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Preparation and Route

Entry 1: Why, whereto, when do we go, and what do we take along... all important questions... but more important yet, is the decision to actually GO!
Preparation and Route

GreatAfricanRiftValleyTripPlan

When to go, where to go and what to take along...?

Who cares just go! ;-)

To be honest, I have always wanted to do this trip, but secretly, deep down inside, made peace with the fact that I probably won't... Who in this day and age can say.. Stuff-it, I'm taking two months! ? This changed in May of 2009!  I was about to leave on a trip to the USA, in 5 days time, when I jumped up, went out to the shops, bought a map of Africa, put it up in the boardroom and invite Kobus for a meeting... The agenda was short.  "I'm leaving in 5 days time, I don't yet want to know where we're going, but when... and we'll have the date set before I leave in 5 days time..."  And so it came to be April and May of 2010!


Where to? ...up-up and away...

We don't really care... this trip is not about the destination, it's all about the journey... We reckon we can make a trip around Lake Victoria... but, the general agreement is that we start heading homeward after one month...

Basically, we're thinking up Namibia, into Botswana, back into the Caprivi strip of Namibia, and onto Victoria falls. From there, up through Zambia, into Malawi, up the west side of the lake, then into Tanzania, east of Lake Tanganyika, into Rwanda, Uganda (against Lake Victoria at this time), then into Kenya and the Maasai Mara, into Tanzania again, past Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti, and eventually down the coast of Mozambique, back into South Africa... in short, the track below, clock-wise...

GARVT_Africa_600px.png Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
-- Mark Twain
   


Who's who in the zoo?

Who's going?  That would be Kobus and Stephan.  Most of you will know us as the guys behind GS-911 - the Diagnostic Tool for BMW Motorcycles. That's me on the left and Kobus on the right ...wearing the brand!

weskus_IMG_2477m.JPG  weskus_IMG_2556m.JPG

The photo on the right shows the bikes we will be riding through Africa.  Kobus on his R1200GS Adventure, and me on my F800GS. 

This picture was taken a couple of weeks prior to the big trip on our sand riding excursion up the west coast of South Africa.. lot of SAND!  This trip was intended to test a couple of things, one of them being the big Touratech tank that I had fitted shortly before that.  As is the case with most of us mere mortals... once we hit the really thick stuff, we start looking for a soft spot to put the bike down (gently!) ;-) Needless to say, the tank takes the full force of the bike's weight when lying on the side, and the tank's mounting brackets did not particularly like that... Unfortunately, as the tank has only been released recently, there are no protective crash-bars available yet... hence, the tank will be resting comfortably and snugly in the corner of my garage, while I'm on my trip through Africa.. (with a small jerry can).

 

Stay tuned - more to come on Bikes, Luggage, Gear, and Documentation...