African game parks on a motorcycle
 

Hello all.
I'm living in Italy and scheming a 6 month trip to southern Africa. I've been there 20 years ago, Namibia by rental car, Botswana to Kenya on an overland trip, uganda by public transport.
I want to return (with or without my dear wife) to make the run Tunisia (easy by ferry from Genoa) to SA.

What is the story on visiting game parks in TZ and Kenya and Botswana on a motorcycle? Is it impossible in all parks that have cats and elephants and hippos?

We are just back from 3 weeks in Morocco, what a fabulous country for off road riding. 1500 euros for 2 of us for 3 weeks, 2/3 hotels, 1/3 camping, 4000 km.
Ciao
Jim

Hi,

You can enter the Micumi National Park in Tansania on the way to Malawi with a motorbike scince the main road is crossing it. There i saw many Elephantes, Girafes and other animales and on the road i saw the sign beware of hippos...

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Transafrika - Motorbike travel tour through africa part 1
Greetings, Tobi

wildlife, pests we call them.
 

You can ride a bicycle in hells gate national park Kenya as there isn't anthing that will harm you. If the park has cats it's probably best not to ride a bike in them. Cats like to chase things. Elephants aren't so bad, you will see them on the road south of Dar a salaam on your way to Malawi and again around vic falls. Hippos kill loads of people ever year mostly in the water during the day but a few people are killed at night on land when they get between mom and baby hippo. Plus its body expensive to take a foreign registered vehicle into tz and Kenya nt parks.

So what do us moto riders do to see lots of wildlife, park it somewhere and join a safari tour? for a few days or a week?

how much are the vehicle entry costs? I've seen figures like 10$ pp/day in the TZ parks.

thanks!

Hi,

Well Ngorogoro and Serengeti in Kenya would have been US$ 100 each pp + renting a vehicle thats why i did not go there.

Kruger National Park in Southafrica was really cheap. People who saw me with the strange german numberplate invited me to hop in there car so i parked my bike outside and just payed the local southafrican entrance with was US$4 per day or so. Tourists pay about 10 times as much but its still ok. To enter Molof Park close by was even free and there where lots of Girafes and Zebras running around as well:

http://www.adventure-travel-experien...=en_expedition

Greetings, Tobi

Roberts Camp, Northern Kenya is a very nice place to stay.

robertscamp.com

Plenty of hippos to see and they'll wander around your tent at night munching the grass. Take something to record the sound of it in your tent. (I didn't - pity).

Also in the day sometimes, getting close to the back end of my parked bike:
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You can ride through Mikumi park in Tanzania, but maybe ask locally when's the best time to see the most. I rode through and saw a crowd of elephants. Went again the next day and there were none to see. Always giraffe and zebra close to the road though.

The Nairobi to Mombasa road goes through a park and there's sometimes wildlife to see from the road. One huge elephant when we went through.

I found that wildlife ignores traffic tearing along the roads, but as soon as you stop on your bike it mostly scarpers. Best way I found is to slow right down immediately on seeing something ahead, but keep moving. Then if there's something on the side of the road you can blend in with, trees, (or a bridge parapet worked well once) stop gently and wait a while before getting off.

Somewhere on the HUBB I've read about a campsite in Zambia (Eastern Zambia I think) where elephants regularly wander through.

Parked the bike in the hotel room for a few days in Arusha and booked on a safari up to Ngorogoro which was probably the best way to do it.

Driving into Hwange camp in Zimbabwe there are signs on the road which say 'no motorbikes beyond this point'. We ignored the sign and within 1km were confronted with an elephant walking nonchalantly down the road towards us. We stopped about 50m short and a couple of cars arrived behind us. One of the car drivers suggested we all turn round and then one car reverses at the elephant - if he gets stroppy we all drive off safely but in this case he just wandered off into the bush and continued to rip the trees to shreds.

Thanks to all for these good inspirations, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Jim

Basically, you can't ride your bike through National Parks in Africa where there are animals. Obviously a few exceptions as noted above, but if you want to get into the good animal parks then you will need to pay quite a lot for often badly run Safari tours etc.

Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia charge stupidly high prices for entrance fees - $80 etc for the better parks.

My strong advice is wait until Nambia and South Africa. In both Etosha and Kruger you can rent a small normal car and enjoy the parks for 9 Euros a day in Etosha and in SA buy a wild card for about 150 Euros for a couple and have a years worth of park entries. You just need to pay for camping outside where you can also leave the bikes etc.

Botswana is mostly all deep sand in places like Chobe, so you would need to go through a lodge to hire a driver/4x4 as all other tourist do etc

Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia aren't really any/much better, so save most of your cash for a better experience down south.

Though the parks in southern Tanzania are much cheaper and quite good.

Just finished almost 3 years in Africa and raked up at least 150 days in parks etc

Great
I've heard good things about the southern TZ parks. Not biker friendly i guess either.

Advice taken on the Kenya parks. So Botswana (by boat and safari in Chobe etc), and Namibia (and SA), can do it well enough if you are going the whole length of africa.

Everyone:
what are your comments about a 6 month trip starting in November, ending in May? It appears to dodge teh rainy seasons, hits the calving season in the Sarengetti, and no heat issues across Libya or Tunisia or Egypt.

November to May is nice!

BTW:
You can visit the parks in Uganda with a bike. Personally I think Uganda is worth visiting.

In general, motorcycles are not allowed in parks that have big game like lions,etc.

In practice, you may be able to persuade some of them to let you in if you stand around long enough and pay enough.

That said, you shouldn't count on it as a matter of practice. Most game parts are pretty damn expensive especially since they have double pricing policies in place for foreigners. Game drives are expensive. The better the experience and the more authentic, the more ridiculous prices get.

Uganda
 

I rode my motorbike around the Queen Elizabeth National Park,:thumbup1: staying at Mweya It was great, heaps of Elephants tho & I actually didn't know I was in a National park:nono: until I arrived at the gate to Mweya.

Riding a motorcycle in nearly all game parks is not allowed... "no pikipiki" you will be told. I have ridden across the Skeleton Coast and also through South Luangwa game park on my KTM.. but those were exceptional circumstances. No chance in Kenya or Tanzania.

As for animals.. whilst the game parks concentrate the animals for conservation ... you WILL see every type of animal OUTSIDE the parks (maybe not rhino or wild dog as they are rare) but do not be mistaken that elephants, lions and hyenas know the boundaries of the Msai Mara or Serengeti they do not and you can ride through the masai villages and trails and maybe see them. You will almost certainly see lots of elephants. There are some places that are not classified as game parks such as Lake Charla in Tanzania which are full of game and beautiful.

Enjoy.... you'll love it

R
Rupert & Fanny's Big Bike Trip | South Africa and the world on KTM 990 Adventures

Games parks and carnets
 

Thanks all for these encouraging words; as i fret with bike prep and impending paperwork issues; the animals are, in part why I'm going, having gone there 20 years ago in 4 wheeled transport with motorcycling just a distant dream

So what about Carnets; that is my next hassle, the CAA for us Yanks is our only option. Is it required for a run down the east coast, Tunisia to Capetown?

What is the #1 place you enjoyed?

What is the #1 thing you wish you'd brought?

Jim

Carnet is required for South Africa. (and a lot of other countries too!)

Just came out of Botswana.
- Chobe NP you are not allowed through with a bike, although you will crossi t for about 90 km's on the north driving from Kasane to Namibia.
- Moremi NP you may not enter with a bike, but you can drive about 50km's into the park to the south entrance. You will (and are allowed) to pass the Veterenary gate, then drive these 50k's to the entrance, where you cannot proceed. The animals don't pay entrance tickets though, so you will see some elephants, giraffes, zebra's etc.
With a guided tour (12 hour day tour) will cost you anywhere from 90-120USD per person, depending on the amount of people.
Flight with a Cessna over the delta can be done for <600Pula, about 85USD per person if you can fill up a 3/5/7 seater airplane.

Top tip: drive over the Ntwetwe Salt pan, really nice unpaved track of 160 km's long. Just go south from Gweta.
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Nah, no animals to be seen in Africa.

Chobe transit route, Botswana:

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On a previous trip we dumped the bike at the guesthouse near Kruger we'd been using and then picked up a 4x4 to get to the lodge we were staying in for the next two nights. Lots of lions around, I was quite happy to be in a car for once. Expensive to have two vehicles on hire, but by gum it was worth it!

Anyone have recent experiences riding INSIDE game park boundaries? Or in animal conservatories? I know you can often see them if you ride around the edges but... officially inside?

Only one I found I could ride through on the bike was between Das Es Salam and Iringa in Tanzania. That was 12 months ago though, Public road so always open.

No need for carnet in Africa,go to Chobe Np,Botswana
 

Carnet,I didnt have one.They will ask you for it,custom like to use stamp.
I rode from Poland to Cape Town west coast and east coast back to Poland
Inc Egypt with out carnet back in 2012.
I do recommend chobe park in kasane,Botswana,you will see all the animals as they come and drink from the river, I was very lucky to go on boat and safari with very friendly priest from Poland who is running the only Catholic Church there for over25 years,I was able to camp on church property.I spend aprox $20usd for boat ride + 25 for safari,father had pick up truck with some other friends and there was room for me.
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You're no safer in a jeep than on a motorcycle. Most of the vehicles they use are all open top.

Of course on a tour, you've probably got a park guide with a tranquiliser gun there to protect you.

In South Africa we parked the motorcycle at a Lodge and rented a car for a few days at Kruger International Airport.
I have seen that organized group tours in Uganda ride inside the game parks with their motorcycles but I don´t know if they have a special permit to enter the parks with motorcycles and how they handle the security.

Anders.J