"Even the best of battleplans...
 

...rarely survive the war". However, there is nothing wrong with planning a little bit ahead and trying to anticipate troublespots. Hope I can pick some veteran brains a bit.

A little data, that perhaps will aid you in understanding (and hopefully responding to) my little list of questions: I'm 37, male, veteran biker (but offroad newbie), ride a Cagiva Elephant 900 for the past 2 years, last year I rode15K Km, plan on using a Yamaha XT660 for the trip though, have about 6 months of "spare time", have about 20000Euro to spend on the jolt (bike on seperate budget), have very little mechanical skills (hope to remedy that in preperation), will need to leave either 1'st Nov '07 or 1'st Apr '08, western route from Marocco to SA, starting from Denmark.

Ok, here I go with my newbie questions (please be nice :) ):

1. My biggest fear is being stranded out in the middle of nowhere because I've run out of petrol. How big an issue is this? Is there any way to get info on petrol availabillity and location in advance before I embark on my next leg?

2. Accomodation. I am no stranger to outdoor camping and "roughing it" for extended periods of time. I will however need to basecamp every now and again under more civilized conditions to renew my traveling strength and stock up on food and other supplies. Is there any way to plan ahead for these places? On this website I've come across one or two names of places that I have diligently written down. Guess I am looking for a "campsites and youth hostels of Africa" pamphlet :). Any suggestions?

3. By reading these forums it seems that 6 months allows me to reach SA at a leasurely pace. If I speed it up a little (skip some sightseeing) do I even dare contemplate driving home via the eastern route in this timeframe, or should I allready now be thinking about plans for shipping my bike home from SA? Or in other words, has anyone done the western route down AND eastern route back, in 6 months?

4. Applying for visas is apparently not as big an issue as I had thought it would be. "On the fly" seems to be the way most people in these forums do it. However, depending on how accurate I would be able to plan my trip, might I not be able to save a lot of time by having these in order before I leave? Or would you advise against this because the political and diplomatic situation may be entirely different once I get there?

5. Don't want to start a Yamaha/BMW argument here, but would it be fair to say that Yamaha spareparts are more readily available in Africa (broadly speaking) than BMW parts?

6. Is it overly ambitious to hope to drive to SA on the same set of tyres or should I plan for at least one change on the way (not withstanding blowouts and accidents ofcourse)

These were just 6 of the approx. 5312 questions I have :). I realize that one or two of them may belong better in other forums but decided to try them all together here first, since I am in the planning stages of the trip. And before you ask; yes, I have tried getting these questions answered by searching the HUB but find many posts out of date or not specific enough.

Here's hoping for some wise words from the veteran :).

My advice - start reading posts on the forum. Here is one example of some posts on fuel that is going on right now.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...atlantic-26214

From a lot of the posts you will find links to others as well as idea. Also read on this site for many other ideas. The Africa Overland Network

Thanks for the reply Iskaa.

I had allready read that thread but it seems that there are very diverging views on this. Ranging from "You'll never have to worry about fuel" to "suggest 450km range on you bike". In my newbie mind I think I was hoping for "download this map for fuel pumping stations". I guess for Africa, that just isn't going to happen :). But thanks anyway.

That website looks realy good. I will definately browse around on that. Thankyou very much!

By the way Iskaa, I tried to reply to your private message but couldn't since I don't have access to that (yet). Just wanted to let you know that I got them and that the Marocco map was VERY usefull.

And yes I agree, I am not likely to find a petrolstation roadmap, like you can for most of Europe. But on the other hand; "if you don't ask, then don't expect a reply" :).

Thanks again. You've been very helpfull.

Hope to get some good responses to my original questions also.

what i have seen so far of track's for africa, that come's close to a road map including fuel and camping locations for africa. I'm planning to use it for my trip, primarily and having paper backup's instead of the otherway around (what most traveler's do i guess)

McThor and I are both planning trips and probably have the same questions in mind. I have gladly shared the free GPS TrackMaker which I hope will be useful to many, but when two of the questions asked on two different topics came together in my head, I though - given a small amount of time and effort there may be a solution, using one format, to help all of us. this is as it appears in the other post about mapping a route.......

I noticed a request re a fuel map on another topic from McThor, if I had the time, which I haven't, I would ask HU riders to send in lat & lon of fuel locations so that we can share a resource, (unintended pun-sorry:cool4: ) of a world map with out of the way fuel stations marked on it. Google Earth is ok for most of Europe and North America, but relies on advertising revenues, a dirt stop in Morocco is not going to get publicity there, is it? So anyone with plenty of time and patience available to ferret out this kind of practical info would have the undying gratitude of thousands - think of the glory:D
.................................................. .....

A straight Excel spreadsheet with : location name :lat :lon :Observation should do it.:detective:
.................................................. ..
or perhaps, in all seriousness, we like the adventure of finding out for ourselves. Maybe the answers to your questions McThor, lay in the thrill of riding out with that hint of danger and unknown. I think this must be why I want to travel the Labrador Hwy., :scared: when it makes no sense at all based on the route for the trans Canada part of my AWT, and yet I am almost anal when it comes to planning, (must be because that was a large part of my job.)

surviving
 

.... and also the best overlanders die on the road, as my friend Simon Milward in March 2005 in Mali.

As I have come up the west coast of Africa in 2004/2005 I will try to answer your six questions.

1. you will need min. 350 - 400 km range, fix one or two ten litre jerry cans on the bike.

2. get a lonely planet travel guide - it is called Africa on a shoestring or so. you will find some better hotels and also some campsites. search more on this site or in the internet.

3. six month should give you plenty of time, but remember to keep on moving and never hurry.

4. yes, you can get visas on the way. difficult can be Angola and Nigeria, try to get them at home. read more on this website about it.

5. No Bmw or Yamaha parts. only a ktm dealer in Lome. Get somebody at home ready to send you parts down, if you need them. But take common spares.

6. You could, I would change to a new set maybe in Spain and/or in Lome at the Ktm dealer.

Find out about a carnet and get one.

Email me directly for more question

Greetings from Bulgaria

Mika

mikakuhn (at) web.de

My advice on Visas would be to try and get as many in advance as possible, and to have as accurate idea as possible for those you need to get in advance and those you can pick up on the border. That way your trip becomes a journey to the places you want to go to, rather than a dot to dot trip to pick up visas on the way. Waiting in grotty citys for a couple of days for a Visa is not everybodys idea of fun either and always expensive.
The pace of our trans Africa trip (admittedly way back in 1995) was largely dictated by the need to hunt down Visas (none of which we had in advance) and chasing Visas is such a dull thing to do, it is best to do in someone elses time, ie when you are at work, before you set off
Have fun (& travel slowly and safely)
Dick

Thanks for the replies. Some good advice there.

I think Dick hit it right on the money with regards to visas. It's the trip through Africa that calls me. Not the exercise in african border beurocracy. I'll definately try and get as many visas from home as possible, if not all, and set my timetable accordingly.

I've come to accept that the fuel situation is not something I can plan for completely in detail. I'll just take heed of the advice and up my traveling range with the extra large tank I intend to get fitted and as suggested also some strapped on jerry cans. And then...hope for the best :).

StagBeetle, I'll propably get tracks4africa regardless. It seems a good tool. And if nothing else, I will be sure to note some coords on my own trip and hopefully contribute that way.

Thanks to all.

PS: I'm propably going to take you up on your offer Mika :).