Africa by Motorcycle

A lot has changed since I put up my original route planning post so I thought it best to post again.

The current plan is to leave the UK at the end of March/beginning of April 2015. The route will be:

UK – France – Spain – Morocco – Western Sahara – Mauritania – Senegal – Gambia – Senegal – Mali – Ivory Coast – Ghana – Togo – Benin – Nigeria – Cameroon – Gabon – Congo – DRC – Zambia – Mozambique – South Africa

The route avoids the Ebola effected countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, I would aim to be in Cape Town by the beginning of July 2015.

All are subject to change as borders open/close or local situations develop or subside.

I have been to see the practice nurse at the local GP surgery and come away several hundreds of pounds lighter, an arm full of needle holes and an appointment to go back for more.

My tetanus/diptheria/polio was boosted a few years ago and I did receive the usual childhood jabs so those are all OK.

I am getting/have been given:Yellow Fever, Rabies, Hepetitis A and B and Typhoid jabs. I will get oral cholera protection shortly before I go and will take malaria tablets with me, I have chosen Mefloquine. I have not yet decided about the menengitis jab.

As I have had a needle phobia all my life, I am really pleased with myself. I think I should have been given a gold star or a lollipop!

Preparation for the trip has started in earnest now. Mainly this has involved spending large amounts of money.

So far I have:

BIKE

Bought the bike, a 2012 Yamaha XT660Z Tenere with 9000 miles on the clock but in showroom condition. The bike came with Yamaha hard panniers and hard top box. I have had a few ride outs on it and am getting used to the height. I am used to riding a large sports tourer which is lower. I have even been out with Amy on the back.

Bought a new helmet – a Caberg Tourmax. I have also bought a bluetooth headset for it so I can listen to music from my phone and the GPS voice commands. I also installed a mount and waterproof case for my phone (used for GPS as well) and wired in a charger lead for it.

Replaced the side lights and number plate lights with LEDs for improved longevity and reduced power consumption. I am not going to bother with the indicators as I understand they may need ballast resistors as the bike has blown bulb detection circuitry for these.

Installed a Scotoiler.

Installed a trickle charge battery conditioner for when parked in the garage.

I have ordered the touratec side stand foot and the pannier mount base plates and water/fuel carriers that I will attach to the Yamaha panniers. This will allow me to externally mount a fuel can and a water can to the back side of them. I have also ordered the Yamaha centre stand.

Spares: I am starting to collect the essentials (filters, bulbs, tubes, chains, cables etc.) at the moment these are all going in a big box. I will eventually try to find small crevices and spaces on the bike to store many of them.

ROUTE PLANNING AND DOCUMENTS

I have finalised the route down the West coast of Africa that avoids the areas now effected by Ebola. I have also researched visa and inoculation requirements for each country en-route. Most visas area valid from date of issue and can be obtained in surrounding embassies so are best obtained en-route. Exceptions are the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria which seem to be best obtained in your home country. I need to do these a month before I go. I have also applied for a second UK passport due to the number of visas required and the length of time taken to get each one.

I have contacted my doctors and filled out a form about the trip. I now have to wait for them to come back with a programme of inoculations.

I have been researching routes and software to store the routes and help with the planning. I think I will use tripit as it gets good reviews and having played around with it it would seem to do what I need.
Routes across europe are plentiful. After that most people seem to choose going through russia rather than Iran. I have read several blogs from people taking both ways and at the moment I think I prefer Turkey, Iran and the Stans (look at a map to see what the Stans are) with the current tension with Russia over Ukraine I think avoiding that area is best.
The next bit is where it gets tricky. Travelling through or anywhere near Afghanistan is a non starter. The only viable overland from here is to enter China. From there you can get to the top of Pakistan and then into India. Alternatively you can go across the top of Tibet and into Laos. China insists all foreigners are escorted so that means riding in a group and handing over lots of money. The problems get worse on the other side of India because you cannot get into Burma to get into Thailand again entering China and being escorted is the only overland option.
I have found a uk company offering escorts through China in September 2015 but the price is about ┬ú3k for a dash across to Laos or ┬ú6k for a month long tour in China finishing in Thailand. I don’t know how much it costs for an escort to Pakistan but I think I read about ┬ú 800 somewhere.
If I go the Pakistan route I could opt to get the bike shipped to Bangkok from Calcutta or even ship it home and fly to Perth.
Hmmmm. I need to think about this.