Thursday 4 April 2024

Today is the day for flying out to South Africa. There has been quite a bit of planning in the run up to this day. The plan is to buy a bike in South Africa and to ride the Northern Cape Province and, time permitting, maybe go into Namibia and Botswana as well.

This follows on from the 2023 overland ride from the UK to SA down the West Coast route. That journey is covered under a separate thread (Motorcycle Overland 2023 UK to South Africa West Coast Route).

It would have been nice to have ridden more in Namibia and SA in 2023 but after 2.5 months riding through Africa the bike had taken a pounding and needed maintenance and I was ready for a break. The Red Africa Twin from that ride is back in the UK and running very well after a rebuild.

It is just too expensive to freight the bike back to SA to continue riding it. The plan is to use the money which would have been wasted on freighting the bike to SA to just buy a second hand bike in SA instead. Here we go.

Arrived in South Africa on Friday, went bike shopping on Saturday, most businesses in SA are closed on Sundays. Bought a bike on Monday morning, spent Tuesday looking for soft panniers etc. Collected the bike on Wednesday afternoon.

Unfortunately on the first ride it became apparent that the bike wasn't running well. It was underpowered and had a big flat spot on acceleration. There was also an issue with the idling. In gear it was anywhere from 1600 to 2200rpm (Honda manual specifies 1250 rpm plus minus 100rpm) but perfect in neutral. Spent Thursday chasing up the dealer. The sales woman was excellent but the workshop guy was patronising and tried to say it was all normal, clearly not realising I already have the same model Africa Twin (in the UK) and have ridden it through Africa and rebuilt it afterwards!

I didn't buy the bike from a Honda dealer but the dealer that sold me the bike said a Honda dealer would do an ECU reset. I spent the rest of the day at two Honda dealers. Both Honda dealers were absolutely brilliant (10/10) and helped me out by getting a Top Tech to have a look at it. He reset a few parameters and sorted the idling out. It's still underpowered but that is a long story and will hopefully sort itself out to some extent.

At the end of Thursday the bike wasn't running perfectly but was good enough to ride on the SA trip.

Buying a bike in South Africa and Registering it.

The biggest question most folk have is about buying and registering a bike in South Africa. I did look into it in great detail and here is what I have found.

Foreign tourists cannot buy and register a bike in their own name in South Africa.

Foreigners can buy and register a bike in their own name in South Africa, if they have a valid visa which gives them at least 6 months in the country.

Those two statements seem contradictory on first reading but what it means is that you effectively have to be a resident of South Africa to register a bike. Residency can be as a citizen or as a permanent resident (foreigner with a residence visa) or it can be by someone with a visa giving them at least 6 months in the country, an example would be someone on a study visa.

Foreign tourists from the UK and EU countries (and probably many other countries) don't need a visa to visit South Africa. You just turn up at the airport (or port of entry) with a passport and they stamp your passport. That stamp is not a visa, it's just a stamp and allows you up to 3 months in the country as a tourist.

South African citizens can register bikes using their South African Identity Number. If you don't have a South African ID number then you need a Traffic Register Number (TRN). To get a TRN you need a visa. The visa must be a proper visa (permanent resident, study visa, work visa etc.) The tourist stamp in your passport is not a visa!

In addition to a SA ID number or TRN, you also need to provide proof of address in SA. This would be by way of a utility bill, bank statement or similar document. If you are staying with someone, they can get a police affidavit to confirm you are living at their address.

There are stories of people who have wangled a TRN without a visa but success is not guaranteed and you may end up wasting your planned riding time just beating your head against a bureaucratic wall.

You need to have a South African ID number to register the bike in your name. If you don't have a SA ID number you need to find someone who has a SA ID number or someone who has a TRN to register the bike for you.

Any questions, feel free to ask....

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12 April 2024

Sandton, Johannesburg to Mafeking.
The morning was spent sorting out the luggage, phone mount and packing the bike. The ride started in the afternoon with a relatively short ride. About 3.5 hours to Mafeking. Mafeking is relatively big and has a good hotel. It also has a diverse history, being the town of the siege of Mafeking back in 1899 to 1900. It also has many names. It can be Mafekeng, Mafikeng or Mahikeng or any combination of those, which causes confusion on map software.

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13 April 2024

Mafeking to Kuruman via back roads.

Started the day by finding a shop to stock up on water, Coke and a few pastries. Then set off to Vryburg on the main road. It's paved and an easy ride, just cruising. Fantastic riding, not too hot, not too cold, good open road, vast open countryside. A great place to be out on a motorcycle. The Africa Twin purring along.

First hitch was stationary traffic on the open road. Seemed suspicious. SA is in the run-up to elections and I've been warned not to get close to any political rallies, events or unrest. Being stuck in traffic is risky if things turn nasty but on a bike there is more opportunity for a quick escape so I rode past all the stationary traffic. There were fire engines ahead. Assuming it was a traffic accident I continued to the front of the queue. There were police personnel, fire crews and lots of people milling about but no sign of an accident. Looking around, I assume it was some sort of gathering, possibly a political rally or a funeral. On the bike it was quick and easy to get past it all.

Ok, enough of the Easy Rider, time for some proper riding. Took a turn onto a back road, went through a few small villages and the road got smaller and smaller until the paved road finally stopped. Then it was unpaved dirt. By West African standards it would be a good road. Wide but very, very corrugated (washboard). It really rattled everything on me and the bike.

Not sure how others do it, but there seems to be two ways of tackling corrugations. On is go fast and fly over them as best as possible, the other is to go really slowly and try and ride through them. I chose to try and fly over them. Doing about 100kph to 120kph. That's fine until the sandy sections.

The bike has full road tyres, Bridgestone Battlax, and moved around a lot in the sand. I definitely slowed down in the sandy sections. A couple of hairy moments but it's a real thrill being able to ride at your own, unrestricted, pace out in the open.

The dirt road eventually turned into a paved road again and there were a few more villages. Leaving one of the villages a cop pulled me over. As always, I stopped, removed my helmet and ear plugs and proceeded with a friendly greeting. It was a female cop and she asked where I was going. I said Kuruman and she looked puzzled, before asking in an enquiring tone why I was on gravel roads.

I explained that the Africa Twin is a great bike and made for unpaved roads. She looked at it, nodded approvingly and said "ride safely and have a wonderful day". What a great cop, can it get any better? At that stage the road was paved and I assumed she was talking about the road I had been on before but as I found out later the road became unpaved again with very heavy corrugations and sand.

The original planned route had long disappeared and although I had plenty of miles in hand when I started the day, the extra miles were now eating into the fuel I had planned on using. While looking at the vast open countryside I did wonder whether I had over done it. A bit of map checking and a bit of range anxiety later I made it to a fuel station.

Eventually found a hotel in Kuruman but it hadn't occurred to me it was Saturday. In SA pretty much everything closes from mid day on Saturday until Monday morning.

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Kuruman to Uppington

Took a simple ride on paved roads with a 120kph speed limit which is fine for me. Apart from the great scenery there was some interesting stuff to see.

This is open cast mining territory and some old machines were just idly on display at a service area. Pretty impressive in size, especially when you stand next to them.

Also a military establishment, with tanks on display.

The roads have frequent rest areas making for a relaxed days riding. Also passed an unexpected fuel station so no fuel anxiety on today's ride.

There were a few friendly bikers too, all going the other way though. Not sure if they know something I don't!

Being a Sunday, I stopped in Uppington (which is the biggest town in the area) just to make sure I could find accommodation. Most places are closed on a Sunday and the town is pretty much deserted.

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Great write ups. Keep them coming

Great info and looking forward to your updates on this tour.

I met a South African while riding in Laos in 2023 and was told that South Africa is great for riding on a motorcycle.

So, South Africa is on my never ending bucket list now.
Your information on getting a bike registered is very useful and looks like it is not possible to register the bike under your name as a tourist.

Thanks Tjmouse

Thanks 9w6vx. Yes, South Africa has a lot to offer and is a great place to ride. All you have to do is work on getting a bike....

Upington to Springbok

It should have been an easy day. A nice simple ride to Springbok on paved roads. It certainly started out that way. Wide open roads all to myself, blue sky and not too hot. Just cruising along.

Not much to report really. Still in open cast mining territory and to the left was the biggest hillside excavation you're likely to see. I wonder what they are mining there, I thought. The top of the hill (mountain?) was being channelled through in two places. The large earth moving machinery in view and the maintenance depot covered in machinery in various stages of build.

The question as to how they get the heavy machines to the site was answered when a police car came into view, followed by a second car. Both were lead vehicles clearing the road for a very wide load which turned out to be the base of one of the excavators.

More cruising through the mountains followed before a stop at a rest area lay-by.

On leaving the lay-by and accelerating back up to cruise speed the bike started making a nasty noise and then died. Definitely not good. Fortunately I was near the lay-by and could push it back to the lay-by so I wasn't stuck on the side of the road. Of course, out in the middle of nowhere there was no mobile phone signal. I'm very familiar with the Africa Twin so set about finding the problem.

Not much diagnostic talent needed. Number 4 plug was loose. I say loose, it had in fact vacated the engine. WTF is all I can say about that. The bike is supposed to have a full service history! Now on an Africa twin, plug one is accessible, plugs two and three are hidden well away and a major job to access. Plug four is potentially accessible.

Again, fortunately, I had bought a small socket set to compliment the basic bike tool kit before starting the trip. Just as well I did. Ah well, nothing for it but to start removing the crash bars, right side fairing, radiator & shrouds etc. Moving the radiator forward without the shroud left just enough room to get the plug socket in there and re-thread the plug. It wouldn't thread by hand but did tighten up with a spanner. Then reassemble everything and job done.

While I was working on the bike another biker rode past, saw me, turned around and offered to help. Turns out he works at the mine I had passed earlier and could give me all the information on it. They're mining mainly Zinc at that location but on the other side of the road it's Copper, Zinc and a few other things too.

The bike was running again but for how long I wondered. It was still about half an hour to Springbok. Anyway the bike ran well, no further problems but given that that fault should never have happened if the plugs had been correctly torqued up, it got me wondering when the next one will pop out.

The plan for the trip would have to change as I couldn't risk that happening out on a remote dirt road, like the ones I was riding two days before.

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Springbok to Port Nolloth to Alexander Bay to PN to Springbok via Kleinsee

Given I wasn't sure that the bike would be OK, I decided not to cross the border into Namibia. I still wanted to see the North West though, so set off for Port Nolloth using the main paved road. At least that route would give me some chance of recovery if the bike broke down. The road was good, nice tar all the way. The bike ran OK so after a short stop on the beach front at Port Nolloth it was time to head North up to Alexander Bay.

Again, it was a paved road in good condition. Surprisingly the temperature had dropped by 8'C within about 30miles of the coast. Had to put the jacket liner in and rain jacket to stop the chill factor.

On reaching Alexander Bay I was happy to see a fuel station. While filling up I enquired about hotels but the attendant said it was just a mining town and there were no hotels. The Orange River forms the border between Namibia and SA but unfortunately it was not possible to get right to the river mouth, I'd have to settle for "close enough".

I went to have a look at the border post which would have been my route into Namibia had the bike not broken down the day before. Then it was back to Port Nolloth. The hotel was fully booked as was the backup B&B option. Next option was to ride back to Springbok.

Back tracking the route seemed a bit of a waste. There was another way and that was on dirt roads running past Kleinsee. Well, what a wild ride. The dirt was corrugated heavily in sections and relatively (for a dirt road) smooth in other places. Some rocks protruding through the surface at times and the inevitable soft sand. Fortunately there weren't too many soft sandy sections but one very nearly brought me down.

The last 40km to Springbok was a paved road winding its way through a mountain pass. Absolutely superb, Excellent road surface, good grip, sweeping bends. Well worth the 2 hour bone jarring dirt road I'd just been on.

A great days riding but I have had enough dirt riding for a while now.

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Springbok to Augrabies National Park

As I didn't go into Namibia I had to come up with a new plan. Looking at the map, the best option seemed to be to backtrack the route to Upington.

That would mean passing Augrabies National Park and it's somewhere I should have stopped at before but didn't, so this was a chance to correct that error.

Augrabies is famous in SA for it's waterfall, so I planned on making a quick stop just to see the waterfall. It was a wonderful ride, just cruising along, taking in the scenery. The route went past the Zinc mine again and I took a closer look since I now know what it is.

Unfortunately, while cruising along with my mind in neutral I didn't consider the fuel range. I just sort of assumed I had enough. As it turned out I did have enough but there was a bit of fuel anxiety when it occurred to me I had passed the last town with fuel some time ago and still had a fair distance to go to Augrabies.

The standard Africa Twin (not Adventure Sport model) has a reasonable range of 220 to 250 miles depending on how fast you go so it was fine.

Turns out the waterfall is located in Augrabies National Park. Getting into the National Park requires ID and all sorts of paperwork and payment. Payment is fine but notice the price for foreigners (on the sign at the entrance, shown in the photo) is nearly 4 times that of locals. Bit cheeky but I guess they have to recoup the cost somewhere. While doing all the paperwork it was a bonus to find that there are chalets in the park and I could spend the night in Augrabies instead of going to Upington.

It was a great stop. Well worth the visit. That's the waterfall and a National Park ticked off the list of things to do. SA really does have a lot to offer.

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Augrabies to Upington

A short ride for today, only about 1h45. That meant getting to Upington well before hotel check in time so I found a car wash and asked if they had a pressure washer. The bike was a bit grubby after hundreds of miles on dirt roads.

The car wash owner said I'd know which parts of the bike could be pressure washed and I could use the washer. I asked how much and he said no problem, I could use it for free. I thanked him and said I'd make a contribution. After washing the bike I offered a contribution of the value of a car valet but the owner insisted it was free and to keep the cash. Wow and thank you.

I then found an area of shade under a tree as there was still some time to pass before check in at the hotel.

SA is a great place to ride, but unfortunately, it also has plenty of vagrants and beggars. On a bike I suppose you're more accessible than someone in a car, but in any town or area near a town, it's difficult to stop without being confronted by a multitude of beggars, all wanting a hand out. I'm sure they all have a story to tell but it's just not possible to accommodate all the demands and if their demands aren't met they can become threatening. It does mean stopping outside of towns for breaks to get any peace at all.

Time for hotel check in came, followed by the chores of travel. Then a peaceful evening, looking forward to the next ride.

Wow..... no peace to take a break unless out of town.

Thanks for sharing the info.