Mind made up, plans formed, promises made, bikes been prepped and savings account filling.
It’s official. A few months ago I made my mind up to ride from here in the U.K to Capetown, South Africa.
It’s a trip i’ve been thinking about since I got back from South America in May 2008. I’ve been motivated and managed to clear my debts (mostly) and buy and prepare the bike which will be my faithful steed.
As you all know, Africa is pretty wild and can be very dangerous. Sure, i’m nervous and a little scared but I think that’s just fear of the unknown. I was “bricking it” thinking of going around South America. While sketchy at times, my fears were unfounded and i discovered nothing but the friendliest people and the most breathtaking of scenery.
I think peoples opinion of Africa is mostly of war, famine and corruption with the odd Safari park and a bit of sand in the North. I can say this because it’s an ignorant opinion I had myself until I started travelling and opening my mind to the world a little.
In fact, its probable the most beautiful, rich , ancient and interesting and diverse continent on the planet. Full of nature, history, a huge variety of culture and languages. Huge moutain ranges with wild waterfalls to arid deserts and miles of open plain and grasslands. I can’t even start to tell you what I’ve learnt about Africa with only a little research !
So it’s on this virtue that I believe the riches has to offer me in terms of culture, wildlife , diversity of landscapes and counties FAR offsets any risk of Kidnap and violence.
June 2007, Ripley Derbyshire – HU meeting ! Thats where I bumped into Neil Gonzalez. He had the same bike as me with a tank I was looking for and that got us chatting. Plus, I wanted to know where he bought his comedy wig (turned out it was his real hair… ooops ) 😉
We got chatting about travelling and realised that we were both in the same boat. We have travelled a fair bit ourselves but were looking for a travel buddy to do a longer, crazy and more adventurous trip. Since we couldnt afford a BBC camera crew, the SAS, a medical team, aspare parts backup trucks and fresh laundered silk undies everyday to look good for the media , we decided that we could hook up and think of a trip together.
While generally talking crap about ourselves, bikes, the world via the internet, we talked over riding through Eastern Europe for a while but mutually decided that it was far too easy and not much of a challenge for our 400c Enduro bikes, so Africa became the plan..
“Do it now, while you’re young enough to bounce and heal” was pretty much the logic behind it all 🙂
So, we have decided on a September 2010 departure date. The route so far (but liable to change at anytime lol) is :
Uk – Spain – Sardinia – Italy – Greece – Turkey – Syria – Jordan – Egypt – Sudan – Ethipia – Kenya – Tanzania – Milawi – Zambia – Namibia – South Africa.
Easy huh.. Should take about 4-5 months !
So hear we go ! The blog is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!