Africa average speed/borders
 

Planning to ride from cape town, SA to lira, Uganda, through Mozambique, Tanzania, possible Rwanda and Kenya.
For planning purposes what is a sensible average speed to use? from searches on here, for non-african countries 40-50 km/hr seems to be offered?
Also is it wise to assume 4 hours at each border crossing for scheduling purposes?

Thanks in advance, Ian

My Transafrican trip was a little while ago, but things probably haven't changed much since. When travelling outside western Europe I assume my average will be half my top/cruising speed, so your 40/50kph sounds about right.

Same for borders. Some more efficient than others. Or two 50 seater buses just pulled in before you or you raced them and got there first. :D

Speeds are very variable - depends both on the country and the roads:

For example - on the main highways in RSA you can maintain high average speeds, however if you want to explore more remote national parks (e.g., Richtersveld) then going is a lot slower. The main highways in Tanzania can be good (e.g., Arusha to Bagamoyo), and bad (e.g., Lusahunga to Rwanda, Rungwe to Makongolosi). In Uganda, the main highway from Jinja to Tororo is good, however if you take the northern route around Mount Elgon in rainy season, it's very difficult. There are lots of new roads built (mainly) by the Chinese which are excellent, and often not on the map. The roads in Rwanda are generally excellent. In Kenya it varies, once again, however in general I would say that they're better than in Tanzania, with the exception of (what's left of) the road north from Kainuk to Lake Turkana. You're not planning to visit Malawi however here the roads are good, but travel is slow because of the density of pedestrians, bicycles, and small bikes. Can't help with Mozambique I'm afraid.

Overall, I suggest assuming 70 Km/h on main roads, and 40 Km/h on more minor roads. Actual daily distance is a different question - and depends on your travel style. We plan on an average of 170 Km/day overall for Africa.


4 hours for a border crossing is pessimistic - in 2017 our longest border crossing was about 2 hours, and most were more like 45 minutes. Crossings which are "known" to be slow (Beitbridge for example) were far more efficient than expected. There is an increasing number of "integrated" border posts, in which you park only once, and work your way around all of the offices in an efficient manner. I would plan on 2 hours per border, although if the crossing is going to be at the end of the afternoon, I wouldn't plan on trying to get somewhere much further than the first town on the other side of the border that day.

Thanks for those responses, useful. Slightly confused by only 170kms/day, as thats only about 2-3 hours riding, but that does give time for sightseeing. I was certainly thinking 300kms/day.

Yes - this is the average overall, so includes (for example) time spent in an interesting town for a couple of nights, or a couple of days camped on a riverbank enjoying the sunsets. I believe that you could easily cover 450 Km on some roads in RSA, however if you make your way from Tanzania to Rwanda the last section from Nyakanazi to the border at Rusumo Falls is bone-shattering - your front forks will take a beating, as will your rear dampers - so although it's only a little over 100 Km you probably won't want to go much further than Rusumo village that day.

PS: I recall one trip, from Bulawayo into Botswana, where I planned 350 Km in a day. The first part of the road was excellent, however at that time the "road" in Botswana was essentially tracks in the Kalahari sand, and I ended up stopping overnight at Francistown, exhausted, after 200 Km. I think that experience has stayed with me...

It has a lot to do, how deep you plan to touch the local culture..

The chinese are building roads all over, and optain the rights to optain (mines) minerals for that.

Even the funny parts dont look like from 2012:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JeKsdMWGG8...0/DSC02123.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r6fEYKSaEt...0/DSC02229.jpg

There you will find roads now - and funny stuff is more optional..

I remember one guy at Hubb or ADV Riders who did the roundtrip very quick at 2013/14 - it was with Travelreport and pictures - so you should be able to find :thumbup1:

In two months you can do Europe-to capetown over the west with sightseeing. But not with a deeper dive into the local culture.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iWkAUvx_-_...rica-Flyer.jpg

By car and not usual route (Cameooon to Congo) we had an average speed of 64 km/h by 4x4. Should be better today with better roads, if you plan to stay on them.

Surfy

As usual, I think the answer is, "it depends". If you're picking a planning speed for driving vs the overall trip (170km/day can include some days of 320km and some of 0, for example).

I'm impressed with Surfy's 64kph average in West Africa. I have only traveled Southern and some of E. Africa and I don't think we averaged that fast, excepting the excellent roads in South Africa and main roads in Namibia.

Mozambique has quite good roads in the Tete area and south of Inhassoro, but they deteriorate rapidly north of there. I'm guessing, but I'd say avg of 60kph, but not in the north. They are improving the N1 south to north, so depending on when you get there the paving may have improved. Really excellent tar around Chimoio. What border crossing are you planning into Tanzania? Ruvuma? If so monitor the security situation, it is digressing there.

Tanzania has some excellent roads, but it is the land of speed bumps and very thorough police speed checks, so I wouldn't plan at more than 50kph there. In the West we drove on a pristine new road with 100kph speed limit, but with speed humps liberally applied, and having to slow to 50kph for villages, which are every few kilometers, it sort of made the nice new road no faster than the mediocre dirt roads we'd been on earlier.

Kenya, depends on where you go. Main roads between Tanzania and Uganda and Nairobi are very good (maybe not amazing in some of the western part). Uganda between Jinja and Kampala can be very slow going due to truck traffic.

I agree that 4hrs is generous for border crossing planning, but also wise not to count on being too fast. At the least it's often slower going near the border for traffic and pedestrians being thicker on the road.

Hi, Had been warned about crossing and travelling near mocimboa de praia, so was looking at Chamba but roads to it look rough. May swing west and go through Malawi instead.
Am only on a 125cc to guess 60 kmph is as quick as is comfortable realistically.