Fuzzy Muzzy
Bachelor Dog
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2008
- Messages
- 14,407
- Reaction score
- 2,826
- Location
- Bothasig , Cape Town
- Bike
- Honda CRF-1000L Africa Twin
It seems like a lifetime ago but I only got my motorbike licence in 2009, and I say it seems like a lifetime ago because in the last 5 years of dual sport riding 2 wheels have taken me to places I could only have dreamed of and then some more. This last trip was no exception.
It all started with a dream to ride as far into Africa as we could in 2 months back in 2009 which saw us go into Namiba, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Moz over 59 days.. but there was one country that we specifically avoided.. Zimbabwe.
Interestingly Zim was one of the reasons why I wanted to travel back into Southern and Central Africa, I was born and raised there so I always had a yearning to go back to my roots and reconnect, in 2009 when we embarked on our 1st big trip ( see rr here https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=61231.0 ) we avoided Zim like the plague, at the time no tourists were going there, the overlander trucks were not interested in finding routes through there and reports of intimidation and violence were seeping over the border, so we just stayed away but always, it seemed, with the intention to return one day.
Over the last few months there have been some pretty favourable write ups in magazines on Zim and there have been a few ride reports on this site as well, a big thank you has to go to Wayne Duck for his May 2012 ride report which was the catalyst for this trip, I will go more into that later. We waited to see what the elections would bring.. pretty sure we would be leaving soon.
Seeing as I was prepping the bike for a trip I started a thread on how to get your Transalp ready for a trip https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=132515.0, on our last trip there were 3 of us on Transalp 650’s, this trip was going to be an old 2005 Transalp 650 and a 2010 Transalp 700. It was going to be an interesting contest between the 2 riders and their bikes, we are not generally competitive by nature but neither of us wanted to have the donkey, so we kept a little score of who had the most mechanical failures, who fell more, who had the better fuel consumption etc.. keep reading, the results are surprising.
When we plan trips myself and Martin just wing it, we never really have departure dates set in stone, we don’t have routes planned, hotels booked or GPS routes plotted. We have an ethos that states, no matter what.. have fun and see where it leads you, if we see a road that looks interesting.. lets take it.
I had 3 requirements from the trip 1) I had to see the eastern highlands, my Grandmother was born in Mutare and my mom spent many childhood years in Nyanga and surrounds and I had never been there, so I wanted to see it, 2) I wanted to revisit my childhood home and school in Harare for a trip down memory lane and 3) because we rode right past Kariba on our way to Malawi last time there was no way I was going to miss it this time.. another bonus would be the Zim ruins, now called the Great Zimbabwe monument.. other than that, I was easy. Martin had no expectations, he only had two requirements.. 1) keep the riding of tar to a complete min, and 2) we only have 10 days, he has to be back on the 8th Sep to be back at work on the 9th.
On the 28th of August it hit me.. it is time to leave. Martin lives in JHB, probably my best friend, we have a great relationship and understanding of each other, we both have our kwirky behaviour but we understand each other well so he was ok with me phoning one morning with the news that I was going to put myself and my bike on the train and I was on.. the .. way !!!
It all started with a dream to ride as far into Africa as we could in 2 months back in 2009 which saw us go into Namiba, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Moz over 59 days.. but there was one country that we specifically avoided.. Zimbabwe.
Interestingly Zim was one of the reasons why I wanted to travel back into Southern and Central Africa, I was born and raised there so I always had a yearning to go back to my roots and reconnect, in 2009 when we embarked on our 1st big trip ( see rr here https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=61231.0 ) we avoided Zim like the plague, at the time no tourists were going there, the overlander trucks were not interested in finding routes through there and reports of intimidation and violence were seeping over the border, so we just stayed away but always, it seemed, with the intention to return one day.
Over the last few months there have been some pretty favourable write ups in magazines on Zim and there have been a few ride reports on this site as well, a big thank you has to go to Wayne Duck for his May 2012 ride report which was the catalyst for this trip, I will go more into that later. We waited to see what the elections would bring.. pretty sure we would be leaving soon.
Seeing as I was prepping the bike for a trip I started a thread on how to get your Transalp ready for a trip https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=132515.0, on our last trip there were 3 of us on Transalp 650’s, this trip was going to be an old 2005 Transalp 650 and a 2010 Transalp 700. It was going to be an interesting contest between the 2 riders and their bikes, we are not generally competitive by nature but neither of us wanted to have the donkey, so we kept a little score of who had the most mechanical failures, who fell more, who had the better fuel consumption etc.. keep reading, the results are surprising.
When we plan trips myself and Martin just wing it, we never really have departure dates set in stone, we don’t have routes planned, hotels booked or GPS routes plotted. We have an ethos that states, no matter what.. have fun and see where it leads you, if we see a road that looks interesting.. lets take it.
I had 3 requirements from the trip 1) I had to see the eastern highlands, my Grandmother was born in Mutare and my mom spent many childhood years in Nyanga and surrounds and I had never been there, so I wanted to see it, 2) I wanted to revisit my childhood home and school in Harare for a trip down memory lane and 3) because we rode right past Kariba on our way to Malawi last time there was no way I was going to miss it this time.. another bonus would be the Zim ruins, now called the Great Zimbabwe monument.. other than that, I was easy. Martin had no expectations, he only had two requirements.. 1) keep the riding of tar to a complete min, and 2) we only have 10 days, he has to be back on the 8th Sep to be back at work on the 9th.
On the 28th of August it hit me.. it is time to leave. Martin lives in JHB, probably my best friend, we have a great relationship and understanding of each other, we both have our kwirky behaviour but we understand each other well so he was ok with me phoning one morning with the news that I was going to put myself and my bike on the train and I was on.. the .. way !!!
