Africa. East or West?
 

Hey!
Planning a trip from Madrid to South Africa. Wanted to get their in time for the world cup football final (11 july), but leaving in june, i dont think its worth it.

So now Im deciding if to take the east or west coast. What do you think?
PS:I'll probably only be going in car(if lucky 2) so security maybe an issue.

East coast is faster if time is a factor.

East has the high carnet cost for Egypt and the cost for the Aswan ferry.
West has so many countries to pass, all demanding their 'Visa' charges.

East is about 7 countries down to Cape town, and West is about, 'loads more '

West coast is if I have it right, more about meeting different people.
East is more about scenery.

I may have it wrong way around, so some one please correct me.

'vette

this is a question i have too; east or west? i note 'vette's response which is helpful, but i'd appreciate some other perspectives. we'll be 2-up on an F800GS, so terrain will be an issue to take into account too.

incidentally, this is my first post on HU! feel like a boy in a sweetshop. :thumbup1:

I am also wondering this very same thing...

The pros and cons of both..

Also... I don't just want to sit on tarmac roads all day long. Hardly adventure biking is it...

Where are the roads "challenging".. I bought a DRZ400 for this trip :thumbup1:

It's not owrth it. How are you getting home after the football? Flying? why not fly down and then take a bit longer coming back? Traveling with a deadline is stressful. Especially in Africa. Or fly down and just tour SA and Namibia for a month.

West Coast:
- Easy to start - drive to Morocco (or Algeria) via a ferry.
- It would take you two weeks of solid driving just to get to Burkina Faso - a month to do the west coast is silly, save your health and money and do it with 3 months as a minimum.
- West Africa is easy to wild camp in and there are sealed roads more or less to Ghana depending on what route you take - roads start to run out after that depending on which route you take. But all a great area to explore and plenty of unsealed roads to explore.
- Visa's are not easy for Angola/Congo etc and all take days that you do not have. Madrid to Capetown would probably add up to 20 days of waiting for Visa's in different cities I suspect.
- This is the lesser travelled of the two routes, and probably the more adventuros/unpredictable.

East Coast:
-Egypt is a huge pain in the bum - carnet, borders,costs, ferry (only once a week I think?)
- Less countries so less days for visa's
- Sudanese visa's have been very hard to get for some people, others the same day in Cairo.
- Once you get to Kenya it starts to get easier/faster in some ways.
- If you have 4-6 weeks go this way. But honestly, get at least 3 months so you can enjoy yourself else you risk being a 'tosser in a hurry leaving a slurry of shit in his wake' as I once had a traveller in a hurry described to me ;-)

A quick 2 cents worth....

(Oh, West Africa is cheaper - much easier to free camp and not much to spend your money on in some places - I like it alot)