:thumleft:
Living the Dream Solo Around the World Trip
- Thread starter schalk vd merwe
- Start date
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Will report shortly very busy getting 2nd last Visa and maintenance on bike
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Sorry mate noneCasting from Turd said:
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Update 14/06/2015
After Livingstonia in Malawi I drove towards the Tanzanian border. About 100km before the border I got stopped for the 3rd time on the trip for speeding. These 50km speed limits are just too slow for me and what makes it worse is that you just exit one village and about a kilometre further the next village starts, and this is the case throughout Malawi and Tanzania. Any way back to the speeding offence. The guy stopped me and I greeted him by hand and as I took my helmet off I told him that I came to see his beautiful country and beautiful people and he must have mercy on an old man. To my surprise he let me off the hook. The previous two times I had to pay a spot fine, the one in Zim was 20 US$=R240 and the 2nd one in Malawi R150. That is camping money for 4 days and the money is tight. At the border everything went smooth as I am a seasoned border crosser by now but after the border crossing I had to buy a 3rd party insurance again. It use to work out at about R350 per country on my previous trip and should be a fixed amount and not negotiable. These guys wanted 50US $ (R600) for a single entry and 100US $ (R1200) for all the remaining countries in Africa that I have to travel through still. Now if somebody wants to rip me off I get cross immediately. I then phone my wife in SA to check what the rate should be with the Tanzanian Embassy but they were already closed for business for the day. As it was getting late and I still had to find accommodation for the night I argued them down to 50 US $ for the 3rd party for the remaining 5 African countries I still had to travel through, a saving of R 600 which will go a long way. Tanzania has got day light saving and is one hour before RSA. From the border towards Mbeya was a nice winding road and when I reached the T junction I decided to turn right instead of left towards Mbeya. I looked for cheap accommodation as it was nearly dark and no camping nearby. As I stopped next to the road a Muslim guy came to me and asks me in Swahili what I was looking for. I explained I was looking for accommodation. He pointed to a white building and I went on the dirt road and he followed me. He was the happiest Muslim I ever saw, chatting away in Swahili while I talked in English but somehow we understood each other. He found another guy who looked like a security guard of the hotel and this guy was fluent in English. This guy really helped me from getting a room for R140 for the night and organized me dinner and a safe place for my bike in the area where other guest are watching TV. He also organized me an extra pad lock for my room and a drink. After dinner I went to bed and it did not take me long before I was asleep.
The next morning I made myself coffee next to my bike on my little gas stove and after loading the bike I was off never realizing this road is a hell run. This road the A104 is the main road between Dar es Salaam and Zambia and all the imports for Zambia and some for Tanzania come on this road. The road is in an extremely bad state in that where the wheels of the trucks run is much lower than the middle and sides much like a twee spoor but made of tar. You cannot change from one spoor to the next or even overtake a truck as you might fall even with knobblies. To make things worst is that you might be stuck behind a truck fully loaded and crawling along and then a bus that is over speeding come and sit right on your tail. If you would fall then it would ride rite over you. This continued the whole day and it was a battle to cover more than 300km for the day due to the fact that village after village with 50km speed limits and on top of that each village has at least 3 huge speed bumps and many other small speed bumps. The small ones are the worst as they put 3 small ones 100mm apart and that really slow you down. Like other Picky Pick’s (small taxi bikes 125cc-200cc with sometimes 3 people or 2 grownups with 3 children on top) I overtook the trucks on the gravel on the left to avoid the traffic from the front and some of the speed bumps. That night I managed to find another cheap hotel in a town called Iringa. The town was in a really low standard area but the hotel was quite neat. The price included bed and breakfast. As I never ate anything the whole day I had dinner and then went to bed. The next morning after breakfast I went to load my bike and in the parking garage I met a very friendly Indian guy from India and we chatted a bit. He represented a pharmaceutical company and travels all the sub-Sahara countries and on his bucket list is to see 75 countries before he dies one day. After the chat I left and travelled on the hell road again for a couple of hours until I came to a small town. I was already out of town when I realized I saw no petrol pump and when I checked my GPS I saw the next one is more than 100km away and I have already done 250km on the current tank and to be safe I should fill not later than 300km on one tank. I turned back and found a petrol pump behind rows and rows of trucks which is parked and is waiting to go across a weigh bridge. After filling up I saw a neat lodge just out of town with a Swiss emblem and I thought this can only belong to a Swiss person and being tied already of the bad road and thousands of trucks and speeding busses I pulled in for a coffee. I asked the waitress if the owner is Swiss and she said yes. I ask her to call him but he was busy in the kitchen but he later came and we had a nice chat and I told him my brother in law is also Swiss and I was on my way to travel over the Alps and through Switzerland after Italy. He even came to say good bye at the gate when I left. My intention was to make it to Dar es Salaam. At one place the road was quite nice and I could maintain about 110km per hour and then it happened all of a sudden there were 3 huge pot holes. I just had time to stand up on the pecks but there were no time for slowing down, the going through the pot hole was no problem but at the coming out the bikes front shocks bottomed out 3 times in a row. Fortunately I did not fall. After about 20km a small voice said check you bikes front shocks. I checked the right hand one while riding and that was okay but the left one was a little wet with oil. By now I have crossed thousands of speed bumps and pot holes and the bike has done about half of its 45000km on off road and dirt road conditions plus a previous 13350 Africa trip, so maybe it was just wear and tear or those 3 very hard bums broke the camel’s back. I then phoned my wife to source oil seals and fork oil and I asked her to send it in advance to Dar es Salaam as you would not find it in Africa. Eventually I came to some mountain passes and literally 1000 upon 1000 of Boab trees was next to the road, even more than what I saw at Cahora Bassa Dam. The road to hell all of a sudden changed from the road to hell to something really beautiful. The trucks were going really slow due to the continues downhill and I eventually I came to a place called Crocodile Lodge on the right hand side and decided to pull in to have a look. A young Tanzanian guy who was very well spoken came to welcome me in. Although my initial plan was to get to Dar es Salaam I decided to stay over. The place belongs to his sister Jennifer and she is married to a German teacher who comes out during school holidays. The place was really scenic and I pitch my tent with a view over a big Boab tree and a river. As my cloths was by now all dirty I decided to stay two nights and have it washed. The next day I met Jennifer the Tanzanian owner and she was a real business women. She told me how she first ran a lodge for a Zimbabwean and later built this place by herself while her husband was in Germany teaching. A lot of South Africans come there as well as some over landers. There are also an ex South African family farming sugar nearby.
The two days flew past and the Sunday I was on my way to Dar es Salaam. About 150 km before Dar es Salaam it started to rain really hard and I pulled off the road and went under a little thatch building while my bike stood in the rain. The little clay building with thatch roof belonged to some young Masa Mara guys in traditional dress and we had a nice chat while the water was streaming of the roof. After the rain with the road still very wet I put my rain suite on and hit the road again and there were hundreds of trucks again and seeing it was the end of the weekend lots of cars as well. It turned into a hell road again. It was already dark and late when I arrived in Dar that night and I still had to find accommodation and to find a camping site and still pitch a tent would be very difficult. Jenifer told me about a camping site but I would have to catch a ferry across the harbour first. I thought I would rather look for a cheap hotel for the night and then go camping the next day. I started with the Holiday Inn but their prices started at R1750/night. I drove from one hotel to the next and finally found one for about R400 bed and breakfast which was above my daily budget. My bike was parked just outside the hotel entrance with a watchman just nearby sitting on a chair but I had a padlock and I put the lock around the drive chain as I was worried that the watchman might fall asleep and someone might push my bike away. The next morning I loaded the bike and was ready to pull off when I heard a klunk and thought something has gone wrong with the gearbox as the bike would not pull forward. It was then that I remember about the padlock which was by now jammed in behind some cover at the small front sprocket. The bike was now in a very awkward position right in front of the hotel entrance on a steep down slope and the left side too high for the side stand. The watchman and some hotel staff by now all got involved in helping and we managed to push the bike back a bit but because of the slope the lock kept on sliding forward towards the front sprocket. By now some bystander from the street also got involved and there was an enthusiasm in the air to see who could manage to slide the lock backwards first. They came with pieces of wire and sticks and some tried from the left while others tried from the right until a combined effort caused the lock to slide back. Needless to say I was greatly thankful for the combined effort and I bought everybody involved a cold drink and I was on my way to go and catch that ferry across to the campsite.
Kipepeo Camp site-Dar es Salaam
At the ferry it was hectic, when the gates open everybody just streamed on to the ferry, cars, trucks, picky pickies, bicycles, and people on foot. It only cost about R3 to cross with the ferry and when it is full it does not waste time and just start moving. Reaching the other side is the same, everybody just go for it motor bikes in between the cars and pedestrians fill the rest of the gaps. To avoid the ferry is a 40km detour. Jennifer gave me the name of a very nice camp site called Kipepeo beach camp site which have chalets as well. I picked Kipepeo Camp site up on the GPS and it was about 7 km away but it did not take me right to the site. I had to ask the locals quite a few times for directions before I found it. It turned out to be a very nice place for R120 per day for camping (see photos). I had to stay a couple of days to get my oil seals and the camp was very nice. I met a young Belguim guy Kris Dejonghe at Kipepeo camp site who is really into surf boarding and he wanted to go to a beach about 20km more South which he saw on Google Earth so I offered to take him on the bike the next day as he is normally traveling by public transport like so many other European travellers. Public transport is a 125cc-200cc Picky picky. So the next day we were off and the road in places was really bad and Kris had to get off with his surf board and walk over the bad sections. In the end after asking for directions many times we found the beach and he did his surfing and I had a swim in the Indian Ocean which my children will not belief if they read this.
The next day I collected the oil seals from DHL but the fork oil was not send as it was regarded as hazardous cargo. I decided to rather change the oil seals at Jungle Junction in Kenya as the German has a full workshop there and if it gets worse along the way I can always do it somewhere else as I do have all the basic tools plus a full workshop manual on my laptop. If I do it in Kenya I would have travelled about 1500km with the leaking oil seal and surprising the bike was still handling very well with full load at up to 130km per hour which is only theoretical as speed limits and road conditions do not allow you to do that speed 99% of the time.
The next day I left for Nairobi Kenia from Dar es Salaam Tanzania and again due to conditions I could not do great distances. At one point the bike sounded like the exhaust has come loose but when I stopped I found my 10L petrol can has been sliding over the exhaust outlet. After about an hour I heard the same sound but I carried on. Eventually when I stropped I found that two holes has been burned in the plastic can. At the same time I saw two guys across the road who did not look too friendly and people have warned me not to stop next to the road at certain places. Now I am not the scared type and although they looked like strong young men without their shirts I eye bold them back. I had my Leather Man knife in a pouch on my hip and I think they saw that plus my camera in another pouch so they might have thought that I am armed and they eventually walked away. I must say that this was the only time on the whole trip that I felled like this and I only experienced goodwill and friendliness up to this point wherever I went. That night I slept at a cheap hotel in Segera for about R140 and it was good value for money. The next day I travelled to Kilimanjaro to take some photos there and the road to there was also so scenic. (See photos) From there I travelled to Arusha and as I came into town I saw a Spur restaurant with a B&B across the road. The lady at the B&B quoted me more than double what I paid the previous night and I told her I was only prepared to pay R140. She eventually accepted my offer and allowed me to park my bike on their very neatly tilled stoep which is enclosed with burglar bars. After booking in I walked across to the Spur to have dinner and they also had Wi Fi which came in handy. I chatted to the manager from South Africa and it was the first time in a month since I left RSA that I could talk Afrikaans to someone. There was also some other South Africans in the Spur who is doing a government building contract in Arusha. Arusha is 100km from Mount Kilimanjaro is quite a busy place.
Kenya and Jungle Junction
The next morning early I left for the Kenya border at Longido. I was already 2 km into Kenya before I realized that I have past the border due to a lot of building construction going on I and then turned back to go and clear customs on both sides. It went smooth and soon I was on the road again. Half way to Nairobi I met 3 Kenyan guys on super bikes who went for a breakfast run and we chatted for a while. My GPS took me to Jungle Junction and upon arriving I met Carl the no nonsense German owner who is married to Dianne a very friendly and helpful Kenyan lady. Business was down for them due to the recent trouble in Kenya and up north. Normally this time of the year their camp is full of European overland tourist in their overland 4x4 trucks but apart from me there was only one German couple who was on a around the world tour. Apart from that the yard had quite a few overland vehicles that were left there by their owners who decided to rather fly back to Europe due to the trouble in Africa. I got along very well with the German couple Dirk and Gaby Potzsch. They have already done the Asian countries and then had their Italian 4x4 truck/caravan shipped to Durban where they went to Cape Town and then Namibia Botswana Zim and up to Uganda and now Kenya and then about same route than myself up north to Germany. We both went to the Sudan high commissioner on the same day to apply for Visas just to be told that we need a letter from our embassies with a stamp in. I got a letter from the SA Embassy with in a day after they took my finger prints but my German friends did not have the same joy as the German embassy refuse point blank to give the Sudan high commissioner a stamped letter. In the end my German friends had to courier their passports to Germany to the Sudan high commissioner there for their Sudanese Visas. They are very upset which is understandably and they are going to write letters to all concerned. Their plan is to ship their vehicle to South America once they get to Germany and work their way up to North America etc. I think this is part of living the dream for me to meet so many other travellers who is travelling around the world and what I am doing now is not unique. Carl the German owner here has travelled and worked for 11 years around the world before he settled here in Nairobi. He is a qualified motor cycle mechanic and opened two BMW branches in South Africa for BMW, one in Four ways JHB and one in Cape Town. Both branches have been closed again by BMW.
So this week I took both front shocks out and changed the oil seals. The fork oil I located from a KTM dealer around the corner here from JJ as the Yamaha dealer in Nairobi only sells 125 cc and 200cc bikes and they use normal car oil for shocks. KTM here are in a residential area and stock all KTM spares and bikes although I have not seen a KTM bike on the road here in Nairobi yet. After the oil seal overall I took the shocks to KTM so that they could put pressure in them for me again with Nitrogen. Braam from Shimwells Yamaha in Springs originally did the conversion for me and I must say it is worth doing it.
Traffic in Nairobi is worth mentioning. It is the worst in the world where I have driven so far. The traffic is always congested and when you get to a circle there is no rule. Everybody just dive for an open space. I always make sure that there is a car to my right when I go into a circle to shield me from other cars. I see the Voetspore team left their vehicles out of town recently and took mini bus taxis into town to avoid the danger. I am quite proud of myself as I have done about 250km of Nairobi traffic by now and I think you have to get into their rhythm. It was the same in Dar es Salaam but there the rhythm is different. Joburg’s taxis are kinder garden stuff in comparison to the traffic here.
I had a set of Knobblies send here from SA by my wife but as they wanted to charge me R1750 import tax here I had DHL to forward it for me to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia 1500km from here. It only cost me 10US $ to forward it.
So tomorrow I will be off to Meru on the Equator where I will meet up with Uwe Schmidt a guy from Cape Town on a BMW 1200. We might travel together to Ethiopia I will still see what his plans are. He is also traveling all over Africa and was knocked unconscious a year ago when a wild dog ran into his bike and his bike was written off in Zambia.
All I can add is that this time round I try and spent more time answering all the questions that the locals have about the bike and my travel in every country. They are always very curious and the conversation normally goes like this. “Where are you from?” Johannesburg South Africa “On this Picky Picky?” Yes “ “And where are you going to” Through Africa to England. “On this Picky Picky? Yes. They then stare at me in awe. I have lost a bit weight as well as I sometimes only eat once a day. Till next time please keep the comments coming as it keeps me going although I cannot always answer back.
After Livingstonia in Malawi I drove towards the Tanzanian border. About 100km before the border I got stopped for the 3rd time on the trip for speeding. These 50km speed limits are just too slow for me and what makes it worse is that you just exit one village and about a kilometre further the next village starts, and this is the case throughout Malawi and Tanzania. Any way back to the speeding offence. The guy stopped me and I greeted him by hand and as I took my helmet off I told him that I came to see his beautiful country and beautiful people and he must have mercy on an old man. To my surprise he let me off the hook. The previous two times I had to pay a spot fine, the one in Zim was 20 US$=R240 and the 2nd one in Malawi R150. That is camping money for 4 days and the money is tight. At the border everything went smooth as I am a seasoned border crosser by now but after the border crossing I had to buy a 3rd party insurance again. It use to work out at about R350 per country on my previous trip and should be a fixed amount and not negotiable. These guys wanted 50US $ (R600) for a single entry and 100US $ (R1200) for all the remaining countries in Africa that I have to travel through still. Now if somebody wants to rip me off I get cross immediately. I then phone my wife in SA to check what the rate should be with the Tanzanian Embassy but they were already closed for business for the day. As it was getting late and I still had to find accommodation for the night I argued them down to 50 US $ for the 3rd party for the remaining 5 African countries I still had to travel through, a saving of R 600 which will go a long way. Tanzania has got day light saving and is one hour before RSA. From the border towards Mbeya was a nice winding road and when I reached the T junction I decided to turn right instead of left towards Mbeya. I looked for cheap accommodation as it was nearly dark and no camping nearby. As I stopped next to the road a Muslim guy came to me and asks me in Swahili what I was looking for. I explained I was looking for accommodation. He pointed to a white building and I went on the dirt road and he followed me. He was the happiest Muslim I ever saw, chatting away in Swahili while I talked in English but somehow we understood each other. He found another guy who looked like a security guard of the hotel and this guy was fluent in English. This guy really helped me from getting a room for R140 for the night and organized me dinner and a safe place for my bike in the area where other guest are watching TV. He also organized me an extra pad lock for my room and a drink. After dinner I went to bed and it did not take me long before I was asleep.
The next morning I made myself coffee next to my bike on my little gas stove and after loading the bike I was off never realizing this road is a hell run. This road the A104 is the main road between Dar es Salaam and Zambia and all the imports for Zambia and some for Tanzania come on this road. The road is in an extremely bad state in that where the wheels of the trucks run is much lower than the middle and sides much like a twee spoor but made of tar. You cannot change from one spoor to the next or even overtake a truck as you might fall even with knobblies. To make things worst is that you might be stuck behind a truck fully loaded and crawling along and then a bus that is over speeding come and sit right on your tail. If you would fall then it would ride rite over you. This continued the whole day and it was a battle to cover more than 300km for the day due to the fact that village after village with 50km speed limits and on top of that each village has at least 3 huge speed bumps and many other small speed bumps. The small ones are the worst as they put 3 small ones 100mm apart and that really slow you down. Like other Picky Pick’s (small taxi bikes 125cc-200cc with sometimes 3 people or 2 grownups with 3 children on top) I overtook the trucks on the gravel on the left to avoid the traffic from the front and some of the speed bumps. That night I managed to find another cheap hotel in a town called Iringa. The town was in a really low standard area but the hotel was quite neat. The price included bed and breakfast. As I never ate anything the whole day I had dinner and then went to bed. The next morning after breakfast I went to load my bike and in the parking garage I met a very friendly Indian guy from India and we chatted a bit. He represented a pharmaceutical company and travels all the sub-Sahara countries and on his bucket list is to see 75 countries before he dies one day. After the chat I left and travelled on the hell road again for a couple of hours until I came to a small town. I was already out of town when I realized I saw no petrol pump and when I checked my GPS I saw the next one is more than 100km away and I have already done 250km on the current tank and to be safe I should fill not later than 300km on one tank. I turned back and found a petrol pump behind rows and rows of trucks which is parked and is waiting to go across a weigh bridge. After filling up I saw a neat lodge just out of town with a Swiss emblem and I thought this can only belong to a Swiss person and being tied already of the bad road and thousands of trucks and speeding busses I pulled in for a coffee. I asked the waitress if the owner is Swiss and she said yes. I ask her to call him but he was busy in the kitchen but he later came and we had a nice chat and I told him my brother in law is also Swiss and I was on my way to travel over the Alps and through Switzerland after Italy. He even came to say good bye at the gate when I left. My intention was to make it to Dar es Salaam. At one place the road was quite nice and I could maintain about 110km per hour and then it happened all of a sudden there were 3 huge pot holes. I just had time to stand up on the pecks but there were no time for slowing down, the going through the pot hole was no problem but at the coming out the bikes front shocks bottomed out 3 times in a row. Fortunately I did not fall. After about 20km a small voice said check you bikes front shocks. I checked the right hand one while riding and that was okay but the left one was a little wet with oil. By now I have crossed thousands of speed bumps and pot holes and the bike has done about half of its 45000km on off road and dirt road conditions plus a previous 13350 Africa trip, so maybe it was just wear and tear or those 3 very hard bums broke the camel’s back. I then phoned my wife to source oil seals and fork oil and I asked her to send it in advance to Dar es Salaam as you would not find it in Africa. Eventually I came to some mountain passes and literally 1000 upon 1000 of Boab trees was next to the road, even more than what I saw at Cahora Bassa Dam. The road to hell all of a sudden changed from the road to hell to something really beautiful. The trucks were going really slow due to the continues downhill and I eventually I came to a place called Crocodile Lodge on the right hand side and decided to pull in to have a look. A young Tanzanian guy who was very well spoken came to welcome me in. Although my initial plan was to get to Dar es Salaam I decided to stay over. The place belongs to his sister Jennifer and she is married to a German teacher who comes out during school holidays. The place was really scenic and I pitch my tent with a view over a big Boab tree and a river. As my cloths was by now all dirty I decided to stay two nights and have it washed. The next day I met Jennifer the Tanzanian owner and she was a real business women. She told me how she first ran a lodge for a Zimbabwean and later built this place by herself while her husband was in Germany teaching. A lot of South Africans come there as well as some over landers. There are also an ex South African family farming sugar nearby.
The two days flew past and the Sunday I was on my way to Dar es Salaam. About 150 km before Dar es Salaam it started to rain really hard and I pulled off the road and went under a little thatch building while my bike stood in the rain. The little clay building with thatch roof belonged to some young Masa Mara guys in traditional dress and we had a nice chat while the water was streaming of the roof. After the rain with the road still very wet I put my rain suite on and hit the road again and there were hundreds of trucks again and seeing it was the end of the weekend lots of cars as well. It turned into a hell road again. It was already dark and late when I arrived in Dar that night and I still had to find accommodation and to find a camping site and still pitch a tent would be very difficult. Jenifer told me about a camping site but I would have to catch a ferry across the harbour first. I thought I would rather look for a cheap hotel for the night and then go camping the next day. I started with the Holiday Inn but their prices started at R1750/night. I drove from one hotel to the next and finally found one for about R400 bed and breakfast which was above my daily budget. My bike was parked just outside the hotel entrance with a watchman just nearby sitting on a chair but I had a padlock and I put the lock around the drive chain as I was worried that the watchman might fall asleep and someone might push my bike away. The next morning I loaded the bike and was ready to pull off when I heard a klunk and thought something has gone wrong with the gearbox as the bike would not pull forward. It was then that I remember about the padlock which was by now jammed in behind some cover at the small front sprocket. The bike was now in a very awkward position right in front of the hotel entrance on a steep down slope and the left side too high for the side stand. The watchman and some hotel staff by now all got involved in helping and we managed to push the bike back a bit but because of the slope the lock kept on sliding forward towards the front sprocket. By now some bystander from the street also got involved and there was an enthusiasm in the air to see who could manage to slide the lock backwards first. They came with pieces of wire and sticks and some tried from the left while others tried from the right until a combined effort caused the lock to slide back. Needless to say I was greatly thankful for the combined effort and I bought everybody involved a cold drink and I was on my way to go and catch that ferry across to the campsite.
Kipepeo Camp site-Dar es Salaam
At the ferry it was hectic, when the gates open everybody just streamed on to the ferry, cars, trucks, picky pickies, bicycles, and people on foot. It only cost about R3 to cross with the ferry and when it is full it does not waste time and just start moving. Reaching the other side is the same, everybody just go for it motor bikes in between the cars and pedestrians fill the rest of the gaps. To avoid the ferry is a 40km detour. Jennifer gave me the name of a very nice camp site called Kipepeo beach camp site which have chalets as well. I picked Kipepeo Camp site up on the GPS and it was about 7 km away but it did not take me right to the site. I had to ask the locals quite a few times for directions before I found it. It turned out to be a very nice place for R120 per day for camping (see photos). I had to stay a couple of days to get my oil seals and the camp was very nice. I met a young Belguim guy Kris Dejonghe at Kipepeo camp site who is really into surf boarding and he wanted to go to a beach about 20km more South which he saw on Google Earth so I offered to take him on the bike the next day as he is normally traveling by public transport like so many other European travellers. Public transport is a 125cc-200cc Picky picky. So the next day we were off and the road in places was really bad and Kris had to get off with his surf board and walk over the bad sections. In the end after asking for directions many times we found the beach and he did his surfing and I had a swim in the Indian Ocean which my children will not belief if they read this.
The next day I collected the oil seals from DHL but the fork oil was not send as it was regarded as hazardous cargo. I decided to rather change the oil seals at Jungle Junction in Kenya as the German has a full workshop there and if it gets worse along the way I can always do it somewhere else as I do have all the basic tools plus a full workshop manual on my laptop. If I do it in Kenya I would have travelled about 1500km with the leaking oil seal and surprising the bike was still handling very well with full load at up to 130km per hour which is only theoretical as speed limits and road conditions do not allow you to do that speed 99% of the time.
The next day I left for Nairobi Kenia from Dar es Salaam Tanzania and again due to conditions I could not do great distances. At one point the bike sounded like the exhaust has come loose but when I stopped I found my 10L petrol can has been sliding over the exhaust outlet. After about an hour I heard the same sound but I carried on. Eventually when I stropped I found that two holes has been burned in the plastic can. At the same time I saw two guys across the road who did not look too friendly and people have warned me not to stop next to the road at certain places. Now I am not the scared type and although they looked like strong young men without their shirts I eye bold them back. I had my Leather Man knife in a pouch on my hip and I think they saw that plus my camera in another pouch so they might have thought that I am armed and they eventually walked away. I must say that this was the only time on the whole trip that I felled like this and I only experienced goodwill and friendliness up to this point wherever I went. That night I slept at a cheap hotel in Segera for about R140 and it was good value for money. The next day I travelled to Kilimanjaro to take some photos there and the road to there was also so scenic. (See photos) From there I travelled to Arusha and as I came into town I saw a Spur restaurant with a B&B across the road. The lady at the B&B quoted me more than double what I paid the previous night and I told her I was only prepared to pay R140. She eventually accepted my offer and allowed me to park my bike on their very neatly tilled stoep which is enclosed with burglar bars. After booking in I walked across to the Spur to have dinner and they also had Wi Fi which came in handy. I chatted to the manager from South Africa and it was the first time in a month since I left RSA that I could talk Afrikaans to someone. There was also some other South Africans in the Spur who is doing a government building contract in Arusha. Arusha is 100km from Mount Kilimanjaro is quite a busy place.
Kenya and Jungle Junction
The next morning early I left for the Kenya border at Longido. I was already 2 km into Kenya before I realized that I have past the border due to a lot of building construction going on I and then turned back to go and clear customs on both sides. It went smooth and soon I was on the road again. Half way to Nairobi I met 3 Kenyan guys on super bikes who went for a breakfast run and we chatted for a while. My GPS took me to Jungle Junction and upon arriving I met Carl the no nonsense German owner who is married to Dianne a very friendly and helpful Kenyan lady. Business was down for them due to the recent trouble in Kenya and up north. Normally this time of the year their camp is full of European overland tourist in their overland 4x4 trucks but apart from me there was only one German couple who was on a around the world tour. Apart from that the yard had quite a few overland vehicles that were left there by their owners who decided to rather fly back to Europe due to the trouble in Africa. I got along very well with the German couple Dirk and Gaby Potzsch. They have already done the Asian countries and then had their Italian 4x4 truck/caravan shipped to Durban where they went to Cape Town and then Namibia Botswana Zim and up to Uganda and now Kenya and then about same route than myself up north to Germany. We both went to the Sudan high commissioner on the same day to apply for Visas just to be told that we need a letter from our embassies with a stamp in. I got a letter from the SA Embassy with in a day after they took my finger prints but my German friends did not have the same joy as the German embassy refuse point blank to give the Sudan high commissioner a stamped letter. In the end my German friends had to courier their passports to Germany to the Sudan high commissioner there for their Sudanese Visas. They are very upset which is understandably and they are going to write letters to all concerned. Their plan is to ship their vehicle to South America once they get to Germany and work their way up to North America etc. I think this is part of living the dream for me to meet so many other travellers who is travelling around the world and what I am doing now is not unique. Carl the German owner here has travelled and worked for 11 years around the world before he settled here in Nairobi. He is a qualified motor cycle mechanic and opened two BMW branches in South Africa for BMW, one in Four ways JHB and one in Cape Town. Both branches have been closed again by BMW.
So this week I took both front shocks out and changed the oil seals. The fork oil I located from a KTM dealer around the corner here from JJ as the Yamaha dealer in Nairobi only sells 125 cc and 200cc bikes and they use normal car oil for shocks. KTM here are in a residential area and stock all KTM spares and bikes although I have not seen a KTM bike on the road here in Nairobi yet. After the oil seal overall I took the shocks to KTM so that they could put pressure in them for me again with Nitrogen. Braam from Shimwells Yamaha in Springs originally did the conversion for me and I must say it is worth doing it.
Traffic in Nairobi is worth mentioning. It is the worst in the world where I have driven so far. The traffic is always congested and when you get to a circle there is no rule. Everybody just dive for an open space. I always make sure that there is a car to my right when I go into a circle to shield me from other cars. I see the Voetspore team left their vehicles out of town recently and took mini bus taxis into town to avoid the danger. I am quite proud of myself as I have done about 250km of Nairobi traffic by now and I think you have to get into their rhythm. It was the same in Dar es Salaam but there the rhythm is different. Joburg’s taxis are kinder garden stuff in comparison to the traffic here.
I had a set of Knobblies send here from SA by my wife but as they wanted to charge me R1750 import tax here I had DHL to forward it for me to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia 1500km from here. It only cost me 10US $ to forward it.
So tomorrow I will be off to Meru on the Equator where I will meet up with Uwe Schmidt a guy from Cape Town on a BMW 1200. We might travel together to Ethiopia I will still see what his plans are. He is also traveling all over Africa and was knocked unconscious a year ago when a wild dog ran into his bike and his bike was written off in Zambia.
All I can add is that this time round I try and spent more time answering all the questions that the locals have about the bike and my travel in every country. They are always very curious and the conversation normally goes like this. “Where are you from?” Johannesburg South Africa “On this Picky Picky?” Yes “ “And where are you going to” Through Africa to England. “On this Picky Picky? Yes. They then stare at me in awe. I have lost a bit weight as well as I sometimes only eat once a day. Till next time please keep the comments coming as it keeps me going although I cannot always answer back.
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
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Schalk this is an amazing journey. I'm following you right up through the continent. I know what you mean about Nairobi and the traffic. It can be crazy, and yes, some Kenyans can be a little bit hostile to foreigners. However, they are the minority, as you say.
If you are still there, go to Wilson Airfield. Lots of SA pilots there. Good to make contact with one or two in case you need a friendly face who knows stuff..
Go safe and Godspeeed the journey!
If you are still there, go to Wilson Airfield. Lots of SA pilots there. Good to make contact with one or two in case you need a friendly face who knows stuff..
Go safe and Godspeeed the journey!
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
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