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CHEERS
LUKE, PK & MARK

A sponsor of note...

Ok. So we are only about 5 weeks away from our departure date! We have set ourselves some deadlines, and we've been meeting them... well kinda. The DRC visa application has been sent off, seriously holding thumbs on this one! I've paid the cash into their bank account and our passports are floating around this country of ours somewhere, dodgy feeling!
We have been to KTM and given them a spare parts list, lets see what the outcome is there, we should be getting an answer today!
PK and I have had some serious crash bars fitted to the bike, see the pic below. Still got to be powder coated. Luke also managed to get us a deal on some carbon fiber protection for the fuel tank, brake discs and engine covers...


So the biggest news to date is our Garmin Zumo sponsor. Luke you beauty. PK and I are kinda wondering what Luke all promised this guy, he is getting us a bit worried... Another thing is the screens, they should be here any minute so we can fit that too.
I'm off to the Doc this afternoon to get our medical kit sorted out. We got the malaria kit sorted last Friday, each of us has a self test kit and daily malaria tabs, Doximal (spelling...) and Coartem
as a treatment. The Doc at the Travel clinic gave a moerse big soap to take along, it's a freebie! Thanks Doc!

Well, now everything has got to happen fast ... keep it on 2 wheels!

Off the traveller's back

I just managed to get some good info from Bjorn and some others staying at Ashanti Backpacker's - thanks for the tip Anne!!

Bjorn just rode the west coast of his Yamaha XJ900 - what a beast! His pannier frame broke too many times, the welding jobs look dodgy but got him here!

Here's some info he passed on:

• No Carnet required - just got Laissaire Passe at the border (sorry about the spelling)
• Got most visa's in the country before...
• Did not use the FISH system, which he does recommend though...?? It's having preprinted info such Passport number, Name, Job etc... listed on a paper ready to hand to the MD (main dog) at the border crossing...
• Places to stay:
• Cardboardbox in Windhoek
• Luanda - stay at Club Nautico (Yacht Club) on the Island of Luanda for FREE...
• Togo - Before Lome on the left, a place called Chez Alice - (00228) 2279172 - she is Swiss (lalala) chezalicetogo@yahoo.de
• Ghana - Just after Accra, Big Milly's (apprently there is a sign!!)
• Dakar - he was racking his brain for the name of the place and then said, just ride through Dakar, it's like a big car park, they have tenting facilities there... we'll look for it!
• Bamako - Auberge Djamilla - Badalabougou Sema 1, Rue Gamal Nasser (Recommended by the Swiss in the Pinzgauer)
  
• Routes:
• Cameroon/Nigeria crossing, used Ekang border crossing - there is a awesome route down to Calabar.
  
• The Swiss took the Brazzaville - Oyo route which tarmac then to Leconi which is the crossing into Gabon, this is a good route if there is rain...
• Bjorn took the route Brazzaville - Ludima - Doulelise and crossed at Nyanga. Hectic dust on the road and therefore not good if there is rain coming down...

That's just a bit of info - the rest we'll know when we're done!!

The Day PK got a bike...

PK has got a bike. This one is capable of doing the trip. A beautiful orange KTM 640 Adventure. Now he can join the crowd! He says he paid for it, although he did ride it out of Hout Bay on Tuesday evening in really dodgy weather, rain and gale force winds! I like the dedication. Someone saw him stopping at the robot (traffic light), holding on to the pole as his feet have difficulties reaching the ground. When asked for comment, PK denies this...

Luke has been a man possessed in recent weeks, he's been emailing and setting up an official website at www.africanwestcoast.co.za - we are still tweaking it at the moment but it's looking good already. We got some stickers printed for panniers, they look so nice and shiny at the moment, 1 week into the trip I bet they'll look well worn!

Here is the pic.



2.5 months to go. Yippyka-yay-m&^%$F&^%#$!!!

P.S. Go the bokke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sponsors

Today our first sponsor committed to our trip. Aerotrim will supply us with three screen extensions to fit our KTM 640's. Jacques (The MD- main dog) will fit the bikes with the product in September. Aerotrim's website= www.aerotrim.co.za

Other news - Bike SA has agreed to publish a short write-up in their September edition and follow our progress in subsequent issues while we are on the road.
BikeSA's website = www.bikesa.biz

PK has also been on the blower and spoke with RedBull and Camel smokes. Both are keen to supply us with their products; possibly some good bribing material for the border crossings.

So this hopefully is the start of many more sponsors coming aboard.

The low-down on the Carnet de Passage

We got some more information on the Carnet de Passage today. Here is the deal, AA South Africa say that there is a Rand 6000.00 deposit that must be paid upfront. The Carnet with 25 free pages costs Rand 2500.00 and is valid for 1 year - we need this one as we are travelling through about 19 countries. Processing time for the Carnet should be about 1 week... This Carnet is valid for Africa only, Rand 6000.00 is refundable once the bike is returned to ZA with the full Carnet.
The www.aasa.co.za website has got good information on it but it helps to speak to them. The forms that need to be completed are all available on the website.

As for the international driver's license, 2 passport pictures and Rand 110.00.

Crank that throttle...

Cape Point

Yesterday I joined 2 more Africa veterans on the last leg of their journey. Gert & Gert, yup, both from southern Germany did the last ride of their journey to Cape Point. They have already been here for sometime and decided to finish it off and get the last pics to post on their website. www.vonbnacha.de - they came down the east coast on their Yamaha XT 600's... in 7 months and 1 day.
It was another awesome day out on the bikes, would have loved to find some dirt to ride but no such luck. The ostriches at Cape Point took a fancy to running like lunatics alongside the bikes, the baboon's on the other hand just sat there eating and scratching...



And just a note, that we'll be off in 3 months and 12 days... and we don't have one visa!!

Pannier Pics...

Here are some pictures of the panniers. Once they are on they look a little small, but what the hell, maybe we'll end up taking less stuff along... wishful thinking.

A ride to L'Aghulas...

This morning we took a ride down to the southern most point of Africa to catch up with the Long Way Down team... Charlie, Ewan and Claudio. What a laugh we had. In Stanford we had a pitstop to warm up the frozen hands, after getting back on the bikes, the whole Long Way Down team came riding up with about 50 bikes in tow. We joined them and rode through to their next pitstop. Luke, Sandra and I were admiring the dirt on our bikes when Charlie and Ewan joined us, they did of course originally want to do their trip on KTM's... After the small talk and throwing in that we're doing the West Coast of Africa we got them to pose for our groupie picture... Claudio their camera man pulled up shortly after, with his daughter on the back. We had a good chat to him, this guy must have an awesome job, filming and riding around the world on the back of a bike... He had some damage to his bike because as he put it, he had to slam on the brakes after Charlie was doing some showing off on his bike... It all ended well, just a couple of bruises and nothing the Beemer (BMW) could not handle. The ride into L'Aghulas was a laugh, we were the only two KTM's in the BMW brigade, as we got to the southern most point there were about 200 riders lining the road, cheering and taking pictures, we just followed.
On the way home we took a detour via Elim on some dirt roads, had some mud to deal with and a bit of gravel but nothing to put us off... Seems we are getting better at this now! After Sir Lowry's Pass we spotted the convey of riders again, it had now included nearly everyone that was at L'Aghulas. We filed back in and rode through to Woodbridge Island. We had good company along the way, there was a Police vehicle clearing the way upfront and a chopper hovering left or right getting the best shots of us coming into town.
All in all, an awesome day out riding. We did over 500km's today, but on roads like ours and with this sunny weather it's fun. A couple of beers in Camps Bay ended the day nicely.

Visa Solutions...

Visa Solutions is the name of a new company we approached. They came back with the following:
Namibia no visa required

Angola visa is required

DRC visa is required

Congo visa is required

Gabon no visa required

Cameroon visa is required

Nigeria visa is required

Togo visa is required

Benin no visa is required

Ghana visa is required

Ivory Coast visa is required

Mali visa is required

Mauritania visa is required

Senegal no visa is required

Morocco visa is required

To sum it up, we need 11 visa's. I checked my SA passport and have found 14 free pages... a couple will be used up in the meantime so hopefully there will be enough space, otherwise it's back to home affairs... I'm waiting on an email to see how much it will all cost, perhaps we can get some of the visa's along the way. Fancy a bit of heckling at the border...!?!?

Out in Greyton

The first trip. On Saturday morning I clicked the panniers on the bike, all bright and shiny they are! I stuffed them full with the bare necessities and they were full, although I did take two 5l petrol tanks along. Luke and I cruised the N2 past Somerset West and over Sir Lowry's pass towards Caledon. Greyton is a short distance off the highway into the mountains. We came burning into the town, parked our bikes and walked round a little as not to disturb the tranquil peace of place.
Later that afternoon we set off to find some trails. We did. Luke led the way. First was a ride through some water, perhaps 60cm deep and some 6m long... I felt a little hesitant at first Luke powered through, done. So did I... the trail soon faded so we returned the same way, and it's a pitty there is no record of this, as half way through the water I lost direction started ploughing towards the 3m high reeds on the right, water shooting up left and right, I opened the throttle, more water was now entering my helmet and every other opening, I managed to get the bike back on track. Luke was enjoying himself, he had a good laugh... I was soaking wet. Time to get those motocross boots!
After flying along some dirt roads towards Swellendam, we found some track heading up the mountain. There was some hectic muds and deep dongas that nearly chucked us from the bike. We kept it under control, although on the steep decline with a muddy road it was difficult to control the bike. No serious damage to report. Riding these roads with these bikes is awesome, it seems this is what they are made for! The handling is awesome.
Sunday we took some back roads to Franschoek, via Theewaterskloof. The pass is great for cornering, some spots looked a little dodgy as they were damp. Riding on the tar with the KTM 640 comes with loads of vibration. Nothing we cannot handle though!

a new toy...

the panniers arrived... pk received them at his place today. i got wind of it round 19h30, there was not much happening at the laundrette except for my clothes tumbling around so i shot through to paarden eiland and picked them up. beauts! put all the pieces i could together already, like a kid with a new lego set.
the rest i'm gonna have to do when the sun is back out. i wish i could park my bike in my apartment, but there are a couple of tight corners... i don't wanna scratch her! the weather has been terrible for the last couple of days, so the bike has been taking a bit of a beating standing outside.
i'll put some pics up once the panniers are attached and raring to go! keep it real!

the wednesday meeting...

yesterday was another meeting. pk rocked up at my place a couple of minutes early. he was sick and also in a seriously foul mood. luke waltzed in seconds later with all his gear on, looking like he'd just stepped off the catalogue shoot! awesome stuff. pk's mood swung temporarily!
lukas brought us an awesome watertight kit bag to strap to the back of the bike. the gear from germany looks a good buy, especially the boots. i think they need some wearing in though as changing gears seemed a bit difficult... apparently the shower is the place to soften them up...
we stood in the kitchen wolfing down some hot dogs, luke ate the most. we are seriously starved of selection on biker gear in south africa, or at least cape town... the catalogues from europe depict shops full of jackets helmets and every single gadget for a bike.

onto the meeting! we checked out our immunisation card and found that the mad quack from the travel clinic seemed to have forgotten signing us off on the meningitis jab. also something about waiting 6 months before getting the second hepatitis b shot... need to look into that!
the next thing was the visa's. this will be a bit of a headache, we have already touched on the subject, we checked the bradt guide against the info given in the lonely planet and then again against what i got from phoning the embassies in SA. well, typical for africa, we got conflicting results. there are certain places where i just think we need to get the visa before hand. in many countries they say you can get the visa before entering the other, but that also takes time, which we'd rather be spending doing something else... the decision we came to was that we'd re-look the path of using a visa company, which i have once again emailed.
aahh... then there was the small matter of paying for the pannier's.... this huge amount of 6020.00 rand is what separates from having nice shiny aluminium panniers that are lockable, detachable, and can be knocked out in case of a fall or buying/manufacturing something that will just hopefully do the job, like maybe some canvas bags? it's time to decide...
i've redesigned the sticker slightly. when we get the panniers it should fit nicely on either side.

it's a bit of a sluggish time right now. there's still 5 months until we leave, which almost seems like too much, but then there is stuff to do and there's work, which is now going to start getting busy... motivation is a bit low, but it's part of getting this whole thing together. some stuff is fun and easy to do, others just seem like such a schlep. what makes it worthwhile is thinking of the adventure that is coming up... adios!

it's done...

the beast went in for the 5000km service. the lads at eurobikes in woodstock seem to have done a sterling job! the bloke there reckoned he had to stand on a can to keep his balance before he took her out for a test ride after the service... they seemed to have enjoyed tinkering around on the bike a bit too. the service cost was R1199.00. i mention all the costs so that just in case some other soul reads this blog, they will know what they are in for ... there is only so much u can budget for the rest you just gotta see for yourself.
the idea has been put forward to have the starting line on top on signal hill. what the hell, might be fun, especially getting some of our mates and family up there at the crack of dawn to see us off... that's of course if they could be bothered!
i share a picture with you...

a new angle...

i've been thinking, that since we are getting all the gear together, the bikes kitted out and planning the route so carefully... we should try and help in some other way. i think by just doing this whole thing it might just awaken some interest. i'm just throwing ideas around. getting a charity involved would be interesting. organising an evening where we show people the gear, the bikes, what it takes to get this whole thing organised. would people pay a small amount to come and look at the plan, so that money can be collected for a non-profit organisation?
shoot the idea down or give me an idea, i'm pulling at straws... it's not just about rocking up at some hall with the bikes and all the gear. we've actually put in the time to carefully plan this and it's been fun for us, that's the main reason to do it!! so just by doing something fun, there must be a way to get some interest going and be able to make a donation somewhere... could be awesome! lend us your brain!!

panniers... a twist

the previous pannier idea has been ditched. we had an engineering firm quote us on our design, it works out a little cheaper, but then there's this dude in PE who makes these panniers & brackets (thanks to the wild dog adventure riding forum). it works out about a grand more, minus the hassle of doing it ourselves. still this option is way cheaper than the KTM dealerships. they have been ordered so hopefully they'll be here soon and we can give it a test run...
it's time for my bike to go in for the 5000km service, will book it sometime this week. today in six months time we should have passed windhoek and heading direction Oshikango at the Namibia/Angola border... it's time for a ride!

something else...

here is a look at something else... last year jan/feb i spent about a month in nepal. after starting out on the wrong foot by getting ripped off on my taxi ride from the airport into kathmandu, i found myself a guide to go on the everest base camp trek (ebc). at the time nepal was ruled by the king and in some places marshal law was in force, i read more about it on my flight out after my visit. this also explained the few tourist in the country at the time. the aussies had actually put out a travel advisory to not go there... wussies!
well, i got my flight early into lukla (2784m) - met up with some german students and trekked with them and my guide arjun! he really badly wanted to be called a sherpa... but he just did not have the look. good oke tho. namche bazaar (3555m) was the first rest day and the last hot shower. the last bit up to namche is on helluva climb. but like i was to find out, all well worth the effort!
at tengboche (3860m) the monastry is awesome, the monk's have got a nice spot up there and it's the highest (altitude) monastry in the world. i spent an extra day relaxing there as i think i was suffering a bit from ams (acute mountain sickness). i was a bit worried as i felt sick, already so low down, one german turned back...
we pushed on to dinboche (4360m) - here i spent another day, the weather was spectacular. we also heard that 3 other people had died from ams, 2 of them from just ascending too fast... i figured staying put was a nice idea.
the next day we got to our last overnight stop lobuche (4940m). i stayed at the inn of the present base camp to namche, everest marathon champion. this guy was a machine. arrogant as hell. made good food and his place was tidy.
the next morning we headed for gorak shep, got some breki and then headed for base camp. this was the only day where the clouds were covering everest slightly. the trek to base camp is quite a short distance but the ground is loose gravel, lots of up and down and the air is a bit thin. base camp is a heap of loose rocks. there is no sign that says: "this is everest base camp"(5364m). we basically walked in circles a bit until we found a spot and said ok, this is base camp. we parked off near the crashed chopper and had an awesome view of the khumbu ice fall. there is no sight of everest from here but the clouds were clearing so we decided to head over to kala patthar peak.
what a walk to get there... we were all knackered by the time we arrived at the top (5550m). the view from there was worth every step. breathing was a little shallow, but the trek down was a laugh, although the leg muscles had started cramping and twitching. we got back to lobuche just before night fell and after a well deserved beer and a shot of everest whiskey i sodded off in a heart beat. the next morning, desperate for a piss and slug of water, i snuck my arm out of the warmth of my sleeping bag and found my water bottle frozen closed. i put on my freezing cold boots and went to the long drop, where i slipped on the frozen bog water lurking around this dodgy smelling toilet. luckily i caught myself! mr everest marathon champion was already awake and whipped up a bit of breki with some warm yak milk - puke!
the trek back to lukla went fast... in namche we had a bit of a bender. the real party started back in kathmandu, first was a massive meal, pizza, burgers, fruit and then washed it back with a mix of nepal's finest barley, malt, hops and water.
i still did a 3 day side trip to chitwan national park. this involved the dodgiest bus ride ever and a ride on an indian elephant. well worth it.
all in all an awesome trip and highly recommended. i just wanna get on the bike and go... enough of the planning. pk, sort that bike out dude!!

this is who's going... revision

pk was not too happy with my picture selection on his profile. so i scanned my hard drive for some new material. this, my friend pk, is what i have come up with! enjoy...

this is who's going...

i've mentioned that 3 of us are going on the trip... well here's a little background and some extra info to each one...

PK - also known as Pascal Andreas Kilchenmann. he reckons that he's quite the macho guy. Many people know him as "John". PK has been riding bikes for the past 5 million years, so he knows the drill. he runs a successful business in paarden eiland manufacturing acoustic ceilings. he's joined at the hip with lee (he wouldn't admit it, but they're a bit like pea's in a pod), his long time girlfriend. she is naturally stoked that he is going on this trip for a couple of months - NOT. dex, a husky, is the recent addition to the household, he's a bundle of non-stop energy. PK is yet to get a bike capable of doing this trip but our money is still on him joining us as we have ordered the panniers and they might look a little funny taped to the side of his car...
PK has done a fair bit of travelling. i've had some memorable moments with him, one being in Beijing, China. we had just walked for kilometres in the wrong direction only to catch a cab back to tienanmen square. we were tucking in to some KFC sitting on a ledge at one end of the square when a soccer ball came rolling over from a nearby match. PK, gently laid down his burger, fixed his eye on the ball, ran towards it and toe-poked it back direction soccer players... the shot curled sharply to the left where an unassuming petite chinese girl was walking in high heels with her handbag tucked in tightly under her arm, the ball hit her square on the head, knocking her stride - she squelched, swore at PK, who flinched momentarily then joined the bursts of laughter coming from the nearby soccer match. he has since retired from the sport.
Pascal is 29 and will hit the big 3 zero in january '08... we'll be on the trip.

Lukas - Luke Philipe Farrenkothen. he's been itching to do a trip like this for years and in some ways has been the instigator. he was the first to buy his bike, the blue KTM 640 adventure. when luke's not scanning the peninsula for a "narly" surf, he runs Cape Life Student placement with his girlfriend Sandra. they place european students, a.k.a FI's, in south african companies for work experience. luke has seen a lot of the world and so has the world, or at least Cape Town, of luke. he streaked down long street behind a tourist bus and won tickets to the 2003 world cup in korea & japan... that was before he smashed up his beetle's fender to even get into the next round... not known for his liking of the german football team, luke will be visiting the vaterland (deutschland) in june 07 and is banking on getting much needed gear for the trip. luke got a taste of africa last december, when he and sandra took on malawi. obviously he's still got love for the continent, even after shitting through an eye of a needle for 3 days and loosing about 5 kilos... he got the e-coli jab at the doc last week with little persuasion...
Luke is 28 and will be a legend to have on the trip...

Mark - Mark Daniel Steinbach - host of this blog and the third on the list... i think this adventure bug bit me when i went to nepal in feb'06... sign up to keep updated on the blog...

a full circle...

today i spent another 870 bucks at the travel clinic... and finally we are done... so, all in all, 2780 bucks (ZA Rand) have been spent, and what do you get?? a sore arm and a white piece of paper with stamps in it and a doctors messy hand writing, i really dunno how anyone, especially those knowledgeable border guards are going to read it??
anyway, now we can drink cholera invested water, not bother about getting e-coli and let a dog or a flippin' hyena bite us and we should be good to go in the morning. (jeez I wanna read that part after we get back!!)
malaria is the last thing to still sort out... bascially we will take a self-test kit along, comes in a fiver pack (bonus!!) - feeling ill?? prick the finger, if you test positive take some helluva expensive tablets to get you right and head to the nearest doc... ugh!

i nearly forgot - got some gear on the weekend, thanks to nicole (my sister), she brought back an awesome KTM jacket, gloves, tankbag and kidney belt... gonna put it to the test soon...

dune run...

the last two saturdays we spent riding the dunes in atlantis... the first time out was messy, spent most of the time in first gear struggling to get anywhere. we met up with some boere okes, they where flying around on their quads, popping wheelies and ramping off dunes... we joined them for a "knaetzie" (klipdrift and coke) - its was around 11am, but it helped the confidence a bit and the ride back to the road was a little easier.

yesterday we went off again, this time screwed off the mirrors and we went at it harder! what a jol! laid the bike down a few times but started to get it right... hit second gear, standing up on the pegs, knees hugging the tank and arms out like chicken wings, we just gave it horns. i took fall trying to corner a bit too sharply, its such a mission picking the bike up out of the sand! luke chose on of the biggest dunes (about a 30m drop) around and as he got over instead of gasing it, tapped the brakes half way down, the front wheel dug in and so he ate sand through his helmet!

definately getting the hang of it more, but need some gear to have more protection and a knobbly back tired would'nt hurt... what a rush... will put up some pics soon!

medical stuff...

my arm hurts. got some more vaccinations today. this was round 2. round 1 happened a week ago and today was the follow-up. so far we got jabs for Rabies, Polio, Typhoid and Hepatitis A&B. today were the follow up shot for those (except Polio) and we got the cholera drink. it was a bit nasty, pascal sipped it until there was a little left, swirled it around in the glass and enjoyed the last gulp.
besides my arm hurting, this has set me back 1900.00 bucks - and we still gotta go back in 2 weeks time... hopefully my arm and the bank account will recover a bit by then... its time to stay within the budget...

the machine... now a pic....

the panniers....

panniers directly from KTM with the frame would set me back a cool R12'000, so basically that idea just flew out the window. the actual panniers are made by touratech, they look awesome, and seem to do the job, although the swedish dude I spoke to showed me his and they started tearing at the points where they were fixed to the frame...
so basically PK & I sent a couple hours the other day making the whole thing out of cardboard... seems like a winner here. we made a pannier first, then made another one coz the first one was too big. the frame also needed to be made so we jimmy'd the cardboard again and made the frame. basically we now have template to take to and engineering firm and ask them to make it out of metal. we are opting for the metal vs tubular (KTM's ones are like that) as we have no idea as to where we can have that made in CT. The metal will be 3mm thick - this however will certainly be heavier than the KTM/Touratech stuff...

another meeting...

these meeting are getting boring but something always comes of it...

visa processing firms:

The Visa Shop Cape Town
021:421-1059
visashopjnb@worldspan.co.za
description:Visa Processing


Youth Traveller
021:4394499
edv@corporatetraveller.co.za
description:Visa Processing

the gear...

this is most probably the most important part of all... the gear. protecting oneself on the bike with good clobber is vital. so far all I have bought are pants and a helmet, which does not speak for much, but on the flipside this gear is expensive. the touring pants set me back around 2grand. my matt black airoh helmet was a cool 2200, which is not a bad price. I've got some kit coming from Switzerland, touring jacket, a pair of gloves and a kidney belt, which could be useful when the roads get rough.

today I saw some awesome thor boots for 1750, they looked pretty good and a body armour set for 685 so that looks like the route to go and then I pretty done with protection... I think.

i'm itching to do a little trip...

the machine...

KTM 640 Adventure LC4 2006...

it's a single cyclinder, 4-stroke engine with a displacment of 625cc... although with my aftermarket pipe I get a little more!!
some equipment needs to be added for the trip, so far I have only managed to buy a tankbag...
pics to follow...

Who needs a visa...

• Gabon - if your South African no visa is required, 1 month stay
  
• Ghana - they said they would fax the forms to me... and they did!! - not issued at visa - TO DO!
• The Gambia - just in case we decide to go - Fax copy of passport, length of stay and reason for visit to 011-7840790 Att: Joy, they will issue a letter which will allow us to obtain a Visa at the border... you gotta love Africa!
• Namibia - for the visa section please press 1.... no answer
• Nigeria - We need to write a letter to the Nigerian High Commission introducing ourselves, pay Rand 400.00 into their Standard Bank Account at Arcadia, then send to them the deposit slip, with 1 passport photograph & the Passport and voila, you should receive your passport back within 3 working days... - not issued at border - TO DO!
  
• Cameroon - www.camhicom.co.za - I can't wait to get all those "requirements" ready!! - 80USD - no visa req for Germans, not issued at border - TO DO!
  
• Central Africa Republic - 011 970 1355 - check for latest update.
  
• DRC - letter of invitation... 2 passport photo's, 15 day visa = R750.00 (might need an agency to sort this one out!) - not issued at the border. Lonely Planet says you can get a visa if you come by boat from Kinshasa - TO DO!?
  
• Republic of Congo - 012 342 5508
• Cote d'ivore - 2 colour passport photos, letter reservation (hotel), vaccination yellow fever R500.00/single entry R1000.00/multiple entry. when I told them we were travelling overland by motorcycle, he asked me where I was going to sleep... - not issued at border - TO DO!
  
• Mali - R400.00 - Letter of invitation, 1 passport photo, 3 days to process - not issued at the border - TO DO!
  
• Mauritania - 2 colour photo's, R450.00, Dianh said she would call me back... she did, and will fax through the application forms, R450.00 - not issued at the border. TO DO!
  
• Morocco - 012 343 0230 - do not require a visa! 90 days issued. need to use EU & Swiss Passport.
  
• Angola - 021 425 8700 aasafaris@netangola.com - R750.00, letter of invitation, motorbike colour, number plate, passport number... this sounds like a complicated one... - swedes says they got a visa at the border. books say not issued at border. 2 weeks for issue. TO DO!
  
• Benin - YEEHA, no visa required for South Africans! - issued at the border if required!
  
• Burkina Faso - will fax the details... and he did!
• Togo - No representation in ZA... great! - required for all - border may issued 48hr pass.
  
• Senegal - YEEHA again, no visa for us South Africans! - not required for EU.
  

puke!

the route...

this is the route - don't hold me to it, it may change, it is Africa...

1. South Africa
2. Namibia
3. Angola
4. DRC
5. Congo
6. Gabon
7. Cameroon
8. Nigeria
9. Benin
10. Burkina Faso
11. Togo
12. Ghana
13. Ivory Coast
14. Mali
15. Senegal
16. Mauritania
17. Morocco

got info on any of these spots... leave us a comment.

to do list...

haha... the to do list

the first point is easy:

• Pascal - get a bike that can handle a dirt road... your MV Agusta looks nice, but it won't do.

Now that we have already had some meetings, although some ended with as many empty beer bottles as countries we want visit, they have yielded challenges...

mark to do:

• basically I have to organise where, how and when we get our visas for each country - with a swiss, british, german and a few south african passports it won't make it easier, but more fun...
• I also need to copy the maps out of the National Geographic African Adventure Atlas... there are lots of roads in Africa, just need to find a good one...

luke to do:

• luke has got to organize the shots - so, we all better ask mommy what shots we already got... I know I've had Yellow fever, got an extra shot at Sao Paulo Airport once, at a hefty price!!
• carnet - luke has looked into it, after I spoke to the Swedes, they reckoned it was useful to have one... check out their site http://www.tour-africa.se

now we can keep track of whats being done and not..!

the logo

just to show that we are serious... I mean really, not every idea has an identity like this...

this is where it starts

ok. so this has been the idea for way way to long... finally 3 of us have decided to set a date to this trip. On December 1, 2007 - we are gonna be at the start line (undecided until now). the trip is up the west coast of africa, with the ultimate goal being the straits of gibraltar. finally this is not only talk but actually happening!!

so spread the word about this blog... you never know what might come of it!