Gents, ladies,

I've decided to embark on a 8 to 12 month trip, circumnavigating Africa on my trusty DR650, whilst documenting everything on youtube and perhaps a website.

I’ll begin in Morocco, traveling south through Western Sahara and Mauritania, and continue through West Africa. From there, I'll head down through Central Africa, then into Namibia, crossing into Botswana, and making my way to Zimbabwe. I’ll then travel up the eastern side of Africa, looping back north through Sudan and Egypt. I intend to embark on my journey with a well-defined plan, a solid understanding of the route I'll take, the border crossings, areas to avoid, and key destinations; unforeseen circumstances, without a doubt, will alter the pre-defined route and my route will be shaped by insights from locals.

I'm breaking down the route by individual countries. I've ordered maps for all the countries I'll be traveling through, allowing me to plot valuable information, key details that i'll break down into different "legs" which will be transferred bit by bit into my GPS.

While the majority of my questions will likely be answered by reviewing the existing content on this forum, I will undoubtedly update this post with any additional thoughts or questions.

I’m interested in hearing the forum's perspective on route planning?

On a side note, for those of your interested in seeing my dr650 engine being rebuilt, I've uploaded a couple videos on youtube.

https://youtube.com/@docteurmoteur?si=CJx4U2oC9WCdfKbP

Looking forward to speaking,

TIA,
Leo.

Not possible at the moment, you may have heard of the war in Sudan. Also Ethiopia has become problematic in recent years, demanding a full cash deposit for vehicles at the border. So you can theoretically get around as far as Kenya, then look for a route out by sea.

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Not a problem for Ethiopia or Sudan. I leave October 2025, and will only loop back into that region July 2026; I’m hoping by then the political sphere will have evolved for the better. I’ll re-evaluate my options then and figure out the best course of action.

I hope you're right. But the last Sudanese civil war lasted for 22 years, so I would have a Plan B...

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

OP, your original post makes it sound like you're going to make a detailed plan in advance covering every aspect of your trip. As eurasiaoverland points out, a lot of that planning should probably include your Plan B (also C and D), at least for potentially problematic areas. IMO that's true no matter where in the world you travel, no matter how apparently stable--think Ukraine, Israel, perhaps Korea, even southern California--but especially true in Africa.

You asked about route-planning perspectives. My own includes first and foremost an ongoing awareness of current and recent historical events in the areas I'd like to visit. This would include recent extended wars in multiple places along your route (Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire), along with current unrest in (especially) West and Central Africa. Note that this is not meant as a complete list.

I love traveling in Africa, with and without my own transport. But blithely hoping that long-term conflicts will have resolved within 18 months doesn't qualify as good planning in my book.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Route planning perspectives like yours are exactly what i'm looking for. You're right about planning for contingencies and fingers crossed for plan A, but i'll have plans B and C in my back pocket if necessary

What are you preferred ways of staying up to date with these conflicts?

Building on what Mark has mentioned, I think it's important you come to terms with reality. Your Plan A should be something which is possible today. Let Plan B include Sudan in case there is a rapid conclusion to the conflict.

I would also be looking at West Africa. In recent years Burkina, Mali and Niger have become problematic. I'm not sure if entry is impossible or just inadvisable, but it would only take one more country now to cut off the overland route.

Countries like Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire and I think Angola can be problematic in terms of getting visas on the road.

The FB overlanding groups are good places to get up to date route information.

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Do you recommend any specific FB groups?