Zanzibar and back........................but you need a bike first!

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YellowFever

Race Dog
Joined
May 14, 2007
Messages
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Location
Cape Town City Bowl
Bike
Piaggio (all models)
OK, thought Iâ??ll just post a short report here on our trip up into Africa during Des06/Jan07. Did this trip before joining this site, so no pressure in posting fast.

This was an epic ride, no words that I could write or photos that I could post can do this journey justice, hope this gives you some indication however. Keep in mind that English is my second language and I tried my best here (especially my tenses). Kmâ??s per day travel is not accurate as I donâ??t own a GPS. I depended on my maps and others to ensure that we are on the correct path each day, it however should be fairly close. The time of year might not have been the best to do this trip, but was the only time of the year when the whole group could get enough leave. We therefore had very hot days and also monsoon type rain at times. In some funny sort of way, it made it really interesting at times and I enjoyed it. Most of the ride was on tar, I would say about 99% of it. Doing long distances pillion each day didnâ??t really lend itself to much offroading. A lot of the pics in this report were taken by 2 other friends, thanks to Coenie and Johan.

I spoke to a mountain bike friend of mine in Jan 06 who told me about this group of friends (all from Joburg) of his going to Zanzibar on motorbikes. That sounded great to me. I however didnâ??t own a tent, a sleeping bag, or wait for itâ?¦.. a motorbike. So I told my wife that I think we should try and tag along. I rode a lot of motorbikes at school, but have not been on any in the past 10 years, and never anything of a fair size.

So I started to think about this thing, is it doable, what type of bike, will my wife be able to do pillion? Made an appointment for learners in end of Jan for June and went to the shop to buy the only thing I know that would say something about 2 wheels with a motor: Bike SA. Spent the next couple of months going to bike shops and the like. Started of with the 650 Dakar but quickly realized that fully loaded with pillion itâ??s probably not the most comfortable around. Started to look at the bigger bikes, fancied the KTM but eventually settled for a 2005 BMW 1200 with 11 000 on the clock, approximately R50 000 over my budget. O yes and passed the learners in the meantime.

After a couple of mails and telephone calls a spot opened up on the trip for us and I booked it and paid the deposit (mostly towards fuel for the backups and some chow) Had to tell a few white lies about my riding skills and history to put the rest of the group at ease, sorry guys.  Passed the full license at the end of Aug 06.

So with the bike in the garage and the trip secured, people sort of figured out I was serious about this. Hats off to my wife who was probably a bit concerned about her mad husband and now he was also pulling her along. Bought a lot of things over the next few weeks of which the best was 2 pairs of BMW all-round boots, which eventually was the only boots on the whole trip that stayed bone dry inside. Went camping over weekends twice and flew up to Joburg to meet all the people going on the trip in Oct 06. By this time my friend from CT pulled out and we were the only southern bike on the trip. Proudly CY offcourse.

Many people said I should â??postâ? the bike up to Joburg by train or truck, but decided that would almost be like cheating. I wanted to ride my bike out my garage and back into it again. Decided to fly Ingrid up at the start and down at the end of the trip.

So to make a long story short I left for Joburg on Wed the 13 of Des 06 with this in mind:
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DAY 1: Cape Town to Bloemfontein (990km) â?? Wed 13 Dec 06
This was probably the hottest day of the year, in SA at least. When I into Colesberg after lunch things felt a lot cooler through my airflow jacket, and I almost fainted when the thermo at the garage said 36C, so much for cooler there. Finished my Camelback a few times that day before ending up at a mate of mines place in Bloem. He is a doctor and laughed at all the injections I had in me, YELLOWFEVER off course, typhoid, hepatitis, polio drops and malaria pills.

DAY 2: Bloem to Joburg (400km) â?? Thurs 14 Dec 06
A cool early morning with thin air meant I could go almost flat out, getting used to the bike and the long hours in the saddle. This was a great ride and reached Lyndhurst Auto for a service booking by mid afternoon, after a few stops in the freestate. Shucks what is wrong with that M1 of you guys up there? someone nearly took me out. Anyway I was seriously impressed with the size and professionalism of Lyndhurst.

DAY 3: Rest day in Joburg â?? Fri 15 Dec 06
Stayed at my brother-in-lawâ??s place and collect my wife from the airport. Also sorted out the bike including new tyres. Chilled on the couch ant watched a bit of test cricket.

DAY 4: Johannesburg to Francistown (722km) â?? Sat 16 Dec 06
Basically the first day for all the other people in the group. Being a Capie we got lost from Midrand to Harties, not a good start to the trip. After a quick stop and a brief look at the position of the sun and the setting moon, we found our way again. I needed a couple of kmâ??s to get use to the pillion riding scenario, but it was great to have my wife with me now.

Our riding companions for the next few weeks:
BMW 1200GS x 5
BMW 1200GSA x 2
BMW 1150GS
BMW 1150GSA
Honda Africa Twin
Aprilia 650
Land Cruiser with 3 bike trailer
Jeep Wrangler with food and dop trailer.
Nissan Double cab with extra luggage trailer.

Met up with the rest of the group at about 6:30 and we left shortly afterwards on the R501 towards Thabazimbi where we had our first fuel stop.

Get together in Harties
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Fuel and Breakfast stop in Thabazimbi
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I had a home made Perspex screen on the front to ensure we had proper wind protection, being tall has its cons aswell. It looked a bit shit but did the business. The bike was still nice and clean here:
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Continued over the border fairly easy into Botswana, making sure all the passports, carnets, cell phone roaming and the likes were in order.

Some guys had to cool off at the local liquor store:
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For the rest of the day we continued on the A1 after we turned right/east at Palapye towards Francistown. We made sure the speed stayed within 120km/h, and got stopped fairly quickly on this main road. The cops asking whether this was a race or what? Got to Francistown late afternoon where we camped and had some chow in a restaurant.




 
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