Allright, after all the wilddog help, hospitality, and generosity I've encountered so far I decided I owe you guys a trip report. I'll be updating it step by step, since I've got quite some adventures to catch up to, and I have to type everything on my phone. Let's start with the plan: I'm driving my KLR650 I bought in Cape Town up to Nairobi. The planned itinerary is: Namibia, botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and finally Kenya where I hope to sell the motorbike in Nairobi.
The first part: nice and easy
I bought the motorcycle from Justin, a very kind fellow in Cape Town.
The bike was already outfitted with crash bars, a bash plate, modified hand guards and heavy duty tubes. This made it already quite ready for my trip. I had it checked out by Mike, an cool German mechanic. And he promised to service it further if I brought it in next week.
Me and a couple of friends were going to afrikaburn that week so I decided this would be a nice occasion to take the bike for a test drive. My friends would take my luggage and I would drive the bike up and meet them there. It was nice getting to know the feel of the bike. First on the tar, and later a piece of gravel on the R355. Having to get used to the vibrations and kinda having misjudged the top speed of the bike I didn't make as much headway on the tar as I had calculated. So by the time I drove the last part of the R355 it was already getting dark. A good lesson, but also beautiful to arrive at the burn with dark and seeing the little lights sprawled out over the playa. We had a blast at the burn and on the way back I skipped the tunnel and a large part of the N1 and drove back through the Ceres mountain range along the R44. What a scenic dive, I sure do love the mountains!
Back in Cape Town Mike serviced the bike, and even let me stay at his place for a couple of nights. He also convinced me to pay a visit to Namibia (a thing I am now very grateful for!) and gave me more tips based on his Africa traveling experience.
With good spirits I left Cape Town and was on my way to jo'burg. My girlfriend would fly over to jo'burg airport to come and visit, and I actually had to push it a bit to get there in time. So the following two days were just tar-eating, driving 1400 k's along the N1. I made it in time and the following day we set out to explore the drakensberg area and Lesotho.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The first part: nice and easy
I bought the motorcycle from Justin, a very kind fellow in Cape Town.
The bike was already outfitted with crash bars, a bash plate, modified hand guards and heavy duty tubes. This made it already quite ready for my trip. I had it checked out by Mike, an cool German mechanic. And he promised to service it further if I brought it in next week.
Me and a couple of friends were going to afrikaburn that week so I decided this would be a nice occasion to take the bike for a test drive. My friends would take my luggage and I would drive the bike up and meet them there. It was nice getting to know the feel of the bike. First on the tar, and later a piece of gravel on the R355. Having to get used to the vibrations and kinda having misjudged the top speed of the bike I didn't make as much headway on the tar as I had calculated. So by the time I drove the last part of the R355 it was already getting dark. A good lesson, but also beautiful to arrive at the burn with dark and seeing the little lights sprawled out over the playa. We had a blast at the burn and on the way back I skipped the tunnel and a large part of the N1 and drove back through the Ceres mountain range along the R44. What a scenic dive, I sure do love the mountains!
Back in Cape Town Mike serviced the bike, and even let me stay at his place for a couple of nights. He also convinced me to pay a visit to Namibia (a thing I am now very grateful for!) and gave me more tips based on his Africa traveling experience.
With good spirits I left Cape Town and was on my way to jo'burg. My girlfriend would fly over to jo'burg airport to come and visit, and I actually had to push it a bit to get there in time. So the following two days were just tar-eating, driving 1400 k's along the N1. I made it in time and the following day we set out to explore the drakensberg area and Lesotho.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
