Getting offroad/off tarmac in Africa
 

I havent left yet, but am planning a route around africa. I've heard that a lot of the main roads are paved now. Is there an easy way to plan a route that minimizes pavement, or at least, to know what surface a road is in advance?

Thanks
NY-Lon (aka Philip)

It is not hard to find an adventure ;-)

I just left the African continent today after more than one year of driving around, and I honestly have to say that I am happy to drive on tar roads again. In other words: you'll find more than enough pistes/tracks/potholed tar roads in Africa. Nevertheless, a lot of roads are being paved indeed in a fast tempo, but I assume that the next few yours at least you can absolutely get all the offroad experiences you could think of in Africa.

Anaconda - roughly what route did you take? I'm looking at the FCO travel advisories, and can't figure out a viable route up and down.

Just don't look too closely at those advisories and you'll be fine.

Haha, I'm just getting underway myself. In Dahkla now and about to head down Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea and most of the rest of the countries on my way south.

Which advisories seem to be hampering your plan?

Those travel advices always made me nerveus, and afterwards I always have to conclude that they are formulated to general and not quite to inform independent travellers fully and correctly.

I encountered no problems at all with regard to safety/security during my travels. And I'm not a navy-seal-kinda-guy.

It's quite difficult to provide you with my exact route, but I crossed these countries from March 2012 - March 2013: (Turkey-->) Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia-Kenya-Uganda-Rwanda-Burundi-Tanzania-Mozambique-Malawi-Zambia-Zimbabwe-Zambia-Botswana-South-Africa(+Swaziland&Lesotho)-Namibia-Angola-DRC-Congo-Gabon-Cameroon-Nigeria-Benin-Togo-Ghana-Burkina Faso-Ivory Coast-Guinea-Senegal-Gambia-Senegal-Mauritania-Western Sahara-Morocco (-->Spain)

It's Mauritania and Sudan that "block" me going around at the moment. According to the FCO website, they are both no go zones.

From your list: Burundi is also essentially a no go area, based on the FCO site.

Everyone has to decide for him-/herself, but as far as I am concerned, these countries aren't entirely no go zones, to say the least.

In Mauritania you can just drive along the coast via the coastal highway, like many many other tourists did last month when I was there (and do every day). If you go there, you will - among others - see 100+ seniors per day touring with their camper van.

In Burundi I did not notice a situation which should cause any concern and also there I met quite some tourists/expats (I think the travel advice is based on sporadic rebel activity - it's highly unlikely that you will meet these rebels in the areas where you would be); nevertheless Burundi is not necessary to visit, you can easily drive just from Rwanda to Tanzania.

And then Sudan... Many people ask me about the safety of Sudan. Why? Because of Darfur or because of the troubled past with South Sudan? You won't notice anything from the war in Darfur and most likely the same applies to the trouble with South Sudan. Look on the map again; the country is huge. When we were there, we only met very friendly people, drove on beautiful tarmac highways through stunning landscapes (including many pyramids) and enjoyed the capital Khartoum, a not too busy place without hassle. At that time, I read on internet about the tensions between Sudan and South Sudan and the negative effects thereof on the daily life in Khartoum. Huh? That was so much not what I experienced. Probably written by a journalist from Reuters in Nairobi, based on ...? If you really wanted to, you can cross Sudan in just a few days, but I bet you don't once you are there. It took us about 8 days.

I also checked the travel advice for "my" country, the Netherlands. I couldn't believe my eyes; it turned out that I also live in danger out here :wink3:. So far for the credibility of these travel advices.

You should be worried about traffic in Africa in stead of the undefined dangers mentioned in the travel advices; that is without doubt the largest safety problem for tourists (and locals - during peace time).

Hi,

Dont worry you will find many unpaved roads and even if they are paved you will have so many potwholes that you have to be very carefull while riding:

http://afrikamotorrad.eu

enjoy it, Tobi

I share others opinions (of having enough rough roads without planning) but if you really want it, go from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi. Other stretches that you can not avoid is Gabon/Congo and DRC/Angola. Put on top the rainy season and you will be happy.
On the east side you can have difficult roads only going form Nairobi to Ethiopia. But if you like, you can also go first to South Sudan and cross to Ethiopia form there - guaranteed extreme off-road.
This is all about main roads, you can as well take minor roads elsewhere - just study some maps and pick your route. :thumbup1:

This RR might be of interest to you: Tour d'Afrique - and then some - ADVrider
Great report, lots of information and brillant pics!

I crossed Mauritania this past week over the course of two days. Went through Noudibhou and Nouakchott during the day and wild camped off the main road both nights. Felt perfectly safe the entire time.

thanks all.

i look forward to re-reading this thread once ive done the trip, i'm sure ill give myself a laugh as i worried that the roads wouldnt be "hard enough"...

After few days of driving in South Sudan friend of mine who resides here told me "now you know why I do not like off-roading back in Europe" :)

If you want enough "off tarmac" to last a lifetime, just go from Bissau to Conakry. :funmeterno:

The nice thing with Africa is taht the "main route" down the east coast is paved virtually the entire way. THere is a patch in Kenya that is terrible, and some spots in Tanzania, but SA, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi...all great roads. Kenya for the most part is also good (aside from Moyale to about halfway between Marsabit and Isiolo). Ethiopia has decent roads, but with scattered potholes. It is the people and livestock on the road which causes the largest issues. Sudan's roads are very good and newly paved with Chinese labor and money. Egypt's roads are about 75% speed bumps, but other than that, easy to drive.

Don't worry, it hasn't gotten too tame and there will be multiple opportunities for flat tires, and destroyed suspension!

So if you have gone a couple of days and are yearning for offroading, any of the secondary roads should suffice. If THAT isn't enough, some of the parks in various countries allow for driving off of the paths, so that should be even better.

I'm also trying to plan a 95% off road trip through Africa. Besides the added adventure I'm also trying to avoid the drunk/high/asleep truck drivers using the main roads.

My method is using google earth. I'm constantly amazed about how much detail is available on their aerial imagery. I use similar techniques finding new trails for local trail riding.

I wouldn't take a heavily laden 650 though. We're planning it on 2x WR250R's with a giantloop on the back and a few other items hung on. With properly adjusted suspension it should be fine. I figure if they can handle the trail riding around here why not the B/ farm roads in Africa.

good luck with it. My advice would be to create a loose plan and sort of tweak it as you go based on the people that you talk to. As I'm sure you're aware there are a lot of overlander hubs across Africa and they are great places to meet people and swap stories. We changed/diverted our route several times based on information that we picked up at those places. There were a lot of bikers there that would team up for a couple of weeks to go to the next destination taking on some killer back roads and trails.

Many of them told us that they had never planned to be that adventurous as they were going it alone, but meeting up with 4 other folks, they felt more confident going more off the beaten path. We'd meet up with some of these folks later and hear their great stories.

You're right, the planning can be out of the window on day 1. But I find it nice to have a reference to share from. On other trips it was difficult to stay off the main routes/roads. Either because of rough planning, poor maps, private land, etc which lead to some frustration.

Digital maps, camera's and go pro's make sharing of info much easier. But without any reference of it can be difficult to compare.

Which forums did you find the most useful?

I suggest to work with Satellite-Images from bing or google, there are ways to make them available offline.

Surfy

If you haven't already done so I suggest you have a look at T4a web site and maps both digital and on paper.

yup. +1 on the tracks4africa site. The maps on there are fantastic and offer a lot more info than just a gas station marker. We were able to get info about things like side roads, detours, etc.

I think you'll find that and talking with people en route will be the best in regards to trying to stay off of main roads and have a relatively safe adventure.

When I was bored and planning our Africa trip I'd browse flickr and if I saw something interesting in Africa photos I'd check the geotag and see where it was or shoot a message to someone and ask where it was. That was sort of how I planned a couple of the more offbeat places we went, such as the livestock market in Hargeisa.

and the guys and girls at T4a are always willing to give advice etc. Bessie and her father Wouter who started the whole thing travel regularly on their bikes in southern Africa. Don't be frightened to message them for help and advice.
margaret

In my experience of Chinese road building in Africa, the surface will last just long enough for their trucks to get all the local timber/minerals out to the ports, then a couple of wet seasons will eat into the cracked surface and wash out the poorly laid substrata. Hey presto - back to dirt roads. Cynical, bitter, pessimistic? Yes, hands up to all of them:-)
My advice is wait a couple of years, get those knobblies on and ride safe,
Simon.

The correct answer is REAListic. ;-)

It is no secret why the Chinese are building the roads. It isn't because they are a freaking charity!