I’m planning a trip from Cairo to Dakar then down to Cape Town via I’m not quite sure… maybe even back over to the east coast (Rift mountains of Kenya?).

It would be great to share (parts of?) the journey with others. I’ve no fixed time scales or departure date except starting during the cooler weather window around Oct-Nov

I’ve booked a 14day trip in Morocco out into the Sahara in April, lead by Chris Scott (if you don’t know him you should check out his books on adventure riding!). Riding my own bike down so it will be a test run for the setup and have a play with it (a dry run! haahaa), get experience of riding on sandy conditions PLUS picking Mr Scott’s brain for north Africa routes and other useful information.

Cheers, Duck
((Based in Weymouth, UK and have a KTM 640Adventure))

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tunis, algeria-west africa sept 09
Had originally planned overland route to india and back on a 600 transalp starting sept 09, but now considering route across sahara via tunis and algeria is any other bikes/4wheels interested in linking up to share guide costs and safety in numbers in algeria etc.
would be willing to head for SA if with others or i will travel back the coast route to morroco with others or on my own

Hi Archie, I’m planning a route from Cairo to Dakar and then down to SA. Have a friend working in Libya so might be able to make that part cheaper if he could find someone willing to escort me through the country rather than going through the more expensive channels… Interested?

Anyone else interested???

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sorry for dely in replying interested in your idea would libya visas be easy to get

Hi Duck,

I'm leaving London at the the beginning of October and heading down the West Coast of Africa to Cape Town. When do you think you'll be in Dakar and would you be interested in travelling the leg between Dakar and Windhoek together? My bike(f650gsd) is almost ready to go, I just need to finalize the route and do a bit of research about visa's etc.

T-Rex

Duck, how much did Chris' trip set you back - I imagine it would be great but £££...?

could fit in with you i am open to ideas

Hi all, been away and still am so hadn’t been replying…

Archie: I’m talking with my English friend working in Libya to see if he can help me any about visa’s and escort in the country, will keep you updated! I’ll be travelling on a Irish passport and not my British one but will also ask about British peeps travelling. Reckon a trip up to London to visit embassy’s would do no harm.

T-Rex: Not sure when I’ll arrive in Dakar but it could be around that time. My route is not fixed and my have to change and go via Morocco instead… keeping an open mind and will know more in April… Parts of West Africa along the coast are interesting for the wrong reasons, I would be good to keep away from the coast of Nigeria, especially the Port Harcourt delta. The M.E.N.D. are very active in this region where to oil company’s are, they should leave Bikers alone but a western face is the same as any western face. Common sense goes a long way… (Where are you in the UK???)

men8ifr: Yep it is costing me ££££ plus the GBP has noise dived against all currency’s around the world. Because they haven’t had as much interest and only 3 of us are doing the trip and Chris Scott has backed out to reduce costs. Money problems is hitting everyone these days and the trip will cost a less without Chris. I still want to do the trip as a dry run for my moto and want experience in the desert to see my ability before riding into the complete unknown and getting into trouble. I can also speak to the guy running the trip to advise me on routes in North Africa. I’m no Paris Dakar rider and have to sensible, and that means not travelling alone in difficult desert parts.

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I may well be interested in that route. What roads etc are you thinking of? Any issues with carnets or visas?

G

Hello all,

We are leaving Europe Sept. 2009. hope to see you all on the road then. We are traveling in a truck. We aim for around 7-8month to SA.

See for our intended route Met Daffie Op Reis and for our transport Met Daffie Op Reis

Greetings,

Henk Jan

Hi all, about time for an update to this thread…

Not long back from a month trip down Morocco (9000km). This was a trip to check out the bike, terrain and myself! Also went on an 8day tour with Bikershome Offroad Centre was about 1200km offroad with two 4x4’s in support with fuel, water, food, tents… That meant two other guys on the tour and me up front to follow the days GPS route (no panniers! got 40km from Algerian border, done some of the Dakar route, fantastic riding and remote camping spots…). Great format for a tour, felt like we were really doing it for ourselves rather than following the leader, the leader was behind with the tyre levers and compressor!! Anyway I’m diverging here but give Peter a shout if you want I tour that’s built around your abilities and is flexible to your needs!!! (Peter also does rescue service so he’s a good number to keep in your phone for that part of the world) I’ll be back with him and his nice family… Morocco has it ALL, rocky, sandy, muddy and snow! Rough deserts to mountain and forest tracks (remember and pack warm cloths also!).

OK. After this trip I’ve decided against the route from Cairo to Dakar . The terrain means this would be a trip by itself, what it deserves and to meet the weather window to go down through Africa, well I reckon I would be getting very wet later on! I fancied going down into Timbuktu but just not enough time for this route. Also boarder crossings in this part of north west Africa wouldn’t be easy, for Libya you’ll need an official escort...bla bla bla. Algeria and Morocco boarder may get better in the years to come, the Moroccan King and Algerian guy have shook hands for the cameras and are starting to speak with each other but will take a little longer before it filters down to opening up the crossings.

Something that surprised me on this trip was once you’ve left the nice gravel tracks is how low our average MPH can get, we didn’t get much over 25mph on average offroad with Peter! But we did stop for the old photo shots and meeting the Berber’s (lovely people). If you want to get from A to B then you could push this average up, could pretend your in the Dakar but how many of those guys finish??!!

So my plan is now a loop of Africa! Probably down the west and up the east… Hope this info helps you peeps…and don’t mind me raving on about Peter’s tour but it was good and a very friendly family!

Duck

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Hey Duck, what is your schedule for this ride? I leave Cape Town in early September to ride north to Egypt, hopefully across Libya etc to Morocco and then down the west coast. So I plan to be riding south from Morocco in about February. Will you be around there, then?

Cheers
David

Hi David, reckon you're on the road by the time i read this. Looks like we'll be in opposite parts of Africa, my route has changed. I’m leaving the UK 28Oct to Morocco down the west side to Cape Town and up the east and into Asia somehow.

Enjoy and safe travels!

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