Two novice females Kenya to South Africa on bike

[FerFer]

Hi everyone! This forum is such a brilliant resource, I was happy to come across it. I am a 25 year old British woman working for a few months in Kenya with my 26 year old female friend before we travel down to South Africa over the course of eight months (starting Feb). We arrived in Kenya a month ago and having never been on a motorbike before much of our travel has been on the back of bikes. We have loved it so much that rather than travel by buses down to South Africa (through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, probably Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa) we are considering learning to ride a bike and travelling down that way. Would be an incredible adventure and offer so much more freedom.

We are already getting carried away with the idea so before we get really excited I thought I would ask the experts on this forum and see how feasible it was. We have a friend here with a bike who is happy to assist us with bike maintenance lessons, finding driving school and all paperwork but we though you lot should be the first port of call. My main questions are as follows, but if anyone can think of any other issues I haven't touched on please let me know.

1.) We have until end of Feb to take our test and get all necessary paperwork on top of working full time. Is this doable?
2.) Our budget for a bike is 1,000 pound sterling, about $1,400 dollars. I Know this doesn't sound much but bikes are massively subsidized by the government in Kenya (to create motorbike jobs for youths), so if you know about Kenyan prices does this sound enough for a reliable one? We are not bothered about speed just reliability and a bike that can comfortably take two plus two large bags. Any recommendations?
3.) How safe do you think it would be for two females to do this journey? We woulod generally be on main roads apart from when we are settled in one place for a while, at which time we will do a little exploring.
4.) We have a fair idea of road conditions in Kenya now, but any ideas about the other countries?
5.) How easy will border crossings be? Do we have to get import waivers for each country and how do we do this?
6.) We would like to sell the bike when we get to South Africa, Will this be easy?

I think that's it for now. We would really, really like to do this but any advice you could give really matters to us.

Asante sana (Thank very much)

Jenny (and Emma)