South Africa to Europe via West Coast - Feb 2020

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

nicolasbahm

Puppy
Joined
Jan 27, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Bike
Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin
Hello eveyone, thank you very much for making me a part of this group!
My name is Nicolas, 29, originally from Argentina but also lucky to have a German Passport. Almost 4 years ago I left home searching for adventure and moved to Sydney to save some money to travel. One of the pros of living (and earning money) in a first world country was that I could save enough to purchase a Harley and ride across Australia. About a ago I decided to move to Europe, but wanted to make my way there mostly on a bike. Not even 10 days ago I finished my 7 months through SEA (on a 125cc chinese cheap bike), Nepal and India (RE), but it was all part of the adventure.
In a way, Africa has always been for my sort of an ultimate challenge and feels like all these experiences during the last years were a preparation for this one. I arrived in Cape Town on the last days of Januay, and so far everyone has been more than welcoming (I might have even met some of you guys at #TheMotoSocial on the 30th!). With the help of an acquaintance I managed to submit my application for a Traffic Register Number just yesterday, but I was told that it might last up to 8 weeks (hopefully won't) because it goes first to the Home Department for a background check.
In the meantime I'm searching for my ideal partner for the long trip, planning the upcoming steps once I leave CT and also trying to get to see the area.
Because my budget for the bike is limited (about R 50,000), I've been looking for second hand Honda Transalps or 2000-2003 Africa Twins, because they are reliable bikeas and also want to make sure spare parts can be found almost anywhere. Hopefully I'll find one soon and get it ready for when the TRN comes out, so that I can transfer the bike into my name, get the export clearence and hit the road.
The route that I have been working on during these last years of preparation would be the following:
-CT throught the coast towards Durban
-Couple of days in Lesotho before getting back into SA to visit Joburg, Pretoria and keep oon heading north.
-Zimbabwe, Zambia (Lower Zambwesi NP) and head towards the Vic Falls.
-Loop in Botswana and head west towards Namibia.
-Follow the coast north through Angola, DCR, Congo, Gabon (I believe the border between Congo and Cameroon is closed for the moment), Cameroon, Nigeria.
-Head west for Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso (skip Ghana because it is not included in the Visa des Pays del Entente combo), Ivory Coast, Guinea (perhaps Liberia & Sierra Leone depending on money and time left).
-Last stretch through Senegal, Tha Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco until Tangier, where I plan to cross the bike on a ferry to Spain.

I intended to be in Spain by mid July but unfortunately it took me longer than expected to finish my ride in Asia and now being stuck in CT does not help much, but I'll try to make it anyway.
I've been taking a look to other post in the groups and some other research, and seems that for the road that I'm taking the Carnet du Passage would not really be necessary.
Do not want to steal any more time for you, but any piece of advise from any of you who already been in these countries is more than welcomed, specially as regards up to day status on border crossings (as far as visas go, the german passport is similar to the SA one, but any particular hints to make the trip a bit cheaper are more than welcomed, taking into account that over 1200 USD are destined on visas!)
Thank you very much for your time!
 
Top