http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/african-raid/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from african raid en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:44:25 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:44:25 +0000 The Benin border formalities were a breeze......so much so that we mistakenly didn't even get a tourist visa at Immigration on the way in We'd been riding around the dusty border town zipping in and out of Nigeria and Benin there is no sign of an actual border let alone some sort of barrier just trying to find both Immigration and Customs when we finally found what we thought was the Benin Im http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Eastern/blog-257007.html Referring to the title well you could first of all get yourself and your mode of transportation to somewhere in Nigeria where you can fix it.....lets try the capital city of Abuja.After spending the night in Ekom I got up on my Birthday before 5am and walked to the bustaxi stop they call them Parks here i.e. Taxi Park to organise transport to Abuja the capital of Nigeria. Still with no in http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Nigeria/Yankari/blog-240407.html It's all part of the trip people say about breaking down.......but why did it have to be in the middle of a two day jungle crossing between Cameroon and Nigeria.......Flying into Douala on the west coast of Cameroon reminded me of the Apocalypse Now movie the wooded and thatch huts surrounded by flooded jungle and a dense thick humid air. Not really the type of scene that wants to make you l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Cameroon/West/Mount-Cameroon/blog-233188.html An adventure north of a different kind this time by public transport. We left the motorbike behind at Jungle Junction in Nairobi. 'Broken down' doesn't feature in the BMW motorbike handbook so we prefer to use the term 'waiting for parts'. Actually this was the case. The bike had been running terribly for a month and getting progressively worse. I didn't really have my broken toe up resting http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Amhara-Region/Gondar/blog-233134.html EAST COAST IS THE MOSTWell not exactly the east coast but more like East Africa that has an abundant supply of activities for the unsuspecting tourist to spend their hard earned money on Not that this is a bad thing itrsquos just hard to justify spending US 400 per day per vehicle to cross through the Ngorogoro Crater National Park for exampleWell this blog begins much further south than http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-226275.html It's great when you have three days of motorbike riding madness in front of you to remember that when the destination is reached you can reap the rewards of cheap fresh seafood and even more refreshing cocktailsLeaving the delights of Malawi was comforted by the fact that the women were even more beautiful in Mozambique flaunting outrageously brightcoloured kangas and matching headdress....slig http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Northern/Mocimboa-da-Praia/blog-206396.html We had a quick taste of AfricanPortuguese crossing northern Mozambique for two days en route to Malawi our proposed chillout destination. It was a beautiful ride through Tete region in Mozambique and trying to speak Portuguese Mozambique's national language really wetted my appetite for more of this Latin influenced almost flirty by nature country. After spending time in Zimbabwe there http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Lake-Malawi/blog-195326.html Dodging the constant barrage of goats cows donkeys dogs and people on the road was a gentle reminder that we had arrived within the boarders of Botswana. A couple of days of relaxed riding brought us to Maun a good base for exploring the Okavango Delta set in the southern region of this 'World wonder'. Trips into the delta on a makoro dug out canoe turned out to be ridiculously expensive http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/North-West/Okavango-Delta/blog-172514.html After a typical late start we headed east along the coast to a campsite in Hermanus which was packed full with redneck Afrikaners getting their Easter fill of barbecued Boerwors a traditional South African sausage whilst scouring the 'outsiders' with distaste...well that's the way it seemed at the time anyway Maybe it had something to do with turning up late the night before leaving the motor http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-164847.html Walking out of the Quach's Nek borderpost I tilted my head against the galeforce winds to see orange pieces of plastic on the ground...strikingly similar in colour to the bikes indicators. Yep the wind was strong alright and had blown the bike over much to the bemusement of onlookers. Battling against the wind we rode through the beautiful landscape Lesotho provides to Sehlabatebe National http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Lesotho/blog-164870.html Of course it's taken me just shy of three months to get a blog set up...nothing like rushing through life I better start way back in early March when we left a table full of empty boozebottles at our Wellington flat after packing lastminute with a hangover only free booze on the preemerging flights could cure After a brief stop in Bangkok airport reminiscing about excellent massages and Asi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-162438.html