Congratulations on the completion of this trip and thanks for posting your journey as it was helpful. I budgeted 5 mos. to get to South Africa, but finished in 3 arriving at the end of August. I expedited my trip because, as you know, most of Africa is a rather hostile and unpleasant place to motorcycle through with Namibia and South Africa being the exceptions. I probably wouldn't have done it if I knew what I know now and don't recommend it.

I completed the trip without a carnet and definitely would recommend not getting one though I've heard rumours that Angola may now require one. I had no problem with TIP's/Passavants and even while paying some of the highly suspect fees, it was cheaper than a carnet.

The DR650 would not die or break even after filling it with crappy fuel, dumping it it frequently in the mud and crashing it once.....it just kept going. Only failure was a broken speedo cable. The bike is a bit bent.....but a few replacement parts and fasteners will straighten the girl out again. The Motoz Tractionator GPS tire I installed in Morocco lasted the entirety of the trip.

I too ended my trip at African Overlanders and will have the bike shipped to South America where I plan on picking it up in January and riding back to Canada possibly with another Canuck on a KLR I met up with in Namibia. Sorry to hijack your thread, but I thought I'd would recognize your accomplishment and let you know how things turned out for me.