I'm planning a trip around the southern part of South Africa.

Since I think shipping a bike to SA is too much of a hassle and costs a lot, I'm thinking of buying a bike in South Africa.

Is it possible for me to buy/own a bike? (I'm from the Netherlands BTW)

Can I get it insured (Southern Africa)?

Can I get a carnet so I can head to Tanzania and back?

Do I need a South African residence address to get all the paperwork done?

Is there anything else I have to take into account?


And why is bureaucracy there to ruin it the travelling across borders for all us travellers?

Hi, Dark. I did same trip buying the bike in Nairobi. You need CDP for Kenya, but not if it is a Kenyan bike, so if you buy in Kenya, you can go as far as South Africa (I did) and also can go to Uganda and Sudan. Maybe Etiopia, but never Egypt. I am not Kenyan resident, so I did not registered the bike. I just paid the money and left the country. In customs at the border between Kenya and Tanzania, the revenue authority of Kenya gave me a temporary permit of export and with that paper I ´ve been able to cross Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bostwana, Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho... Sometimes you have to struggle with cops or customs officials, but this is Africa, everything is possible. My advice is write an e-mail to Chirstofer, from Jungle Juction in Nairobi, and ask about if any bike is for selling. He should know.

http://http//www.miquelsilvestre.blogspot.com/

Back to Africa

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www.miquelsilvestre.com

Oh, I forgot to say:

No insurance in SA is needed, the third party is included in petrol price

for all the other countries, you can get expensive one at the border; better try to get Yellow Card in insurance agent for all your trip.

Paperwork is a headache at the borders but not in the area of SA, Bostwana, Namibia and Lesotho. Easy to cross, just be ready to talk friendly to curious cops. The worst was the Zimbabwe one.

If you definitely want to buy in SA, Ask for help in the SA Hubb comunity, they will reply soon.

http://http//www.miquelsilvestre.blogspot.com/

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www.miquelsilvestre.com

It's not often you associate Africa with the words smooth and easy but that's exactly what I found when I bought a motorcycle there in Feb 09.

I picked up a brand new Suzuki DR650 (best bike for Africa IMO) from Suzuki South in Cape Town.

Although I grew up in Malawi, I'm Scottish and a UK resident.

I used my hostel address for all the necessary paperwork
(C T Backpackers)

The dealer registered the bike for me (do it yourself, it's cheaper)

I got my Carnet from the SAAA shop in the centre of town and it took 4 days to process. You can also get insurance for Zimbabwe and Mozambique
(1 month, very cheap) there.

On the way up I paid 20USD for insurance at the Zambian border to get in and then got my COMESA (yellow card) insurance in Lusaka. Mine was valid for 120 days, cost about 80USD and covered me for: Zambia,Malawi,Tanzania/Zanzibar,Kenya,Ethiopia,Uganda and Rwanda.

Having an SA registered bike and a Carnet makes border crossings a lot smoother. Smile, be polite and respectful and you'll have the time of your life in Africa.

I didn't have any problems with border crossings or police/army road blocks and I never had to pay a fine/bribe in the 7 months I was there (you can tell I didn't go to Zim...)

That about covers it, let me know if you'd like any more info.

Alasdair.

Wow, again, very useful information!

Thank you very much.

If you bought a brand new bike, there's the disadvantage of the breaking in and of course the first service after about 1000 Ks

Hear a lot about the DR650, know hardly anything, but aI'll have a bit of research on the bike to see wether it's an option for me

Wow.. this is exactly the post which i was sourcing for!
I'll explain my situation, I'm Silvio an italian architecture student (living in Sweden=). From febbruary to the end of march i'll be in Kisumu, Kenya for a project with the Nairobi university. At the end of the two months i'll have lot of free time and more or less 800usd from the scolarship remaining. At this point my girlfriend should join me and the idea was to start from kenya and arrive to cape town passing through Tanzania and Mozambique or if we have still money take the long way from Zimbawe Botswana and Namibia and reach cape town in the end.
Consider that the final budget without plane ticket is around 1500usd for 2 person
now some question for you...
1)do you think is possible buy a bike strong enough to carry two of us, luggage and stuff (i was thinking something like yamaha xt or honda xr or anyway something around 600cc)with no more than 500usd in Kenya?..
2) This is my first experience with a trip like this, I'm ok to drive off road but we are both very young and i can imagine that sometimes a bit more experience can help you a lot, especially when you have to discuss with police ecc. You think that can be some of the country that i mentioned in which we need to be more careful?
3) Do you think that we can arrive in the end with 1500usd? (1000 conidering the bike)
4) once that we arrive in cape town is possible to sell the bike?
thank you very much and sorry for my english that.. i know... really sucks, but I'm working on it=)

I didn't go for the softly softly approach with break in of the bike.

From 1km to 30,000km I treated the engine the same. I did service at the 1000km mark and it took me an hour..

I changed the oil (20/50)
Replaced the oil filter.
Cleaned the Air filter, sprayed it with wd40.
The valve clearances were fine so I left them.

The DR's a very simple bike to maintain, there's nothing fancy on it but you do get a go anywhere motorbike.

If your trip in Southern Africa's going to be mainly in SA, Namibia and Botswana you should think about a sand submarine (BMW) If you're going to head off road in countries like, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, I would go for the DR.

We might have a Yamaha Super tenere for sale in South Africa in May 2010 all set up for travelling 2 up. Let me know if the time frame suits you,
Cheers, patrick and belinda Peck

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Patrick and Belinda Peck
www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/peck