The African Job - from Ghana to Angola
 

Are you legit? Yes! Ok go! Two Latvian guys went on this little ride in Africa. As part of a bigger RTW project we did the arguably most difficult west coast section from Ghana to Angola. 5500km through the rainforest - the greenest and at the same time blackest Africa. We all probably know Nigeria and have heard about Congo, but the tiny nations of Togo and Benin had something up their sleeves too. We went on good roads, bad roads and then hardly any roads. We wild-camped, hotel-camped, monastery-camped. We ate strange food and dreamed of better coffee. We got it once and even then it was Moroccan.

During the whole trip we met only two other white travelers and they were on bicycles. To say that we were the center of attention would be an understatement. Quite an experience, especially for me who previously outside of Europe had been only in Morocco.

The bikes used were Husqvarna Norden 901s. The original ones, only with upgraded suspension. There were some overheating issues, I hated the electronics (as a Tenere guy), the brakes seized at one point, a fork started leaking and the engine ran on one cylinder sometimes. With closest technical support probably only in Cape Town, we ignored all that and made it over the Equator and the mighty Congo river.

I wish I could show the full film, but that would be a very long film, so series it is then. The trailer should give you the taste of what’s to come. Sorry for not making long blog posts, it's just too much.

I'll update this thread as it develops.

Episode 01
 

The beginning of the expedition is in Accra, the capital of Ghana, where we pick up our Husqvarna Norden 901 bikes, sort out visa questions for both Congos and do a little servicing. It does however take more days than anticipated, but better do these things before it gets rough the more south we go.

Episode 02
 

After spending way too much time in Accra it's time to explore a little of Ghana before heading to Togo. Internet research is good, but nothing beats local know-how! From places to change cash to how to eat like locals to the best wild-camping spots, to the best shortcuts and to the best place to get a beer.

Very cool. I just signed up here but you guys look like you are wild in this forum. Im watching episode number 1 now. I signed up here to ask for help on something else where I need to identify an old bike, but this trip look awesome so Im gonna watch this instead right now:)

Did you visit the old Latvian colony in Gambia? :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curonian_colonisation

Welcome to the rabbit hole! :)

Cool story bro! To be honest, I don't know - the previous section that included Gambia was done by other dudes of this project.

Episode 03
 

Time to really dive into the expedition! After exploring a little of Ghana we're ready to go to Togo (sorry, I just had to) only to end up in a real tropical rainforest. This is what we came here for - off-roading and camping in the jungle! Togo is a tiny country in west Africa and is French speaking. The 1st means we spend here only one day, the 2nd on the other hand means we'll struggle a bit.

Episode 04
 

Riding through another small yet culture-rich west African country Benin formerly known as Dahomey. It's the cradle of the Voodoo religion as well as home to the largest lake village Ganvie also known as the Venice of Africa. The further south we ride, the more the reality of Africa hits us.

Eoisode 05
 

It's time get real as Nigeria welcomes us with some crazy traffic, countless checkpoints, questionable road laws, tons of garbage, surreal art gallery and an unexpected night off-roading and wild-camping. It's both a party and a carmageddon out there!

Episodes 6&7
 

Nigeria won't ride itself, we have to do the 1500km ourselves. And that only means hanging in there and pushing on. The more we ride these roads, the more we're getting the hang of it. Although the further we go, the less of a road there seems to be.



The more rural Nigeria we go, the more we learn about the challenges of this enormous country. We have to ride a lot to make it to Cameroon in time for our visa, but going is slower than anticipated thanks to the condition of the roads.

Episodes 8, 9 & 10
 

As we near the border with Cameroon, we've reached the most beautiful state on our Nigeria crossing – Taraba State. Somehow this is what I imagined a roadtrip in Subsaharan Africa to be.



There are not many options of border crossings to Cameroon. We chose the safest, but at the same time hardest route over the mountains from Gembu to Banyo. What could be a fun off-road section in the dry is a whole another game in the wet.



This was probably the hardest thing we've done on motorcycles. The infamous Gembu to Banyo route from Nigeria to Cameroon. It was mental.

Ep11&12
 

Finally, after countless setbacks, we’ve made it to Cameroon! It’s just that we still have to get out of the mountains and that only means more off-roading to Banyo. If only we had more stamina after yesterday’s workout.



Our visa ends today thanks to all that off-roading coming from Nigeria, but we're nowhere near Congo. Our last hope is to get an extension at Yaounde airport that we have to go to anyhow since the little village where we crossed into Cameroon didn't have the necessary stamps and stickers. If we don't, we're about to become illegal immigrants in Cameroon.