Solo by motorbike from Cyprus to South Africa: Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique (maybe...), Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa.
'Antsy' in Tanzania I have a confession to make. I'm losing the blog spirit somewhat. (You may have noticed... it's been long enough since my last installment). And really there isn't actually that much to tell. I mean I've driven around northern Tanzania, spent a few fabulous days on Zanzibar, meandered my way through southern Tanzania to 'the lake' and have now spent 3 weeks (!) in Malawi, but (and I think this is key really), I haven't actually been doing very much. In fact if you discount the standard trappings of the beach bum life-style, I've been doing more or less nothing at all - enjoyable certainly (don't think I'm complaining!), but not exactly the makings of a riveting web log. In any case, I'll give you a rough outline of my route and share ... read more
Peponi So where was I? Tiwi beach... It's been a beachy few weeks... And a wet few weeks. After no rain at all for 3.5 months I certainly seem to have caught up with it and it looks like I'll be stuck firmly in the middle of it for some time. In fact I don't really mind all that much. So far the rain has been predictable - mostly late night/early morning - and even when it does come down during the day, despite the invariably ferocious deluge, the sun is usually out moments later, drying my clothes and re-baking the muddy earth roads. Tiwi itself was more or less dry the whole time we were there. It rained only the once overnight and then only a little and by the time the ceaseless ocean wind ... read more
Leaving Nairobi. Again In the end I was another week in Nairobi, where I settled happily back into recovering from my illness with the tried and tested regime of cold beer and rare meat. In between torrential downpours, I managed to fit in an oil change for the bike, cleaned my air filter and caught up on a few other minor bits of maintenance. For the most part though it was all about the beer and meat, including a slightly disappointing trip to the much vaunted ‘Carnivores’ restaurant, and otherwise sitting about musing on how much water my tent could realistically be expected to repel before becoming waterlogged and uninhabitable - quite a lot it as it turned out: I was kept surprisingly warm and dry throughout. A brief aside on ‘Carnivores’: Carnivores is a well ... read more
Arusha Hard to believe, but it was more than a month ago now that I first left Nairobi and drove South to see the ‘Mad Max China Races’ in Arusha. After the exertions of Lake Turkana I had spent the previous week doing nothing more energetic than popping open bottles of Tusker beer and grilling steak. Pleasant as this was, I was getting restless. It was time to get moving again and on Friday 19 February I set off for Arusha, a drive of about 5 hours with an hour or so factored in to get through the border at Namanga. The road out of Nairobi was potholed and bumpy but with wide views over thick, grassy savannah and scattered Acacia trees. Road-works were constant and the potholes were broken with intermittent inviting ribbons of smooth, ... read more
Lake Turkana ...continued... So the guy on the border was very relaxed and after our previous rather tense night it was good to feel welcome and at ease again. We waited for him to get his pants on and he made room on his little bed for us to sit while he had a quick glance at our passports and radioed something to someone on the ancient looking set stacked in the corner. 10 mins later we were good to go and so off we went, following what could barely be called a track through the low bush and into Kenya. The first stop was to be Ileret, a little village about 80km South and set back from the lake on a small, sandy hill. There we were to check in with the local police and ... read more
Leaving Addis Well it's been a while since my last update. Almost a month. In fact it wouldn't have been quite so long if I hadn't deleted - without saving - my previous attempt last week; an idiocy so depressing and annoying (it having taken most of the day to write!) that I have been putting this second attempt off until now, knowing that if I don't write something soon, I probably never will again. The draft I deleted was undoubtedly some of my best work: witty, poingaint, overflowing with insight. In short, a joy to read. Obviously any shortcomings you find with the below are simply down to fatigue at having to attempt such heroic efforts again and I can only ask for your patience and understanding. So let's try this again... My last update ... read more
Ethiopia I left Khartoum in convoy with my German and Welsh friends and we took the tarred main road South East with the landy in the lead and cruising along at a comfortable pace. The plan was to cover about 500km, aiming for Gedaref and then pull off somewhere just before the city and free camp near the road. Unfortunately one of the little girls of the German couple developed a high fever and we were delayed sometime while they checked her out for Malaria in one of the towns about half way. This set us all back a bit and with the German's fire truck only going about 80kmph we were about 150km before Gedaref and 100km short of our planned stop by the time evening came around. We found a good, quiet spot to ... read more
Sudan Well here I am in Khartoum! In my last update I was just dashing off to get some last min stuff done before getting the ferry from Aswan to Wadi Halfa the next day - 4 Jan. The ferry ride was great. In truth it got a bit stale towards the end, after 28 hours on boat and queuing for ages in the hot dinning room to complete the police checks and passport control, but all the beaurocracy aside, the actual ferry ride itself was good fun. The key I think was securing a good spot under one of the life boats so that I was both out of the sun and out of the way of people going to and from the galley and toilets. During the night the deck was completely covered with ... read more
Cairo to Aswan So it's Sunday 3 Jan and I'm in Aswan, waiting to catch the ferry tomorrow to Wadi Halfa in the Sudan. The bike is already on another barge which (hopefully!) left yesterday and providing it doesn't sink should arrive in Wadi Halfa with us on Tuesday, although nobody can guarentee when either the passenger or vehicle ferry will get to Wadi Halfa. Insha'Allah it will get there... Insha'Allah on Tuesday :D Should be good fun though. I have a deck class ticket which apparently entitles me to the scrum of securing a spot on the deck with I dunno how many other people and spending 24 hours or more up on top in the sunshine and then under the stars. I have my little travel hammock with me and am hoping to get ... read more