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sub-Saharan Africa Topics specific to sub-Saharan Africa. (Includes all countries South of 17 degrees latitude)
Photo by Zoe Seymour, The main road south, DRC

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by Zoe Seymour,
The main road south, DRC



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  #1  
Old 3 Sep 2015
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Paris - Luanda trip
Hi there,

I'll be moving to Luanda in early November for work.

I'm thinking about making the trip down on a bike, as much tarmac as possible and feasible, this is just a trip to get there. for the off road I'll do it while I'm there.

What is your sense in terms of timing to get to Luanda from Morocco? I'm normally ok doing 700-800kms per day on tarmac (did this for 20 years in W. Europe and Latin America) but I don't know whether Africa is a different type of travelling.

Your thoughts on what bike would be best would be appreciated. I'm down to these as a choice, KTM690R, GS650 Dakar, Yamaha XT Tenere' or normal XT.

Any advice on GPS, equipment, mechanical spares would also help me a lot.

Best,

M
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  #2  
Old 7 Sep 2015
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nothing? no one?
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  #3  
Old 8 Sep 2015
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Paris to Luanda should take roughly the same amount of time as London - Cape Town (lots of blog reports for that more common trip). Not far after Luanda it's easy sailing. So 90-110 days would be a pretty fast trip according to the reports I've read. I don't know of anyone who has really optimized for speed over this route, though. I think the delays in getting the visas could be substantial.

Even if you had a bike at this point, making it by November seems like it would really be pushing it.


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  #4  
Old 9 Sep 2015
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Paris - Luanda Trip
That's an interesting question....I would think that you could do the trip in a month if you had your difficult visas before you left. A friend of mine did all the way down to Cape Town in 21 days of riding, not including days spent looking for visas.

You could plan to stay on tar for most the way and also take a direct route to cut out any non necessary countries/visas.

Any bike would do it but make sure it's in good shape, obviously. Get's down to personal preference. I have an XT660R and would join you in a flash but for my recently broken leg.

I've done three north/south, south/north Africa trips and please email or pm if you would like any more specific info.

Enjoy !!
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  #5  
Old 9 Sep 2015
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Thinking about your trip some more......if you went the direct route and pre- arranged your visas I'm sure you could get to Luanda in around 3 weeks.....if you were pushing it.

I find GPS useful in large cities only.....otherwise there is generally just one road to follow anyway. I use Tracks4Africa and OSM on a Garmin Montana.

Equipment and spares....depends on your philosophy.
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