Christmas Safari 2 - 2014 Edition (Bots & Nam)

[JACOVV]

What a trip - thank you very much for sharing it.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

As a matter of interest - what was the total mileage you did?

 

[funacide]

Awesome thanks, good and bad that it is finished.

This has made me even more excited for our trip in June :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

Great ride report and very nice pics. Thanks for all the effort! O0

 

[Xpat]

What a trip - thank you very much for sharing it.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

As a matter of interest - what was the total mileage you did?

Thanks for continued support JMOL!

The total distance was about 6100 km, out of which 3468 km was tar.

 

[Chrisl]

Really enjoyed your RR Expat. Thank you for making the effort to post.
Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Man from Nam]

That was now a real adventure trip, you surely have guts to drive those tracks all on your own.
Thanks for the very enjoyable RR and nice photo's

 

[ALLEN I]

Slendid trip mate thanks for the ride, makes Mine and Ians trips look rather dull, but then its all about getting out there. Thanks for the great RR :ricky:

 

[adamktm]

Great RR Xpat!!!

I'm so sad it's finished. This thread made me feel like I was a young teenager and looking forward to seeing my new squeeze a few days a week and now she's left me.......

Can't wait for Xmas time again for another.

I know someone asked you this, but I can't find it - why do you wear an open face helmet?

 

[Xpat]

Thank you all for the appreciative comments.

Adam, I described the reasons for open face helmet in the first post, but here is the gist of it:
- much better contact with the people you meet and hence much more pleasurable experience from the trip. People relate to you very differently when they see your face. The robocop image that full face helmet (and nice branded twatsuit) portrays, makes people keep their distance - I know as I've done that stupid mistake on my trip through Africa.
- ventilation. I was riding way too heavy bike through deep sand and rocks, looking out for animals in the middle of African summer. The margins in these conditions are thin and I rather have any advantage I can get (again speaking from experience - I almost expired from heat stroke in northern Kenya). The Airoh TRR has big holes (not just vents) with plastic mash protection on top and I have to say worked like a charm.
- taking pictures is much easier than in the full face helmet, because I can use viewfinder without taking the helmet off.

The compromise is security - if you are going to faceplant, surely the full face is better (better passive safety). But I believe that risk is more than compensated - in the conditions I was riding in - by the better ventilation resulting in much less fatigue and hence much lower risk of faceplant - active safety - i.e. accident prevention - is better IMO than passive safety. And I would argue that better active safety of open face is compounded further by much better visibility.

Another trade off is comfort - full face will be in most cases (if right fitting) quieter and buffet less on those boring long distance sections.

 

[adamktm]

Thanks for explaining it again Xpat  :thumleft:

 

[King Louis]

Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed it. Brass balls... :thumleft:

 

[shanti]

thank you for taking the time to write up your amazing journey , enjoyed it tremendously

 

[DirtyHarry]

Lekker ride Xpat.
I have been to all the roads and tracks in your ride report, either by bike or with my 4x4.
After reading this I could go again tomorrow.
Thanks for the great pics and gripping write up.

 

[Xpat]

Thank you for kind comments guys, glad you enjoyed it  :thumleft:.

 

[alanB]

Hi Martin

Only found this now  :, I saw it come up but thought it was the previous Christmas Safari so ignored it  :-\

Thanks for telling me about it :thumleft:

I'm only on page two....

Then with very little warning the road turned straight into the worst mother ****%& sand monster I’ve seen for a while. The road was wide deep sand going up and down through what obviously was a small dune field. The problem wasn’t the sand per say, but the winding tracks from the cars crisscrossing across the whole road - it was difficult to pick-up speed and get afloat as I had to constantly negotiate changing tracks and those middlemantijes (sorry I’m sure I’m butchering it) between them. I was barely managing 30 - 40 kmh and by now it was getting hot - this was a hard work. It lasted about 15 - 20 km during which I contemplated turning back. If this was how the whole remaining 180 km will be I had no chance in hell to make it through as I would be completely exhausted within next 100 km. But I decided to push on at least to the  Mabuasehube gate about 20 - 30 km away and decide there.

I've been down that road in my 4x4 North to South, and while it wasn't difficult in my car, it wasn't straightforward!  And even in a car, dealing with the wandering ruts in the deep sand was tedious!

I can heartily say I would not like to do that on a heavy bike like the XTZ!  Well done on doing that on your own!

That area is famous for its lion, who like to come right into the camp, so it would have been interesting camping there in a small hiking tent  :biggrin:  But thinking about it, we did actually camp along that road on the way home.  We left late in the day and were planning to camp at the border but ended up stopping early for a snap braai when the thick sand finished and then just never got moving again that afternoon.  I did just camp on the ground in a small tent.

 

[alanB]

Wow! :thumleft:

 

[alanB]

Once I dragged myself out of bed way too late to avoid the heat, I sprayed my face and neck with one of those super duper water resistant sunscreens, had a lunch bar and few cigarettes for a breakfast, packed up and set-off. Even before I left I realized that the sunscreen idea may backfire badly. My left eye was stinging and tearing up badly and trying to wash it just made it worst - the **** seemed really water resistant. So I set-off using only one eye in the hope that the wind will dry it out. But it didn’t and on top of that the sweat carried it into my right eye (clearly not water resistant enough) so soon I was riding most of the time with the left eye  permanently  closed and the right eye blinking hard and trying to focus on the narrow weaving car spoor through the haze of tears.

Ja I learned the same way from cycling to always only put sunscreen BELOW my eyes, never above.

It stings like hell, and its bloody difficult to get rid of once it starts running in your eyes.

Must have been really annoying!

 

[alanB]

was tired, properly dirty, my face burned off, and felt a strange need to urge anybody in sight to abandon their evil civilised ways and head south into the bush for the life of blissful simplicity.

:biggrin:

As far as sleeping in dirty bug ridden rooms goes - I must admit I prefer camping in those situations.  At least I know my sleeping bag and tent are not dirty or full of bugs etc!  Plus its my space, which I dont have to share with anyone else I wouldnt want to.

 

[Xpat]

Thanks Alan.

I only now noticed in one of the quotes ("..into the worst mother ****%& sand monster...") how nicely I masked the disgusting 'ing' in the word *******, sparing the sensitivities of the readers. Quite a brain surgeon move, that ...

 

[alanB]

That said, Kaokoland puts even me to a test. So let's get it out of the way: There is no other place like Kaokoland!!! Not in southern Africa (nothing comes even remotely close), not anywhere else as far as I can say, and I have seen quite a bit of Eastern Africa, Himalayas, Karakoram, Salar de Uyuni or Andes. The combination of harsh, yet breathtakingly scenic mountains and deserts, cut through by dry riverbeds flanked by lush green bush teeming with the most unexpected and majestic african animals, and inhabited by one of almost kitsch african tribes - Himbas, is just a pure magic. Even more so as it's one of the last places of such a natural beauty and animal wealth where you can still ride on a bike freely - no permits, no fences, no admission fees, nothing

+100

:thumleft:

Must get back there...

 

[alanB]

Geez what a stupendous trip  :thumleft: O0

Just finished the whole report.  You covered just about every good place I have ever been, and then some, all on one trip, on your own, on a heavy bike!

Mucho's respect!

We never did Van Zyl's when we were up there (we had Landrover trouble and we decided not to chance it, but in hindsight we should have - as the Landy's were fine once they got off tar and onto proper dirt).

At the time I was not sure how I would handle Van Zyl's on a bike, so I wimped out a bit.  Which off course now reading your report makes me REALLY wish we had done it.

Just have to go back and do it properly...

Must admit I cant believe those guys just rode past you when you were stuck in the middle of nowhere, with clear mechanical trouble?  Very strange to me, strange behaviour for people out in the middle of nowhere (where people just naturally stop and at least ask) and stange behaviour for fellow bikers to just ride past!???

I'm really impressed with your fortitude in a difficult situation.  I would have freaked out I think.  I would have worried about Van Zyl's from the 1st day, all the way on the way up there, worrying that I would be biting off more than I could chew in tackling such a difficult route on my own  : - and then if something actually went wrong I would have just plutzed I think!  :biggrin:  Those Germans/Austrians/Swiss would have found a funny little man jumping up and down screaming profanities, while giving his bike a hiding with a branch or something like that Fawlty Towers scene with the Mini  :biggrin:

Thanks for taking the time to put together such a great report.  It really does make me want to just drop everything and head up there ASAP!

PS I've always said that Aprilia RXV should be the real future of adventure biking, and looking at that guys bike I still think I'm right!  I nice light bike with a powerful engine that handles well, what more could you want?  I wish I had seen his bike in the flesh, to see all the mods he done to it and hear what it was like to ride!