Author Topic: Africa tour to the equator and back in 40 days (Read 26287 times)

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #20 on:** February 11, 2012, 11:30:02 pm »

These photo's were taken at Vic Falls on the Zimbabwean side. We visited many water falls during our trip and I noticed that every one had a special flower growing nearby. This red flower got my attention

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #21 on:** February 13, 2012, 04:10:16 pm »

Some more photo's at Vic Falls and the bridge between Zimbabawe and Zambia

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #22 on:** February 13, 2012, 07:03:57 pm »

On the Zambian side First Photo Father and son having the time of their life. 2 Nd Photo A tree trunk lay where to water normally flow over. 3 Rd photo Juan caught a tiger fish with a fly line. 4 th Photo close up of the tiger fish.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #23 on:** February 13, 2012, 07:08:25 pm »

Day 3 7/12/2010 100 KM before Kasane –Victoria Falls Zimbabwe 136 KM
We got up early the next morning and had breakfast with the guys from Nampak. We filled up with fuel nearby and soon we arrived at Pandamatenga border post. On the Botswana side no problem. On the Zimbabwe side apart from the Carnet De Passage they wanted a carbon tax. I convinced the border official to wave the carbon tax. I checked there log book and saw that it was two days since people last travelled through. They told us that those people got stuck there in the Hwange National Park for 4 days as the road are extremely wet. We then proceed into the Hwange National Park. As they said the roads were very wet. It was not long before Juan went farming. I got off my bike and helped him to pick up his bike. Although the bush was beautiful we saw no game, I think they were all eaten by the hungry Zim people. We eventually came to the tar road that link Bulawayo with wit Vic Falls. We turned left and here I saw an elephant bull with the biggest tusks that I ever saw. I still wanted to take a photo but it disappeared into the bush. We arrived early at Vic Falls and put up camp in a fairly large camp site. There were an overland 4x4 truck with a whole lot of young people. Some were sleeping in the truck and others were pitching two man tents. They were on an overland trip from Europe to Cape Town. There were a nice restaurant inside the camp site and Juan and I had an early lunch, once again saving our supplies for the more serious part of Africa. After lunch we were off to see the Vic falls. The last time I was here was about 40 years ago with an Australian friend and another old school friend. I remember we also camped then and when we arrived we hung our sleeping bags over the washing line. We then went to have beers at the old Vic Falls Hotel and when we came back all our sleeping bags was soaking wet. Being young at the time and don’t care we thought as we can’t sleep we might as well go to Mozambique. We drove through the night then in an old Austin 1100. The car were leaking at the exhaust manifold and my Australian friend was driving. The exhaust fumes came into the car and my friend dosed off for a second. Fortunate my friend at the back were sitting side ways with some luggage behind him against the door. We then hid a Calvert at the rear wheel. It tore the car into two pieces right between the back rest and seat. As the back wheels went with the back part we now had no brakes. My friend then battled to control the car as it was scraping on its chassis. When the car eventually came to rest I looked back and the whole back part was missing. My friend at the back then climbed through the hole where the boot was supposed to be. He only had a small cut on his leg. We then had to hitch hike back to Johannesburg. We got 3 different lifts.
Sorry I got distracted, as I said Juan and I went to see the falls. The falls were not full as I saw it the first time. According to the locals that will happen at the end of January as it was now only the beginning of the raining season. As I have been to Canada and America I have seen the Niagara Falls and if the Vic Falls are full of water from the one side to the other side then it is the most spectacular falls in the world to my opinion. The site seeing took up most of the rest of the day. As Juan is young and always hungry we then went to the Spur which was inside the Casino for dinner. As we were about to order the power went off. I ask the waitress how long it would take before it would come on ? She answered “O I don’t know maybe tomorrow or the day after”. We had steak by candle light. We knew that from here on we will be on our own food supplies. After dinner a street vender convinced me to buy a 50 billion Zimbabwean dollar note for R 10-00. I always wanted to be a millionaire never mind a billionaire. We went to bed early as we wanted to see the falls from the Zambian side the next day and still cover some road.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #24 on:** February 13, 2012, 07:27:35 pm »

1 st photo was some guys at the bottom of the falls doing white water rafting
2 nd photo was a 2 meter deep pot hole
3 rd photo was a 2 meter deep pot hole
4 th photo was a wet rd on the way to Kariba dam

SchalkL · « **Reply #25 on:** February 13, 2012, 07:38:18 pm »

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #26 on:** February 13, 2012, 08:49:33 pm »

Day 4 8/12/2010 Vic Falls – Kariba Dam 300 KM
The next day we got up at 6 am. Made breakfast, washed the dishes broke up camp cross the border with no problems. On the other side (Zambian side) of the falls we parked our bikes close to the entrance. The guards with AK 47 s promised to look after our luggage, we in turn promised them a tip on return if all our open luggage are still there. We spend half a day next to the river. Some guides offered to show us around. In the end it was worth the tip. They showed us the top part of the falls and you can get trapped easily if you don’t know your way around. They then took us fly fishing up river where the tourist are not supposed to go. Juan brought along his fishing rod and R 1500 worth of fly bait on the trip. It did not take long before Juan caught his first ever Tiger fish. (See photos above) We then went back to the bikes, it was about 1 PM. All our belongings were still there and we made good on our promise. We left in the rain. The Zambian roads were excellent except after we branched off the main road towards Kariba dam. When there is a broken truck or problem in the road they put some branches in the road to slow you down. We saw a whole crowd of people on the road shouting for us to stop. We saw a hole in the road and first went past. As we went past we saw that the pothole was about 2 meter deep. We then stopped and went to see. There was only about 30 cm of soil left under the tar that we just rode over. The Chinese road builder did not put pipes under the road and the rain water worked its way through under the road where it was build up. The scenery in Zambia is beautiful and very lush green. Zambia is the country in Africa with the highest rain fall and we travelled 3 day solid in the rain. We got to a gravel road after we followed the GPS to be as close as possible to Kariba Dam. As everything was soaking wet we booked into a lodge right on the shore of Kariba dam. The white manager was not very helpful but we managed to get dinner as we never had lunch, something that would happen many a times later on during the trip. The manager told us that it was out of season and their season only started in June. Our room was full of mosquitos and it is malaria area all the way from Botswana and for the rest of the trip. I used an ointment called Herbal Armour to rub on which was very effective. It is only available at Cape Union Mart at R 150 for a small bottle. I did not take tablets for Malaria but Juan did. We went to bed early again.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #27 on:** February 13, 2012, 11:26:21 pm »

Day 5 9/12/2010 Kariba Dam –Nyamphande 458 Km
The next morning early we had breakfast, it was raining throughout the night. When we left we battled to get out of the yard and we had to take turns to push each other out. Once on the road it was okay as it was sandy soil with puddles of water all over the show and still raining. We went back the same road towards Choma and we past our big pothole again. Juan saw something fall off my bike and stopped me a Km further up the road. We checked my luggage and found that my little 3 leg chair was gone. We went back but could not find it as the bush next to the road was too thick. Braam at Shimwells Yamaha in Springs told me before the trip it was the most important item to take along. O well if it is gone then it is gone. We joint the main road to Lusaka at Batoka. On the outskirts of Lusaka I got stopped for speeding, 80 KM/h in a 60 KM zone by a female traffic cop. She said it was a Christian country and the people here stick to the law. Funny the lady at the border also put a lot of empathist( sorry not sure about the spelling)on the fact that Zambia is a Christian country. Nothing wrong with that. Any way the friendly lady speed cop wanted me to pay the spot fine there and then. I spoke nicely to her and ask her to let me go with a warning as I am new to their beautiful and friendly country. She said what about the ticked that was already written out half way? I said to her just to give it to the next trespasser. She smiled and let me go. We stopped in Lusaka just for fuel and to draw money from the ATM. From Lusaka we turned east towards Malawi. We changed the card in the GPS at the border to the Tracks of Africa card as my Garmin Map only covered Southern Africa. I used a normal car GPS in a tank bag and put it in a zip lock plastic bag every time it rain. The Tracks of Africa map was not as good as the Garmin Map and we battled many a times further up on the trip. I was looking for the entrance to the Lower Zambezi National Park but somehow missed it. I later saw a lake side camping site on the GPS about 50 KM away. At the designated point we turned off the main road onto a two spoor road. We saw a dam there with a thatch roof house behind it but could not see a camping site. We rode past the house and just saw some more traditional houses. It was still raining and Juan and I both fell. A helpful guy came to our rescue us and helped to pick up the bikes. We ask him where the camp site was and he said it was there at the dam that we past. He now became our guide and ran in front of the bikes to go and show us where to camp. He then went to call the owner who was a Zambian teacher nearby. We set up camp in between his house and the dam (see photos below). The setting was beautiful. The teacher by the name of Justin arrived and organised a charcoal fire for us. By now it was dark and Justin made us Puto pap on a charcoal fire. Any water that was needed was taken strait out of the dam. I gave our guide some money to go and buy us some beers at the shebeen. Juan made us some of his hiking food to go with the pap and we had a lovely meal around the fire and we did not even notice the occasional bit of drizzle. We went to bed with the frog choir around the dam and the lovely fresh rain smell taking us to dream land.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #28 on:** February 13, 2012, 11:29:24 pm »

These photos were taken at the Zambian teachers house

madmax · « **Reply #29 on:** February 14, 2012, 06:51:06 am »

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #30 on:** February 14, 2012, 05:23:59 pm »

Day 6 10/12/2010 Nyamphande-Petauke 309 KM
The next morning I had beautiful hot shower. Although Justin had all the plumbing installed in his house with a shower and a tank on a stand outside there were no water in the pipes as he still had to buy a pump. So he made me hot water on the charcoal fire which I then poured into my 5 litre solar bag and hung it on the shower in his bathroom. Juan made us breakfast, Weetbix with powder milk. After breakfast we paid our host for camping and the charcoal that we used the previous night. It was still raining as we left but it was a scenic ride with good roads. Half way Juan ran out of petrol as there was no petrol pumps since we left Lusaka. The red 10 litre container came to our rescue. We also met a charcoal vender on the way who made his whole cart from wood including the wheels (see photo below). We arrived at Petauke after 309 KM. As it was still raining we booked in to the lodge where we pitched our tents in between the rooms. The rooms were beautifully decorated on the outside walls with large paintings of the big 5. They had a bar combined with a dining room where we had dinner. We met a South African couple there Francois Visage and his wife Lindy, they were from Somerset West in the Cape. They were touring Zambia with a Land Rover and felt like sleeping in a proper bed again. We chatted a bit before going to bed. We were 2370 Km from home now with many Km’s ahead of us still. It rained all night.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #31 on:** February 14, 2012, 05:35:17 pm »

The 2 nd photo is proof that the wheel has been discovered at last in Africa
The last photo is of Juan pouring petrol into his bike as there were no petrol pumps since Lusaka

XTZFegen · « **Reply #32 on:** February 14, 2012, 06:09:50 pm »

Hey Oom Schalk, glad to see you came right with the computer. Awesome trip hey...would love to doa similar thhing with my girls one day.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #33 on:** February 14, 2012, 06:45:57 pm »

Hi Fegen yes thanks for your help. I am only 20% through the story and the exciting part is still coming cheers.

chicco · « **Reply #34 on:** February 14, 2012, 07:04:41 pm »

Lekker trip, wag vir die res....

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #35 on:** February 15, 2012, 05:55:06 pm »

Day 7 11/12/2010 Petauke in Zambia—Senga Bay at Lake Malawi 463 KM
After breakfast and breaking up camp we lubricated the chains, like we did on a daily basis. Then off we went in the direction of Chipata. It was still raining, this was our 4th day riding in the rain (see photo’s below) From Chipata we turned South East towards Mchinji border post. Every time we crossed a border post I gave them a complete inventory of the contents of our luggage. This included Camera’s with their serial numbers, tools, camping equipment first aid kit and so on. This saved us from unpacking every time you cross a border. I made a separate list for every country before I left home. I then got customs to stamp it. The lady at customs then saw we had a certain medication and only wanted to check the quantity and walked with us to the bikes to check. As it was in my top box it was no sweat. This was the only time they checked on the whole trip. At all the border post or police road blocks we never paid a bribe and never will as it is against my principals and also not very good for a bikers cash flow on an extended trip like this one. The only problem on the whole trip was at a road block on the island of Zanzibar but I will report about that later. To be honest it was plain sailing at all the borders. All I did was to say that we came to see their beautiful country and friendly people even before I put my passport down on the counter. This normally put a smile on their face and a chop of their stamp in our passports with no further questions ask. We had a Carnet de Passage for every country which had to be stamped at the borders as well. We also did not make use of any of these “agents” to help us through the borders. We also did not make use of the money changers at the borders and rather drew money at ATM’s. The only time we changed money with a money changer was in front of Shopright in Malawi. We had some American Dollars to pay for 3 rd party insurance. Although Africa don’t like the Americans they do love the American Dollar. From the border we went to Lilongwe. Before we left home I googled Shoprite and printed out all their addresses and coordinates of their shops in the countries where we were going to. They had at least one shop in every country. This was the only place where you could buy decent food. So we went straight to Shoprite in Lilongwe and replenished our supplies. From here we were on the road to Senga Bay on Lake Malawi. It was a real bikers road with lots of bends and we pushed a bit as we wanted to get their before dark. At Salima we filled up with fuel and cleaned our visors as there were thousands of bugs after the rain. Even my jacket was covered with bugs. It was getting dark now and I was looking for a camping site on the GPS. Now I always had a picture in my mind of lovely luxury lodges and camp sites next to Lake Malawi but as we entered Senga Bay I had a culture shock. It looked like I was in the middle of Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. We stopped and a young man approached us and asked us if we were looking for accommodation? (I must say that all the countries that we visited the people were very entrepreneurial) I answered yes. He said he will go and show us and as in so many other occasions on the trip the entrepreneur ran in front of us to go and show us with my head light lighting up the dark alley. As we rode in between the shacks I still thought by myself that if the place is not acceptable we can always turn around and go and look somewhere else for a place to sleep for the night. We came to a big steel gate and our guide rang the bell. To my surprise after a few minutes an Afrikaans guy came to open up the gates, without wasting any time we rode into the yard. He introduced himself as Leon du Plessis and his wife as Ingrid. They had a lovely guest house right on the beach of Malawi Lake (see photo’s below). We booked in and off loaded all our luggage. They offered us a drink and dinner. As we had no lunch and 464 KM, a border crossing and lots of rain under the belt that was the most inviting thought of the day. After dinner they told us their life story. He is an ex Recce in the SADF and his wife is an Advocate. She gave up the profession after a criminal in South Africa approached her for the rd. 3 time to defend him after she successfully got him off the hook twice before. They then came to live here at Lake Malawi. He now does occasional security work in Iraq and neighbouring countries to Iraq. After a walk on the beach and a couple of beers we hit the sag.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #36 on:** February 15, 2012, 06:33:35 pm »

Photo 1/ Juan and some locals
   2/A Kenian Taxi driver with his paying passenger on the back
   3/A Grain Silo
   4/Some more rain coming
   5/The effect of lots of rain
   6/Taxi Rank in Malawi
   7/Wood collectors on bicycles

ChinaPete · « **Reply #37 on:** February 15, 2012, 07:37:02 pm »

Very lekker, what are those people doing in the water in the last pic? Looks like they're surfing.

Fuzzy Muzzy · « **Reply #38 on:** February 15, 2012, 07:58:42 pm »

Awesome stuff.. so far pretty much the same as we did but you covered many more km per day.. I am glad you experienced Senga Bay, most people go down to monkey Bay with all the other tourists.. did you perhaps come across Cool Runnings in Senga Bay, we enjoyed Senga bay so much we ended up staying 3 days. From your photo's you must have pretty much have been next door..

Get North, I can't wait to see lake Victoria.

schalk vd merwe · « **Reply #39 on:** February 15, 2012, 08:58:18 pm »

Photo 1/ The beach in front of the guest house
2/ Leon du Plessis
3/ View from the front garden of the guest house
4/ View from inside the guest house
5/ Leon, Ingrid,Juan and myself