Africa 2016

AFRICA 2016

After another bout of corporate shenanigans, a new "motorbike trip" sized window has just opened up. Yes I know there's always a bike trip bubbling along somewhere on the DRS back burner keeping me broadly sane on the daily commute. This time the opportunity has arrived earlier than expected. I was planning a trip in 2017 to get me through my 50th year but after a healthy dose of corporate duelling & disagreement, everybody agreed that it was high time that DRS got on his bike. Although I think they meant metaphorically, I came away thinking what a bloody excellent idea that is. Only question was where & what bike?

After taking the safer (but no less rewarding) choice of crossing the States in '14, my thinking is that its time to get back to my biking roots. Africa is unfinished business for me (& will probably always be). In '07, I travelled overland from the UK to Kenya on a Dakar. Timing was good. The financial crisis & the Arab uprising were imminent. Blissfully unaware of the impending meltdown, I meandered through north east Africa experiencing places & people that are indelibly imprinted in the depths of DRS grey matter. I have had a brief African soiree since but just to Morocco (on another Dakar which errr...broke down). So Africa beckons - but where to?

Pick up where I left off? I finished in Mombasa (Kenya) last time so why not re-start there & head south? There's something very satisfying about leaving from your front door & reaching your destination under your own steam. This probably has more to do with how the male brain is wired but by picking up where I left off it feels like I'm (sort of) continuing this journey. Problem, as with most things in life, is money.  

Buying a bike & shipping is my preference. This is what I did in the States & it worked really well. You know your bike (a 1200GS that time), can store your luggage in the crate & if you fly it can be there a day or so after you arrive. So looking at airfreight to Nairobi & sea freight back from Cape Town. This costs c. £2.5K (.jamescargo.com). Add insurance, tax & most significantly the carnet & your talking c. £3K+. A decent Dakar will be another c.£3K so now you're looking at £6K before you've started. Ouch.

So the next option is renting. Plan B is renting a bike in Kenya & head south. You can rent a Kawa KLR from motoadvkenya.com for c. $100/day.  Given the trip is for 6 weeks that's something over £3K. I could blame barmy brexiters for sabotaging our currency but shouldn't.

Solution comes from karoo-biking.de. These guys are based in South Africa & are BMW approved. They can provide a Sertao (as below) for half the cost owing I think mainly to the Rand being as wonky a currency as the Pound now is. 

So game on. Plan is to start in Cape Town & do a circuit via Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi & Mozambique bar mechanical meltdowns or being eaten.