JOURNAL/BLOG
London To Cape Town Motorrad, Statistics
Start Date 29 July 2010 12:00 – Ealing London, England
End Date 22 September 2010 12:00 – Edgemead Cape Town, South Africa
Approximate Distance travelled – 13508,9 km
Countries - 13:
England
France
Switzerland
Italy
Egypt
Sudan
Ethiopia
Kenya
Tanzania
Malawi
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Fuel:
Fuel is available in all countries, I had a 20lt tank with a fuel range of 16 to 22km per liter depending on the speed I travelled. At 80 km/hr I could do 440km and at 120km/hr I could do 320km on a tank. The longest stretch I encountered without a fuel stop was 500km, so I had to carry a reserve tank of 6liters with me wich I had to use three times on the entire journey. With careful planning and talking to other travellers that have come the way you are heading, it’s quite possible to never run out of fuel.
Tyres:
TKC 80’s! I travelled 13500 km from London to Cape Town on a single set of tyres. The back tyre is now completely worn out, but the front tyre is about 50%. I was told by many experts on tyres and off-road riding that I will not be able to do the entire trip on one set of tyres, well I have and I am sure if I pushed it I would probably have destroyed the tyres half way down. I kept my speed below 100km/h, stopped every hour for the tyres to cool down a bit and kept the tyre pressure at almost maximum allowance on sealed roads. My humble opinion is that the flex in the tyres if the pressure is too low create more heat than the road surface, thus I only let the tyres down on bad off-road tracks and in wet weather to have a bit more grip.
In hindsight – no need for off-road tyres as the roads are 99% sealed all the way down from Egypt to Cape Town, only roadwork’s put you off the road and the 395 km between Moyale (South Ethiopia) and Marsabit (in Kenya). That road is currently being tarred over by the Chinese and will be completed in a few years!! Then the entire journey will be on sealed roads. (That is if you don’t plan going too far off the main roads).
No punctures...wow. Many travellers on bikes doing the same journey have also in the past advised that punctures are few and far in-between. I used tubeless tyres, so only carried a front tube, tubeless puncture repair kit, electric pump and some tyre spanners. In case of major hole in front or back tyre it would have been possible to insert the tube in either to get to the next place for help.
Food:
It’s been especially difficult finding food in the Arab Countries, due to Ramadan. They don’t eat during the day, by the time you finish your day, there is very few places that actually sell food, especially in small towns and villages. Taking rations is essential to keep you going. In all the other countries, from Kenya down there are more western influences and plenty places to grab a meal.
I just need to thank everyone that have followed my journey and given me such fantastic support. Also even more important I want to thank the special people who sponsored my journey by contributing funds to my chosen charity Riders for Heath. These funds will make a fantastic difference to people’s lives in Africa.
What is next:
Not really sure what is next, however when I went past Kilimanjaro I had the fantastic opportunity to see the head of the mountain, even if it was just a glimpse... That got me thinking; maybe I could take my paramotor and fly round Kilimanjaro? Only time will tell...
Adventure is in my blood.
22 September 2010
My last day!
I have exactly 300km to go before my Journey will end in Cape Town at my house in Cape Town. So I start with a great breakfast at the guest house. I feel excited.
The road from Vredendal along the N7 just has to be the most beatifull scenery in the world this time of the year, maybe it’s just my heightened senses.
I stop at a small Cafe at the top of a mountain pass, looking over the whole of the Western Cape, and it really hits home that my trip is finally over, just another 150km and I am done, incredible strong feeling of joy surge through me...
So the last bit of the road I keep on daydreaming, thinking about the finish and also thinking about Charley Boorman warning to not let down your guard till you are home.. It starts raining about 20km from home, just a drizzle, I am doing about 120km/h and all of a sudden I am in a crazy speed wobble! I hit a oil spot on a very slick piece of road and it sent me wobbling for at least 100m, I just held on, kept the power on, pushed the handlebars on both side as hard as I could and waited for the wobble to end. At some point I really thought this is it and saw in my mind’s eye how I come off the bike! But we managed to slowly come out of the wobble and I was completely shaken. Now I can really say I survived, it was closer than I could ever have imagined.
The last 20 km I did not go past 80km/h!
I arrived home, parked the bike and had a beer. A bit of an anti climax but now I have a fantastic feeling of achievement in my heart and recommend to anyone that dream about this journey to make it happen, as soon as you commit things will fall into place..
21 September 2010
Not too early start, rain clouds! Lots of wind and a very challenging ride through the open planes of the Northern Cape Region of South Africa. Riding in such weather reminded me that almost all the way down I had great weather, except for the stint through Ethiopia, when it rained and rained and rained.
I wanted to stay over in Vredendal at a friend but as Murfy saw it coming, he arranged that my friend had to be in another town! So I booked into a small guest house, spending my last night under the covers watching TV till I drifted off to sleep thinking about the trip and reliving all that has happened to me over the past 55 days...
It’s been an incredible life altering journey and I am so glad I took it on and that I had the fortune of completing it in good time with little scars and lifelong memories.
16 to 20 September 2010
Lovely to be back in South Africa. Familiar surroundings and language gives me allot of comfort. I did not realise how much I missed it and its been months since I have been back.
800km on a motorbike in one day is stretching my limits a bit, however I reached Upington (from Johannesburg) in about 10 hours, even with some hold-ups due to roadwork’s and diversions almost all along the way. I will be staying at Karsten Farm for the next few days till my family fly back to Cape Town and I complete my journey after 55 days in total. I look forward to the time off and to rest for a while, the last few days have been quite hard, and I can feel the entire trip is taking its toll on my body; I have lost 8 km so far! Will have to stock up and get my strength up for the last push to Cape Town, some 800 km.
During my stay at the farm I had the opportunity to do some horse riding, one of my passions that I have not been able to do for years, it was fantastic to be on horseback again, however it cost me allot of sore muscles for the next few days, and I am sure it will make my journey home a bit uncomfortable, but hey I am resting and spending time with the family...
I will depart on Tuesday morning, so my final two days have dawned, I feel so happy that I will finally complete my journey, but on the other hand I feel quite down as it was a lifelong dream, and soon, very soon it will be something of the past, just a memory, a story to tell my friends?
13 September 2010
So Harare came and went, I kept heading south, not much to see so I kept going till I was stopped by a traffic cop with a lazergun detector, hidden in the bushes.
Well I was nicked for two offences, speeding and overtaking on a bridge mind you! The fine for the speeding was easy, 20 USD, please, I still don’t know if I did actually went over the speed limit as I am convinced I was going very slowly behind a truck crossing .
A small bridge, in front of a hill where the traffic officers stay. So the second offence was me overtaking the truck on the bridge, I was within the law, as there were no solid line, but they said that I was speeding and overtaking the truck while doing so.
The second offence is the problem, no fine for that, just straight to court...
Anyhow, the guy with the most authentic uniform and a cap, referred me to the two " mammas" (woman) sitting under the tree. They would be the judge and jury deciding my fate of being a criminal after all those offences. So I had to plead my case. I had 66 USD left in my pocket, the first fine I could afford. The second offence, had to be smoothed out a bit with some African salutes, as going to court ,would have meant, not being able to leave the country for weeks or months! They know that, so they also pleaded leniently, on my behalf, and accepted another 20 USD for my crimes, no receipt off course….(-: They even left it up to me to decide the amount of the fine. I told them about the charity, and and , so I offered 50 USD in total. The “mamma” said, no don’t worry, 40 USD will be enough!! That is unheard of hey…? They reduced the bribe down by themselves? (-:
Past that point, I was stopped continuously by police, to inspect my driving licence, as if I could get all the way from England to there without having one?
The last 150 km to the border was a bit nerve racking. You just get the feeling all is not well. Countless trucks and cars next to the perfect road...? All of them, with blown out tires,or completely stripped and burned out? So when I needed a rest I stopped next to the road, immediately someone stopped next to me, and said if I don’t want to be robbed, I should keep moving till the border. It’s apparently extremely dangerous to sop there! Wow, thanks to those concerned travellers, I am now safe in South Africa! Just great to be on home turf again!
12 September 2010
Three countries and four borders today! After some deliberations with some of the over Landers at the campsite, I made up my mind to cross into Mozambique at Dezda, then head to Tete and cross the border again at Cochemane into Zimbabwe. My main reasons were that I did not hear back from the Riders team in Zambia, and I have been to Lusaka many times, so some new territory would be great. It would have been great to cross at the Victoria Falls but I leave that for another day, maybe one day I decide to ride from Cape Town to London via the West coast.
Its been a very nice road so far with some great scenery, quite an easy ride.
Tomorrow, I will go to Harare, and then head South towards Musina, then onto Polokwane...heading for Upington and then down the west coast to Cape Town, but now I am really getting ahead of myself.
The end of my journey is quite near, I hit the 10000 km mark today so another 3000 km and I am done, quite a sad thought, through all the hardships and very tough times, I have still managed to enjoy every moment. It’s been a dream for so long, and I cannot believe that its almost over.
My back brake light failed when I was in Tanzania, and yesterday the dims front beam failed as well, I suspect its due to all the bumps before and after each town in Tanzania… teeth clattering stuff. Its so ironic, because the only thing that I could not get in time before I started my trip was a set of light bulbs, and the bulbs are the only items that I needed so far! The off-road tyres that I had fitted in England are also starting to wear thin, but with careful riding I might just still make it to South Africa on them, it will be a great fete as not many others have made it past the equator with theirs, just have to see how far we get...
Africa is a wonderful place, every country that you pass through is so totally unique and different from the previous one. Although I just passed through Mozambique today, it was so special. The people are so welcoming and helpful. I fail every time, to put into words what an experience I have had, words just cannot justify it, simply fantastic stuff.
My injuries from my mishap in Egypt seem to have healed quite nicely, only my left shoulder seems to still need some healing time. I suppose with riding every day, it will take a while longer before I will be totally injury free. The ribs are still a bit tender, but all the wounds on my upper arm and elbow have closed and only prominent red scars remain as a reminder for wearing protective clothing when I get on the bike!
11 September 2010
Long day of hard riding and many funnies and some money liberations..
Set off just to realise I don’t have enough fuel and also not enough local currency and the banks closed today. Black market fuel and dollar changing solved my problem for half a day, then i found a ATM and could draw money but no station had fuel!! On top of that as if the speed cops new I drew money they caught me for speeding, not that there are speed limit signs anywhere to there I was liberated of some of my cash.
Just before I ran out of fuel I managed to find a bit more to get me to my destination, interesting day with fantastic roads and scenery.
Camping again tonight, still don’t know witch way to go tomorrow..
10 September 2010
Fantastic breakfast at the Crocodile Camp, early start to avoid the trucks!
Iringa came and went quite quick, so I had a distance of 450 km to the border and anther 150 inside Malawi to the campsite, about 660 km for the day!
Crossing into Malawi was quite easy and immediately the scenery changed dramatically, it is such a beautiful country especially in the north, so many twists and turns and small rolling hills of greenery with the massive blue lake in the background, wow.
Early start again tomorrow, to get to Lilongwe, in the south, from there I need to decide whether to go south or west, not quite sure yet? Had to meat up with the Riders guys in Zambia but have not had word from my contact yet!!
8 September 2010
Tom showed me round the farm a bit today, he does some engineering work here, in return he get free board and lodging, a very, very beautiful place. The Swiss did a fantastic job, the buildings and infrastructure they put in place must have been absolutely magnificent in its day. They even tracked the whole estate with a steam train system, tracks and stations everywhere to transport product to the main workshops where they had a very sophisticated machine to strip the leaves into fibre, then it was dried and sorted, baled and exported all over the world, Melbourne, London, etc! There are even tennis courts, a billiard room, which still has a billiard table end every commodity that existed in those times! Massively long lines of rope are still made by hand here, as was done when this place was started so many years ago.. They harvested rainwater into underground tanks for domestic use. All this have now been neglected to the point where everything on the estate is almost in ruins, the tracks covered over, all the equipment in pieces, so its back to doing almost all by hand, very inefficient and a great shame. It is such a beautiful farm, and has so much potential, but so is all the farms round here.
Tomorrow I will continue to Iringa, halfway to Zambia, I still need to decide if I want to go through Malawi or to just go straight to Lusaka. It’s starting to feel as if my journey is coming to an end, but I am not sad, I look forward to reaching South Africa!
Tom won’t be able to join me after all, sadly, as he will still wait for some weeks to sort his passport...
I serviced the bike today, new oil, oil filter, air filter etc. One of the son’s of my very generous host also washed the bike, so she looks like new! Ready to continue, only 3 countries to go!
07 September 2010
I met up with Tom at Sorogwe, a small village on the way to Dar Es Salaam. He is currently waiting for a new passport and living on a farming estate with a very nice Tanzanian family. The farming estate grows sisal. Sisal is a plant that looks like aloe but its used to produce rope. All along the way from Arusha to here there are so many of these estates. It seems to be a very big industry here. The buildings and workshops on this estate were constructed by the Swiss in 1936, they sold the farm in 2001, then a Greek family owned it till it went into liquidation, recently a Indian bought it and at the moment it’s being revived into production. Interesting stuff….
I pitched my tent inside Tom's room. He only has one bed, and no mozzy net in front of the windows! So I am camping inside!
06 September 2010
I left Nairobi, with the rosy picture in my mind of fantastic tarmac roads all the way to Arusha. Everyone I spoke to told me don’t worry the roads are great and you will make good time, somehow I believed them. Boys were they wrong! At least 50% of the road consisted of corrugated bypasses and powder dust tracks due to roadworks! It was tough going, will be lovely when it’s done but at the moment not something to call fun! I even became airborne hitting a quite hefty pothole, water bottles, all over the road when I eventually made contact with earth again, funny but quite scary. A good thing is that my fear for this kind off offroad conditions is slowly subsiding, as I gain more confidence.
Eventually arrived in Arusha! I am over the moon to be here, I even found a butcher that has biltong, so tonight for the first time in months, I had biltong and beer for supper. Wow did I miss that, lost quite a couple of pounds in the last few weeks, and for those who know me you will understand.
Tomorrow, I visit my friend Tom, he dropped his passport in the long drop toilet, he would have joined me on my journey down to Cape Town but it seems he will be here for a while yet waiting for a new passport. He lives on a farm outside Dar es Salaam for now.
05 September 2010
Decided to take a rest day and not move on to tanzania. I cleaned the bike, did my long overdue washing and fitted new brake pads to the bike. Apart from that I just chilled and exchanged stories with all the other people...
02 & 03 September 2010
I arrived at the Moyale border early in the day, anticipating some problems with customs due to my Carnet du passage for the motorbike..
I went through the border without a hitch, they did not ask form any Carnet on the Kenyan side, so there I was in Kenya! Immediately I started enquiring about the road conditions from Moyale to Isiolo.
What I could find out,was that the road was dry, gravel and badly damaged and very corrugated, so still being a bit tender around the ribs from my injury in Aswan, I decided to load my bike on some transport, and skip the worst part, about 500 km. If I do take on the road, I risk another fall, this time it could be worse, and on this stretch of road, there is no assistance available, so too much of a risk on my own.
There are two options available to get me and my bike to Isiolo: the one is to hire a Landover for approximately $1000, or the other is to put the bike on one of the trucks going South, on top of their load of beans, for approximately $350, and then drive with the truck...
The first option sounds great, but its just not justified, in comparison to that I could fly my bike from Addis to Kilimanjaro for less. I opted for the second option, and negotiated the price down to $280, and was told to be at the truck 8:00 am the following morning.
Moyale on the Kenya side of the border seem to be a very poor outpost, only Obe hotel that is semi decent, and being influenced predominantly by Muslim people in town, there is only one bar. The bar belongs to the prison wardens, obviously I had to go and have a beer, so I headed in the dark streets to the prison bar - complete safe. What a nice setup, and the people were very hospitable, a nice change from Ethiopia.
The next morning I arrived at the truck at 8:00 am, they backed the truck up to a gravel mound, and with the help of some locals, we muscled the bike onto the back. Once on the back,I packed grain bags round the bike and secured it with as many ropes as possible but still felt uneasy..
We eventually left with a police convoy at about 10:30. I was initially told the trip should take about 10 to 12 hours, so I expected to be in Isiolo by that evening.
The first part of the road was semi bad, but the entire rest of the journey was as I have many times stated before, definitely the worst road in Africa! I am very relieved that I chose to put the bike on the truck. The further we got, the road just deteriorated to the point that the trucks had to make new tracks next to the actual roads.
It took us 17 hours of constant driving to get to our destination!
When we got to Isiolo, and it was past 5 am in the morning, we looked for a spot to offload the bike, but there were no docks anywhere, so we drove into a field with heaps of gravel, reversed the truck up to the gravel and manhandled the bike off the truck, much easier than I expected it to be. I looked for a hotel, eventually stumbled across one, booked in and went to bed. I have not been this tired in a long time. I was relieved that my bike and I made it there eventually and safely. No real damage to the bike, due to the corrugated roads, quite surprising, at one point the bike almost lay on it side on the bean sacks! I really was concerned that by the time we got there, it will be very badly damaged, and all the way expected the worst.
Three hours after I went to sleep, people in the hotel made such a noise that I could not sleep any more, so i got up and prepared myself to take the road south to Nairobi..
Although the distance to Nairobi not that great and I made good time, when I reached the City a sudden downpour made riding impossible. I had to stop and wait for the rain to pass. After the rain it took me 2 hours in traffic, chaos, to get to Jungle Junction, a safe haven for overlanders in Nairobi. Its a fantastic place, you can either camp, stay in the dorm or have a room for yourself. Chris the owner also managed to sort out my Carnet issue in no time!
There are all nationalities here, Germans, South Africans, Namibians, New Zealanders, etc. All travelling in different directions, either having a rest or waiting for visas, etc.
Tomorrow I go to Arusha and maybe onto Moshi! Have been looking forward to this as it will be a defining moment in my journey!
01 September 2010
Up very early, heavy rain almost all the way. Only about a 100 km from the town Mojo, the rain was relentless, but i still clocked about 550 km.
Tomorrow 250km to Mojale on the border, then the fun starts to somehow get my bike over the border.
The countryside is changing from high altitude forests to rolling green hills of bushveld, with thorn trees and some long grass. Still I have not spotted any wildlife in my entire journey so far. Only cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and lots and lots of people next to the road.
I almost dropped the bike on the slippery bits in one of the villages, and went under some more stone throwing storms. One group of kids also tried to get me with a cattle whip. Coming up a steep hill, into yet another slippery road through a village, one of the locals coming down the hill with a bicycle could not stop, and crashed into a crowd of people, narrowly missing myself on the bike. I just kept going, although I think she was pretty badly hurt, to have stopped to assist would have caught me up in the whole thing, and will certainly have put me in a dangerous situation.
31 August 2010
Information about Rac Carnet du Passage for the Kenya leg of my journey is not yet sorted, so I decided to move on from Addis Ababa. I left at about 12:00 heading for Hawassa, but got caught in a massive downpour just outside the city, and had to abandon my efforts for the day. I find a very neat and new guesthouse called Sheba Guesthouse, at a very reasonable price! I will have to make up some miles tomorrow! Hope it does not rain as much, the problem with rain is that i can’t see where i am going and the potholes are filled with water making it too dangerous to continue.
Whilst at the guesthouse a couple of Austrian guys appeared at the gate, with a horse and cart, weird? They started their journey in Austria with motorbikes, travelled through Europe, then Turkey and Syria and took the ferry from there to Alexandria, the same ferry I used!
From Alexandria, they aimed to reach Nairobi, Kenya. But that dream was cut short when one of them ran out of fuel just outside Alexandria, so the other party had to continue to the next fuel station to get fuel. On his way he hit a pothole, needless to say he came off and broke his collar bone. His friend, waiting for fuel, knew nothing about the accident, and he did not have any money on him, and to top it all, he mobile phone battery was flat. In the mean time, the injured guy was taken to hospital. He managed to send a message to Austria, so his family got hold of his friend via a satellite phone, he luckily had with him..
So there they were… what to do next? So they shipped the bikes home and caught a flight to Addis Ababa, bought a horse and cart, and are currently moving South as far as possible, till their allocated time runs out, and then they fly back home from Nairobi as planned!
Crazy story, but I envy their courage to continue no matter what! The horse is called Major, Major problems…Lol…(-:
30 August 2010
Started with investigations, on what to do next??? I do not have a Carnet du Passage for Kenya, as it was not on my itinery from the start. The only option is to either get the document re-issued from London, and couriered here, which could take a long time (have to say the RAC in London have not been helpful at all, as they do not bother to respond to my pleas at all!) Or I will have to try and hop over Kenya via air cargo.
The air cargo will be possible to get me to Kilimanjaro on Wednesday, but its a bit on the expensive side, and to fly there will cost even more.
Its bank holiday in London today, so I have to wait till tomorrow, before I can find out about the Carnet anyway.
So, I remain in the hotel and avoid any incidents of theft, as almost everyone in the hotel have either had their passport or money stolen, in the streets of Addis Ababa. I tell them welcome to Africa, and stop looking like a tourist; they just smile and think I might be a bit crazy. (-:
29 August 2010
Easier than expected ride, lots of rain, ice rink conditions (slippery), but I reached Addis Ababa in good time, and checked into the Taito Hotel (apparently the first hotel in Addis, one of the buildings existing from the 1800's, which has never been maintained since then).
I took a long hot bath and rested for the rest of the day.
29 August 2010
The Blue Nile Gorge is soooo beautiful, a bit of paradise. As far as I could find out, it descends about 3000 m to the river and ascends about 4000 m to the top on the other side. A beautiful bridge connects you over the Blue Nile. The road has been built by the Chinese, only a few years ago, however it is already breaking up and degrading in places, and will soon be impassable for guys like me, if it’s not repaired. I took some pics but could not take a picture of th e bridge, as the military won’t allow me.
Leaving Bahir Dar, it rained cats and dogs, there were horse carts, taxies, buses people and stones, so it was busy on the road and quite slippery and slow going. 5 Hours into the ride, 350 km, and very slow in some places, due to the road surface, that has completely disappeared.
I found a Hotel called the Blue Nile Hotel just on the other side of the Gorge, cheap but no hot water, which isn’t too bad, considering the price.
Tomorrow will bring me to Addis Ababa, hopefully, where my fate will be decided on where and how to proceed next…
27 August 2010
Quite nervous today to hit the road, decided to travel only to Bahir Dar some 200km, just to see how I am getting non with the stone throwing crowd..
Anyhow, with yesterday’s injury to my ankle, fresh in my mind, I set off for my next destination. Not much action, because it was raining quite hard, but when the rain lifted, I did get through what seem like a two way stone throwing match or war, each side was on opposite side of th
e road, pelting each other, when they saw me they turned on me bit missed.
Further, I don’t have much to say, its very cold now, and constantly raining. Quite a change from the desert conditions a few days earlier.
Tomorrow will bring yet more challenges, I will ride to the Blue Nile Gorge and stay for the night until I proceed to Addis Ababa…
26 August 2010
My day started in a small little room with a bed more like a canoe and a my mozzy net over me. It took two and a half hours to cross the border due to an overrated 'big boss' of customs having a late start as its Ramadan.
Finally I left Qallabat, and headed for the mountains. It has to be one of the most beautiful sites in Africa. There are mountain forests and waterfalls everywhere, local people lining the streets and animals all over. I even came across some vultures feeding on a carcass next to the road, awesome. Every time I stopped for a break, little kids appear from nowhere and surrounded me (you are never alone in Africa…(-:) , at first I was humbled by their presence, staring at me, asking for money, very cute site, but a little whilst later I changed my mind a bit...
Its very apparent that things just across the border from Sudan are totally different, in all the thousands km travelled in Sudan, I saw no woman or children anywhere. Here in Ethiopia its quite different, woman and kids are everywhere! They are together with donkeys, sheep cattle, and whatever else line the streets for miles on end.
I took a break and stopped of in a small village and had some tea and a Samoosa, it tasted out of this world. I was so hungry, because the previous day, I did not find anything to eat on the way to the border; I just dipped a little into my emergency rations to get some sort of sustenance.
I met two guys along the road to Dongolar, one from UK and one from Australia I think, they are doing a ride on mountain bikes from London to Cape Town, in aid of a charity called Better Life Cycle. Amazing stuff, and good luck to them, hope they travel safe as I found out later, as it’s not safe at all on the roads in Ethiopia.
About 50 km from my destination into the day, I passed a small group of kids next to the road. As I passed they pelted me with stones, and I was hit on the ankle with quite a large stone, pain shot up in my leg. However, I just continued because stopping then, would probably have put me in a much worse situation. Later on, I stopped to asses the damage, I have a cut on my ankle, and its quite swollen, luckily the top of my boot took most of the hit... So I have quite a different view of the little guys next to the road now, and it makes my journey quite slow, as I slow down every time I see them, to asses which ones are trouble.. Ethiopia is not safe for tourists.
Tomorrow I am heading for Bahir Dar, not too far away, I think I it will take long to get there as its all mountain passes, and with the stone throwers next to the road, I will need to take precautions. Pity, it makes this beautiful country, in my view, a no go zone for future cyclers and travellers. At least, until they decide that tourism is something important anyway...
I will load up more pictures this weekend of Southern Sudan an Ethiopia.
25 August 2010
It rained last night when I camped; it sort of cooled down the inside of the tent but it was so humid next to the Nile I could not get to sleep till the early hours of the morning! Thus I nearly overslept to get to the Ethiopian Embassy early.
After quickly getting dressed and washing my face I jumped on the bike in search of the Embassy, just to find out they have moved recently. When I eventually found it, I could see was a open piece of ground,no signs, just a security box on the other side? The security guys searched me and my bags thoroughly, then they sent me through a gate an wow oh wow! The most beautiful modern building in all Khartoum, brand new! And here I was expecting a hole in the ground, what a surprise!
Inside they quickly sorted me with a form to fill in. They told me that I may collect tomorrow at 10:00 am, quick turnaround for African standards.
I explained that my journey is for a charity, they must have seen how desperate I was, so the lady behind the counter made a plan and 5 minutes later, I was speechless with a visa in my hand. It brought tears to my eyes, I could not face another day in Khartoum.. What an incredible bunch they are.
Visa in hand headed out of the city, got some supplies on the way, and had just enough daylight to reach the border, but it was not to be.
Khartoum played its last card. Just ouside the city, I was put thorugh a road detour on the way and it was basically just a mud track! So it took me an hour of struggling the the mud with the bike, I dropped it twice in the mud. The first time I managed it pick it up and continue, but the second timem she was properly stuck, so I had to enlist some help from three guys walking next to the road. Eventually we got her out onto the tarred road! So, there I lost the hour that I had to ride in total darkness, before I got to the border, worst piece of riding so far, my nerves were shot, when I reached the little town.
Once again, at about the halfway mark ,I had to get through deep mud to get to the fuel station, just to be told they were out of fuel! Almost dropped the bike again, as the front wheel started jamming against the fender with the caking mud. But got through, and some kids next to the road, helped me to clean the mud out…more lost time…
The countryside was absolutely beautiful, same as on the way to El Obeid,just stunning.
I booked into a small pig sty, paid someone an extraordinary amount of money ( twice the cost of the room), to get me two illegal beers. I have not been able to get a beer throughout Egypt and Sudan. So tonight I feel, I deserve, to have a beer, illegal or not!
Mozzies here are very aggressive, they bite me, even though I use ‘Peaceful Sleep’!
Tomorrow will take me to Dongolar, 180 km I am told. There I will rest for the rest of the day, need to recharge and send pictures, etc. That is to say, if I can get through the border and if I can find I hotel.
Africa is teaching me that nothing is straight forward, always expect the unexpected…
25 August 2010
Stuck! Could not convince UN to either let me go South in Sudan or to help me get there! Only other option was to retrace my steps back to Kosti,
some distance!
At Kosti I enquired a bit about getting a motorboat to take me on the white Nile, first from Kosti to Malakal then to Juba. I was told its possible, but looking at the Nile coming down due to the rains I was not sure if I should chance it at all.
The next step was to find out if its possible to get an Ethiopia via at the border, because not going through south Sudan leaves me only
with Ethiopia and Kenya. Can’t go Kenya so it will have to be Ethiopia. So the reports say not sure and mostly unlikely to get a visa on the
border, hence me being back in Khartoum tonight, very tired after 1100km round trip! But it was worth the try and ten times over worth the
scenery, what an undiscovered world where people live as they did hundreds of years ago, I can jus imagine what it would have been like
to discover what lay south, but for now I have to just let it go and get on with it. On the way I saw a camel market! Beautiful, sheep with
tails that hang to the ground, people in mud houses and all sorts of bird species! Could not take pictures as its illegal and especially in
the areas where they are on security alert, pity.
Tomorrow I will get to the visa office as they open. And with some luck might even get it tomorrow! Let’s hope.
Injuries are somewhat better, medication starting to work.
I am camping right next to the Nile in the city, wonderful spot, in a kids play park, its past 12 at night and the kids are still playing??
The place is called the blue Nile yacht club, not much here but for 5 USD a night I am happy, no useable washing facilities but tomorrow if
I am in luck I can leave this city being, head West, and camp somewhere rural where I may be able to use my bush shower that I brought with...
23 August 2010
It’s been a long day, with ups and downs!
Where to start! So the permission paper I have been issued in Wadi Halfa was the right one, no problems at checkpoint from Khartoum to El
Obeid, which was a great relief, but...
I left Khartoum at about 5:30. The road on the west bank of the white Nile is good down to Kosti, there I crossed the Nile and started
heading West to El Obeid, total distance is about 580 km.
The landscape was awe inspiring, the most beautiful rolling hills of grasslands, unspoilt and forests of giant baobab trees. I cannot even
begin to describe how beautiful it is in these parts, incredible stuff. I managed to sneak a couple of pictures, although its illegal without a permit. The only sad thing is that I did not see any wildlife, I guess they stay off the main roads or either the subsistence farming have something to do with it.
When I reached El Obeid the fun started to try and work out where to. Next,all people speak Arabic here so in broken English everyone that
I spoke to advised that there are no way for me to head south from here as the roads are impassable, due to the rainy season and possibly
some security issues in the south, now I have to try and get better info as its all hearsay.
I decided to make contact with the UN, they have their head office for this region here, tomorrow I will meet with them for advice, they might even send me back to Khartoum, but hey, for what I saw today it would have all been worth the trouble, the South of Sudan is amazing, and I am sure if it is attempted in 4x4 outside the rainy season it will be quite possible to cross from El Obeid to Juba, the busses do it on a daily basis...
My ribs and wounds getting better, still taking antibiotics and anti inflammatory medicine. Quite tired tonight, will eat bread rolls and drink cola, could not find a meal in town, its not geared for tourists at all! (-:
22 August 2010
It was a forced rest day today, so I only woke up after 7:00 am, still in a bit of pain. The antibiotics and pain medication, will hopefully start working soon, heading away from civilisation could be a concern if this does not clear up.
I decided to go to the South African Embassy, just about 10 streets from where I stay, and met up with Isaak. He advised that I don’t need a special permit to go South, should I trust this? You just don’t know around here, everyone I ask has a different opinion? Nobody has recently travelled South? Anyway, Waleed met me at the embassy as well, and we were very well received. They gave me a South African flag to put on the bike, as well as some South Africa tokens to hand out, to attempt to make my nationality obvious, just in case, as there is a lot of conflict in the area. This should also help, with the public relations at the police checkpoints, as I will add some Sudanese stickers to my banners... On closer inspection of my papers, we realised that the intelligence services at the Aswan border already issued me formal permission to travel to Uganda, through the south, so this should suffice, I never noticed as its all written in Arabic! All this worry for nothing, but I believe that everything happens for a reason… This day of resting, will do me good, because my next challenge will be 2000 km long till I cross over to Uganda.
My planned route will be to stay east of the White Nile down to Kosti, 150 km, then to head West to El Obeid, 200 km. From there I head more West to En Naud, 224 km, South to El Odaiya, 112km, South to Muglad, 96km, South to Naam, 168 km. Then, futher South from Naam to Wau, 250 km. From Wau south west to Juba, about 500 km it seems. At Juba I need to ask which border post will be safe to cross into Uganda.
Although this is the plan for now, I risk being sent back to Khartoum to get a visa, and go through Ethiopia after all. Everyone I have met or spoken to, have gone this route, it seems to be the easier option at the moment...only time will tell...
21 August 2010
After a bit of luck, with a free meal from the Turkish gold miners also staying in the hotel, I had a bit of a restless night. My injuries were bothering me and the horse hair mattress combined with the ancient noisy evaporative cooler, did not help much. Nonetheless I was up at 4:30, preparing to leave at 5:30. The Turkish guys once again would not let me leave without feeding me, great guys indeed!
5:30 I set off in the darkness, I took it easy till the sun came up. Wow it was awe inspiring, to be in the desert at that time of the morning. I pressed on at a fair pace, however needed to conserve fuel, very few fuel stations on the way, but doable on a 20 km tank, only later to find out,I was carrying 6 litres of spare fuel, but did not use it.Although when I stopped in Khartoum, I had 3 miles left on the clock, cutting it a bit fine. The wind was extremely hard, I had to fight to stay on the road, hence my injured ribs and shoulder were quite painful at the end of the day. A bit worrying…. As a precaution I am starting a course of antibiotics tonight, combined with anti inflammatory medication, keeping still as much as possible, just to be on the safe side. Coughing also presents a problem, as well as laughing, so I stay away from the dust (not possible here) and seeing the funny side of people, also a challenge in this place.
On my way today I met 4 Italians travelling North. They all have BMW 800GS bikes, same clothes, same everything. They stopped for a rest and we chatted a bit, their journey has taken them from Cape Town to the Cape in Poland, Wow!!!
I also stopped to chat to two young people walking North. This guy and his girlfriend are walking from Cape Town to France. They have been walking for more than a year, and will only finish in another year! Some people say I am crazy, but hey, look at these guys! I really admire their tenacity, fantastic stuff.
My journey into Khartoum City was a nightmare, I got caught up in a traffic jam for 1,5 hours, no way of turning off, and after 600 km of hard riding in extreme hot sandy wind conditions in the desert, this was even worse, as I could not cool down, standing still in the sun with my riding gear on. I could not drink water for fear of being locked up, all I could do, is slowly make my way forward, after what seems to be to hell and back, I eventually reached the hotel. Well to just top it all, the hotel was closed just the day before; there was some dispute with the landlord. I ended up a few doors down, double the price!
Well tomorrow will bring yet another challenge. Word is going round that I will need a special travel permit to go through Southern Sudan. I have a contact called Waleed, that might be able to assist me, to find out more...to say the least it’s been a hurdle to find any up-to-date info for going South.
20 August 2010
I was up at 4:30 to be ready to leave as soon as it became light, so I left at 6:00. The road to Dongola is brand new, it was finished, I am told by the Russians only one year ago. What a beatifull landscape, dessert on all sides with the sun rising behind some thin clouds.
I stopped along the way at some water point to wet my water bottle, and to make coffee. I did not have anything to eat before I left. Sudan has the old traditional shade huts with three water crafts filled with water along the way, where local people pass with their animals and donkey carts, these have come in very handy for a rest, to wash my face and to get much needed shade...
At about 10:00 the sun came out properly, the wind came up and I struggled a bit for the last 100 km to Dongola. I arrived in Dongola at about 11:30. Driving through town, I convinced myself to fill up and continue. On the way out of town, about 12 km south, the wind got stronger, and I came accross heavy dust clouds, I felt a bit too exposed and tired to fight these conditions, so I turned back to Dongola, found a fairly decent place to sleep. After a cold shower,
I lay down a bit, but only woke up 4 hours later! I did not realise how tired I was and how the desert had sapped all my energy! I must have come quite close to my limits,thank goodness I never kept going further.
Some Turkish guys staying at the hotel, invited us to eat dinner with them, which was absolutely fantastic. They lay a table with the most succulent dishes, fruits, meat, and with cuisine new to me. I have not eaten so well in days, it was very welcome to say the least.
Tomorrow I will have breakfast at 5:00 to leave at 6:00 again, need to get away early, I aim to reach Khartoum some 550 km away!
19 August 2010
The procedure at the customs experience was a power-wielding official that came out of the building after a short wait, he looked at the papers, looked at the bike and said go, with quite a sombre, asif I dissturbed him from his duties...(-:I came back to the hotel very relieved to be mobile again, no damage to the bike, all feels ok. Being so hot already I decided to stay till the morning before I take on the next leg.
Later in the day I stripped the front end fender and window, sort of bent the bracket straight that holds everything together (damaged in the mishap). So all is ready to go.
Very hot tonight, still above 35 at 10:45 pm, so I will have a shower and try to rest till 4:00 am, then leave at 4:30 am to avoid this intreped heat.
18 August 2010
Still waiting to hear news of the barge arrival in port. I decided to move into a slightly better hotel, this neighbourhood is probably one of the worst places I have stayed in so far. The bathrooms are absolutely horrible, I will not recommend this place to my worst enemy!
Another hotel I found just across the plane, Cleopatra, is much better, clean..ish and a better option. At 1 Sudanese pound more per night, that will make it 5 usd per night, not much choice here.
Waiting for the bike, so I explored the town, the marketplace was the best option first. On my first arrival it looked a bit deserted but the longer I stayed here the more its growing on me, the people are the total opposite of the haggling Egyptians in Alexandria and Cairo. These locals leave you alone and let you go about your business, and are polite at the same time.. The Sudanese tea is Lovely, and they fry meat and potatoes perfectly!
Later in the day my guide, Nazaar,(Magdi's cousin) notified me that the barge has been in port since the morning, but due to the ferry being in the way,the barge could not yet dock, so it only it docked, late this afternoon.
After the fist meal of the day (Ramadan - 19:25) we went down to the Port, to see if we can unload the bikes. It was possible and we got it off in no time, thanks to the previously angry captain and his crew, they were just superb this time. The captain told me about red hibiscus tea, and how to make it, quite good stuff! You take the flower and cut it when its in bloom, dry it in the shade, not in the sun as it loses it's colour, you cut the green part of, put it in boiled water, leave for ten minutes, then take the flower out and you have an extract, which you dilute to your taste with either cold or hot water!
Anyhow, I gave the captain some baksheesh (is a term used to describe tipping, charitable giving, and certain forms of political corruption and bribery in the Middle East , North Africa & South Asia. Leo Deuel sardonically described baksheesh as "lavish remuneration and bribes, rudely demanded but ever so graciously accepted by the natives in return for little or no services rendered) for his efforts, although he did not ask, drive the bike to the customs office, almost having an accident twice in the very thick sand. We had a lift back to town on a cattle truck. Tomorrow at 9h:00 I will go again to get the bike signed off from customs... Depending how long it takes, I will either hit the road or stay another night.
Nazaar told me he once had a guy here from the UK on a 1150 GS,the guy continued South but after a few days people found his bike abandoned. On closer inspection they found his camera and no remains,they checked his camera pictures and found out the story, he stopped to take pictures of hyenas, and probably was attacked and hence not much remained. This happened in 1989. Disconcerting, but for those who know Africa not much so... the animals are wild, treat them as such, and you will stay out of harms way.
Last night and tonight I have actually been sleeping outside the hotel, just too hot inside the buildings. It is custom here and nobody in town sleep inside,when its time for bed everybody carry their beds out! Nice seeing the stars and feeling a cooler breeze.
Whilst waiting for the bike today I found a haversack, and made myself a bag for my water bottle, so that when I travel through the dessert parts, I will be able to wet it, and the evaporative cooling effect will keep my water cooler, than leaving it in the sun at 50 deg c! That is the theory anyway, but testing it today it seems to work ok, it will just be a question how quickly it dries out...
Cannot send pictures yet but as soon as I get to a bigger town I will send pictures of the ferry trip and Wadi Halfa, etc.
16 August 2010
Early start to ensure that I find the port, so I left the hotel at 08H:30. I found the port quite easily, it’s about 18 km south of Aswan. So, there I was, hundreds of people with anything from bags to sweets, to oil, to air conditioners, to fridges and everything else you can imagine! All, to be loaded on the barge, before I could load my bike. It took all day, it was utter chaos and by 20:00 the barge captain came to me and suggested they load the bike themselves, whilst I go onto the ferry so long, as the ferry was only waiting for me. Well,I did not want to be a stick in the mud, but I firmly told him that I will not leave until I have personally loaded and secured the bike on the barge. So after waiting all day in 45 deg heat drinking litres of water, near boiling point, due to no shade, I did not feel quite as accommodating as I should be. The captain then showed me the reserved space for the bike. It was not wide enough and about a one meter drop into the boat, he suggested we pick the bike up and carry it! I just smiled, about to explode either with mad laughter or with fury! I am still not sure which emotions were running through me at the time, as there were so many. He saw my reaction and backed off to confer with his chaotic team on how to build a ramp of sorts to get the bike on the barge so that I may board the ferry... In the mean time without my knowledge the ferry captain decided he will not wait any longer, so they started pulling away, trying to force me to abandon the bike and get on the ferry. Well anyone who knows me, will probably smile, as I did not move an inch. I am sure the two captains can agree o
n this one. With that act of defiance, out of the way, they quickly put together a gangplank for me to ride into the too narrow space, so they urged me on to go go go!
I switched of the bike and just sat at the top, now they were getting really angry. I just paused, as it was quite clear, that I could not fit the bike into that small gap. So after more hand waving,tongue wagging and shouting the Arabs do in this part of the world, they got a household fridge out of the way so,the gap was slightly bigger.
I suggested to the bystanders, that I needed 3 people on each side of me, to hold me upright, while I drive down. It all went according to plan, and when I got into the gap the bike was perfectly wedged between a mountain of boxes and some more fridges..... So I could eventually secure the bike. They brought the ferry back to it’s mooring, and we set off for Wadi Halfa. It was a comical situation, everyone got involved, and somehow with tempers flaring, and chaos, we managed to get the job done!
Now, if you see the barge you will understand how very concerned I was, as it very old and I guess very very overloaded! So I hope it makes it to Wadi Halfa, it was probably the most difficult thing for me so far on this trip, to be separated from my only source of transport. And that it’s not any guarantee of any safety or security in any way! What I have learned over the years is that Africa has it’s surprises, at least once a day in my case. We might be sceptical, but these locals have been doing this for many many years, so I trust that they will do it once more..The ferry is another matter altogether, they have boarded what seems
like the whole of Egypt onto this little and fragile ferry, first class not too bad (small dirty little cabins - bring sleeping bag…) and there is no next class, just spaces around benches and the open decks. Obviously people use the sitting benches, floors, open decks and also
the life boats to sleep in, they also use the life safety jackets to
as pillows. Washing facilities are the worst I have seen ever, it consists of three hand basins per deck, and what seems like toilet/shower…?
The desert landscape all around, makes up for all of this, its just Beautiful, and nowhere else in the world will you be able to see this.
Will pass Abu Simbel tomorrow! Can’t wait!
15 August 2010
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here in the Arab countries they havetheir Sunday on a Friday, and their rest day on a Saturday. Sunday (today) is a normal working day but it seems they take a second rest day as well because nothing is open??
The next part of my journey will be from Aswan by ferry on the Nile, South to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. If all goes according to plan, I will be at the West Dam at 10:00am tomorrow morning to start the long procedure of customs at the port. This I am told could take up to noon to get done, then I need to wait until they start loading the barge, and get my bike on, then I wait to board the ferry, which usually leaves on at 17:00 in the afternoon... From Aswan it will take about 17 hours, so Tuesday mid day we arrive in Wadi Halfa Sudan, by Thursday I might have my bike to proceed to Dongola - 362 km away, following the Nile, from there to Umm Rumetia - about 300 km then onto Khartoum - 238 km. This route takes me trough the Bayuda Desert, so I think its going to be the hardest part so far, I am not too sure what the road conditions will be like. Once in Khartoum I need to find out about the road South.
I might be out of reception for quite a while...
Will be crossing the tropic of Capricorn, a big milestone.
Went to eat some local fruits with a German traveller that converted to Islam many years ago. He have been travelling the world for 30 years looking to be closer to his creator, he lives from day to day an
d travel by small motorcycle... On the way back I walked into the man that swindled 20 Egyptian Pounds from me when I went for a horse and carriage ride. So I greeted him very friendly and held on to his hand taking my mobile out, and telling him in a very friendly way that I want to make a quick call to the police, his brother (the owner of the horse cart) heard me and came running over to ask what is wrong When he heard the story and saw my intention of calling the authority he immediately took the money out and handed it over... They make a living this way, they know that the tourists will never find them again, but unfortunately this time this one was no tourist! So I bought myself a nice big water with my newfound fortune, just to find out later its tap (nile) water and not distilled water, I did not notice the seal was broken when I bought it, once again, one up on me!
I got to the hotel and my jeans and t-shirt, which I asked to be washed after the accident (it was ruined with blood), was back from the laundry, it took only two hours, all the blood gone, and it cost a mere 3 Egyptian pound. That is about 0,5 usd! What a bargain, if I knew that I would have given all my clothes to them instead of trampling in the bath as I did with the rest!
Up early tomorrow, onwards to Sudan.....
14 August 2010
A bit stiff and sore today. Not as bad as I expected to be. I have managed to sort out the ferry, thanx to very meticulous post on the hubb (horisonsunlimited.com). So I found Mr Saleh in his office, he directed me to The Court, then I went to do the formalities of returning my Egyptian plates and took the paperwork back to Mr Saleh to puchase a ticket on the ferry to Sudan. The ferry leaves on Monday afternoon it will take about 17 hours, so I will be in Sudan by Tuesday noon. The bike goes on a seperate barge, it leaves at the same time but will take two days, so hopefully I will be able to see it again on Wednesday, hoping to start heading South on Thursday. A whole week to cross a border, its typical of Africa though.
My left front indicator was almost sheered off with the accident, the bulb also broken. I fixed it but needed a bulb, so I asked the firt man in the street that had a motorbike, he then insisted to take me to the bikeshop, so off we went, we found a bulb in notime, he even took me back to the hotel, and paid for the bulb and a spare! He did not want anything for it, that is so unheard of here in Egypt, thre are still some great people in Egypt.
Here are the details for The Nile Ferry Company
Mr Saleh Tarcourny
018-31 60 926
www.takourny.free-boards.net
13 August 2010
Waiting for the ferry will be a long and hard wait. Aswan is scorching hot, averaging 45+ Degrees during the daytime; so not going anywhere to explore betw
een 11:00 am and at least 20:00 at night. Being Ramadan the shops don’t trade in the day. The people have adapted to this routine, by opening their shops from 10:00 pm to the early hours of the morning. During the day they sleep.
I asked the hotel reception where the Nile River Ferry Company is, so they sent me to Egypt air, as supposedly it’s next door to them…well it
wasn’t.. So the Egypt air guys sent me in the right direction and I found the office on the other side of town, alas to find that there was nobody. I
managed to phone the contact person and he told me to come tomorrow at 10:00 am. So, here I wait till tomorrow. I will do my washing in the
mean ti
me, sweat and dust don’t go together very well in this part of the world, my white shirts are brown now, same colour as the sand dunes, so I blend really well in the desert now.
Went to look at tombs across the Nile, such beautiful majestically works of art, but just neglected, what a waste...surely one would think that they care more for their own heritage?
On my way back I came off the bike, due to sand blown over the paved road, not injured to badly, couple of scrapes and bruises, and the bike is not too much worse for wear. I will have to be more careful on these knobbly tyres, as they don’t do well on paved roads covered in sand!
Seeing the Ferryman tomorrow, wh
ere have I heard that before…oh yes, Chris de Burg song! Don’t pay the ferryman, that don’t work…(-:
Will have to see how sore I am after my brief attack by gravity today. Must admit, I have to say after the adrenalin wore off I can feel the pain quite seriously now. My hands on scraped, nock on ankle and hip, elbow and upper arm scraped, some ribs bruised, I have a few days to lick my wounds till I take on the real hard desert stuff in Sudan.
11 August 2010
Egypt, the country that never sleeps!
Trains still running at 2 am, my bike alarm has gone off twice already, when I went downstairs to investigate I found a film crew in the lobby of the hotel? Strange place, the manager tells me that they are shooting a folk law film, he has been cast as the manager of the hotel.Fancy that, he says its an easy job as he is the manager anyway..
Well, after a long day, I was looking forward to a nice quiet rest. Even on the 9th floor of the hotel, I have not slept a wink, and its almost time for breakfast, so if yesterday was a challenge, today is going to prove a bit of a bigger challenge, - 3:00 am. Hope to get some rest now... I did get a few hours rest, after 4:00am things seemed to settle down.
I left at 8 am this morning and just stopped for the day. It is 10:30 pm now - town called Quena. Another long day, don't even know how many km, but judging by fuel, maybe 400 to 500. The roads were OK, but the police stopped me constantly, and on many occasions i was escorted out of town. Wherever I stopped, an instant crowd appeared, all who spoke to me in Arabic, asking who I am, where i come from, where I am going to, what my name is, how much the bike cost and how fast can it go?!. This is stock standard at every single stop, even if I think there is nobody around, they just appear out of nowhere, and there is always someone who can speak little English, who translates all the questions. The novelty of these encounters is wearing thin, as i need to get to Aswan.
Tomorrow I will try to get to Aswan, to see what the ferry situation is. Ramadan started today, will elaborate some other time, as I am bit too tired tonight.
Saw on the news more trouble in South of Sudan, more news on that front will be more than welcome,as I might need to get a visa for Ethiopia then.
10 August 2010
It is my father’s birthday today, he passed away many years ago, he did the same journey with my grandfather in the sixties, he was only very young then, how he would have loved to follow me on my journey.
It is also my Uncle De Wet's birthday I think..? Well Happy birthday to all that have a birthday today, all sorted!
Got away late, not the early start as expected. Had quick breakfast at the hotel, the staff all knew that I was doing the trip, I don’t know how? Anyway they all wished me good luck. The head waiter told me how proud he is to be Egyptian; he said when he was still a little boy in school when he was told a story about Egypt. I will tell it as I remember it , and I will also explain his comments. Long, long ago in Egypt. There was a King that sent a hawk to investigate all the land to find a better place for the King to live. So the hawk went flying for a very, very, long time and one day came back... So the King said, did you find the best place in the world? The hawk said yes, let me show you, so he took the King in his claws and flew over the Nile until he came to a very big tree next to the water and landed there. So the King asked, why here? The hawk said, because I was born here! The Egyptian people are so proud of their land, they might not have much in wealth, but it is all theirs, and that makes the difference to them.
Well back to my journey. I left for Cairo, and went straight to the pyramids, as I arrived there, 180 km. Took some pics, and left for upper Egypt ( which in my mind should be lower Egypt as it is South on the map). Took a wrong turn, did a 200km round trip back to Cairo, got completely lost again, then found the road South, did another 300km, so I totaled about 700 km today (12 hours on the road) and ended up in a fair size town in a hotel in the center,across from the main railway station.The town is called Beni Seuf, and I think it is a military town??? Only 110 Egyptian pounds for the night, that is about 9 British pounds, not bad, a bit grotty but good for a weary traveler, as I feel tonight, I feel my age, and the great distance from home.
How I got to the hotel, is by the kindness of two Egyptian guys, who I chatted to while having a break and refueling. They simply refused that I pay for the cold drink and water I wanted to buy, and said I can follow them to a hotel they know in the city. Well, here I am with the best deal in town! I did expect much, much worse accommodation for tonight, but it has turned out great.
Today I drank liters of water as it was 40+ deg C. I put on factor 50 sunscreen and still than was not nearly good enough.
Stuffed pigeon on the menu tonight, will give it a miss, as they do have other more appetizing options, will leave it for when I don’t have a choice. Not squeamish about this sort of thing, but if I have better options, and will stick to that for now. Will have many challenges in the food department in the coming few weeks, I am sure.
9 August 2010
The day has arrived!
In four days I have learned so much about so many cultures, languages, people and what it’s like to be on a ferry! Priceless stuff I never even thought about when planning the journey. People are kind and helpful. One of the kitchen staff told me his life story, he is a divorcee, he has worked on ships all his life and had a small business transporting goods on the side. While on a ship journey working, his worker who drives his truck back at home, got drunk, while on duty and drove his truck into some houses killing two people. He then ran away from the scene never to be heard of again! So the authorities found out whose truck it was, and came after him! The owners of the house sued him, and he lost everything. He even had to take out a loan from the bank to pay damages. For four years now he had to work double shifts to pay it all back. Life is just not fair.
I saw some flying fish for the first time in my life. They were trying to get away from the hull of the ferry. Small little fish with wings, when they jump out of the water they seem like a swarm of insects, appearing out of the water, beautiful stuff. The water here is a bit greener than the bright blue water further North; I suppose it has something to do with the change in water temperature, not sure?
Soooo… the ship docked and Africa came crawling right up my nose, sewerage in the harbour.... Derelict ships everywhere. About 10 Egyptian police, officials, and whoever else came aboard to check us all through the system. After standing round for an hour or two we were told to head to our vehicles and drive off the ship to the checkpoint, there in the blazing African sun, they let us wait around, relieved me of 150 USD for the privilege to fit their ancient Egyptian number plates front and back. I did not know at the time, but I also bought a brand new drivers licence! Another two hours of faffing about, around my bike, about 7 times I was told how great the bike is. Someone offered to give me thee other bikes, and every new onlooker asked how many cylinders it has? Finally with new number plates fitted, we went flying through the harbour police sirens and all until we got to the gate into Alexandria. I was tossed into the chaotic of traffic, as only Egypt has to offer, as I blended into this chaos, being South African, and a bit overwhelmed by it all, I did not look left, I heard a shout, and as I looked left a horse was sitting on its backside in front of a cart. The owner, anticipating me riding into them, braked so hard, the horse slid on the oily tar and sat down. What a sight, I felt like an idiot and so,so sorry, for that poor horse..
I immediately decided to leave Alex behind; it took me 3 hours of driving through side streets to find the exit to the highway to Cairo, taking me right past another sewerage works, shoo…it reeks! I kept going and after about 60 km outside Alex, I found a Big Mac, where I had to stop and just take a breather. From there I turned off and found Hotel Africana, a nice hotel, a bit of an indulgence, as I will not see the inside of a proper hotel for some time from here on.
Tomorrow I will be up very early to join the chaos to Cairo, lets see how far I can get tomorrow, want to do at least 500 km to just get as far South as possible..
8 August 2010
Another day on the ferry! Getting quite bored,but being retrospective and a little bit of curious observation.
The ferry docked in Tartous, Syria at 11:00 am, to let off some passengers in 4x4 vehicles and some 20 bikers who will be traveling round Syria for the next few weeks. Amongst them is the German that shared a cabin with me for a while, he was extremely nervous. It will be a solo journey for him and he does not have the faintest idea of what to expect, where to go and what to do next.
Later in the day lots of people embarked, what seems like mostly Egyptians and Italians. One Italian family arrived in a big black Mercedes, immediately on arrival he was not happy to park his car where all the other passengers park theirs to disembark in Venice, Oh no! He wanted to have his car in the shade under the partially closed deck where all the cars are departing for Alexandria. It means that some of the cars will not be able to move tomorrow. The deckhand told him he has to move his car, he refused and gave him what seemed like €20, the deckhand refused! I was watching this from the upper deck. Then when the Italian had unpacked, he called the deckhand over, gave him a bundle of notes, and that was the end of it. Just when I thought I was good candidate as a deckhand. The Italian got what he wanted, by means of an 'African salute', or Rather an Italian bribe. So what happens tomorrow, time will tell, the cars will get delayed, so what? Once again Visemar lines proves to have a rotten apple in the mix, maybe this is acceptable standards, it will not affect me as my bike is downstairs...
Bribery in this part of the world is commonplace and sort of a skill, too little will offend, but everyone and everything has it’s price. Not always a bad thing, although mot recommended by Western standards, its sometimes unavoidable when it’s about survival.
Tonight I had the most satisfying experience, by talking to a hearing impaired Egyptian guy.Anyway he is an intelligent and cheery, very animated and quite a joker at that. Through his sign language, facial expressions and body language, I could sort of fathom what he said. I explained about my journey, and he was so impressed, he taught me his handshake, which consisted of so many moves I forget half of it!
I also met a lovely Lebanese family heading for Germany on the return route of the ferry to Venice, such nice people. So many different cultures on one ferry. Dutch, German, Italian, Egyptian, British, French, Arabic, Central American, and on it goes…it’s very colorful!
Tomorrow brings the start of my Africa leg of the journey! I will arrive in Alexandria at 14:00! Then the real fun starts, I cannot wait to be on my bike again! From here onwards is my motivation for the journey; I need to do this, to raise awareness for Riders for Health, raise funds, and to fulfill a lifelong dream
7 August 2010
Coming onto the ferry I thought to myself that 4 days of sitting and waiting to get to Alexandria will be a good time to reflect on what has passed and what lies ahead in Africa...
Not much comes to mind, I have planned and thought the whole journey through so many times in the last few months that I know too well what I think I should expect when I start the Africa leg of the journey. It will be a great celebration to me to be back on African soil.
My route will take me from Alexandria past Giza. I was there last, in the year 2000, at exactly the same time of the year as this time round. It was also in the time of Ramadan and I had only a few days to inspect various installations for work, and to slip away one afternoon to quickly see the pyramids! On arrival there we were told that there are no access as the site was closed for tourists due to Ramadan! What a disappointment, but a mysterious character told us he has a way in if we pay, so I agreed. He took us into a labyrinth of small streets until we arrived small square, and there he had three horses! I was over the moon, seeing the pyramids on horseback, the best experience ever; we went into the desert after secretly making our path past the security guards with an 'African salute'. We approached the pyramids from behind as the sun started to go down! Spectacular stuff... When we returned we met a group of camel herders, who insisted we go on the camels, wow, at a price of course. And on our return we had to have tee and buy some perfumes from his mother's shop before we haggled a price and he took us back to the vehicle. It was an experience of a lifetime. With this in mind I am not sure I want to replace those memories, I will head to Giza on my way past Cairo for some awesome recollection of their size and mystery, I will see when I get there if I should attempt the tourist route or just pass to see other wonderful sites along my path... and keep my memories of my previous trip in tact.
I need to get to Luxor and ultimately to Aswan to take a ferry into Sudan. I urgently need info on the political situation south of Khartoum...
This morning the German and I decided to speak to the ship steward about our shared room as we both booked to have private rooms. At the time of check in we were told that we have to share a cabin as there are no cabins left or ready. We accepted at the time, what you can do? So we confronted him, at first he tried to make as if we accepted and nothing further, so we argued, the German in his broken English, myself with a South African accent,and the Italian steward with his heavy Italian accent. It must have been a very comical sight as we drew a crowd of Arabic onlookers, not understanding a word, so the discussion got more heated, the German aggressive, the Italian apologetic for his mistake to mess with a German and me smiling at the cockfight going on! In the end I had to separate the German and the Italian, and we agreed that the German will be compensated and get his own room, I will be compensated and stay in my room and there will be no hard feelings! Lesson learned is that if they bundle you with someone else on Visemar One, don’t accept as they do have empty cabins, silly really. I was under the impression that they were overbooked, but apparently not, it’s a mystery and maybe the language barrier caused this whole confusion, one will never know. The German is still upset, the Italian is still licking his wounds and massaging his pride and I have my own room, all is well that ends well.
I met a student traveller today (Rosa not Rosie), she studies politics in London, and travels in the summer holidays, she is heading for Egypt to meet a friend and then onto Tanzania and Kenya to do a Swahili language course. She told me her mother is from Cape Town, small world.
Many little children on the ferry, it's amazing to see how all the kids get on, they are from different cultures and speak different languages but yet they play together and understand each other? How I miss my little one….
6 August 2010
After so many episodes with the police, I found a back road, parallel to the Nile, and could ride a further distance without any hassle. It was at least 45+ deg c today, the water looked so cool, but i did not dare take a dip,for fear of catching something,as the water seems very polluted. However, the further I travel, it seems to be getting a bit cleaner. The reason for the pollution, is due to the millions of people from Cairo to Aswan, that live on the banks of the river. It is literally a town one thousand km long!
I am starting to appreciate and understand two English sayings, parched and dog tired...
Had a splendid rest last night, got up refreshed this morning, sun shining blue sky’s and a beautiful ocean around me.
Breakfast consisted of a coffee, juice, croissant, yoghurt.
We had a very animated safety drill, imagine having to explain a complicated evacuation procedure in 5 languages at the same time. The ship steward did a fantastic job, with hand signals and some animation all 200 on board seem to have at least understand not to mess about in an emergency situation, that is if the ship is about to sink!
For future travellers on Visemar line I give the following tips:
Look at the Visemar internet site to see exactly where the ship will berth, it is not at the normal Venice port ferry terminal, and also not at the Margetha port on the mainland, it is next to Margetha port, no signs, no indication anywhere to lead you to the ferry at the time of boarding the ferry 5 Aug 2010. Very important, see their website.
You pay for your passage only.
Internet only at Wirless points in the cabin or Wifi in the canteen areas, you need a credit card and it is fairly expensive.
Mobile phone network available on the ship, very expensive call rate not receiving data, just calls.
Callbox, landline also available, so bring international call card if you want to communicate, I imagine this will be the cheapest option, call cards not sold on the ship.
They don’t have foreign exchange and only accept Euros and visa credit cards to buy food, drinks and to shop for sweets, cigarettes and a few small toiletry items available in their boutique shop, I did manage to pay in USD but they gave me a hard time and a poor rate.
As the canteen food is quite expensive, bring food and snacks.
Cabins not bad, I paid for a 2 berth cabin and when I boarded they put someone else with me as they ran out of space, so we both insisted on a partial refund, they agreed but I am not convinced it will happen.
The crew on board are very helpful.
The guy they put me up with is a German, just want to hear won click! He is also a biker and plan’s to take a two week ride through Syria. Very pleasant and quiet character, he disappears for hours reading a book. He survived a horrific motorcycle accident in 2006, head trauma, 7 day coma, most ribs and one arm broken, collapsed lungs and the works. All this because some stupid person did not look before the turned. Not good to hear these kinds of stories, but it will make me more alert!
See the sunset! Good night!
5 August 2010
I left today from the Mainland port from Venezia on Visemar One after 4pm, a ferry which will take me first to Syria, and then Alexander. Track my route as I cross the Mediteranean on http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=247281400. Just click on the Latitude / Longitude link which will time stamp the link to my exact route on Google Maps.
On my way finally! How exciting, but daunting at the same time. I feel butterflies but apprehention comes to mind, strange feelings.
Got up this morning still without certainty about where to board the ferry, I searched the Vismar line website one last time to make sure I
did not miss anything, but to no avail. I did stumble accross their ship marker on google as it is tracked in real time, that is how I
finally found the exact position of its berth! So I jumped on the bike, rode to the site and there it was, as if my efforts of the past
two days being sent from pillar to post never should have been an issue.
In my eagerness I followed a group of 4x4 vehicles, (they will be getting off in Syria) and missed the check-in point completely. Already
on the ship the ground crew sent me back to the start. Not a problem,check-in was easy, and I got back onto the ferry in notime.
Now, I have to wait 4 days before I set off for Cape Town! Not much to do...
4 August 2010
Still looking for the port of departure to Alexandria, how difficult can it be? Not good if you cannot speak Italian, the ferry booking website differs from the actual liner site, each port authority points me to another, still chaos...
Had a message from Tom whom I am meeting up with on the trip in Tanzania ( he is in Blantyre on his way to Kilimanjaro) He spoke to a guy who came through Sudan 3 weeks ago. He has advised me that it will not be possible to go through Southern Sudan! He said I should cross into Ethiopia then down into Kenya, will have to see what the status is when I get there. Hope there is some good news when I get there.
Tomorrow is D-day, so let’s see if I can find the ferry...
Had some time too see Venice, posted the pics earlier, interesting stuff, beautiful, but still a bit dirty too for my taste. They really aught to make a bit of an effort, but hey maybe its the whole idea to make everything look old as it should, as it is?
3 August 2010
In Venice
Did not do much today, went to the market to stock up on some provisions for the Africa leg of my journey. I have not find short pants yet, Italians only wear the weirdest stuff), spent half the day trying to find the port where I need to board the ferry! No luck yet, I am just amazed at how difficult it is to simply find the port, well better luck tomorrow.
Caught a bus into Venice late afternoon to scout a bit, first impression is that it’s very overrated and I have been too optimistic... Graffiti everywhere and its dirty! Would have thought that having a goldmine such as Venice the Italians might take a bit more pride to display what must have been a magnificent historical city. It does feel that the owners of Venice just don’t care anymore, people come and other people will come...so they just seem to be resting on their laurels…
Did get a Pinocchio for Shanel (my much missed 3,5 year old toddler), as Italy is the originator of this well known character, she will be over the moon! Cannot wait to see her reaction!
Pinnochio in Venice
Tomorrow I will scout some more till my departure and count the hours till my eventual departure Thursday at 16:00.
Counted 20 mozzy bites tonight, not even in Africa yet!
Thunderstorm and heavy rain at the moment, sounds like Africa, not there yet...
For those following, I am including notes about World Heritage sites in each country, In Venice it is the great canals. See
http://wikitravel.org/en/UNESCO_World_Heritage_List#Italy for all the sites in Italy.
To catch a ferry from Venice to Alexanderia costs about €265,but I still need to find the ferry!
2 August 2010
Near Venice, Italy (Going to catch a ferry to Alexandria)
From today I will be wearing one of my Riders for Health T-shirts that they so generously sent me for the journey, and I hope not to disappoint in raising as much as possible!
Italians, I don’t understand a word of their language, but somehow people here understand what I want when I order something..? We always almost get the right thing by swinging arms around and pointing and smiling. I had a breakfast ticket, so I showed it to the lady in the cafe, and she gave me very strong coffee and a chocolate croissant, breakfast? Not quite what I had in mind but hey I am in Italy!
Long, long, long straight road to Venice... Toll gates every so often and my Garmin GPs got quite confused close to Venice, she took me on a tangent and yet again the old map had to save the day, maybe with all the latest roads I don’t have the right updated maps. I got myself on the right track and headed straight for the Island and as I suspected it was organised chaos, so I turned back to the mainland and found a campsite, they have small cabins, so I opted for the more civilised option and booked a cabin (just a square caravan on wheels). Lots of mozzies have been bitten all over where I am not covered. As I booked in a Scottish couple and their son booked in across from me, they had all sorts of questions, first like always, are you south African, so I said yes... I listened through 15 minutes of stories of the lady who lived in South Africa for 20 years, lastly she said, those were the days it was the best time of my life, a bit teary eyed... Nice to hear, about us South African’s,we know we have the best, we just have to leave home for a bit to appreciate where we belong.
Not too tired today, although it was extremely hot on the way here.
For all the advice I received from all camps about my TKC 80 knobblies (off road tyres), I was told that I will destroy knobblies on the tar roads in this heat all the way from London to Venice, I was extremely worried, well safe to say there was no need to worry at all, with careful riding (with all my gear) I managed to get here and the tires are in near perfect condition, so whoever started the myth, either you were not careful or someone else misguided you as I was..
Did not take many pics today, as there was not much to look at except the cafes and garages where I stopped to refuel. Another funny
Episode…the coffee here is something else, wow. As I was doing only 100 km/h to save the tyres (thank you to all my advisers) I managed to get 20km/liter, now that is impressive, By doing this I effectively improved my fuel range from 300 to 400 km per tank, Lesson learned as I am quite sure somewhere along the way this will come in handy.
Tomorrow I have to at long last find an Internet point to upload the long promised pictures and videos, also I need to get some shorts, and the most important toilet paper (white gold) and water.
Thank you for all the people that joined me on twitter these past few days, wow what comfort it gives me that there are still so many people willing to recognise a good cause!
And all of you that are reading my Blogs, I hope to keep it interesting and will upload as frequently as possible...
1 August 2010
Late start today, packed up and left the campsite at 8:30. See pic of lake at campsite.
I headed for the alps, what a beautiful day, sun shining and everything is just so beautiful, so I stopped of at a Swiss cottage (see pic) in the mountains, set in the valley where a trade route has been established. I am told thousands of years ago, people from the far east used this mountain pass to bring trading goods to Europe, what a history. I met a couple from Bern, they are walking from Switzerland to Istanbul, and here I thought I am doing a crazy thing!
From there I continued on the small roads to into Italy, what beautiful lakes and scenes, Wow! The water in the lakes is turquoise, never seen that before! Italians everywhere on their scooters!
I found a campsite close to Milan, with a swimming pool, it is scorching hot here in Italy, very much look forward to
have a dip...
Tomorrow I want to get as close to Venice as possible, I could stay in a hotel, however being high season I doubt if I will be able to find a room, so staying on the outskirts will probably be sensible, I think.
Still have not come across proper Internet, I have a collection of pics and movie’s to upload! Will see maybe I will be able to convince the campsite manager to give me access to internet, which is if they have!
Camping for the past few days has shown me a couple of shortcomings in my gear, I have a multi-fuel stove that is more like a Morris Minor than a stove, very erratic, so will have to change it to gas. I did not have a proper knife (as its illegal to buy knives, let alone carry one in the UK), so I bought one at a garage in Switzerland, (Dankie tannie sakmessie for those who have been in the South African army!) Don’t have a proper pillow, will have to get one soon… I bought a lightweight towel from Outdoor Warehouse in Cape Town and at the time thought it will never do the job, it is simply fantastic, where the water goes I don’t know, it is so thin, but it works great, its light and packs away very small, highly recommended.
31 July 2010
Managed to push through to 30 km past Basel, Switzerland. At a
campsite on a lake, sort of a holidy resort, charging extortunate
rates due to the holidy season, but hey I am on holiday. Very tidy
stands, caravans and tents packed in like sardines, no open fires, no
camping spirit, just swiss precision everywhere you look, quite
ammusing... National holidy here tomorrow, lots of awsome fireworks
being set off all night long and all round me. Had a lovely big burger
with fries and a cold one, quite tired tonight.
I have taken some nice photos and video clips along the way, will
upload as soon as I can get to an internet cafe.
Tomorrow I am heading through the Swiss alps towards Italy, my aim is
to reach Milano, but who knows maybe another night under the stars high
up in the mountains where the cows wear bells? Whats wrong with that!
31 July 2010
Got away early, only because I could not sleep anymore! In Toul, france. Having quick bite, how do you order a burger in French? The last time I tried I got a raw patty with an egg on top!
Trying to get as close to Basel, Switzerland today, doing only country lanes where possible, as the main roads are filling up with the French exodus south..
30 July 2010
Stopped to camp 20 km from reims in france. Set up my tent and I am so relaxed, not tired at all. The campsite is 7.60, cannot believe how affordable it is. Will be up early in the morning to continue to Basel, taking a shortcut through the French countryside as the holidays start to
morrow and the roads are already filling up with british and french heading for the south. Everytime I stop to rest there are people comming up to ask where I am heading, bikers seem to be very approachable here, I guess now I am one of them?
I will try out my small tent, cookry stuff and dry food tonight, as a bit of a taster for camping in africa, will let you know how it all went.
30 July 2010 Leaving Dover
I got up at 5:30 to get to the ferry in time! I was the first one onto the ferry, sitting on deck waiting for departure....
I am in Dover, booked into a country hotel. Done 120 miles and the bike feels great. I finally feel that the adventure have started!
Tomorrow morning early I have to be at the ferry terminal to cross over into France..
Looking forward to a nice cold one. Not too tired, tomorrow will be a long day as I want to be in Reims, France tomorrow night.Click on the link above to view the video of my departure from W13 8EW,West Ealing, London
29 July 2010 — 29-Jul-2010 09:11:34
27 July 2010 — 27-Jul-2010 20:08:52
26 July 2010 — 26-Jul-2010 10:47:32
23 July 2010 — 23-Jul-2010 16:07:03
14 July 2010 — 14-Jul-2010 11:56:38
05 July 2010 — 05-Jul-2010 19:46:30
28 June 2010 — 28-Jun-2010 20:21:17
22 June 2010 — 28-Jun-2010 12:37:00
06 June 10:32 — 06-Jun-2010 09:27:18
14 March 20:50 — 26-May-2010 11:35:45
— 24-Apr-2010 12:48:40