Travel buddy for Africa
 

Hello all! looking to see if I can find a travel buddy for overlanding through Africa. I’m a 24M living in the UK, looking to travel for a year either from the UK to South Africa or South Africa to Egypt by shipping the vehicles to South Africa.

Plan on selling the vehicle at the end of the trip. I have done some planning E.G rough budget and driving routs but am open for suggestions and revisions. Not got a start date yet but as soon as the covid19 restrictions have lifted I want to get going! If you are interested, please hit me up or if you have any suggestions. Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt and welcome to the forum,
You might want to tell us what type of vehicle, four wheels or two, although whatever you plan to use don't rule out travelling with the other, I did parts of Africa on a bike in a loose convoy with a couple of Land Rovers which worked well.

Hi Mark, Thanks

I think I'm leaning towards four wheels as I have only recently learnt to ride a bike, and from that I have seen it can get a bit mad with driving out in Africa. But it also seems like a bike is the cheaper option ? Can I ask what parts of Africa you did and what was favourite part ? Thanks

I shipped my bike to Cape Town, did a three month tour of southern Africa finishing up back in CT where I stored the bike for another three months while I went home and earned some more money before returning and riding back to the UK via the easterly route.

Things change quickly in Africa, for instance when I left Cape Town Brits could not get a Sudanese visa so I had a plan B for shipping out of Kenya but by the time I got to Ethiopia things had changed and a visa was no problem, borders open and close quite frequently as well so have an open mind and a flexible plan.

Africa can be challenging for a novice rider but that has not stopped newly qualified travellers heading off across the continent or around the world, Ted Simon, Tiffany Coates and Sam Manicom were all fairly inexperienced when they first set off, it depends on how confident you feel and how you want to travel.

Travelling with four wheels can add a lot of costs with fuel and shipping but save on accommodation if you can sleep in your vehicle, it was difficult to give a budget for this kind of travel before but now I doubt if anyone can tell you how much it will cost with so much having gone up in price the world over. I have done most of my travels on a BMW 800 with some by 125cc and also by bicycle, if I were planning now I would be thinking of a small motorcycle, probably a 125cc for the economy of buying and running also a greater choice of travel as in medical insurance, many policies in the UK have a 125cc limit on cover and the choice for riding larger is limited and expensive.

Thanks for the info Mark!

what year did you undertake your trip ?

Hey, Ill be biking from CT then up garden route (dirt roads mainly) sept 2022 , then to wild coast, Drakensburg and surrounds, then maybe moz, Zim, Bot, Nam and back to CT end Nov...have a few mates coming and going, let me know if u keen to meet up for a stint!

What is the time frame you are looking at? I am planning a trip trough Africa for some time now and maybe this is the year. But not without a trusty companion. This Tuesday my new bike will be delivered which I bought especially for overland travel. My landlord has terminated the contract for my flat since her daughter wants to live there. My job pays well but sucks. Seems that all stars align.

Can I ask what bike you have chosen?

Honda CRF 300 Rally. :-)