Circumnavigating Africa Route Preparation
 

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.

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...

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.

Do you recommend any specific FB groups?

To the other forum members, enough already, you've all put in your piece about the danger, I'm sure he gets it. Give the guy a break - if he has it in his heart to try actually ride and not just tap on keyboards, let's him discover the wisdom (or not) of your words.

Dunz, watch Itchy Boots (YouTube) entire season on Africa, it'll give you some visual idea of what you'd be facing.

As for FB groups, find any that speak of the TET (Trans Euro Trail). While it's not the address you are traveling, they have good insight into the troubles and tips about how to ride in given circumstances.

Most of what is said on FB can be discarded, there are keyboard warriors in every forum, eager to shut you down, but you do find gems.

All the best with your planning. I hope you're right in your guesstimations. I'm from Zimbabwe, lived in South Africa, worked in Malawi.

Inglsman

Where has anyone mentioned 'danger' in this thread?

You may have heard about the war...

Ethiopia has become problematic...

Nope, definitely no danger there.


Actually, Somalia is causing a bit of a stir around the north of Kenya - they've learnt to kidnap ships up north, now they kidnap bikers in the south. Bang goes Turkana too.



Sent from my SM-G990E using Tapatalk

Danger seems to be on your mind, not mine. I am talking logistics. I'm not sure how you construct Ethiopian bureaucracy as being dangerous, though it was probably more important for you to make your point than for it to make any sense. As for Sudan, when did you last get a Sudanese visa? Or read of someone passing through? I may be wrong, and maybe it is wide open for tourism... but I suspect as you point out, all we have is keyboard warriors.

[QUOTE=dunz;645116
What are you preferred ways of staying up to date with these conflicts?[/QUOTE]

Not very exciting, but I mainly read mainstream and other news sources regularly, starting with (for example) the New York Times/BBC/Washington Post/Al Jazeera. I'm neither the most well-informed nor the least, but I do pay attention. Another key is listening--to local people, to other travelers, to rumors and even fabricated stories.

One thing I don't do is watch TV or other screen-based news--not travel blogs either, and not even Ewan and Whatsisname, nor Itchy Boots. That may deprive me of lots of good information, but I can always read about it secondhand.

I don't do most of this for practical reasons--more because it's fun and fulfilling in itself. It helps that the more I travel, experience and hear about the world, the easier it is to absorb new information and to keep it in perspective.

You'll find some of the Facebook groups are actually very good for upto date information with a wide range of current travelers providing feedback. 2 key ones for the west side are West Africa Travelers and also Overlanding West Africa (although this has slipped from the number 1 spot over the year after a change in admin).

I certainly would believe everything you see on a youtube channel as accurate or reliable.

I think the FB forums are a great resource - people routinely post thier experiences and it's the fastest way to learn of changes in logistics, e.g. the latest experiences with the Mauritania eVisa.

If someone is really planning to try to make it through Sudan, in situations like this I think the international media is not helpful, other than for being informed that there is a war there. But they don't generally talk about parts of the country where life goes on as usual, if there are any. If you post on the FB group that you want to go to Sudan I doubt you'll get any useful information, just a lot of worthless opinions. In this situation I have always found that locals on the ground are the best way to get a real picture of the place. I've connected with people in the past through Couchsurfing, today there are probably many more ways, maybe Reddit groups.

But back to the OP's questions - once I saw the OPs other post: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...-africa-105872 I realised this is more of a Sunday afternoon idea than a serious plan.