Author Topic: Africa Raw Paws (Read 8500 times)

Hubs640 · « **Reply #100 on:** February 15, 2013, 02:41:31 pm »

Chickenbadger - that looks like an awesome trip! A few pointers if you want
- There is a ferry that runs from the Tanzanian side into Zambia over lake Tanganyika[sure I spelt it wrong] which is said to be awesome - that is the longest lake in the world.
- That top section of Zambia will be extremely muddy now - we did the beginning of the rainy season and only managed 100km a day in some area's...tough going,but good fun.
- Not sure what your time frame is,but allow for plenty along lake Malawi - that lake is beautiful! Cool places to visit is Mushroom Farm near Livingstonia , Majorca Village in Nkata bay and then Cape Mclear in the south - best diving!
- Do you plan to do Vic Falls? The river raft is a must....theyhave specials there...river raft and gorge swing for $80 and its loads of fun
- Check my rr about places in Caprivi strip - that Ngepi is also a must...very cool place

And don't be stressed dude - I only learned how to ride 1 year before I did my trip....a.t.g.a.t. and you will be fine. Oh - Tanzania and Malawi do not have unleaded...they have Super which is like 95,but just worse.

Hubs640 · « **Reply #101 on:** February 15, 2013, 02:47:32 pm »

Chickenbadger - Oh and an important thing - there was still some civil war going on in DRC when we passed through Zambia with Zambian soldiers patrolling the border for DRC dude's that come over to cause K@k....find out what the status is before you go and do not go too close to their border....your bike will look like a nice year end bonus.
How many of you are going?

chickenbadger · « **Reply #102 on:** February 15, 2013, 03:06:09 pm »

Quote from: Hubs640 on February 15, 2013, 02:41:31 pm

Chickenbadger - that looks like an awesome trip! A few pointers if you want
- There is a ferry that runs from the Tanzanian side into Zambia over lake Tanganyika[sure I spelt it wrong] which is said to be awesome - that is the longest lake in the world.
- That top section of Zambia will be extremely muddy now - we did the beginning of the rainy season and only managed 100km a day in some area's...tough going,but good fun.
- Not sure what your time frame is,but allow for plenty along lake Malawi - that lake is beautiful! Cool places to visit is Mushroom Farm near Livingstonia , Majorca Village in Nkata bay and then Cape Mclear in the south - best diving!
- Do you plan to do Vic Falls? The river raft is a must....theyhave specials there...river raft and gorge swing for $80 and its loads of fun
- Check my rr about places in Caprivi strip - that Ngepi is also a must...very cool place

And don't be stressed dude - I only learned how to ride 1 year before I did my trip....a.t.g.a.t. and you will be fine. Oh - Tanzania and Malawi do not have unleaded...they have Super which is like 95,but just worse.

Ah the fuel is a problem...

We are planning on doing that ferry, its gonna be a highlight of the trip! Im going with a friend of mine, we did the train from Zambia to Dar last year and had a blast, so this ferry is kinda like round two of that.

Ah, mud. Apparently its gonna me Pi$$ing down when we go, but I agree, take it slow and make it fun. We have time which is good. When you rush accidents happen.

I took a 1964 Bedford truck from Nelspruit up to the top of Lake Malawi back in 2008 and had the time of my young life, hence getting back there as soon as I can, I think that is going to be another highlight to ride those roads on the bikes.

Vic falls is definitely on the list, on that Bedford truck mission we hit Vic Falls in a big way, we had such a lakker jol in Livingston.

This fuel thing is something to seriously look at... Thanks for the heads up...

Quote from: Hubs640 on February 15, 2013, 02:47:32 pm

Chickenbadger - Oh and an important thing - there was still some civil war going on in DRC when we passed through Zambia with Zambian soldiers patrolling the border for DRC dude's that come over to cause K@k....find out what the status is before you go and do not go too close to their border....your bike will look like a nice year end bonus.
How many of you are going?

We are getting quite close to the boarder along the lake region (Tanganyika and Lake Victoria). I am also a little nervous about the elections in Kenya in march (when our bike is heading over there). Last time elections happened - only 5 years ago - there was a mass killing.

Thats really good to know about the dudes that cruise over the boarder, maybe we should look at heading further east and coming down through Tanzania into Malawai and then into Zambia.

How did you find the accommodation in those regions? Was it pretty simple to pitch up and find a reasonably safe place to kip for the night?

Hubs640 · « **Reply #103 on:** February 18, 2013, 04:23:46 pm »

Day 16 - Kasane to Victoria Falls/Zimbabwe [90km , 100% tar]

We woke that morning to animal noises in our camp - it turned out to be Ferret Monkey's that has gotten hold of our oats-so-easy and stolen our sugar...they got it all in the morning. Everything happens for a reason and them waking us up was like a natural alarm to just make the elephant herd that was passing through less that 50 meter from our tents!We packed up camp and challenged the sand road leading out - this time without a fall.....amazing what a fresh set of arms and focus level can do. Roadkill went to town to source a piece of plumbing for his make shift tent holder while I went to source a welder for yet another crash bar repair. If you are ever in the same predicament - look up Ken Webster in Kazangulu...he charges reasonable and does a good job...and he is a biker himself.
After all was sorted we met at the garage and went to Kazangulu border post going into Zimbabwe....same arrogant idiots and this time you pay in US dollars!Nobody has change for notes,so everything is rounded off to the dollar and you end up loosing everytime! After kitting off and on a couple of time's,the kind gentleman at the gate had to proof his authority by making me do it for a 3rd time just for good measure - if only he understood Afrikaans.
30km Further we got to Vic Falls - the ride was boring as hell with no wild life [pretty sure everything is hunted since there is no concrete law agains it...or none that a dollar cannot change] in sight...we were blessed with a quick shower though. The town is unlike anything else in Zim...so touristic that its sickening! You get ripped off everywhere and hawkers trying to sell you anything from old notes to shirts and drugs. We then found a budget place [Shoestring] to set up camp and got a brandy to relax.

Hubs640 · « **Reply #104 on:** February 18, 2013, 04:33:52 pm »

Camp site at Shoestring

Hubs640 · « **Reply #105 on:** February 18, 2013, 04:35:25 pm »

The bar became extreamly busy at night...almost moered a rasta[wanna be] for the first time too

Hubs640 · « **Reply #106 on:** February 18, 2013, 04:55:10 pm »

Day 17 - Victoria Falls

We had an eventfull day planned and got going very early-the hang over was a bit of an annoyance. We were collected from the backpackers at 6-30 and taken to the Zambezi for our briefing....River rafting for breakfast! Man it was awesome....a total of 19 serious rapids will cure any hangover. Just be warned - what goes down,must come up and they don't warn you of the climb out of the gorge after a tiring 7 hour paddle. After that we went to do the Gorge Swing....I have done a bungee jump before,but still screamed like a little girl. Then we went to check out the falls itself...breathtaking! The river was quite low,but the views still amazing - the locals called it the 'Smoke that thunders' and you can see why.After that we were man down....eventually the adrenaline runs out and is replaced with tiredness....we treated ourselves to a pizza and got ready for the next day's leg.....so much for a rest day.

Hubs640 · « **Reply #107 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:06:19 pm »

The way down into to gorge to get to the river

Hubs640 · « **Reply #108 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:07:36 pm »

Roadkill on the lookout for rapids....ha ha...little did we know what was lying ahead!

Hubs640 · « **Reply #109 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:08:42 pm »

Serious rapids! We flipped twice....once on purpose....

Hubs640 · « **Reply #110 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:10:21 pm »

Vic Falls - it is hard to understand the amount of water that comes down there...and this is dry season

Hubs640 · « **Reply #111 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:13:34 pm »

This is on the Zambian side - called 'Danger pools'. A guide take you allong the edge of the falls to this spot...stupid if you ask me - look how close they are to the edge!

Hubs640 · « **Reply #112 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:29:42 pm »

Day 18 - Vic Falls to Chizariza reserve [ 330km , 40% gravel]

We aimed for Kariba,but only managed to get going from Vic Falls past 11 am. We first did 120km of boring tar to Hwage for petrol and then did a narrow,but fun curvy tar section to Deka[which is not really a town]. We passed through many roadblocks,but with no trouble-they just want to know how much your bike costs and how fast it can go.From Deka it was dirt again with some sections that looks like a vehicle has never passed through there.The people look poor and the kids would run into the bush at the sound of the bikes approaching.From Mlibizi to Binga it was tar again with strong winds and some rain - also the most Boabab tree's I have ever seen.From Binga we did another 50 km of dirt until we had to find a place to sleep....the routine was to do as much km's as possible and at 4pm check on Tracks for Africa where the neerest place would be to allow for enough time to get there before the sun goes down.Tracks showed a lodge in Chizarira reserve just 12km further which ended up being a challenge to get too - right on top of a mountain. Loose sand and stone and tired arms caused a few falls and near tree miss'es,but managed to get there just before the sun sets. Once on top we were approached by a guy with torn clothes who claims to be the manager - it turned out the place is deserted and has been for 5 years! Very spooky-everything was left behind-even the furniture.Must have been political by the looks of it.We gave the guy some money and set up camp under the tree's. I was very nervous,because there were talks of man eating lions in the area,so I made a stick weapon to sleep with-like that would do anything....

Hubs640 · « **Reply #113 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:36:51 pm »

Village allong the way. Nice dirt roads

Hubs640 · « **Reply #114 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:38:11 pm »

The spooky lodge -must have been a nice place when it was still running...check the dried out pool

Hubs640 · « **Reply #115 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:39:08 pm »

The rooms were just left like that - see the decay in the deck

Hubs640 · « **Reply #116 on:** February 18, 2013, 06:09:55 pm »

Day 19 - Chizarira to Kariba [ 460km , 50% heavy gravel]

We decided to stick to the northern part of Zimbabwe with the hope of getting close to the Zambezi again....the next spot would only be Kariba.I had a stressed night and was woken up by drums beating down in the valley - conviced it was cannibals we quickly pack up camp and hit the road. Petrol was a problem and towns that shows on the map end up not being towns at all. We were told to try and get some at Siabuwa,but that it would be after market petrol. The road changed from nice dirt with lots of fun to small loose stones with high centres that costs allot of concentration. The petrol was $15 for 5 litre and dodgy as hell,but we had no choice - Roadkill had sock inserts in his tank and I had an additional in-line fuel filter so we should be ok. At a t-junktion we had to decide between a 100km tar detour or another dodgy dirt section and with the bikes having suffered enough for the day we decided on the tar section to Karoi. There we got petrol out a pump and headed for the last section to Kariba in heavy rain. Very difficult to drive in such stormy conditions with big trucks and bad taxi's on the road. The last 80km of tar to Kariba was fun-the road twists and turns between the mountains until you get to the lake. Once there we had no idea were to go till an old toppie directed us to his local [we must have looked tired and lost] called Warthogs-nice place with allot of SA influence - this must be where all the white people went to when Mugabe chased them. After such a hard day we treated ourselves to steak and a roof over our heads with a fan in the cabin for the mozzi's...NICE

Mark Hardy · « **Reply #117 on:** February 18, 2013, 06:17:22 pm »

can't wait for the rest

Hubs640 · « **Reply #118 on:** February 19, 2013, 01:44:07 pm »

Massive Boababs along the way

Hubs640 · « **Reply #119 on:** February 19, 2013, 01:45:35 pm »

The general store that we managed to get after market petrol from....in the middle of nowhere