The 2010 Africa Friendship Safari (AFS) is around the corner so herewith a few notes and comments on this year's event.
The AFS is a fun, pioneering event into southern Africa to explore the road less travelled. This year the safari will be visiting the relatively unknown country Angola. Many has been said and read about the country, but I guess until one has been there it is difficult to talk with confidence about the place.
We decided this year to try to get a few sponsors and we very successful in our efforts. Allow me the opportunity to thank our sponsors for their contribution. Without there support this certainly would have been a major uphill battle.
The Bearing Man Group is a market leader in terms of bearings seals etc and certainly needs no introduction to anyone who has ever attempted to work on his / her bike.
Jenfit is a Pretoria based company and specializes in plastic injection moulding. Call then for all your high pressure plastic fittings.
Kerridge Commercial Systems installs their K8 software which is an ERP system (point of sale). If you have large organization and are in the market for a fully integrated computer system to run your business, give them a call and arrange for a demonstration.
This year we will have 6 participants and herewith their detail.
Bestbier, Shaun, Stevan, will be on his BMW R1150GS Adventure, Shaun was born in Cape Town, South Africa 43 years ago. Soon after birth they moved to Gauteng where he lives till present day. Shaun has always had an interest in motorcycles but his parents refused to buy him one. He bough his first motorcycle at the age of 16 when his parents went away on holiday and have been riding ever since. He has ridden in most southern African countries and also had the privilege to ride in Croatia, Austria, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Shaun has visited Luanda on two previous occasions but only for business. Riding off the beaten track is where his interest lies as well as exploring new places and countries. One day he hopes to be good rider…
Du Plessis, Basil will be on his BMW R1200GSA. Basil has been riding motorbikes since the age of 8. He participated in several motocross events on the SA national circuit and is quite an accomplished rider. Retired in 1983 due to a serious accident in which his right upper leg was severely damaged. Basil has done some tours in southern Africa of which a 6500 km tour to Malawi in 2009 was his most recent. This will be Basil’s first visit to Angola and he is quite exited about the prospect. Today he is much more relaxed person and enjoys spending times with his family on their game farm. He is happily married with three wonderful kids, Jean (19) Charlene (17) Divan (11). They all are enthusiastic sport competitors in especially rugby and netball, and by the look of it Jean will soon also be a joining his father on adventure trips to destinations unknown whenever he can manage it between his studies.
Grundy, Glen will be on his brand new Yamaha 1200 Super Tenerè. Glen Allan Grundy was born in Johannesburg in 1964. He is 46 years old, but has only been an adult for about 2 years now. Schooled in Johannesburg and Witbank, he did a 2 year civil engineering course, majoring in windsurfing and drinking. He did service in the Armour Corps, and entered the business world in 1985. He has been with the same company for 25 years now, and unless he can steal back his wife’s credit cards, he will be with the company for another 40 years. He enjoyed working as an international Gigolo, until meeting Natasha, his lovely wife, whereupon he gave up that line of work. Glen has 2 beautiful boys, very much following the Grundy genes, Gray who is 7 years old, and Wade who is 2 years old. They love motorbikes, bicycles and quads, and any other expensive toy that daddy can find. This is the other reason that Glen will work until he is 97. Glen’s hobbies are travel, having visited over 50 countries since 1984, and motorcycling, and he prefers to combine his hobbies by travelling on motorbikes. He obtained his first motorbike by default in 1996 when a friend moved out of the commune, leaving behind his old XR500 Honda. That was the start of a long and rewarding (ie: expensive) love affair with the motorcycle. This is Glen’s “first” visit to Angola, and he is extremely excited to be seeing our Northern neighbours and their beautiful country.
Lombard, Leon, organizer of this lot will be on his BMW R1200GSA. Leon was born in King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape in 1963. His first motorcycle was a HondaXL185S with which he commuted between home and boarding school – a total of 20 km each way per week. This was the start of a long and illustrious love affair with all things motor biking. His first tour into Southern Africa was in 1994 when he did a trip to Namibia. Since then he has visited most countries in southern Africa, as far as Kenia, but Angola as a destination has always been on the “To Do” list. This will be his second visit to Angola, the first being for business to Luanda, but visiting this beautiful country on a motorcycle is a dream comes true. Angola as a destination is becoming more and more accessible and hence it was decided to do it now before the exploration becomes over commercialized. He is extremely exited about the trip and look forward to meet the people, the food and the culture of this rich African country. Leon’s ultimate dream is to do a round the world trip on his motorbike.
Minnaar, Antonie will be on his BMW R1200GSA. Antonie is a 44 year old, divorced man from Pretoria, South Africa.
He has a 7 year old daughter which stays with her mother. He studied Environmental Health and has been working in that field ever since.
Antonie love adventure riding and has been on recent trips to Botswana, Mozambique, Caprivi and a 6500 km trip to Malawi in 2009. It will be his first visit to Angola.
He and a friend are planning a trip next year starting from Cape Bizert, Africa’s most northern point to Cape Agulhas, the most southern point. This trip will start 1 May 2011 and will be approximately for 2 months and 17 000 km. His dream is to do a round the world trip on motorbike.
Pretorius, Herman (Tollie) be on his BMW R1200GS. Tollie left the motorbike touring till a late stage in his life and only did his first “real” trip in 2004. Since then the bug has bitten him severely and that along with the “bad” influence from his friends and his passion for Mother Nature and her beauty has inspired him to follow the routes less travelled. He has done several trips of which a 6500km trip to Malawi in 2009 was his longest. His biggest influence has been his friend Leon, who has introduced him to this wonderful way of life. Although he is not the most experienced of riders, he always managed to settle the nerves with a camel filter or a nice red heart & coke.
Itinerary
Arrive in Ondangwa on June 12th 2010 via aeroplane. The bikes will be trailored to Ondangwa three days earlier. From Ondangwa cross the border into Angola at Oshikango.
From here the route will go predominantly north over Ondjiva, Mupa and Cassinga before turning west towards Lubango.
From Lubango we’ll head north west towards Benguela, stay along the coast before heading inland again towards the Ebo province. This will be the most northern turning point. The journey south will then lead us back to Lubango before turning west towards the coast at Namibe. From Namibe we’ll stay along the coast to Tombua before heading inland once again towards Monte ***** and eventually back into Namibia at Ruacana.
From Ruacana we’ll head down south to Swakopmund, before starting the return journey via Windhoek over Gobabis and Kang back to Gauteng. We expect to cover abour 5500 km’s during this journey.
