Hey Jeannie,
It is funny but I am too in the process of getting quotes for sending a bike from Australia to South Africa for my tour in August. Living in Sydney I found that shipping a bike from Perth is a lot cheaper so I will do that and add another 4000km of great touring to the trip.
Shipping by air might be better for your finances if it means you can work during the time you would otherwise be sitting around somewhere, waiting for the bike to arrive. Airfreight from Australia seems to only go to Johannesburg though.
I contacted pretty much every single airline flying from Perth to South Africa with max. one in-between stop and none of them accepted the bike any other way than by a cargo forwarder, not a single airline would do it! Even Qantas said, they can't do it directly.
I narrowed down the options to two small cargo forwarding companies, qouting about AU$3500 for air freight sending my DR650 to Africa. Once I've got a more detailed quote I can let you know. I have not decided yet because of two open points: the need for crating and the option to leave panniers and equipment on the bike which both cargo forwarders are about to investigate right at the moment.
Which time around will you start in South Africa?
Cheers,
Marco
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