metres away from our tiny car. And no fences or cages around them. It was just unreal and if we didn't feel 100% like it yet, than this park sure made us feel like we are in Africa. It is a weird sensation to be there, so close to those animals. It's a bloody hot day, the midday sun is burning your skin, the sky is blue but there is still this haze of dust and grass fires in the air, crickets and strange birds are the only sounds you here and there, just meters away is this massive rhino. Only moving in tiny slow bits every few minutes or so. Watching this scenery is so relaxing and exciting at the same time, I could have watched forever. And good thing is we DID have time to watch forever. And it was the rhinos who eventually left. We are now camping just a few km away from the border to Mocambique which we will cross tomorrow. According to our information we get our visa at the border. But our two Dutch friends meant we need to organise it in advance at the embassy in Mbabane. So we give it a try tomorrow morning and hope it works out and saves us going back the 150km to Mbabane. Cross fingers for us! We also chose a great spot for our 2nd night camping in Swaziland, again by sheer coincidence. It was a very quite spot when we got there, just near a railway line and next to some abandoned houses, a few hundred meters off a small road. Once it got dark there was suddenly this loud african music. It sounded like it's coming from right next door to us. So we had a quick look back to the road to where the music came from. And sure as hell - the only building up there was a pub. Small and cosy and only three patrons inside. But african style music playing from the jukebox. And believe me, after this scorcher of a day an icecold Windhoek Lager in a big 750ml bottle never tasted better. What a great last night in friendly Swaziland. |
Swaziland Pics
Okay, it's time for some pics again. Hope the upload works. These are some snapshots of our visit to Swaziland.
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...3-passroad.jpg One of the many passroads we took through Swaziland http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...45-camping.jpg Moonlight illuminating our camping spot http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...-kidhelmet.jpg Swazi kid posing with my helmet http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...47-sunrise.jpg Sunrise at our camping spot where a phone call to the 'assistant chief' the night before secured us a place to sleep http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/48-road.jpg Typical gravel road through Swaziland. A bit rocky and dusty in places but generally good quality. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/49-sign.jpg Beware of lions and elephants on the road! Near Hlane Royal NP. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/50-rhino.jpg We saw a lot of rhinos very close in the Hlave Royal NP. I did not recall them being that big but they are just huge. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../51-impala.jpg Impalas can be seen in great numbers in the National Park http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/52-rhino.jpg This rhino just slept on the road with it's baby. So we had to reverse our way out of there. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...3-elephant.jpg Also this elephant did not seen to be bothered by our presence and calmly ate a few dry branches of a tree just meters away from our car. |
Maputo
Day 9
Hello again everyone. As promised here comes a quick update from Mozambique. Our first day's highlights of entering the country and staying in Maputo. We got up early at our camp near the old railway line in Swaziland to get to the border quickly. Things we heard about Mozambique made it clear to us that we should reserve some time for the border crossing. From where we were there was a choice of two crossing points, we decided for the crossing at Goba. Goba is a small and relatively new crossing and therefore it is not too busy. And to get there we could ride through another small game reserve on the Swaziland side, enjoying another dirt road instead of the tiring tarmac on the main highway. However, 'game' did not seem to be aware that the place was a game reserve and apart from three warthogs no animals showed up. Probably had to do with our noisy bikes too. The border crossing was as usual split in two parts. The Swaziland exit was very easy, just showing the passport and receiving an exit stamp. Outside we had to 'proof our ownership of our vehicles' which the Certificate of Registration did sufficiently and after a short chat about motorbikes the boomgate opened for us. It all took maybe 15 minutes. Part two was the entry into Mozambique. We did not have a visa at that point because we knew it is available at the border. What we did not know was that at the border it would cost three times the fee than at the Mozambique embassy in Mbabane. We now had to pay 600 South African Rand (AU$85) for it instead of 200 as the other travellers did in Mbabane. So if you ever follow us to Mozambique, make sure you get your visa beforehand! Apart from that the entry procedure was very easy and relatively quick. The Carnet for our bikes was not needed and instead we got a Temporary Import Permit for another 10 Rand fee and the boomgates opened for us again. This side of the border kept us busy for around one hour. And before we knew we were riding through Mozambique on a beautiful sunny day. First thing we noticed in Mozambique - there is no more English. Local language here is Portuguese. Which is one of my favourite languages. Not that any of us speaks any of it, but it sounds awesome, it sounds like sunshine, summer, party. Since my holiday in Brazil in 2008 I'm loving it. It is definitely on the to do list to learn Portuguese. Second thing we noticed - the landscape is really green here, a welcome change to the dry brownish environment we got used to in Swaziland. And third thing we noticed - Mozambique is incredibly colourful. We rode through a place called Boane and stopped to get some money out of an ATM. And the whole town was buzzing in all colours of the rainbow. There were lots of stalls where colourful fruits were sold. People everywhere wearing at least three colours per person. Colourful billboards covered the walls of the buildings. And there was music, chatter, cars honking. People here are not just a colourful bunch but also a happy one. Kids playing soccer whereever there was a few square metres of space, and most people's faces were lightened up by their white teeth because they were constantly smiling. People shook hands with us and greeted us without hasseling. Everyone seems to live on happy pills. And coming into Maputo this impression even intensified. Maputo is a buzzing hub of over a million smiling faces. Riding into Maputo we were overtaken by minibus taxis overcrowded with smiles. There were small little red Honda motorbikes. No rider wearing a helmet. And there were the TukTuk style taxis zooming past us and running the red lights. Also the roadblocks that many people warned us about were a no-show. We passed two Police checks, on both of them they were not the least bit interested in us. In almost an entire day in Maputo not even one bribe was asked of us. The traffic here seems to be chaotic when seen from the outside but once you are part of it, it all seems to make sense and it becomes easy to navigate. Like in a big river you just go with the flow and it is this flow which automatically guides you around stopping minibus taxis, potholes or broken down trucks. Whith no worries in the world and big smiles on our own faces we arrived at a nice little hostel where they allowed us to camp and bring our bikes in. From there we spent the rest of the day walking and exploring the city. And enjoing the famous 2M beer. After travelling inland since my arrival in Africa it was also good to see the ocean again. And it is this ocean that we plan to follow north. Our (expensive) visa grants us 30 days in the country so we have all the time in the world. The latest iteration of our plan for the future is to travel north as far as 'Ilha de Mocambique' and then head west and cross into Malawi and Zambia. See what happens. |
First pics of Mozambique
Here we go with some snapshots of our first day in Mozambique, mostly spent in Maputo.
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...4-bemvindo.jpg 'Welcome to Mozambique' just across the border from Swaziland near Goba http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/55-boane.jpg Boane is the first town on the road to Maputo. It is a colourful and lively intro into Mozambique http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../56-market.jpg An arts and handycrafts market in Maputo http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../57-maputo.jpg Maputo http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../58-maputo.jpg Maputo http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../59-maputo.jpg Maputo http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../60-maputo.jpg Maputo - back at the Indian Ocean. Just across there would be Australia. Long way across... |
I enjoy your trip.....:clap:.Keep up Marco!!!bier
|
maps?
Hi Marco,
I am not sure if you mentioned this before, but what type of maps are you using? Paper maps or gps? Tracks4Africa or something else? Thanks for all the important information you are sharing! :thumbup1: |
Maps
We are using mainly the electronic version of the Tracks4Africa maps on Martin's Garmin GPS. But we also have paper maps, the usual Michelin ones which are not too detailed. And Martin brought along a few papermaps from Germany, published by 'Reise Knowhow' which are really good and detailed.
|
thanks for taking the time to keep us abreast of your adventure! safe traveling, H
|
Hey Marco,
Mate im real sorry I didnt get to say goodbye to you at work before you left, and i cant believe it has taken me this long to write you a comment. Im loving the story so far, keep up the good work with the blog. This trip looks amazing and is making me very jealous. Stay safe and have fun. Scott B :-) p.s I hope you know who this is. |
Hi Marco,
Hopefully I have worked out how to use this site. Am loving your detailed and informative writings. Sounds like you are having a fabulous time. Tuesdays are just not the same - your replacement just isn't up to your standard. Miss you, take care and keep living the dream J xxx |
Zimbabwe
Hello everyone and thanks for your replies. It feels good to stay connected. Even if connection is not easy to maintain if internet is so rarely to be found. However, we are in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe at the moment and although there is an internet cafe the slow computer won't let me upload any pics. So it's just text for now. As usual the accumulated diary entries for the last days (and weeks)...
|
Mozambique
Day 12 - Inhambane, Mozambique
Hello again with another short update from Mozambique. Short because there is actually not too much happening to write a lot about. The highlight of the last couple of days was to simply be here. Just cruising along. Here in Mozabique. Which is a great place to cruise along. If you hear stories about what a dangerous place Mozambique would be, how corrupt the police is or how many bribes you would be expected to pay - simply forget about it. We haven't met anyone meaning us bad yet, nor have we met corrupt officials or police. The very contrary is true. People are super friendly here and help us in all respects. E.g. lifting the bike that has been dropped on a sandy path (but let's talk about that later). There is a police checkpoint in every small town. But it is merely a speed check with surprisingly sophisticated looking radar cameras. We try to stick to the speed limit and are usually just waved through with a friendly smile. No Police has stopped us yet. Mozambique is a pretty easy place to get your bearings right. There is pretty much only one sealed road going all the way in North - South direction more or less parallel to the coast for around 2500km. In the centre part, where Mozambique is a bit wider there are a few gravel roads to connect to Lake Malawi or the Zimbabwe border. But that's pretty much it. All along this main road there are little market stalls selling things like mobile prepaid vouchers, Coca Cola, fire wood, bundles of straw or some produce such as oranges, cashew nuts or paw paws. Almost every village also has a bakery. We just live of 'Pao typico Portuguese' which is a piece of bread not unlike the French baguette in shape and lenghts but of rather white ciabatta like dough. One of those only costs about 8 Meticais (AU$ 0.30) and it really fills you up for a while and tastes great. There is also petrol stations every 100 or so km, making fuel a non issue along that road. Even in between those fuel is sold in 5 litre water bottles from little stalls next to the road. One litre of unleaded (unknown octane) costs just under 50 Meticais (AU$ 1.65) and is relatively expensive compared to the other costs in Mozambique. But it must be good fuel because my little Suzuki achieves an unprecedented fuel economy of under 5l/100km with it. Maybe let's just talk about some random examples of our experience with the Mozambique people. Just to give you an idea what to expect if you ever find yourself here. One evening we were looking for a good place to camp and just went into some tiny dirtpath which looked promising. And indeed some hundred meters in we found the perfect pitch of grass. Clearly within sight of it there was a group of people cooking on a fire and some little kids running around. So there I went to introduce us and ask if it's okay for us to camp on that piece of grass. It ended up being one such situation where I tried to start a conversation with the three words of Portuguese I know and get two village mums replying back simultaneously in rapid downpours of Portuguese while stirring the stuff in the big pot on the fire. Me not knowing the words for 'camping' or 'tent' or 'sleeping' certainly did not help. So we ended up wildy weaving our hands and arms and pointing towards things and drawing picures in the sand and shaking our heads. And laughing our ass off. And with kids running around me and two village mums laughing at me I felt like entertaining the whole village and we all had some good fun. Until I thought I got the message across and became a thumps up and 'tudo bom' ('all good') in response. A few hours later we were visited by a big group of people. Including one young guy who spoke English. The purpose of their visit was to 'greet us', one of the village mums still had a lot of fun now that we actually had a translator between us. And we were presented with a thick piece of sugar cane to break up pieces and chew them and suck the sweet sugar juice out of it. As a welcome present to their village. Another evening we were looking for camping again and found a road leading to the beach. The road started good enough as a dirt road with some sandy patches. However, the sandy bits grew longer and longer. And deeper too. And after I dropped my poor bike on a similar road earlier the same day it was now Martin's turn. On a particularly deep sandy uphill section he found his poor Africa Twin suddenly on her side. And within seconds people came along to help lifting the heavily laden Honda back up. Also within seconds we had status updates about the rest of the road. And friendly company again the next morning after camping on the beach when the same guys came along for some spear fishing and said hello. Or today when it was realy hot and we used our poor bikes as an excuse to stop to give them a rest. We went straight to the pub (=container with drinks being sold). Sitting there, two ladies approached us selling cashew nuts. Hungry as we were we asked how much those would be and encountered our usual communication difficulties. Our three words of broken Portuguese against their simultaneous whole barrage of talking. After a few seconds they showed one hand and counted their fingers so we assumed the whole bag of nuts would be costing us 5 Meticais (AU$ 0.17). So I got out my 5Mtk coin wondering why it was so cheap and these two ladies started laughing and didn't stop. What they found so funny I still don't get. But they obviously asked for 50Mtk for their bags of cashews. Which is still cheap. In between those intense episodes of laughter we went tbrough all the coins I had. They picked 43Mtk (AU$1.50) worth of coins, left us with 2(?) sizeable bags of cashews and off they went still giggling and laughing. It's a really good bunch of people to be around, these Mozambiquans. On the bike side of things: both our bikes are holding up really well. Most of our km are done on the paved main artery road but it's the little bits and pieces of when we leave that road which make the trip interesting. Obviously our tyre choices (Pirelli Scorpion MT90 A/T for my bike and Mitas E07 for Martin's Honda) are not great in sand but which tyres would be? They are easy to ride on gravel roads though and also on the tarmac. Although the hot and rough tarmac here eats away the rubber quit rapidly. So I guess before we go into the DRC we might need to find a new set of tyres in Dar es Salam and hope our 21" and 17" sizes will be available. There should be tyres available in Dar, right? In terms of DRC we might be lucky with the visa situation. Our hostel in Maputo was just down the road from the DRC High Commision so we thought we go in and ask some questions. And the lady there was really cool and helpful but couldn't give us a visa. Because we are not residents of Mozambique and embassies can only issue DRC visas for residents of the country they are in. However, she also showed us an official letter from the government in Kinshasa that the immediate neighbours of the DRC are exempted from this rule, explicitly listing Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi as examples. She also phoned the DRC embassy in Lusaka (Zambia) for us and got confirmed that we could be issued a visa there. So we now have a choice and cross fingers thant these guys all received the same letter from Kinshasa. We shall see... |
Mozambique
Day 14
Hello again from tropical Vilanculos in Mozambique. We are still enjoying ourselves in beautiful Mozambique and will continue to do so for another one or two days until we cross into Zimbabwe. The last couple of days have been pretty lucky ones for us. Since the last update we stopped over in Tofo for one day. All the keen divers of you might know the place for it's diving resorts. And apart from that it is the Tofo beach which is just stunning. It goes on for km on end without any houses, without anyone on the beach. And it is the perfect mix of white sand, turqoise ocean and blue sky which creates the perfect playground for ocean lovers. In Tofo we booked ourselves onto a boat trip for snorkeling with whale sharks. The boat trip itself was already a great experience. We cruised along the neverending beach in search of whale sharks while watching nearby Humpback Whales breach and play around as a happy family. And after a while a Whale Shark was spotted for us and the four keen snorkelers on board dived in. Once under water we were only meters away from the shark. And OMG was that a massive monster! Whale sharks are the largest fish on the planet, not counting in whales for they are mammals. The one that we met that day was approximately 10-12m long. And even though they are sharks, lucky for us they only feed on plankton. So there we were in the ocean together with a huge speckled shark. Just elegantly swimming along with us, more like just floating a metre or two underneath the surface. That was sooo cool. It is however not the big attractions like the whales and sharks which fascinate me most but the little everyday routine stuff. Even now I am not over the initial sensation of being in Africa yet. And just sitting on my little Suzuki and just riding along is an awesome feeling. I often think back to the planning phase. One and a half years ago when the idea came up and I spend many sleepless nights over books and on the web for information gathering. And drawing all the info I could get onto a big pencilled map of the continent. It has been very clear that I wanted to go to Africa. Back then I couldn't explain why. But now I know. It's not so much for the elefants or lions or Kilimandjaro or safari part of it. Even though all that is cool. But it's much more about the everyday's life bit. To live in between the attractions and see Africa as it is outside the tourism hubbs. Around a year ago the excitement got even bigger when I was sitting at a friend's house in Sydney and we spent a long evening watching photos and listening to stories about their two previous long adventure trips through Africa. Back then everything was still so uncertain for me. Then the excitement got almost unbearable the week before leaving for the trip. And now we are here. This is what it was all about. This is it. Living the dream that was just a dream for so long. Things that seemed so exotic back then are now routine. But no less exciting. It all comes together here. And now. Cruising along on my little Suzuki, feeling the heat of the tropical sun, smelling the smoke of the little grassfires people light for cooking in front of their little huts and hearing the chatter of the women walking in colourful groups along the road with huge buckets balancing on their heads. Every day we wake up to a blood red sun rising over the east. Every day again we camp with a sun setting red as blood in the west. And while we're lighting the camp fire to the alien sound of crickets and unfamiliar birds we are watching a huge red moon rise. In between all that we look into many smiling black faces while we are cruising along. People who just get along with their daily routine as they probably have done for many years and still, for us watching these people is just as fascinating as it is for them to see these two guys cruising past on these unbelievably huge bikes as it is now our routine. A random moment in time which is nothing special at a random location in Africa suddenly becomes a memorable event for all of us. That is the stuff I wanted to see and wanted to live for in Africa, the stuff in between things, the little everyday routines, the conversation with locals, the warm handshakes and genuine smiles. And I am loving every minute of it. Cruising along is like watching a good movie, there is so much dynamic and colour in everything. And as soon as you stop the perspective changes completely and you are immediately part of the same fascinating film. Another very pleasent experience found us last night. We stopped in Vilanculos for buying some stuff for dinner and getting ready for camping. When we were suddenly aproached by another white guy. And so we met Uli, a German expat who happend to own a guest house in Vilanculos. And as it turns out he loves motorbikes and touring as much as we do. He has a couple of KTM 450's and 640's in his workshop and prepares himself for a major bike trip through Mozambique. Ready to start in just two days. So we ended up staying at his guesthouse and had a great chat about motorbikes and Mozambique and the life as expat while sitting by the campfire. If any of you guys ever travel to Vilanculos, I can only recommend saying hello to Uli at his guesthouse 'Casa Guci' and you will hear some amazing stories about what you can do with a KTM in Mozambique! Well in case you do ever travel to Mozambique, let me just give you a quick wrap up what it is like, based on our experience here. Our route took us from Swaziland to Maputo and then North till Vilanculos and from there another 250km north and then straight west towards the border to Zimbabwe. Mozambique is a stunning place to travel through full of amazing people. Although most major attractions have to do with diving or snorkelling and are quite pricey. A standard dive will cost you around AU$65. Also accomodation in these dive resorts will set you back a couple of hundred dollars a night. Backpacker hostels can be found in every decent size town and cost around the same as in Australia. (AU$20 a night). Petrol is available every 100 or so km along the main road from a major service station and is of good quality. But also at a rather high price of beyond AU$1.60 per litre. The further north you go the more expensive it gets. ATM are everywhere but in the smallest towns. The most I could get out of them on my Visa card was 5000MTK (AU$ 167) which will last you for a couple of days. Food is available from supermarkets, these are getting very rare once you are north of Inhambane. Supermarkets are just a bit cheaper than in western countries. Beer is really cheap though (AU$ 8 for a sixpac). Every village also has a market but there is not much to buy from those. It's mostly for local clientel so they sell big buckets of salt or sugar or straw or palm leaves or live chicken etc. You can however pick up some fresh fruit for cheap prices as well. And also soft drinks for next to nothing. But again, once you get north of Inhambane the markets are getting more and more useless for hungry travellers. We live mostly of bread and bread rolls which are fresh and delicious and available from bakery stalls in every 5th or so village market. The quality of the sealed N1, which is the only main arterial road is very good. There is a pothole or two further north but nothing much to worry about. However, if you turn to what the map identifies as 'unsealed' roads to the east of the N1 you pretty much always end up in a deep sandpit. Believe me, we did try many of them. Apparently the roads to the west of the N1 are decent quality graded gravel but we will see about that tomorrow when we turn west towards Zimbabwe. And when you go along the N1 be aware of the speed cameras in many villages! In terms of safety our experience showed Mozambique as an extremely safe country. People tell you honest prices for goods at the market and do not negotiate. You are hardly ever hasseled by people trying to sell you stuff or asking for money and if they do you just say 'no' and they leave you alone. Traffic in Maputo may seem a bit chaotic but is manageable, outside Maputo traffic is no problem at all and people generally obey the rules. Good spots for camping are very easy to find and it never took us long. If you setup camp and are approached by locals it is always just to greet you or to see what's going on in their neighbourhood. If we camp in sight of someone we usually go and say hello first. And even if we never speak a common language it always ended up a good fun conversation and us camping there with no worries. From what we were told the land mine problem is only a real problem in the far North where dodgy areas are signposted if mines are expected in the vicinity (that's what locals say). However, many local people warned us of Cobras and we did indeed see one just a day ago crossing the road in front of us and making a couple of people jump. So be careful when bushcamping in grassy areas. Highlights of Mozambique include lots of diving stuff and if you're not into diving the distances between other sights are quite daunting. The famous Gorongosa NP will not let you enter on a motorbike so you need to find someone with a car to catch a ride. In terms of bike parts I don't think Mozambique has anything to offer for western style adventure bikes. You see a lot of Honda XL125 around and they are the biggest bikes you see. And there is a couple of chinese 50cc bikes too. Local bike shops only cater for those sort of little bikes and I doubt even Maputo would have a shop with spares for bigger bikes. But I guess that is not unexpected. |
Zimbabwe
Day 16, 17 and 18
Another day, another country. Mozambique has been a fantastic place to ride a motorbike. However, there is huge distances between tourist highlights. The only other significant one on our list of interesting places would be up in the far north. More than 1000km along a straight stretch of road did seem too long for us though to just see another archipel of islands. So we turned left instead, onto my favourite road so far. It's the one connecting the N1 main road with the little town of Espungabera on the border to Zimbabwe. It is a beautiful gravelroad, meandering through some typical Mozambiquean bushland with tiny villages dotted along the road. Villages no bigger than three or four huts. It is just the perfect road to ride my little Suzuki on and she totally agreed with me in that, smoothly rolling along with her little 650cc heart calmly beating. Switching into 3rd gear and accelerating up the hill, little pieces of gravel flying either side. Top of the hill, switching into fourth gear and letting her roll down, slaloming around rocks and potholes at around 80km/h on a perfectly warm spring day. Martin on his bike on my right hand side to avoid any of us breathing in the big orange dust cloud which covers everything behind us. Close to Espungabera the road finds it's way through the mountains where we got rewarded with some beautiful views back into the plains of bushland in Mozambique. Our strategy is to cross borders in rather small crossing points, not the main road ones. So we hope the officials are less stressed and less prone to bribes or money extorsion. And well, it sort of works. We crossed from Espungabera into Zimbabwe. Leaving Mozambique was a friendly and easy affair. Entering Zimbabwe seemed to be too. We paid our $30 and got issued a 30 day visa straight away. The bikes got in with a Temporary Import Permit so we did not need to use our Carnet. And that was it. But then, just before the last boom gate the Customs officer insisted that everyone (not just us) showed all items to be imported into Zimbabwe. Which means for us completely unpacking all our panniers and explaining every single item. But hey, it was a sunny day and the officer was a really friendly one. Just doing his job. So we had a friendly chat about our underwear, our spare spark plugs and the mosquito spray, explained the can of chain lube and the camera zoom lens and two hours later were free to pack the lot back in with the words 'Thank you for your patience, have a wonderful stay in Zimbabwe'. Ten minutes later we were stopped at a Police checkpoint. The two officers simply bombarded us with questions, faster than we could reply. Almost in military style. So we stopped the bikes again, parked them out of the way and in our most friendly manner went through all their harshly asked questions with them, making things up as we went along (where will you stay tonight? And tomorrow night? etc). Ten minutes later they were running out of questions and we were out of there. And from then on we were cruising along in another super friendly country in Africa. Here we are, Zimbabwe, under the care of Comrade Robert Mugabe. The first Zimbabwean town behind the border for us was Chipinge. And what a difference it was to Mozambique. There were fully stocked supermarkets, delicacies like yogurt and chocolate and orange juice in them. ATMs tendering US$, the (temporarily) official currency here. Which is really handy to be able to stock up on hard currency for the onward travel. Prices are similar to Mozambique. And people just as friendly. And English is again the official language which makes communication very easy. Let's just pick one example of our experience with Zimbawe people: as usual we just camp somewhere off a little road and not on any official sites. This time we just went off the main road, the terrain either side was really flat with a few bushes and some big Baobab trees and some little rocks. No problem for our sturdy bikes. Once out of sight of the road we looked around and collected some wood for a little campfire to barbeque our tasty looking sausages from the supermarket. All of the sudden this guy appears, bare foot but wearing a shirt with 'Police' written on it. After our earlier experience we now expected trouble. But with a big smile on his face he was just saying hello and was laughing a bit about our pathetic little pile of fire wood. He offered us to camp next to his house some further down the road. But at this stage we were already too set up to move on and declined his offer so he just disappeared into the bush again. Hours later, after we gave up our unsuccessful efforts on the fire and cooked our sausages on the camping stove, two people stepped out of the dark towards us. It was him again with his wife. Just saying hello again and dropping off a perfectly dry and big log of timber for us to use for cooking. And disappearing again into the night with a smile. Really cool, hey? The landscape is also quite different compared to Mozambique. Just behind the border we rode through some beautiful dark green rainforest in the southern part of the Eastern Highlands. But very soon it changed to a brown flat landscape with scattered bushes and huge Baobab trees. Some of those are just massive, trunk diameters larger than the lengths of our bikes. Also part of the mix are some huge rocks, almost mountains of granite. And a couple of round brick huts with straw roof. People are very friendly but appear to be in more hardship than their Mozambiquean friends. We are asked for money more often but still left alone when we say 'no'. There are less colours around and more people walking barefoot. The roads we travelled on so far are awesome quality. Main roads are tar. And even gravelroads are nice and hard and of the kind that you only need to focus not to get trapped in minor ruts. Or run over a sharp edge of rock. 60km/h is no problem at all on Zimbabwean gravel. So far. After three weeks and more than 3500km since Johannesburg the bikes are holding up fine. Only some minor things come to the surface every now and then. Just today I had to repair the fuel hose which started to leak a lot. Where it connects to the inline fuel filters the rubber hose started to develop cracks and one of those became big enough that a small continuous stream of fuel shot out. Luckily it happened while the bike was parked and not too much fuel poured over the hot engine. I cut off the cracked ends of the hose and also filed the outside diameter of the fuel line connections on the filters smaller to reduce the outwards pressure onto the fuel hose. And reinforced the hose with duct tape. And hope it will last a bit. Martin had to fight with his bike too. After all those dust roads he was keen to check the airfilter. But the three small bolts which hold the airfilter cover did sit so tight that none of us could get them loose. And we ended up pretty much destroying the bolt heads. And one screwdriver. It was only later in a small workshop and with the help of an electric grinder that we got access to the airfilter. Also recently we developed a habit to thoroughly check our tyres after we discovered some big thornscembedded in them. There is a lot of stuff with massive thorns growing here and often some twigs or branches are just blown on the road. So far we managed to gercaway with no flats ( touch wood). Till now our tyres are holding up actually pretty well. But latest before we enter the DRC we will need new ones. Has any of you been able to source some tyres in Rwanda or Burundi? These will most likely be the last countries before we enter the Congo. Our last resort would be that the tyre shop in Pretoria which fitted Martin's new tyres could send some across to Burundi. But that sounds rather expensive. Riding my little Suzuki is still so much fun, even after all those km. Or probably because of them. It sounds odd but I start to know the bike to a degree that I can hear and feel if something is wrong. Something like my dirty air filter. The bike handles so well on the roads in Zimbabwe that even sandy bits start being fun. If they are not too deep. Then I still panic. And curse. However, we met two touring motorcyclists from South Africa here in Zimbabwe which their big ccm shiny european bikes. And then again I realised, while we are here in Africa, you could offer me any bike in the world, I would not swap my little Suzuki for it. She somehow seems to be made for this adventure of ours. And is truly fun to ride in the terrain we encountered so far. So keep your Katooms. And keep your Beamers. At least for now. I'll stick to my little Suzuki. And Africa is still heaps fun. |
...still trying to get these pics online...
|
Mozambique pics part 1
I'm struggeling with these pics and really hope this works...
http://%20www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/c1922.jpg http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/d100f.jpg A typical camping spot - we usually just camp somewhere to the side of a little road or path. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/0f320.jpg People fishing - for people in small towns still a sure way to feed the family and generate some income. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/dcca0.jpg Typical picture of smalltown Mozambique. For those of you who have been here before you will remember the many buildings painted in red with either 'Vodacom' or 'Coca Cola' written on the fassade. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/bb6e0.jpg Typical picture of smalltown Mozambique again - two ladies selling cashew nuts. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/c1922.jpg Real people mover - utes are a great way to transport people. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/22b67.jpg A small pub on the road - a good way to spend some time in the shade during the mid day heat and have a cold Coke or '2M' beer. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/17816.jpg Sunset over Inhambane Bay http://www.freeimagehosting.net/d100fhttp://www.freeimagehosting.net/d100f |
Mozambique pics part 2
..and some more pics of Mozambique:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/54956.jpg '2M' beer is the probably most typical drink for Mozambique - Martin and me at the beach in Tofo http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/18e4f.jpg Crossing this line will take us into tropical Africa http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/fdc0a.jpg Little Suzuki posing in front of a Baobab tree http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/ba483.jpg At the end of this trip we will be able to tell good decicions from bad decisions. When it comes to our choice of equipment Martin and me, we chose quite a variety of things. E.g. Martin travelling on an RD04 Africa Twin 750ccm with aluminium boxes and using a flip front helmet, I'm riding my little 2010 Suzuki DR650 with soft panniers protected by Pacsafe mesh and I'm wearing a full face helmet. So far all our equipment works perfectly fine. However, it is always Martin's bike which draws a crowd whenever we stop whereas my bike stands largely ignored. We once checked ourselves out on a weight bridge. Both bikes with almost full tank and full water bottles. Little Suzuki with my 80kg on top showed 320kg, Martin on his Africa Twin brought it to 400kg. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/bf34e.jpg It is sometimes unbelievable what size loads some women are able to balance on their head while walking http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/49758.jpg Snapshot from the market |
Zimbabwe pics
...a few pictures from our first few days in Zimbabwe:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/9e9e4.jpg These Baobab trees do make you feel like you're in Africa http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/1b1fc.jpg I tried to hire a driver but unfortuately his feet could not reach the footpegs. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/a9a3d.jpg Wherever we go in Zimbabwe - we are found by some lovely locals. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/12ee6.jpg Dam http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/f703c.jpg The 'Great Zimbabwe' monument near Masvingo- an ancient city of the Shona people which gave it's name to the country. These 1000 year old ruins cover a large area, so huge that they are classified as the number two prehistoric site in Africa (after the egyptian pyramids). http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/c9125.jpg Small town snapshot http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/38fba.jpg Donkeys and cattle often walk along or across the road, totally oblivious to passing cars. Or motorbikes. http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/75273.jpg My search for a qualified driver continues with no luck http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/4cf87.jpg A rather rough road to the Matopo NP http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/8333b.jpg Random scene |
We found another beautiful corner in Zimbabwe today. And best of all, we've got internet. So before we venture back into internetless African countryside let's just write down a little wrap up of our visit to Zimbabwe.
Currently we are camping at Victoria Falls, the town on the Zimbabwean side of the famous landmark. This will also be our last destination in Zimbabwe before we head off to see the Okavango Delta in Botswana tomorrow. Since the last update we went through some exciting times. Mostly visiting National Parks in Zimbabwe. Which can be tricky on motorbikes. Since Bulawayo we started with a trip through Matopo NP. It is a beautiful area of mostly arid high lands. Part of the park is a game reserve which cannot be entered on motorbikes. But the other part is really cool too. It's dirt road all the way. Quite rough in places with massive rocks to climb over or to climb down from along the road. And some extremely steep uphill and downhill sections. In combination with the big boulders embedded in the road it was mostly first and second gear territory. But just perfectly matching what our bikes were made for. We went through stuff even a month ago I wouldn't have thought a motorbike can get through. But it was now actually heaps fun. And every now and then we found a great viewpoint or some age old bushmen paintings. And all day long we did not meet anyone in the park. Apart from a ranger or two. No tourists at all. The other park we visited was Hwange NP which ended up being more adventurous than we would have liked it. Our so far reliable map showed two roads connecting the park to the main road. So we took the first one. Which ended up being very sandy after 20odd km. And sand still raises my blood pressure and panic level to the extreme. However, we dug our way through to the gate. And when I say 'gate' it was more an empty hut and a lifted boom gate. So 'cool' we thought, just keep going and pay the entrance fee on our exit through the other gate the next day. And in we were, riding in beautiful Hwange NP next to jumpy antelopes and big elephants and tall giraffes. Hwange is a top highlight for tourists in Zimbabwe. And for good reason. It is simply stunning, waterholes are topped up by pumps so there is always water. And always animals. Absolutely recommendable. It was also here that my little Suzuki went through elephant droppings for the first time. How cool is it to say that you rode your bike through elephant shit! The real stuff! What we were not aware off though was the fact that the entrance we went through was the old entrance. And no longer an official entrance. And that bikes are not allowed in the park. And that the rhinos in the park are a prime target for poachers. And that the National Park Rangers are very concerned about the rhinos and therefore are not happy about people appearing in the park through inofficial entrances. Long story short - we quickly got restricted to the nearest camping area and escorted to the main camp and ranger station the next day. I think it was very quickly obvious that we were no poachers. Lucky for us. Because even though we stirred up a small storm everyone was extremely friendly and helpful at the end to resolve the situation. And by the end of the day we were free to go. Sort of. Except for Martin's bike. Which kept having a flat tyre. First we woke up to a flat tyre. The first one on the tour so far. So us being not too familiar with the subject had to get the tyre on and off 3 times before it kept the air. But I can proudly say the last attempt only took us half an hour between getting the wheel off and the wheel with patched tube on again. Just the timing was no good because our escort was waiting for us to take us to the main camp. Nothing better to get the work done than some pressure and a couple of guys with big guns waiting around. And it did work. Well, for more than 50km. One km before the Main Camp the tyre was flat again. And because in the sandy conditions Martin was not aware of it straight away the whole valve ended up being ripped out. Fortunately we had our escort on a pickup truck. So soon the Africa Twin was on the truck and caught a lift for the final km. And the tyre got fixed in the workshop for free while we were in discussions with the rangers. I know what you're saying, how we must have gotten into deep trouble for entering the park unofficially. But the Zimbabwe we found is very different from the Zimbabwe you see in the news in Australia. If you think we had to pay massive bribes to get out of there - nothing like that happened. Pretty much everyone we met in Zimbabwe and particularly in Hwange was extremely friendly and professional. The conduct of the rangers was absolutely on the same level as you would expect in Australia. And considering the difference in their pay that is indeed extraordinary. No bribes were asked. Ever. All payments were listed in advance on official lists and receipts were issued. Not just in Hwange. But everywhere. When we got stopped by Police on road blocks it always ended up a friendly chat. People on the street and in shops are super friendly and open for serious chats about everything. Not just the typical 'where do you come from' and 'where do you go'. And you pick up a vibe about them being very proud of their country. Even though they are living through tough times and a not too certain political situation with new elections on their doorstep. There is a vibe of optimism and a perceived certainty that it will go uphill with Zimbabwe in the future. And numbers seem to support their opinion. Even though we were completely by ourselves in Matopo NP and did not encounter many tourists in Hwange NP (not many for a park that size and reputation) everyone is expecting things to pick up big time towards the end of the year. I remember an old guy walking around selling little spongy scrubs on a service station. I asked him what it is he is selling and we talked for a bit. And what impressed me the most was the fact that, not once he asked me to buy one of those things. But he was very keen to get the message across to me that Zimbabwe is save to travel again and I should tell my friends so more tourists would come. And we had similar situations elsewhere. So what I guess is really hard for Zimbabweans is the fact, that they now better times. Zimbabwe used to be a safe tourist destination, similar to maybe South Africa. There are big hotels still there but empty. Beautiful lodges with view to waterholes and elephants. With one or two families staying there. Big expensive looking restaurants. No one in there. And even the big game parks. Where you can be undisturbed because there are many more elephants than tourists. Also the famous Victoria Falls we only had to share with two groups of people until many hours after sunrise when more tourists arrived. In many aspects the Zimbabwe for tourists is a bit like a ghost town. Whereas the Zimbabwe for locals is still a colourful place with many smiles and some worried faces. Not as colourful and happy as Mozambique maybe. But a bit of the old booming country has certainly still survived in it's people. And a lot of hope too. We also were approached by undercover Police a few times. They appear a bit suspicious for their rather fine clothes and unusual questions (e.g. about our family names and how we see Zimbabwe from overseas and political opinions etc). And later did identify themselves as Police with their ID tag. But still, they were always friendly and professional and never caused us any hassle. In terms of motorbike travel it is an easy place to be. There are a few petrol stations which had run out of petrol but usually there is another one within 10-20km which still sells it. We stopped at a real Suzuki dealer in Bulawayo and had a look at their bikes. They had the little sister of my bike, a Suzuki DR200 and lots of smaller bikes too. However, they had no 17" tyres and spare parts only for the small bikes. I got a new fuel hose from them. In Bulawayo there is also a few shops for bike repair. They had all the tools but no spare parts fitting onto our bikes too. So if you travel here it is a good idea to bring your own spares. What we heared there might be stuff for western bikes available in Harare but we did not go there. And we did not need stuff anyway. So tomorrow we leave Zimbabwe again. Open for our short excursion into Botswana and the Okavango Delta. With our bikes being up to scratch again. Martin's with a new rear tube. And mine with a cleaned air filter. And both with riders keen to see more of Africa. |
Zimbabwe pics
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/86-world.jpg
'World View' in Matobo NP http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...7-elephant.jpg Little Suzuki really close to some elephants in Hwange NP http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../88-vicsun.jpg Sunrise over Victoria Falls http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...vicrainbow.jpg Victoria Falls http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...90-vicfeet.jpg Victoria Falls |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Botswana / Zambia
Day 32 - 33 Zambia
Time is flying if you have a good time and today already marks day 32, more than one month after landing in Johannesburg to start the African adventure. One month into the trip gives us plenty to think back to, plenty of routine has been developed and optimised. So by now we did figure a few things out. Things like what to pack in the top part and what in the bottom of the panniers. Or what to do best at which time of the day. Or what to make of certain people. Which is pretty cool. Somehow it's like a routine back home with getting up and going to work etc. Just different. And still cool, after a month in Africa and two months on the road it still feels good and exotic. We wrapped up one more country since the last update which is Botswana. The only purpose for us to travel there was the mighty Okavango Delta. So starting from Victoria Falls we went straight down via the Chobe NP. Once in the delta we booked ourselves on a Mokoro tour for 3 days. Mokoros are small boats carved out of the trunk of a Sausage Tree, being pushed forward with a long pole by a person standing at the back. They are the only way to really penetrate into the little channels and swamps and islands of the delta. No motorbikes there. Together with Oti, our proud captain we spent these three days floating and walking, just the three of us. However, there was not much bike riding. In fact, our bikes were parked safely at a lodge in Kasane, far far away from where we were. And, call me a freak if you want to, but being away from my little Suzuki really made me feel uneasy. The weird thing is that I really enjoyed the time in the Okavango Delta but still couldn't get used to the fact that Oti was shipping us around and we no longer were in control. I just missed the freedom to go, to jump on the bike and just ride. The more so I was happy to be reunited with my little Suzuki again today. She's so much fun to ride! All the action in the Okavango Delta happens in the morning or evening. During the day it is incredibly hot and we just rested on an island for hours every day. Which gave us some good time to reflect back, back through the first month and the first 4500km in Africa. In this first month we visited the highlights of South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana. All these countries are special in a certain way. So I guess you'd be interested to read about my preliminary tour favourites? Alright, let's compile a top five list: 1.) The thing I loved most is just riding in the late afternoon hours. It's starting to cool down. People start cooking on the wood fires. So there is the aroma of smoke combined with the dry dust whipped up in the air by the weak afternoon breeze. The sun sits low within a wide layer of dust and turns the horizon into a big warm orange background. And there is the two of us on our bikes just riding along after a day of exciting experiences. By that time you are calm and focused, you slalom around the cows and donkeys on the road with ease and you smile back to the many smiling faces around you and are just happy to be here, to be part of it all. Just riding through any random bit of Africa, that's definitely my favourite. 2.) The people here. We met so many of them and had such good times. We laughed so many times with them and about them and about us. The locals are just so genuinely friendly, warm and hospitable. And our journey would not be the same without the great fun whenever we stop and spend time with some of the people around. 3.) The bushcamping. We hardly ever camp on official campgrounds. But mostly just somewhere nowhere. How cool is it to be free to decide which piece of Africa will be your home for one night. Your home where you will sleep to all the exotic noise from the bush or from the endless grassy plains where you happen to pitch the tent. No one else there. The bike parked next to the tent and the camping stove cooking some evening tea. Feels great and we both really dig that sort of lifestyle. 4.) That awesome feeling when you finish a border crossing. After sometimes hours of dealing with officials and filling in forms, carrying forms around, getting stamps onto forms and paying fees for forms. That one moment when finally the boom gate is raised and you push the starter button, switch into gear, waive to the security officer and go. Finally free to go. Free to go into a new country. Which you don't know much about yet. Except that it will be different from the last country. And that it's gonna be good again. Awesome feeling, believe me. 5.) Being close to big animals. Big ones like Elephants, Buffalos, Giraffes or Ostriches. Or even smaller ones like Warthogs and Impalas often roam the streets even outside the National Parks. Particularly so in northern Botswana or in Zambia. So you just ride along and suddenly a whole family of elephants crosses the road. In a way that you have to stop and let them go across. So you stop and kill the engine. And then it's silent again. You hear the footsteps of the elephants, you hear how they break off little branches and the noise of them chewing the fresh timber. And you hear your own excited heartbeat in the total silence around you. All happening just a few metres away from you. From you sitting on the bike. The same bike you used just months earlier to commute to the office on. It's things like these which I really value and enjoy on this trip. These things are actually the real reason for doing the trip. Sure, some tourist highlights are a 'must see'. Such as the Victoria Falls. But these are usually stressful and expensive. Roaming the open plains of southern Africa on a little Suzuki on the other hand has an extremely calming effect and costs next to nothing. And feels great. I'd like to write a little wrap up about Botswana here but then I don't think I am qualified to do so. We only spend less than a week in one small area in the North East. However, some of you might be interested to know that they asked for the Carnet on the border and would not have left us in without. And, what many of you already know, Botswana is incredibly expensive for accommodation, entrance fees and tours. But relatively cheap for petrol and supermarket shopping. At least in the North East. On the 1st of October we crossed into a new country. And are now in Zambia. We took the border crossing in Kasane near the Victoria Falls which is actually a ferry. Getting out of Botswana is easy. Getting into Zambia chaotic. You need to pay for the ferry and the visa in US$. And for a 'Carbon Tax' and a third party insurance in the local currency, the 'Kwacha'. The issue is, that we were not able to exchange anything for Kwachas in Botswana. And since there is no ATM or Currency Exchange at the border you rely on the 'Black Market' money exchange. Which is a million people around you trying to get your business with all tricks you can think of. And same story again with the millions of third party insurance sellers. Having a few hundred thousand Kwachas before getting to the border would have saved a lot of time and hassle. However, 'Kwachas' are cool and on the ATM today I became a millionaire for the first time in my life! (1AU$=5000Kwacha). Otherwise we did not need a Carnet for crossing into Zambia. But if you have one you need to hide it, they go for it like a vulture. We try not to use it if possible because we will go through more countries than there are pages in the Carnet. In Zambia you can ask for a Temporary Import Permit instead. Which is issued within 15min for free. Coming into Zambia we went straight east and then north on a tiny gravel road towards the southern part of Kafua NP. Again a road just made for our bikes. The southern bit of it was easy cruising along a dusty road with a couple of mm of sand on top. Easy even for me. The stakes got higher later when the road became more and more overgrown from the sides. Unfortunately overgrown not with flowers but with bloody thorny bushes, thorns of around 20mm length on big dry branches just hanging into the road more than a metre high. If you brush past them they catch your clothes and panniers and simply rip into them or go straight down into your skin. Not to mention the poor tyres. And to add to that the road finally becomes one of those roads with two car tyre tracks in deep sand, the edges and the centre of the road around 200mm higher than the tyre tracks. And did I mention the deep sand? Pretty much you can't change from the left track to the right or vice versa because you would need to climb up to the sandy middle bit first. Have I ever mentioned my opinion to sand? However, the choise is yours between changing lanes through the sandy centre every hundred meters or get torn in pieces by the thick thorny branches hanging into your way across the tyre tracks. But, to be honest, I loved this track. Somehow I got a good crack on it and figured it out how to ride this stuff. Best in 2nd gear, swiftly accelerating through the deep bits, fishtailing up onto the centre bit and around the thorny stuff and down the other side. And the same in reverse 100m later. It's heaps fun. Sure, there were a few unvoluntary excursions into the bushes. And we both had to pick up our bikes from the sand every now and then. But nothing too serious for the hundred km we did today. There will be another 200km tomorrow and I am looking forward to it already. It's also this sort of road where my little Suzuki seems to fly along much easier than the heavier Africa Twin. So I had to cope with some tough German swearing over the intercom. But at the end we both made it in good shape to a good spot for camping when it started getting dark. With a family of elephants not too far away it was again a day with our big five of favourites. So yeah, this is Africa. |
Okavango Delta
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/pics/hubb/91-ok.jpg
Okavango Delta http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/pics/hubb/92-ok.jpg Sunset at the Okavango Delta http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/pics/hubb/93-ok.jpg Okavango Delta and our Mokoro http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/pics/hubb/94-ok.jpg Our little group for three days in the Delta - from the left: me, Oti's brother (who was just there but had nothing to do with our tour), our Mokoro poler Oti and Martin |
Zambia
Days 35 and 36 - Zambia
We had a very special day yesterday, a day which shows how bad luck and good coincidence can easily follow each other. We are still in Zambia, still on that little gravelroad west of the main highway going between Kalolo and Choma. As usual it is our luck when we choose to go these dirtroads that somewhere along the way they turn into nasty sand pistes. This particular one was not too bad though and again great fun to ride along. There were however many intersections and forks along the road which disagreed with the one straight line that our map showed. The GPS did not show any road in this area. So sure enough we soon got lost, had to ask for directions just to end up at another fork in the road with another 50% chance to get lost further. Once we even lost sight of each other and took separate roads and it took a while to find back together. Soon this game became a little bit frustrating and in the heat and humidity of the day it had it's effect on our mood. The unluckiness of the day soon culminated. Martin was riding a few hundred metres ahead of me. I came around this one corner and saw the disaster area right there in front of me. Martin standing in the middle of the road frantically waiving with both arms. His bike on the ground and his luggage strewn across the whole area. 'Oh s...t' just went through my mind. Fortunately Martin was alright apart from some minor scratches and bruises. It was just a little stump of a tree that caused the mess. On a gravel road which cuts a few centimetres into the ground there was this little stump right on top of that little embankment. Covered by green leaves and grass. Just close enough to the road and high enough and covered enough. And Martin just riding far enough to the left. Just enough to give that little stump a direct hit with his left luggage box. Which sent him flying and the Africa Twin sliding. But fortunately, as I've said, he is alright and his bike soon was upright again and apart from a shattered windscreen undamaged. The aluminium luggage box was not so lucky though. Two of the four bolts to fasten it to the rack got ripped out and the box was dented to a degree that you couldn't get it back on the rack to safely ride on this bumpy gravel road. So there we were. Nowhere near a town. On a small dirtroad in Zambia, trying to get the box back in shape by hammering with rocks and sticks. And lucky as we were, the big dark clouds which came closer and closer over the last hour finally opened to send us some rain down. Not too much but enough for us to stop hammering and seek refuge under a tree. Watching the lightning come closer and listening to the thunder getting louder. And then there was this one guy walking along the same road. Walking past us and a few metres further turning and coming back to us. He offered us to come to his village and wait out the rain. And so with him we went. And as soon as we arrived in the village the perfect tropical storm started. The sky darkened, the wind picked up and changed direction every few minutes. And it was just bucketing down. So much that the village was soon a river and the ground so soft that my little Suzuki's side stand sank in and she almost fell into one of the straw walls of a hut. It was the first rain of the wet season. The first rain in this area for many month. Coming down right then when we were stuck out there. And that is where our luck turned. Not just that we were lucky enough to meet that one person walking along that road in our time of dire need. But also that he offered us shelter in a little hut with a wood fire burning and his friendly family sitting beside it, watching us drying our dirty clothes in the warmth of the fire. He was also by coincidence the only mechanic in the area, having the tools available for doing metalworks. Once the rain had finished he took care of the bent aluminium box and in no time at all it was square again and two new holes were done to replace the ripped out bolt holes. All by just using a double T steel beam horizontally stuck in a tree, a hammer, an old iron and various random pieces of steel. By the time it was all done it started becoming dark so we were happy to camp next to bis hut. And here it became a truly magical evening and we could learn what it means to live in a remote village in Zambia. The name of our saviour is Moses and he lives with his wive and his three children (4 and 7 years and 4 months old) on this little compound of one proper hut and a few straw shelters. The hut is built of bricks. Bricks he made himself by digging up clay and forming it to bricks in the fire. There are no windows, just a door. Which is an old torn rice sack covering the rectangular opening in the wall. The roof is sheets of corrugated iron which is held in place by rocks and old potts and other heavy stuff. There was still a gap of around half a meter in the roof. The money only bought that much corrugated iron. We sat on little carved timber stools inside, just Martin, Moses and me. Because tradition has it that the wife and kids have no business in the room where men sit and talk. So wive and kids were outside in the 'kitchen shelter' cooking dinner while we talked. Moses introduced us to his life in his home. It was pitchblack inside. Apart from the few pieces of glowing timber in an old holey paint bucket in the centre of the room. Smoke from the glowing timber filled the room and brought tears into our eyes. And Moses told us his story. How his parents came from Zimbabwe to Zambia. And he was born into a poor family in Zambia and stayed here. He never went to school, school fees were just to much to bear for his family. And still his English was excellent and he somehow became a mechanic. The family lives of the little money his mechanic skills can earn. And from the 'garden' where his wife works all by herself. Growing a few tomato bushes, some cabbage and some green leafy stuff they call 'vegetable'. Together with Maize which they grind to Maizemeal, a flour like substance which can be boiled in water. Becoming a dough like meal which is the staple food down here. It's Maizemeal with cooked vegetable. Every day. While we sat there talking about the prospects for the kids and the hard to afford school fees we shone our torches around the room. Bringing into the light the belongings of the family. One corner is taken by the bed. Not larger than a single bed it is a pile of dirty empty rice sacks on the ground, some rolled up and folded as cushion or blanket. The other corner has two old metal boxes in it. Three or four cups hang from wires of the brown rendered brick wall. Another wire with cloth pegs on it goes across the room, along the wall which is not covered by the iron sheeted roof. One day, when more money can be saved, the one more sheet of iron will be bought and the roof will be complete. Also in the room are three carved timber stools. On which the three of us are sitting around the fire tin. The rest of the room is empty. The belongings of the entire family would easily fit on our motorbikes. Having nothing themselves Moses still insists they invite us for dinner. Which is Maizemeal and vegetable and chicken. And which is cooked with great skill and is delicious to us. Eaten with our hands straight out of the pot. For all that, rescue from the rain, the repair of Martin's box, dinner, good company and a place to setup our tents - Moses asks for nothing in return. He just insists that Zambians are hospitable people and people are supposed to look after each other. He asks a lot about our home countries. And finds it hard to believe. That there are no elephants there. That we never had Maizemeal at home. Or none of the tree species as they are growing around his compound. And that there is snow in Germany in winter. Sitting in this dark smoke filled room that night in the dim orange light of the glowing timber pieces after the tough day we had and sharing our stories was really cool. The next morning we shouted the family a big pot of our vanilla flavoured poridge from Botswana which they seemed to like a lot. Moses then proudly showed us their 'garden' around a km away. Heaps proud how well the vegetables and the cabbage grow this season. Before we packed our bikes with all our fancy gear (Moses was amazed by our waterproof tents and our camping stove) we left him 50000Kwacha (~AU$10) which is the amount needed to buy the last sheet of corrugated iron and complete the roof. Which changed the mood completely and made a grown up man happy like a child on Christmas. The wife was immediately called and both shook our hands many times and praised god for us. To see their faces there and then was one of the most memorable moments I've ever had in my life. I guess all of you who travelled in Africa had those moments when you realise how little you need to give to make a huge change to the good in someones life. And yet you have to say 'no' so often and it is soo hard to do so. Because how can you fairly pick the few people out of the inmeasurable crowd in need to deserve what you can afford to support? Another example that gives me much to think about just happened an hour ago. We camp near another small village tonight, a village of around 20-30 people. Out of those one young man really stood out. He spoke perfect English and explained to us not just the village and hirarchy of people but also many facts about Zambia, it's history, the politics and many more things. His name is Ben. Three years ago he started growing Maize with his hard work on a tiny piece of land. He sold the harvest to the Maizemeal mill and made some money with it. One year ago he married and his new parents in law lent him two oxens for a short time. So he could more effectively work on his land. Together with the fertiliser, bought from the profit of his first Maize harvest the year before he grew the perfect Maize and made enough profit to buy his own three cows and more fertiliser. With the cows on the plough he again works more effectively, so much so that he could get a second parcel of land to grow Maize for next year. With the aim to earn enough to attend college. A smart man really standing out in his community. How so? This is his story: When he was in Basic School (the equivalent to Primary School in Australia) we managed to do particularly well in his English classes. One day a couple of white people visited his school and his class. And for his good English he was the only one in his class able to properly communicate with them. Which impressed one Japanese lady so much that she decided to to sponsor his school fees for him to attend school up to year 12. Being the only one in the village having the opportunity to go to school without break for so long made him not just excell in English (which helps in dealing with officials and in trading) but also in Maths and Science and provided him with the skills to do the accounting right for farming his little piece of land and how he can generate much more income. And it made him shine amongst the people of his little community. The amount the Japanese lady supported bis school fees with? AU$250 a year. AU$250 which built a person. I suppose the Japanese lady might not even know how much her support changed Ben's life for the better over the years. But the question remains - is it fair in the big picture to choose one person out of a crowd and lift him out of the community and onto a good life? |
Zambia pics
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../95-suzuki.jpg
My little Suzuki proudly displaying her new yellow reflective sticker. It is compulsary in Zambia to display a yellow reflective piece of tape to the front and the back of a motorbike. And we heard of many other travellers being fined for not having them. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...ivingstone.jpg Entering the city of Livingstone on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/97-sand.jpg The little dirt path turning off the main road some 20km east of Sesheke and going towards the South Kafue NP. Parts of it are overgrown with really nasty thorny stuff and you need to go across the deep sand at the centre of the road to avoid it. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/98-stuck.jpg Martin stuck in the sand after a failed U-turn attempt. It took us a while to dig and push out the Africa Twin in this deep sand. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/99-cows.jpg Random scene http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...0-giftmona.jpg Our bikes always draw much attention. You can't imagine how much laughter you can generate by just letting people sit on the bike and taking a photo of them. Showing that photo to the village on the digital screen of our cameras is enough to entertain a big group of grown up people for several minutes. |
Lusaka
Lusaka, Zambia
We made it to Lusaka today, the capital of Zambia. There is actually only one reaon for us to be here - the promise to receive a visa for the D.R.Congo. Which is hard to get. When we asked in the Congo Embassy in Maputo we were assured that Lusaka would be the place for us. Usually embassies only accept visa applications before 12pm so we rode a bit faster to make it in time. Which promply earned me a speeding ticket for 180000 Kwacha. Traffic in Lusaka is a huge mess and the only way to describe it is a big brawl of cars and bicycles and pedestrians, all sharing the road and doing their thing. All on extremely small margins and sometimes cars came hairraisingly close. So we just made it to the Congo embassy with half an hour to spare. Asking for a visa we got promply refused because we did not have a letter of invitation. But fortunately we remembered the name of the person in the Lusaka embassy who promised us that a visa can be issued when we asked in Maputo. Knowing a name opens doors. And all off a sudden we were invited into another room to talk to Gaston. Who even remembered the phone call from Maputo. We explained our situation. Being on the road for so long makes it impossible to obtain a visa in our home countries because they issue it for max. 3 months in advance. He understood the issue and is happy to support our case but has not the authorithy to decide our case. So we do have an appointment with the chancellor of the embassy tomorrow morning. We need all the mental support we can get so please cross fingers for us!!! The Congo presents the probably biggest challenge to us. We heard it is so hard to get a visa from anywhere other than your home country. So getting the visa problem solved would make me sleep much easier. Because there is no way around the Congo to Westafrica. If we receive our visa than the other challenge will be the way through the Congo. The plan is to see the famous Mountain Gorillas from the Congo side. So we would enter the Congo from Bukavu in Rwanda in January (=dry season north of equator). After meeting the Gorillas we would continue to Kisangani. Having two options from there. Either continue by road to Bangui into the Central African Republic. Or go by barge down the Congo River to Kinshasa and continue into Brazzaville. However, no one can tell if the trouble area on the Congo -Rwanda border is open for tourists. Or if the road from Kisangani to Bangui still exists and is rideable on our bikes. Or if there are any boats going between Kisangani and Kinshasa. So yeah, the Congo is the big headache of our trip and once we are through, it will all be easy cruising from there! So cross fingers for us tomorrow and we shall hopefully soon see the most beautiful visa in our passport! |
Nice report! Both options through DRC are difficult, the road to Bangui because the first strech is bandit country ( up to Lubutu) and further down the road it will be hard finding fuel. Read DRC | Big Africa Cycle
And the second option of the boat is not much easier, there IS a boat, only when it departs is the question, you may need to wait 3 to 4 weeks and then spend around a month getting to Kinshasa. Good luck with the visa! |
Thanks, titbird. The Congo is definitely not an easy place to get through. The Bangui road is still our preferred option, also because it is dry season north of the equator when we get there in January. Fuel can be carried around. Bandits is a different story though. Not sure how bad the security situation is, if it's a real danger or just a matter of bribes and patience. The only other way through would be the Lubumbashi Kinshasa Road. But down there the wet season will be at it's worst.
|
snapshots
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...1-elephant.jpg
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...2-elephant.jpg Close to elephants. Even outside National Parks elephants are often roaming freely. It's an awesome feeling to come so close to them on a motorbike. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../103-20000.jpg The kilometres add up quite quickly. My little Suzuki made it into her twens in Zambia, she's a grown up lady now! http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/104-road.jpg Riding gravelroads in Zambia http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../105-store.jpg Typical lunch brake. During mid day temperatures can get really uncomfortable. So quite often we stop for a while, have a cheap lunch and a cold Fanta, write our diaries or just mingle with the locals for a while. This picture was taken in a small town called Pemba in Zambia. |
DRC visa
As promised I just need to write a little update about our attempt to get a visa for the D.R.Congo. Just to write off my frustration. We dont have the visa yet and they didn't even accept the visa application from us.
Just imagine the following happening in Australia: On Thursday morning we visited the DRC embassy in Lusaka for the first time. And were met with super friendliness by one guy we shall, for the purpose of this post, call 'the friendly guy'. Who listened to our situation and said the visa is no problem. But the decision lies with the chancellor who we need to see but who was not in the house. But expected back any moment. So we were adviced to go back home and the friendly one would send us a text message to Martin's mobile as soon as the chancellor arrives. We did not get any text message all day. So back we went on Friday early morning. To be told that 1.) the chancellor is not in the house, no one knows if or when he would be in and 2.) we could not get a visa because we need a letter of invitation from within the Congo, rubberstamped by the Congo immigration department. So we referred to Thursday's conversation and said we wait here for the chancellor. Nothing happened then for at least an hour. There were six people waiting with us in the waiting room. One wall of the waiting room had a little window in it which you could speak through to the lady at the reception. Another wall showed fotos of Mountain Gorillas, Okapies and of Kinshasa, each boasting the title 'Visitez la Republique Democratique de Congo'. The other side of the room was occupied by an empty desk on which every now and then a clerk in a 'Jesus is Lord' shirt would appear just to sit there and mostly ignore us all. Sometimes he would call someone from the waiting room to his desk for a long conversation with lots of laughter. And that was it for a while. He ignored us two completely. And whenever we talked to him we got pushed back with a one sentence reply. To sit and wait. Standard answer to every question. Sometimes he would just go out and stand in the sun. Just stand there for 20min motionless. With his back to the window through which we looked out at him. It was a nice sunny day. And he surely made the best of it. We kept asking reception and the clerk in turns if the chancellor will come in today. And were told to sit and wait or leave. So we sat. And waited. We asked reception to give us our visa application forms to start filling them in. Nothing else to to. And we got one. A second one would have been too much. We asked for a second form. But got told "No". The friendly guy from thursday rushed past us a few times without looking in our direction. When we run after him to talk to him he was friendly again and told us to sit and wait for the chancellor. So we did. Then, some three hours later the lady from the reception came round to us and without a word dropped us a second visa application form. And went straight back. There is probably only one form available every two hours? Nothing else happened for another hour. The six others and us just sitting there watching the clerk watch us. And the clerk going outside to just stand there. Followed by eight heads turning after him in apreciation of the movement in the room. And the clerk disappearing through the back door. And the clerk coming in through the back door to just sit on his desk. All in slow motion. We couldn't ask the reception lady any more because she was by now asleep in the far corner of her room, as far away from the reception window as possible. And out of reach for our voices. She has a tough job indeed and deserves a proper sleep. So we waited and no chancellor came. And waited. And no one knew if the chancellor would have the grace to appear at all. Hours later a fine white limousine entered the compound and a friendly well dressed guy walked through the waiting room, friendly greeting us with 'bonjour' and disappearing through the backdoor. That was the big highlight for another hour and a welcome distraction for the six others and us. Apart from the usual routine of the clerk leaving the room to stand in the sun a bit. Can't blame him, it was a nice sunny day. So why not enjoying a bit of sunshine? Than the well dressed guy came back. With the friendly guy from yesterday to walk straight past us, to their car and disappearing. The reception lady had now woken up and went for lunch. Having such a tough job she really earned a big lunch today. Asking us what we were still doing there on her way out. 'Waiting for the chancellor' we said but she was already out the door. The rest of the room waiting patiently or talking loudly in some local language. Which everyone seemed to enjoy. Nothing else happened for another hour. It was lunchtime after all. The embassy closed at 4pm so we thought we might just wait till then. The reception lady came back with the clerk, we asked her a question, without even listening she just told us we need a letter of invitation while walking straight past. And then all of a sudden strange things happened. Movement! A few cars started arriving with people going into the building through the side door. Unfortunately the reception lady stopped talking to us completely. The clerk ignored us by now, regardless what we did. So whenever a car came into the compound Martin and I walked in turns to the security guy at the boomgate to ask if it was the chancellor in that car. Until he was too upset and just told us to sit and wait and the chancellor was not in yet and he would not know if he comes in at all. We came back anyway after each car to ask him until he too disappeared and was not seen again. I hope we did not stress him into an early grave. By that time we doubted the chancellor even existed. I mean, c'mon!?!? The friendly guy came back, this time without the well dressed guy. Just telling us to wait. It was 3:30 by now. Time for the reception lady to come around and asking us what we were still doing there. She probably scheduled that question for 3:30pm since the early morning. And noting that we need the letter of invitation. And that the chancellor was not in. Then the well dressed guy came back and there was a lot of motion around. He sat down at the little desk, the clerk now standing beside him and really looking busy. We were afraid all that stress would cause the poor guy to collapse. But he was tougher than we thought. There was actually stuff happening, right in front of us! The reception lady had just left for the day, laughing that we were still there. Before she left she actually smiled at us and told us to come back on Monday. Sitting in Lusaka for a whole weekend just to have more of the same on Monday wasn't a great outlook. So I asked her if we would not need a letter of invitation on Monday. Her reply: "come back on Monday". My question if Monday would be any different from today. Her answer: come back on Monday. And gone she was, shaking her head. Meanwhile the welldressed guy was busy signing papers, given to him by the clerk. His presence had a profound effect on the mood in the room. Something was happening. He talked with authority to everyone (except us), was superfriendly to everyone (just ignoring us) and obviously told a lot of jokes because everyone was now in a great mood and laughing a lot. Except the two white guys in the room who dont speak the Tonga language. After an hour of signing and talking and laughing the well dressed guy was finished and went to the backroom. It was now just after 4pm, closing time for the embassy. But the waiting room was still full. Full of the same people as at 11am this morning. All just sitting in the same chair as they did all day. None had achieved anything. No one seemed to bother though. So one by one they left. To come back on Monday. One waiting lady asked us why we were still there. 'Waiting for the chancellor' we said. "But the chancellor was just here, the guy signing the papers!". Which was Mr. Welldressed guy. To get this straight: we were sitting there all day, wasting time waiting for the chancellor. The same chancellor everyone in the embassy was aware we are waiting for. The same chancellor who earlier today walked past us together with the friendly guy who promised us to let us know straight away as soon as the chancellor is in the house. The same chancellor who sat there next to the clerk who told us a hundred times that the chancellor is not in and it is unknown if he comes in at all. And the same chancellor who was now laughing and talking loudly to the clerk and the friendly guy in the reception room. So when the clerk came out of that room we just jumped on him. "Ah yeah, the chancellor is in there". The clerk, calm as usually would now tell the chancellor about our request to talk to him. Good that we reminded him, right? That again was it for another half an hour. Of sitting there hearing our chancellor laughing in the backroom. Then, finally, the unthinkable happened. The door opened and the chancellor appeared. We were the only two people left in the waiting room, so he must intend to talk to us. And he did. However, all his friendlyness and good mood was gone. Instead he gave us a dressdown about the impatience of white people, that there is no way to hurry things up. He gave us no chance to talk. Whenever we tried he just interrupted us loudly and continued his tirade against impatience. So we carefully listend and tried to be following his speach with silent interest. Once he finished we could say one sentence: "we just want to apply for a visa, however long you need for processing doesn't bother us, but we dont have a letter of invitation. " We said that very quickly, always afraid not being able to finish our sentence. But we got the whole sentence out! He asked us about our business in the Congo. "Tourists" we said and pointed towards all the nice colour photos on the walls saying in capital letters "VISITEZ LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DE CONGO". His response? "Come back on Monday". But then, in the most amazing moment for the whole day he said "Please go ahead and apply for a visa on Monday". "We won't have a letter of invitation on Monday either". "No problem, you don't need one." This was said by the mighty chancellor. 5pm Friday night. We shall now see what will happen on Monday morning. |
admiration
Quote:
The best of luck! Thanks for sharing all this... very useful! :thumbup1: |
Hi,
I had simular problems with my 4 days transitvisum for Angola. I phone called for more then 6 weeks at the angola embassy in germany, send them a lot of stuff what they told me they need, got prommissed a lot but was lied all the time. Then i went down to southafrica, payed a visa agentur to get the invitation and wasted there another 6 weeks sitting at the embassy etc. untill i got the ****ing stamp for 160 Euro. Shure they allways tell you no problem...tomorrow tomorrow...thats polite in africa. Nigeria visa will be the same and at the kamerun embassy they let me wait 8 hours the day they have told me the visa would be finished in the morning. Just before they wanted to close the lady at the front desc pulled out my passport with the visa of here drow...this way she hoped to get bribe out of me to "work" faster, so take a good book ;) Quote:
Have fun, Tobi Packing List for Expeditions and offroad trips + GPS |
Funny!
Hi Marco,
Sorry to hear about your frustrations with the visa! There is one consolation though - it makes a very funny story !! Take care, keep smiling! Q |
Quote:
This reminds me of something I heard when I was younger. "A man was walking down the beach on a stormy afternoon, and the beach was littered with washed up starfish. As he was walking through them he noticed a little girl reaching down and picking up a starfish and throwing it back into the sea. She would do this continuously, one starfish after another. Finally the man walks up to her and asks 'Why do you keep throwing them back into the sea? There are so many of them, you aren't making any difference.' To that the girl picked up another starfish and threw it back into the sea and replied 'It made a difference to that one.' Obviously not everyone can be helped, but is it not worth helping one rather than doing nothing? Especially if they then become a pillar in their community, I'd say that's a success! I'm really enjoying your trip report, and am always looking forward to the next installments! Keep safe, and have fun :) Chris |
Marco, send me via PM your email address, maybe I can help you if you want. i´m just talking to my friends in Kinshasa... no promiss but who knows, but maybe you have the visa meanwhile then let me know please...
I am soon on the road to NZ and then to SEA there it will be a bit harder for me to help you... cheers Sascha update> "[11:55:53 AM] xxx congo: they are crazy I cannot send an invitation for people that are not coming to work in my organization and congo is really dangerous ok, if they will have huge problems, I could try to find a solution. they are from germany? australia OK lets see... need more info as soon as you have ..." but wll c, let me know on monday, maybe i can push a bit or you have to work there for a day ;) let me know ASAP what´s going on there... |
Still in Lusaka
The Congo Visa - it seems to be a never ending story. But at least a story of a little progress. When the guys at the embassy said last week that we should come back on Monday it obviously did not mean we would get the visa on Monday. However, Monday was a much better day than Friday. The same people who kept asking for an 'invitation letter' on Friday accepted our application with a smile and without the invitation letter on Monday morning. No problem. And they even said we should come back on Monday 2pm! We surely would not get the visa on the same day, would we? Asking what would happen at 2pm we just got the response to 'come back at 2pm'. Anxious of messing up our good run we stopped asking questions. And came back at 2pm. When we were told to come back on Friday.
By then we have stayed in Lusaka for 6 days. Just for the visa. There was nothing else to do for us in Lusaka. And another week waiting did not feel very tempting. So we left all our papers at the embassy and promised to be back on Friday. Then we started studying the maps again. There is not much you can do around Lusaka without travelling a great deal there and back. And both, Martin and me, had no strong preference of what do do. Except that we needed to get out of the city. Martin, keen on more sightseeing, suggested to see the South Luangwa NP. That would be a 1000km return trip from Lusaka. I, keen on not wasting too many km out of nothing to do, suggested to visit Lake Kariba, a 400km return trip. At the end we thought it would be stupid for two people to do a massive return trip just for a visa. Or the hope of getting one. So we decided to split up for a week. Martin going to South Luangwa. Me going to Lake Kariba and on my return picking up both our passports from the embassy on Friday. And we would then reunite on the Malawi border on Sunday. Good plan, hey? So on Tuesday I went down the 200km to Lake Kariba. My map showed a town called Siavonga which looked like a good place to relax for a few days. And again things took a fantastic turn as soon as I engaged with people. Just stopping for a cold coke in Siavonga I was immediately called to come and sit with a group of young blokes underneath a shelter next to the road. Why not. So we sat together and talked a bit, soon getting over the typical questions. And people started telling me their little everyday worries. One was looking for a sponsor for the only radio station in town. Another one has had a car accident and when going to the hospital got a diagnose that his knee was swollen and needed to be bandaged and painkillers were prescribed to relief the pain. Only that the hospital had no painkillers and no bandages in stock. And a third one had just bought a car from Lusaka but the car behaved strangely and the battery was flat. Here I am, the traveller, tell me all your trouble! So I promised to look at the car first which quickly got pushed to our location. It was an old Nissan Pulsar, it would not get a road worthy certificate anywhere in Australia, but for Zambia it was in pretty decent shape. The battery was flat. The only key broke inside the lock for the boot. So the ignition was laid bare to start it by connecting the wires every time. And the boot could only be opened by skillfully pulling on a wire which could be accessed from the back seat. Some damage on the front and a broken left rear shock completed the picture. However, the real problem was the alternator belt. Two problems actually. First it was way too lose. And second, it was fitted the wrong way round. The sticky rubbery bit on the outside. And the stiff textile bit running over the sprockets. So it didn't move the generator at all, hence flattening the battery and not powering the ignition. Fortunately I had a spanner in my panniers. Which made it easy to quickly turn around the alternator belt and tighten it to a degree that it was actually doing something. And this changed everything. A tourist happily getting his hands dirty to help a local without charge sure was unusual. So immediately the Nissan's proud owner by the name of O'Brian became my best friend and brother. I was given free coke and free beer. And a big plate of lunch which we decided to share with the group. And he knew someone who knew someone who owned a guesthouse. Where I could stay courtesy go the manager with my tent pitched not even one meter from the waters of Lake Kariba. And his friend the barber helped me out looking human again, shaving my 2 months worth of beard off and cutting my hair so I looked like the guy on my passport photo again. And we sat together in the group and talked all evening long about the world, the universe and everything. The next day I started seeing the full impact of what had happened the day before. O'Brian's car had a big importance here. It was used for Police duties (the Police did not have their own car!?!?) to transfer suspects between their home and the Police station. And O'Brian got paid for it. He also used the Nissan as a taxi for fellow people who had to go somewhere. And he got paid for it. And most importantly, O'Brians main business was to sell diesel to the fishing boats to go out onto Lake Kariba and supply the town market with fresh fish. The diesel has to be bought either expensively at the a service station outside the town or cheaply off O'Brian who purchases it on the Zimbabwean border 70km away. So with the car running again O'Brian had a busy day taxiing people to and from the Police and to other places, travelling all the way to the border to load up the poor car with a few hundred litres of diesel and thus having something to sell to the fishing boat guys. And whenever he was not busy he came looking for me, shaking hands and buying me coke or beer. It's hard to describe the extraordinary hospitality in Siavonga. I was also invited to the towns radio station. Which was a state of the art and really modern radio station. Sponsored by a South African charity the building was airconditioned, full of computers, flat screens and expensive european made broadcasting equipment. There was a news room, an interview room and an editing room. The South Africans sponsored the construction but they won't give money for the running of the station. So I hope they find a way to cover their operating costs into the future. As a traveller you are quite often asked about your 'mission'. Or why you are here or who sponsors you. And the question sure came up in Siavonga too. I suppose it is hard to understand why you would travel without having a destination, someone to visit or business to attend to. Spending all that time and money. So what am I doing here? I explained that I am here to learn, to see what's happening in Africa. To talk to people and learn about their way of life. Which varies from country to country. And is surely different from the lifestyle in western countries with it's focus on money and work. The purpose of the trip? See and learn as much as I can and return home as a 'wise man'. And this purpose is understood quite well. Most interesting is that people who question the reasons of travelling would still love to come and see Australia. But they can't tell why. I guess we are all the same somehow, right? So now I am back on my way to Lusaka to hopefully pick up our passports with Congo visas tomorrow. Cross fingers for me, okay? |
Stuck in Zambia
There was a great news day for us last Friday: we've GOT the D.R.Congo visa! After all that waiting and messing around it was as simple as going to the embassy, paying the fee and picking up the passports. Only a 5 minutes affair. It's almost sad because we started feeling at home in the embassy in Lusaka. But how cool is that - we are going to the Congo!!!
With the visa issue out of the way I jumped straight on my bike and got the hell out of Lusaka, spending way too much time there. The plan was still to catch up with Martin at the Malawi border on Sunday, Martin coming from the South Luangwa NP. However, we already run into each other on Saturday at the supermarket in Chipata. The current issue with Malawi is the countrywide fuel shortage. In another HUBB post it was declared over and filled us with good hope. But it is not over. Asking other travellers who just crossed the border from Malawi into Zambia we got told the same story over and over again. The only service stations selling petrol are in the capital Lilongwe. There's maybe three or four. Queues there are such that it would take around 5 hours (!) till you get to the pump. If fuel does not run out before. In all other parts of the country service stations have nothing to sell. And even on the black market it would take at least a day to line up a seller and a deal. Not good news for motorbike travellers. This combined with the expensive charges for toll and carnet fees when entering Malawi was reason for us to give Malawi a miss and stay in friendly Zambia a bit longer, eventually reaching Tanzania from here. And Zambia is still awesome and I totally dig this place. We discovered a small unsealed road on the map, leading North from Chipata along the South Luangwa NP, crossing the Luangwa River and connecting in between the South and North Luangwa NP to a paved main road to Mpika and the Tanzania border. The gravel bit would be around 350km long. Should almost be possible to get through the next day and enjoy a cold dring in Mpika. However, we did some more sightseeing along the way and had a rendevous with hippos and only made it around 100km North of Chipata where we stayed in a future camp right next to the Luangwa River, the camp currently still in construction. Which was cool because we prefer camping in our tents anyway. In the camp we met a friendly Dutch couple who invited us for lovely food and good conversation. Asking about the road ahead they said the road is alright, there will be steep ascends onto a plateau which would be rocky and challenging. And yeah, the pontoon across the Luangwa River is not running. Oh s...t, that's bad news. But they were not sure. So we asked some local people, building on the camp. They all agreed that of course the pontoon is operating. No worries then. Early next morning we were off to an early day full of surprises. A day to remind us that we are alone in Africa. And alone we were. Along the 100 or so km to the pontoon we did not meet a soul. Just a few boom gates manned by friendly rangers who all assured us the pontoon is running. Arriving at the pontoon site we immediately discovered the first hurdle in our path. The road headed straight into the river and came out the other side. Through the river some sticks in the sand indicated the straight way through. 200m downriver we also discovered the rotten remnants of the pontoon landing platforms, there has not been a pontoon for many many months. A huge hippo just surfacing right on the platform on the other side, eying us suspiciously ('What the hell are humans doing here?'). So it's either through the river or many hundred km detour. And through the river we went. It was our first major river crossing so we took it extremely carefully. First walking through, anxiously watching the Hippos bathing a few hundred metres away. While waiting for a big crocodile to pop up and eat us alive we measured the water depth to just above knee level with moderate current and sandy ground. Back on dry land we started preparing the bikes for being pushed through: removing the luggage, taping the air intake and the exhaust. Just in case. Then pushing our bikes through, one by one. Wading back and forth a few more times, still watching the hippos watching us getting our luggage across. Putting everything together again. Alltogether 90 minutes hard work in the midday sun. The ground too hot to walk barefoot. But we made it. Made it slowly and safely across and both bikes starting normally. Thank god! The rest of the way looked pretty straight forward. On the map. But out there the road quickly deteriorated into deep tracks, unbelievably bumpy over the hard black sunburnt ground. There were dry riverbeds to cross, a hundred meters of deep sand. Or dry creekbeds, a sudden deep drop of a few metres followed by an extremely steep ascend of a few metres. Steep enough that the front wheel lifts of the ground when accelerating to much. Steep and rocky and full of ruts where others dug out their vehicle. And sections full of round little rocks, so deep that the bike sinks in and follows our beloved deep sand behaviour. All an extremely shaky ride in 1st and 2nd gear under the mid day sun. And no one else there, not a single other car or bike all day. And sure enough right there I got my first flat tyre. An old nail was too much for my front tyre. Right what we needed, another hour hard physical work in the boiling heat. But we succeded proudly in that one too. At the end however I had to sit down a minute because my mind started playing funny tricks with me in the heat. Drinking our water which was on the verge of being too hot to drink quickly gave me some relief and back on the road we went. In hard work through the gravel, shaking our bones over the hard bumpy sections and going down the creek beds almost in freefall. Simply the thought of a cold coke in Mpika kept us going. Until some 90km before the end of the gravel road. When Martin's Africa Twin engine cut out. And didn't start again. Just us two wannabe mechanics out there - it was a great thing to happen. In hours of analysing and taking things apart and putting them back together we could not find the reason. Starter engine running. Motor not starting. Spark plugs did spark. And fuel pump did pump. Filters all clean. Fortunately, and thank god for that, we were only a km away from a village. With the road steeply going up and down there was no way we could push the heavy bike there. But at least I could ride there on my little Suzuki to fetch some drinking water for us before the sun disappeared and darkness engulfed us completely. By the time I made it back to Martin he was able to locate the defect on his bike and repair it. Something as simple as a loose electric connection behind the front cover. With the engine now starting it was only a matter of putting the rest of the bike back together. Which, done in the dark by two exhausted travellers, can take it's time. It was late and pitch black by the time we reached the school compound were we got the friendly approval to camp. So tomorrow it is, tomorrow we will reach Mpika and finally have our cold Coke. And tomorrow came. And Martin got up with a big ugly eye infection. He couldn't open one eye at all. Tears of pain running out the other eye. In a little school compound 90km of extremely demanding dirt road away from civilisation. A km from a village of six straw huts. No way Martin could ride this road in this condition. So let's stay here for a day. It is like destiny plans to keep us from Mpika. But tomorrow, tomorrow we will reach Mpika and drink a nice ice cold Coke. Mpika more and more sounded like the golden city of El Dorado for us, more legend than reality. And so tomorrow came. And we kept going. And the road as sandy again. And a massive steep incline littered with big rocks and gravel. But anyway, we made it. We had a cold Coke in Mpika. And a second Coke thereafter. And I am now sitting in the only Internet café in Mpika. What a journey!!! |
Quote:
Cheers and good luck in New Zealand! |
Quote:
Thx, good luck to you too. (If any more problems in DRC ("KnockOnWood") let me know...) cheers Sascha |
Mate that’s amazing how much life can change in just over a month! Your current day job is a far cry for the office in North Sydney!
Really enjoying the ride report so far :thumbup1: brilliant photos and detailed report! How are the panniers holding up? Has the upgraded suspension been working okay? Awesome job getting the visa for Congo! Looking forward to the next installment, safe riding my friend! :mchappy: Kurt |
Quote:
Up to now everything is holding up just great. Very happy with the panniers. Done some really rough roads with them fully loaded and all seams and straps and side pockets are still like new. Just a bit dirtier than new maybe (spilled some motoroil in them...). The bike dropped a few times onto them so they might have saved my little Suzuki from damage as well. Without suffering any damage themselves. Really good gear these 'Steelponies'! I'm also heaps happy with the suspension upgrade. And must say thanks again to all of you who convinced me that it's worth spending the money on it. Heaps fun to ride. Currently I am in Morogoro in Tanzania. Unfortunately a virus in the previous internet cafe killed my USB stick with a couple of prepared reports and pics. Will type them again and put them online in Dar Es Salaam. In a couple of days maybe. |
Hey BikingMarco
I've enjoyed your ride report thus far. Your experience at the Congolese border is reminiscent of the time I've been spending where I am now in Southern Ecuador.
I hope Dar Es Salaam finds you well. When I've had my fill with South America, Africa won't be too far behind, though Australia is calling my name. If you want a taste of Central and South America, you can have a look here: No Jobs, No Responsibilities, No Better Time Than Now. I don't expect you to have time to read though, not while you're busy living! Therefore, keep up the good work my friend! --Alex |
Before I forget - I need to tell you one more cool story from Zambia. Just a short one, I promise. It's about a teacher at the school in Kazembe. That's where we had to wait for a day to let Martin recover from this strange eye infection.
However, if you happen to be a teacher, just imagine the following job description: the school is located in a rural area just around 100km from any sealed road or town or shop. There is only a dirt road passing 2km from the school. Which is so beyond repair that no vehicle can use it. It's a scenic and very quite area. Most people actually fled the area in recent times because of the rising numbers of lions and elephants. Elephants are likely to come around every now and then to eat whatever you happen to grow on your fields. You will live at the school compound next to a village of 7 huts. There is 3 classrooms. For 122 students of grades 1-7. But school has to finish by 12 noon to give the ones walking from further away the chance to reach home before sunset. Too many lions after dark. There is no power. No phone. No mobile reception. There is a well at the compound for water. But it is unfortunately dry. Good news is that 300m away and down the steep embankment there is a river, clean enough to drink and wash and bath. Even better news is that crocodile attacks in this river only occur during the wet season. Accomodation is provided for you free of charge. For food - well there is no shops anyway. Or delivery trucks. So you are instead provided with a nice piece of land and are free to grow whatever you feel like eating. All fresh and organic. There is nothing else to do after 12 noon so you surely will appreciate the opportunity to do your own farming. The generous renumeration package is AU$ 300 per month. But don't worry, there is no shops to spend money anyway. Payment is cash only, to be collected in person in the town of Mpika once a month. It's only a 100km walk which most people can do in just 2 days there and 2 days back. Walking in the African sunshine once a month is certainly good for your fitness. You will have three colleagues so there is always one teacher for each of the three classrooms and one teacher walking to collect his salary. Dodging the lions on his way to keep things interesting. Sounds like the job you're dreaming of? It's all real here in Zambia. However, this was Zambia for us. Up to now my favourite country in Africa for it's super friendly people. After three weeks in Zambia we crossed another border today just from Nakonde in Zambia to Tunduma and are now in Tanzania. The border crossing was very easy and straight forward. US$50 for the visa. The bikes get in for free. A free temporary import permit can be issued if you don't have a Carnet. Or if you're like us and try not to use your's. Registration with the Police is for free too. So here we are - Tanzania. First impression - Tanzania seems to be a lot more developed than Zambia. There is no huts but brick houses. Roads have linemarking and footpaths. Right at after the border we already found someone equiped for aluminium welding to repair Martin's cracked luggage frame. Petrol and cold drinks are a lot cheaper. And people are just as friendly. But only a few speak English. We might have to learn some Swahili here... |
Day 54 - Tanzania, on the road to Dar Es Salaam
We have been making good progress through Tanzania in the last couple of days. Although there is not too much to write about. However, Tanzania is a cool place. Cool for it's very own reasons. We are travelling on the main road between Mbeya and Dar Es Salaam. And this road is just awesome. It's perfect tarmac, wide and smooth and actually looks brand new. Along the way we visited a few sights of interest. Such as a fallen meteorite, the Kimani Falls, a canyon, an excavation site for stoneage tools or an old war memorial built by the Germans when they were the big guys down here. I am really surprised how developed Tanzania is compared to our last few countries. The markets are just buzzing with everything you can think of. I-phone accessories, car parts, computer parts etc. Food and drinks are really cheap and plenty which makes Tanzania paradise for me. There is countless brands of petrol stations and fuel is cheap and available in every small town along this main road. I am sure away from this main connection to Dar things will be different. But who knows. We are on the way to Dar to pick up Martin's girlfriend who will come along for three months. She is happy to buy one of those locally available Chinese bikes to be able to ride with us. Which is really cool. We don't know each other yet but I hope our team of three will get along well. We plan to go our own ways for a few weeks anyway which is good in many ways. Martin is really keen to visit Kenya and Uganda and come back down to Rwanda to start our Congo adventure. I can't explain why but Kenya doesn't attract me at all. I know what you guys will say, that Kenya is beautiful and wildlife is plenty etc. But somehow I am at a stage where I feel like having a break from sightseeing and try a bit of African life. So instead of going the Kenya loop I will give it a try and stay in a Tanzanian village somewhere I dont know where yet. Stay there for more than just a night and see what's happening. And if I can be useful helping out in a school or a hospital or something. Which would be awesome. One of those things when I don't know what will happen yet. But also when I feel confident that something really cool will work itself out. And if Kenya doesn't raise much interest in me, why not giving it a go to stay in Tanzania a bit longer. I am also sure that Martin and his girlfriend will appreciate some privatesphere for a few weeks. Even if Martin insists otherwise. So our plan for the nearer future is to look for a nice camping spot on one of Dar's beautiful beaches. Do some of the chores in the city such as getting visas, getting some US$ in preparation for the Congo, some more Malaria prevention pills etc. I also need to organise a new rear tyre somehow. A guy in Mbozi told me about an Aussie expat living in Mwanza who does have a motorbike workshop and can get hold of tyres. So I'll try to get hold of him. By then my good old Pirelli Scorpions will have around 10000km on them. And even though there is maybe another one or two thousand km left on them it should be easier to replace them with good quality tyres on this side of the Congo rather than in West Africa. And if I'm lucky the new ones might make it all the way to Germany. Once Martin's girlfriend arrives in Dar we'll get her a bike and go to Zanzibar together for a while. And then find our own ways to be reunited again later in Rwanda. Our journey through the Congo still keeps our minds busy. We met an English guy on a bicycle who crossed the Congo in two months riding the Kinshasa to Lubumbashi route. His stories are surprisingly positive. Lacking all the usual checkpoints or bribes or hold ups. I hope the same will apply to our chosen route from Bukavu to Bangui. We might need some fingers crossed for that one... |
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Unfortunately that one bloody computer virus that killed my memory stick in Mbeya also deleted some pics before I was able to upload them. But no worries, there's a few pics from the road to Dar Es Salaam here.
We made it happily to Dar where we found a beautiful campground. Full with overlanders and right next to the beach it is a lovely spot to await the arrival of Martin's girlfriend this Saturday. Dar is a good place to stop and get things done. There is lots of embassies (just handed in my CAR visa application), there is motorbikeshops catering for big overseas bikes too. There is lots of good fresh food. And generally a good vibe throughout the place. Just the traffic, man, what a chaos. No idea how we got around here but somehow it works. Lane splitting (there are no lanes anyway), over the footpath and along the footpath, on the median and down the gutters we went. Same as the other million motorbikes. Good fun but man, I probably aged three years in three days riding here. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/116-road.jpg The road to Kimani Falls http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/117-hill.jpg ...the road is getting steeper http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/118-fall.jpg Kimani Falls http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../119-bikes.jpg My little Suzuki enjoying the company of some typical local 125ccm bikes http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...120-pillar.jpg A canyon along the road to Dar Es Salaam |
More bike pics
We are still in Dar Es Salaam where the internet speed is amazing. So I can't miss that chance to upload some more pictures.
Sice the HUBB is a bike forum let's start with some bike pictures. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/121-bike.jpg That's the beautiful new road between Mbeya and Dar Es Salaam. It's a fantastic piece of tarmac, wide and smooth and lined with many huts and shops to escape the heat with a cold Pepsi. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/122-bike.jpg There are many many other bikes around. Most of them are used for transport of goods and people or both around the little towns. You hardly see them in between towns. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/123-bike.jpg A little dirt road through the Pulu forest just south west of Dar Es Salaam. Dirt roads without sand are still my favourite places to ride. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...35-tbetter.jpg Our latest family member: a 150ccm chinese made motorbike of the mighty brand 'T-Better'. It is a pretty common brand in Tanzania and there is a choice of a 125ccm version and a 150ccm version. We bought our 'T-Better' for Esther, Martin's girlfriend who will join us till end early February. For nearly exactly AU$1000 brand new the T-Better has some really cool features. Such as a remote control, alarm including the engine disabler, a 13 litre tank to reach as far as 450km and additional headlights to see better in the dark. Other things are completely missing such as an oil filter. So the oil needs to be changed 'once a week' according to the shop assistant. There is only room for one litre of oil anyway. Locals use these bikes fully loaded to fly along those same bumby roads that we often struggle through on our heavy bikes. And with a maximum speed of 85km/h the T-Better is indeed better than you think. Should be fine for three months at least. So we hope. |
More camping pics
Let's follow up with some pictures of our other favourite activity - camping. Here in Dar Es Salaam we stay on a beautiful campground right at the beach half an hour walk south of the city. Apart from here we always bushcamp. Bushcamping usually gets us some amazing places to sleep and has not ever been a problem so far. Friendly locals don't mind us and are often happy that tourists come to stay. So it is easy to meet local people and to be able to be part of a tiny bit of their life for an evening or so. Although this way it is hard to meet other overlanders.
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...24-cpfield.jpg We found this spot a couple of meters off the main road near Mogorogoro. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...5-cpmosque.jpg Here we camped right on the beach some 30km south of Dar Es Salaam. It was on the grounds of an Isalmic Centre. It is an amazing scenery and you can imagine how the warm humid salty air, the sound of the ocean and the prayer of the muezzin from the lottle mosque behind us adds to the picture. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...6-cpmikadi.jpg This picture was taken right from our Dar Es Salaam base - the Mikadi Beach Camp in Kigamboni. It is in walking distance from Dar city and still surprisingly quite. There is a school next door and every afternoon the beach is filled with young people for a few hours before they go home. There is music and an energy I have never seen in western people. There is dancing on the beach, there is acrobatics, there is heaps action in the water, people singing, people laughing and having a good time with their many friends. The water is some 28 degrees warm and you can stay in there forever without being cold. The boat in the background has been built by hand in Zanzibar for one of the other guests in the campground. He plans to use it for low key tourist cruises. Funnily enough he also came here from Namibia on an Africa Twin. |
Dar Es Salaam pics
Some more pictures of Dar Es Salaam.
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...darharbour.jpg Not unlike Sydney Dar is located around a beautiful natural harbour. However, it has all been built up over time so the impression is rather not as natural as it is in Sydney. Also there is no bridge between the city centre North of the harbour and the suburbs South of it. There is only a ferry service, two massive ferries carrying people and their cars and bikes and other belongings across. These ferries are a masterpiece of chaos, kids playing hanging from underneath the ferries car ramps, there is people everywhere on board. Every little space in between cars and bikes is used for someone to stand. And once the gate is opening a huge flood of everything and everyone overwhelms the landing and the little road coming from it. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...darharbour.jpg Dar Es Salaam city centre as seen from the harbour. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...29-darfish.jpg The fish market is right next to the harbour ferry landing on the city side. The big modern tower is the Port Authority overseeing the mix of containerships, little fishing boats and ferries within the harbour. |
Zanzibar
And the last few pictures for today have been taken on Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a beautiful island not too far off the coast from Dar Es Salaam. Being the old capital of an islamic empire and the the seat of the Sultan of Oman for a while there is a lot of rich history on the island's main settlement - Stone Town. It's incredibly complicated to take our motorbikes across so we rather left them in Dar and used public minibus taxis in Zanzibar instead.
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...0-zanzibar.jpg Stone Town http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...1-zanzibar.jpg Stone Town http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/132-beer.jpg Esther, Martin's girlsfriend and Martin. We enjoyed a nice cold Kilimanjaro Lager here on a little beach in Zanzibar. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...133-sunset.jpg Sunset over a beach in Bububu. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...134-sunset.jpg Sunset at Fuji Beach in Bububu. |
great, keep on riding, great yourney and ride report. Good that you made it into DRC in the end without a lot of problems.
We just arrived in Auckland and our bike will be 10 days late... Already got a car from a friend so we stroll around here a bit. stay save and keep on riding and this ride report! thumbs up! cheers Sascha |
The Masai Steppe, Tanzania
Day 66, near Naberera, Tanzania
Right now, while I am typing this, I am sitting on red soil under a acacia tree in the pale light of the half moon. This acacia tree is one of many around me in this huge flat landscape. I am deep in Masai territory. And while I am typing this, there is not a soul around me, as far as I can see or hear. Three days ago we started from Dar Es Salaam, going different ways for a month. Martin and his girlfriend Esther will be on their way north along the coast to Mombasa. I chose instead to head inland. From Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro and from there North into an area declared as 'Masai Steppe' on my Michelin map. I don't mind being on my own for a while. Although it is without doubt more fun with company, I find when travelling on my own I can connect to people better, am more open to them. And after all it is still the people of Africa who fascinate me the most. The Michelin map says that around 170km along the Morogoro - Dodoma road there is a turnoff onto a gravel road heading north, reaching the town of Kibaya after 132km with the opportunity to buy fuel, then another 156km to Nabarera and another 120km back to the main road between Moshi and Arusha. So far so good. So just before the turnoff I made sure the tank is full, all water bottles are filled completely and there is enough food in the panniers. At the turnoff there is the usual Police checkpoint. The friendly officer asks where I am going. "To Kibaya". "For what purpose?". Why do they always ask this question? I don't know. Is curiosity purpose enough? I tell him that I would just transit through to the tourist area of Arusha and he lets me go. But not without a warning that the road ahead would be "rough". And rough it is indeed. If for nothing else but the corrugation. There is nowhere to get around it, these corrugations span the entire width of the rocky road. There is lots of loose gravel too. And the occasional rock surfacing here and there on the road. But nothing my little Suzuki and I can't handle safely after all our training. At first there are still many villages. And I stop a few times to fill up the water bottles to cope with the heat. And to eat something. It's really cool, you don't need to order anything in these little restaurants. You just go in and sit down. There is the usual ritual that someone will come with a cup of water to rinse over your hands into a bowl. There is always a lot of dust to wash from my hands. Then someone will just bring you food. Whatever there is available. Usually rice with some sort of meat and some sort of green vegies. Standard price for a full plate TSH1500 (=AU$ 0.90). The one-meal-menu. I like eating and am always hungry. So this is just paradise for me. However, these villages are getting more and more rare on the way North. Until I reach Kibaya. Which to my surprise appears 15km earlier than the Michelin map predicted. And where the only petrol station is out of fuel. Well, if the remaining distances on the map are correct I should be able to make it to Moshi on this tank. A big thumps up to the Safari Tank here. After Kibaya there is nothing. So much nothingness, it reminds me back to the vast empty spaces of the Westaustralian outback nearly three months ago. It is a huge flat steppe. In some areas covered with a thick shrub of dry leafless thorny bushes, way too dense to penetrate. In these areas the road is usually hard and the surface rocky white gravel. Other areas of the steppe are more open, there is red soil and there are big green acacia trees scattered across the flat landscape. When the bush is open like this you can see some huge basalt rocks in the distance in the North and in the East. The road here is usually red, soft and sandy with two tyre tracks and a mound of soft sand in the middle. But all relatively comfy to ride through. And then there are these bulldust holes. All of a sudden there is a 200mm drop down from either of the usual road surfaces. And you find yourself in a big hole full of superfine red dust. The 'hole' is some 100-200m long and covers the entire width of the road and beyond. So you dig yourself through some 300mm deep dust. It's basically like water, you just sink in and there is good grip on the material below. But man, the dust clouds you leave behind are amazing. Big red mushroom clouds like little nuclear explosions. And you come up the little step on the other end covered in red dust down to your undies. Roaming this land are massive herds of cattle. They must average 50-100 animals. And are usually controlled by one or two Masai, often children I would guess maybe 10 years old. Many of these animals wear bells so you can hear them as a loud choir of 'Ding Dong' from the distance. Masai people are of impressive appearance. They are usually very tall and skinny. Dressed in sheets which always have a lot of red colour in them. And they carry a stick as tall as themselves. The Masai's whole life has to do with cattle. And I find it impressive every time one of these herds of big cows crosses the road in front of me and one man with a stick easily parts the huge sea of cattle to let me through. Usually accompanied with a hand raised to chest height to greet me. I find the Masai culture utterly fascinating and so I'm happy to find a village along the way, not shown on my map. It consists of a few grey rendered brick buildings with iron sheeted roofs. The wind howls in between them and whips up little dust clouds. An ancient Land Rover is parked in front of one building. Masais are scattered around the village like big red spots, sheltering from the wind by covering their heads with the big red sheets. Out of each sheet reaches one hand with a long bright wooden stick. Fortunately Masai are just as curious as I am. And so the presence of a 'Muzungu' (white man) on a 'Piki Piki' (motorcycle) soon draws a crowd around me. Two of them speak English which makes communication so much easier for us. While we are talking the rest of the crowd sticks with my little Suzuki. They are very touchy and everything on the bike is being touched, almost like a big pussy cat that needs to be petted. Fingers move around the stickers, the levers, the buttons, the tank and the warm motorblock. At no time are there fewer than 5 hands on the bike. But nothing is moved, no button being pushed. Particular interest is diverted towards the Pacsafe steel meshes around my panniers. I'm in no hurry and so give everyone plenty opportunity to further investigate the surface of my little Suzuki while I am learning my first few words and sentences in Masai language. Whenever I try my new words on someone of the bike crowd it leads to big laughter. Which has to do with the very unusual pronounciation of the language which I guess needs a lot of practice to get right. What is obvious is that the Masai culture involves a lot of respect for their people. There is different words for 'hello', depending on who is addressed. Someone older or someone younger or someone of a higher rank in the hirarchy. The chief usually earns the highest respect, he is the only one allowed to carry a smaller (half meter long) carved black wooden stick as a symbol of his rank. Whereas everyone else has these long bright sticks up to 2m long. Which are used to control the cattle. And as weapon. At the end of our conversation I am presented with a beautiful short black carved stick, the symbol of a leader, as a gift for me. Not sure if it fits into Masai rules that a 'Muzungu' carries this symbolic gift I hesitate. But everyone else is smiling and insisting and so I accept. But I guess I better don't show it round too much while I'm here. The road is rough enough to make it a slow journey. Also the km on the Michelin map are not correct. The distance between Kibaya and Naberera was a lot longer than shown and there was the big town of Okezimet just 30km or so south of Naberera, not shown on the map at all. People here agree that the distance to Moshi is around 90km longer than the map says. So I might struggle with my fuel tomorrow. But should still be able to just make it to Moshi. If I don't get lost. On my way to Naberera on a good stretch of road I overtook another guy on a tiny little local 125cc Suzuki. He soon overtook me on a bad stretch of road again when I was riding rather carefully feeling sorry for my little Suzuki's shocks and suspension. We kept playing that game for a while, always smiling and honking when overtaking each other. Till the next village when I stopped to fill up the water bottles and to buy some bisquits for breakfast. The going is so slow here that I will need to spend a forth day on this road tomorrow. Bisquits are the closest thing to breakfast available in local 'grocery' huts. Shortly after that village I find my companion standing beside his Suzuki on the side of the road. Suzuki riders have to stick together and so I stopped to see if he was alright. His bike has stopped and couldn't be started again. He suspected the problem to be caused by the spark plug. But had no tools to remove and check it. So my tools came in handy and yes, the two poles on the sparkplug did actually touch. No gap - no spark. Easy fix and in no time the little two stroke was running again. The rider himself was dressed in normal pants and shirts, on his way home from work as a doctor. Interestingly he too is Masai (pants and shirt are merely a work uniform), very educated as a doctor and English speaking. So his tribe elected him chief. Which means on his pants he carries a short black wooden stick, the symbol of chiefdom. At that moment I was glad I had mine hidden. In appreciation of me stopping and helping he invited me into his house in Naberera. Where I met his wife and his 7 children. Each coming first to their father and then to me lowering their head in respect and expecting me to touch their head as greeting. After the greeting wife and kids disappear again to let the two 'men in the house' do their business. Which meant an introduction into Masai life and culture for me. While we were drinking our Cokes and Fantas the chief showed me photos and explained the structure of society and answered all my eager questions. It was really cool to sit and chat with him there. Concluding our meeting he tried to help me by drawing a map, much more detailed than the Michelin map for the rest of my journey to Moshi. There is many more villages and turnoffs than the Michelin map would suggest. All drawn up on a page in my little notepad did lead to a sheet of paper full of scribbles, impossible to make any sense of. Turnoffs to the left were drawn to the right and labelled as 'left' and vice versa. Names of villages were heaps too long for the little page and ended up covering everything. So I guess it's just a matter of luck for me to find my way to Moshi within the remaining fuel range. Ah yeah, and apparently this section of the road will be much rougher than any section before... |
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/136-road.jpg
The road through the Masai Steppe - long and straight and dusty. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../137-front.jpg The surface quality of that road varies a lot, from smooth to rocky to sandy to dusty. But rarely to any extreme condition. So it's good fun to ride along slowly and enjoy the scenery. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/138-dust.jpg It looks bad but actually isn't. The dust in these sections of road is so fine that the bike simply sinks in to some more solid ground where the tyres have good grip. So you just ride through it like through water. However, riding through these sections generates huge dust clouds and you need to be through quickly before the dust cloud catches up with you. I had that happen a few times with tail wind. And seriously, I've never been so dirty in my life! http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/139-sand.jpg I even enjoyed the sandy sections of the road. The sand was not too deep and there was usually a bit of hard high ground in between the tyre tracks. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/140-cows.jpg Every now and then a big herd of cattle roamed the otherwise empty landscape. Usually accompanied by two Masai people. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...41-village.jpg A Masai village. It's a pity the photo cannot show the strong wind blowing in between the small huts and the smell of dust in the air, the chatter in Masai language or the sound of cow bells. It was a somewhat eery feeling to be there. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p.../142-masai.jpg These Masai showed big interest in my huge 'Piki Piki' (motorbike), everything on it had to be touched and felt. Resulting in many Masai with very dirty fingers and a clean little Suzuki. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/143-road.jpg These were the white rocky sections of the road, often with nasty corrogation and loose gravel. They mainly let through dense bushland of thorny dry vegetation. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...bb/144-red.jpg The more open areas featured sandy roads and red colours and taller green Acacia trees. |
http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/145-nest.jpg
Still in the Masai Steppe. Cool bird's nests started to appear hanging from the trees. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...146-baobab.jpg It got more interesting further North near the town of Nabarera. Previously far distant rock outcrops got closer to the road and big Baobab trees got added to the mix. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/147-dust.jpg Also the 'dust holes' in the road became bigger the further North I travelled. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...b/148-kili.jpg The reward waiting at the end of the road. After more than 400km through the Masai Steppe Mt. Kilimanjaro showed it's snow capped peak in the evening sun. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...9-kilibike.jpg A photo I just had to show - my little Suzuki with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background. The mountain itself is usually only visible in the early morning hours or just before sunset. During the day it is entirely covered in big white clouds. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...150-kilinp.jpg There is a beautiful 250km road going right around Mt Kilimanjaro which I travelled counterclockwise this Sunday. Mostly good tarmac or well maintained gravel it winds it's way through many corners up to an elevation of 2100m near the Kenyan border and back down on the mountains western slopes. Despite the proximity to Mt Kilimanjaro the mountain was never visible. It's been replaced by a massive column of white clouds on the left of the road all 250km long. This was the first anniversary of little Suzuki becoming MY little Suzuki. So I am glad we found an appropriate route to celebrate. http://www.mhes.com.au/foreverfree/p...1-kibocamp.jpg Just when I though it couldn't get any better I found this - the Kibo Safari Camp. It was Sunday and the last group of tourists had just left the camp. All the staff were keen to get out of the camp and back to their families when I arrived. So without much bother they let me stay in a hut for a night for free and quickly left. The Safari tourists usually pay $300 per night here. Three caretakers were left behind with me. So the four of us had a great evening in an empty camp, finishing off most of the leftover drinks from the tourists and enjoying amazing views over the vast Tanzanian and Kenyan steppe National Parks. |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:10. |