Planning a Trans Africa trip on a moto
 

Hey everyone....planning a trip to Africa and just beginning research and any input would be appreciated. This would be my first Africa trip, although I have traveled extensively via moto in North/ South America and Asia. Advice, info or heads up on good resources would be great.

So my rough plan is to buy a moto in Europe, ferry across to Morrocco, head down the west coast. Then possibly continue along the west eventually ending in S Africa. Or possibly head east at some point to Uganda/ Kenya and head south from there.

Some initial questions to help with research and planning.

1. Time frame- whats a realistic time frame to do a trans continental trip going north to south?

2. Budget- Any info on travel costs in Africa would be great. I know costs will likely vary considerably based on region/ country, but overall whats a realistic monthly budget?

3. Countries or areas to be avoided- Seems to be lots of opinions out there about what countries are off limits for overland travel, but any thoughts would be appreciated.

4. Countries, places, roads or things not to be missed?

5. Visa issues- I'm traveling on an American passport, I know there are some countries that will be be doable, again, any help would be great.

Any other info or thoughts would be great.

Thanks in advance.

I've just done this in 6 months, with a week or 2 here and there. I guess i could have done it in 3 months without these breaks. It'll take as much time as you have!

I spent about €1,500 on visa's to get from Morocco to South Africa. €100 to get through Rosso, <€20 in total to get through all subsequent borders (a sharp learning curve). Beyond that, it was about €700/month not penny pinching for fuel, food and accommodation.

We did all of the countries along the coast without any issue. We avoided Mali

It depends on what you like. My best bits:
Guinea: All of it
Ghana: South west - wish i'd spent more time there
Angola: Road from Lubango to Namibe (at the Lubango end)
Botswana/Zimbabwe: Riding through the Hwange National Park
Namibia: standard tourist stuff: Fish River Canyon, Sousesfli, Himba tribe, Etosha National Park
South Africa: Non-tar roads, Route 62, Swartberg Pass, Drakensburg

Sorry, Brit, so can't help. Try messaging Garnaro, a fellow yank who's also heading down the west coast at the moment with a surf board...

If you take the west route you will avoid Egypt and the most expensive carnet on the planet, I am not sure if US passport holders can get Sudanese visa either so you will avoid that.
I am not sure where you plan to go after that but if you go down the west side you could head back up the east as far as possible then ship from somewhere like Kenya.
It was 6 years since I was there and that was on the east side but petrol was about $1 a litre in most places.

Thanks for the info, guys, really appreciate it.

Dive- Per your budget, were you camping or staying in hotel along the way? Also, what were you riding? Solo trip? How long ago did you do it?

Also, thanks for the heads up on garnaro, great ride report....looks like he's having an amazing trip.

Thanks again, cheers. jay

I travelled with 4 others from EU to Ghana and 1 other to South Africa. The cost is based on the second leg of the trip. I've been in South Africa a month and will be here till the end of April. I will then carry on up the east coast on my own.

Here are the details of where i got my west african visas on route

We camped about 50% of the time - maybe a little more - i didn't bother keeping tab. In some places there is no choice (Guniea/Congo's). Where there are hostels, it's nice to meet other travellers and sometimes we just wanted a bed...

I have an Exped Downmat and now get as good a night sleep on that or a bed.

I have a BMW F800GSA. I found that the 24l tank and fuel range worked well with the others who were on R1200GSA's - i'd typically use 15% less fuel from the most efficient R1200 rider, to >25% less... even in the more developed countries, i ride quite slowly - 80 or 90 km/h which helps keep the economy up - typically i could get 350 miles to a tank and achieved >400 on one occasion. Filling up after 300km in the less developed countries left me with a good reserve and did not need to carry additional fuel - though i stuck to the main roads where fuel is easily available.

Steve

Thinking of the same trip myself.Trying to figure out the timing.
Enter morocco in September and take a few months or more to get to SA.
XT 600Tenere with a good budget or buy a 1150gs and not as big a budget.

You do not need a GS (having just done this on a F800GSA!) - save your money and additional weight and do it on the XT.

That's what I wanted to hear.Time to start prepping her.
How useful is it to able to speak French on the western route?

French helps a lot, but you can get by without it.

Hi Jay,
Im very interested to make the trip with you. Send me a email with some data. Djinsital at gmail dot com.

Because of the Ebola Outbreak, maybe not the best idea to do it currently on the same way.

Marocco, Mauretania, Maili (staying south) Burkina, Benin looks still doable instead. We did that too at the end of 2012 this way:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iWkAUvx_-_...rica-Flyer.jpg

Steve`s Blog (divelandy) is one of the most recent and just beautful and unique.

I try to collect a list of all travellers on bike, car or truck on the westroute in our who write a Blog here. Together you can get the most recent informations.

Like others wrote too, you had to calculate 1500 USD for Visas for the west route, if you plan safe, and optain the critical ones with multiple entry. This allow you to get back and choose another route, if something happen (Roads closed because of flood, something happen and you want to avoid an area).

You can calculate the Fuelcosts too before, if you choose our route you will drive 20`500km, but it is possible with 15`000km or less if you did a shorter line. For Diesel the costs was 1.08 USD in the mix for a liter, for Benzin you had too look in a blogs of a biker i guess.

Timeframe is up to you. We did it in two months by car. I guess i dont have to mention, that we would like to have more time. Time is the most valuable stuff we have. But better doing it in two months as never...

A biker here at HuBB did a roundtrip in 2.5 months (the west route he did in 18 days), first the west route than the east cost upwards. But more time is better, for shure. Other did a roundtrip in two years.

Language ist mostly french, in Angola Portuguese, Nigeria and north Cameroon English (too in Namibia and SA). We just can speak english - it was enough and sometimes helpful, to be the stupid forigner. So french is not neccessary to do such a trip, but would allow more communication.

Surfy