Chase the seasons - or run from them?
 

Hi all,

Departure date for my African trip is flexible, I just want it to start some time in 2018, so I have the opportunity to plan around good weather (a bit).

I'm allowing 4-6 months from London to Cape Town down the West coast and money will be more of a restriction than time.

I'd prefer to hit Southern Africa in Spring or Summer, but it's not mandatory. Obviously to maximise sunlight/warmth I would aim to leave close to the June Solstice and arrive close to the December Solstice.

There are two considerations to this:

1. Heat in North Africa
2. Rain in West Africa

I've tried to compile a bit of info on temperature and rainfall to work out what the optimal time would be to leave. Unfortunately some regions have two "spikes" of wet seasons, and of course individual cities and regions would have different patterns so this is a very rough stab in the wet.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1506496353

The trickiest areas seem to be around Nigeria and Cameroon where the wet season is more consistent, and there isn't a gap in the middle as there seems to be further South:

https://weather-and-climate.com/uplo...ria-ibadan.png

https://weather-and-climate.com/uplo...on-yaounde.png

I'm also concerned about heading towards Cameroon as September/October approach, having tried to arrive in Togo after July when the rain is heaviest.

https://weather-and-climate.com/uplo...-togo-lome.png

I got my temperature and rainfall stats from this site, by the way: https://weather-and-climate.com/.

So it seems that the best way to avoid the wet is to shift the trip by a few months and ride between the equinoxes rather than the solstices.

I'm wondering from those who have done it how much of a factor the wet season really is, and whether it's worth sacrificing summer weather in Europe and Southern Africa to make it a slightly smoother trip?

:stormy:

Furthermore...
 

With a bit of extra digging I think I've discovered the "best" way to do this would be to leave the UK in October, aiming to hit the wettest parts of the continent in December, and arriving in Cape Town in March. This would also suit an itinerary where I move a little faster than this plan and land in CT in Jan.

See attached.

The negative: this pushes my departure date further out than I'd really like. Yes, more time to save, but also I'm struggling to progress my career/life until I get this over and done with.

What are your thoughts? How much of an influence on the trip will the wet season have, and is it worth delaying for?

I would plan around the weather as much as you can. We passed through Sierra Leone and Liberia in the dry season and parts of the road (maybe less than 10% - so not too much but still enough to be a problem) would have been impassable in the wet season (think roads becoming river beds).

Hi anydavenow,

get a Michelin 741 map. There ise all you need in for Northwestafrika (min-max temperature also in Fahrenheit, rainfall also in inches, per month for aroud 80 places there - and the surface of the roads).

Greetings from Europe
Ferdi

I wanted to respond with exactly that recommendation I but couldn't muster the energy to explain to you why. Now that you've figured it out, I only need to agree: October.

Thanks for the replies guys, that’s fantastic. Guess I won’t be leaving this Ocotober so departure date is a year away!

Hi man rainy season makes the trip along the westcoast even more an adventure:

http://afrikamotorrad.de/small/westkueste_042.jpg

http://afrikamotorrad.de/index.php?report=en_westkueste

On some days you might just manage to do 45 km and at the end youl be dead tired from offloading your bike and carrying your stuff every few meters but cou can still do it :)

THe biggest problem will not be Malaria or the weather but the police. To organize the visa for Angola took me 3 months and for Nigeria i had to fight as well so you cant really plan when you will be were...

That is a very good point. I'm not expecting things to go according to the plan, to be honest, I would just rather start with one than without! :cool4: