Cocktails in Zanzibar with a Twist

[DanToughSunday]

Day 8 – Mzuzu to Karonga

The Malawian guy takes me back to my bike, we organize some new patches and fix the puncture again, the same patch that always comes off … This new patch says “ made in Germany “ so I’m backing this one as the one … I heading for the Malawi / Tanzania border, as I descend the plateu I get my 1st site of Lake Malawi, EPIC !! I want to find a chilled campsite on the lake quite close to the border and spend the afternoon sipping on some beers and swimming in the lake, but the day has other plans for me …

My Malawian family

Waiting out a storm

Also waiting out the storm

1st site of Lake Malawi

About 10 km from Karonga I get a blowout at about 100 k’s an hour and after swerving all over the road and giving some local kids quite a show, I start the process of organizing a bike pump and fixing the puncture. The new german patch has held strong, but now 2 small pinch punctures I got the day before from some over keen guys helping me put the tube back have joined together and made a tear about 2 cm long …. This is a PROBLEM … I fix it, but by the time I’m in Karonga its flat again, I need a new tube …

Another puncture, the crowd grew to about 100 people all just looking at me, like the circus came to town ...

I make a decision to take my front tyre with me and catch a local bus to Dar es Salaam and get a new tube and rim liner from a proper mechi, I need to meet my girlfriend in 2 days time in Zanzibar, she wont be too happy if im late since she is not there for long. ( If I had more time I probably could have got a tube in Mbeya in Tanzania, about 200km away and fixed it ).

Rasta the Mechi helping me with my front tyre

I leave my bike at a petrol station and the owner of the station will take me to the border early in the morn, so I book into a local lodge and meet a father and son from Joburg who are driving a landcruisser bakkie full of stuff to a lodge in Tanzania but have been stuck at the border for 10 days because of wrong paper work or something. The father, Cyril, needs to be in Dar es Salaam in 3 days time to catch a morning flight back to Joburg so I convince him and the son that trying to get from the border to Dar in 1 day to catch a flight at 5 in the morn is not a great idea and that he should come with me and have a days grace.

 

[DanToughSunday]

Sorry ...

1st site of Lake Malawi, amazing

 

[ChinaPete]

Naaaice report, what a lekker trip

 

[DanToughSunday]

Day 9 – Day 17 – Karonga to Dar, Zanzibar and back to Karonga

I leave a lot of my gear, helmet, boots etc at the lodge and off Cyril and I head for Mbeya to catch a bus to Dar. Cyril is a really cool old guy, a member of the tin hats in Joburg and has done quite a bit of traveling. We get to Mbeya  at 10 and a local bus is told to turn around and come and fetch us … So off we go across Tanzania on a real nism bus …
We arrive in Dar at 12 at night after the worst bus ride of my life, driving sometimes at 140 km/h, over taking on blind rises etc, we check into a cheap hotel and go for a beer. Cyril loves ice, which he’s told me a lot about on the bus … Ice cold beer, ice in his whiskey etc, he even asks the barman to put his bottled water back in the fridge after he has had a few sips. The next day I get my tyre to a proper bike Mechi and catch the ferry to Zanzibar to meet my girlfriend.

My new mode of transport

My new team mate, Cyril

Zanzibar is really chilled, we stay on the east coast at a lekker place called Coral Rock, run by South Africans and really good value for money, I rent a motorbike and we explore the island, do some touristy things like a spice tour and swimming with the dolphins, spend a night in Stone Town and generally have a relaxed islandy holiday.

Afternoon walks on the beach, romantic  :thumleft:

My Zanzibar ride, missed my own bike ...

Turtle sanctuary

Chilling

Swimming with dolphins

Going for a swim

Harvesting seaweed

Me the Masai

Getting lost in Stone town

Stonetown night food market

I spend a day in Dar, getting my wheel back, making sure all is good and organizing a better bus back to Mbeya, the next day I bus back to Mbeya then catch a local minibus to Kyela on the Malawi border, check into a local spot and have a few beers with the minibus driver and his friends … My bike trip has become a backpacking mission through Tanzania with a motorbike wheel, Good Times !!

A super Sonic bus

6:30 and already sweating on the bus, not ideal

Masai braai, real tasty

 

[cloudgazer]

Loving this RR.
Keep it coming.
:thumleft:

 

[Voetpomp]

NICE RR. REALLY ENJOY PICS. GRT IDEA FOR YOU RIDING UP AND SHE FLYING -EVERYBODYS HAPPY!
KEEP IT COMING.

 

[CAR6850]

Lekr :thumleft:

 

[Thunderlinde]

It's that tyreweld that is leaking out and makeing the patches come off.

100% true ChrisL.

Also on a tubeless tyre, that sh!t makes the plugs pop out!

Will never use it again  :thumleft:

Gr8 RR = thanks for sharing so far.  :3some:

Thanks, you live and learn, don't reckon ill be using it either, I had 2 and thought that would cover me as far as punctures were concerned ...

Now I know why my tyre didn't even last for 10km's in the Klein Karoo after we fixed it with Tyreweld!
Was about 10km back to town, and when we arrived it was flat again...  :-\

 

[Thunderlinde]

But a nice RR!!  :thumleft:

 

[Gee eS]

Very nice RR and picks. :thumleft: Keep it coming.

 

[Cave Girl]

Hey great meeting you today  :thumleft: what a fantastic report - makes me want to hop on the bike and head off in your tyre tracks. It always amazes me that some people have really bad experiances with the locals and others the total opposite. All about attitude I guess.
Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Daizy]

Is this iT?

???

 

[DirtRebell]

Brilliant report!

Keep it coming Dan!

 

[BlueBull2007]

Come on what happened next?

Great report so far, thanks for sharing. i agree with you - the 800 is a great bike - respect to you for riding Africa on those slicks!

BTW the wheel bearings don't last long on this bike, esp. on the back, I always carry a set of bearings with me on a long trip, just in case.

 

[Ian in Great Brak River]

What's up dog...?

8)

 

[DanToughSunday]

What's up dog...?

8)

Sorry, was away for a few days, will upload today ...

 

[DanToughSunday]

Day 18 – Kyela to Kande Beach, Malawi

I grab my wheel and bag and I’m at the border post early, but the border only opens at 8 am because there is a time difference between Tanzania and Malawi. Finally back in Karonga and my bike is just as I left it, LEKKER, I put the front wheel on and all is good, get my 20l of petrol that I organized before hand from the owner of the petrol station and ride to the local lodge where I left my kit etc and the owner gives me a room to shower in and breakfast. He tells me I don’t have to pay, another amazing gesture of kindness. I take it slow, ride between 80 and 100 in 6th gear to conserve fuel, I’ve got about 24l of fuel and need to ride about 550 k’s in the next 2 days, its quite amazing how economical the GS becomes when you ride chilled, I got about 380k’s on a tank.

REAL Happy to see my bike again

I turn off to Kande beach and ride a lekker sand section to the camp. Kande beach is AMAZING, a great beach, crystal clear water, a lekker bar and lots of young overlanders. I have a few beers and a top swim in the lake, Lake Malawi really is paradise, a few beers later, a couple of cups of punch from an overlander little party and some dagga cookies and im floating around the pool table with my new friends till I stumble into my tent just after 4 … Yip, Kande beach is definitelymy kind of spot !!!

Africa !!

Kande Beach

 

[DanToughSunday]

Day 19 – Kande Beach to Chipata, Zambia

After about 3 fanta oranges in quick sucession I get out of Kande beach at about 9, waving cheers to last nights team who have just crawled out of their tents. I struggle a bit with the sand road and pour half a bottle of water over my head when I hit the tar, sho im battling a bit with this babalaas. I’m going to take a short cut on a dirt road through a national park, but when I get to the entrance im told I cant ride through on a bike because there are apparently lion and elephant in the park, I tell the guard that I have to go through, if I turn around I will run out of petrol, so he opens the gate and lets me go at my own risk … I didn’t even see a buck in the park, pretty dense forrest. About 20k’s away from the Malawi / Zambia border I hear that all too familiar klanking noise, my other back bearing has gone ( not the one that was replaced in Zambia ), im now in a state of zen and over getting stressed with these things, I decide to ride slowly the 50k’s to Chipata and get a new bearing from the guys who fixed the 1st one.

Battling a bit with a babalaas ...

Fish drying on the front of a car

Padkos

I stay at Mama Rula’s again and at the bar I get chatting to one of the top guys of SAB Zambia about bikes etc, he rides enduro with his son and they want to do a DS trip together round South Africa, I tell him about my bearing and that I’m getting it fixed tomorrow and he gives me his number and says I must call him if I have a problem.

 

[DanToughSunday]

Day 20 – Chipata to Lake Kariba ( planned )

I meet the mechanic at his workshop early, I want to get my bearing fixed and do a long day today and get to Lake Kariba. The mechanics fix it, I buy a spare bearing just incase and I’m on the road again … After 150k’s I hear the klanking again, I’m in a small town ( I only hear the noise when I slow down in town ) and a local mechanic helps me put in my spare bearing and shows me that the bearing this morning wasn’t put in properly, maybe he’s right and this bearing will last, but I have my doubts … 50k’s later when I slow down again in another small town I hear the klanking again, I pull into a local lodge, smash 2 cokes for energy and take of the back wheel and realize the spacer and sprocket are worn and that’s whats causing the bearings not too last. I’m pretty over it now and don’t want some local mechanic to start welding on my bike ( some guy said he could fix it ) …

The end of my trip by bike ...

I call David from SAB Zambia and he says no problem, there will be a bakkie at me at 7 the next morn that will bring me and my bike through to Lusaka, at the same time I call my dad and arrange for him to Fetch me at Lake Kariba, luckily he is always up for a bit of a mission … Its unfortunately the end of my trip by bike, not a great day …

 

[onderbroek]

:thumleft:

Awesome report, respect on doing it alone.