Extreme travel
You don’t need an expensive adventure bike to travel. Rob Archibald roamed Africa on a ten-year-old Honda CG125
MY ORIGINAL PLAN had been to ride from the UK down to Cape Town but I’d had relationship troubles with the person I was going to do the trip with. In the end it didn’t work out so I just wanted to get there and decided to fly the bike to South Africa and ride back instead. Psychologically, it also seemed easier riding towards home than it did away from it. To fly the bike to Cape Town cost £1200 plus £1550 for the carnet de passage - £800 of which you get back when you return the bike to the UK.
I chose the Honda CG125 because it’s lightweight, simple to fix and you can find cheap parts for it anywhere in the world. It’s also cheap to buy in the first place, which is a big benefit when travelling on a budget. Fuel efficiency is really good, averaging around 100mpg. It blends in with the local bikes which in turn helps me blend in and, I hoped, should mean it’s less likely to be stolen. Most importantly, I’d had the bike for a few years before the trip and the thought of riding anything else would seem like blasphemy!
In the end I rode the CG for 9000 miles through South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, before flying the bike home from Nairobi eight months later. My pace was much slower than I’d originally intended when thinking of riding down to South Africa – I just enjoyed taking my time – and by Kenya my money was all-but spent. It didn’t bother me that I never made it home to England by land, as the things I saw and the people I met along the way more than made up for not riding all the way back.
Of the physical challenges, it was the heat I found most difficult. Roasted in the tent at sunrise or dripping as I loaded luggage on and off the bike, heat rash was the bane of my life. Mentally, the challenges were a little trickier, mainly because I didn’t see them coming. It was a struggle sometimes to cope with emotions such as loneliness, the motivation to keep moving, or missing people I’d met – and generally questioning what the hell I was doing with my life!
What I enjoyed most was the freedom of the trip. I had complete flexibility over my life. I never knew what I’d feel like doing the next day or who I’d meet or what I’d discover. This allowed me to pick the best options available or choose the best route, depending on how I felt at the time. I had nowhere else to be.
If I was to do it again I’d buy a bike in the country my trip started in to avoid the cost of freighting and the carnet. I’d also do less planning and attempt fewer countries. By
“It seemed easier riding towards home than away from it”
really exploring one country I believe you get a much better understanding of that culture. Certainly more than the sum of all the different cultures you could have encountered in the same amount of time.
I don’t like giving advice on where to ride in Africa, as your way is the best way. Less developed countries have fewer main roads so navigation is easy. Start on these before trying more adventurous routes. I navigated by asking for directions to towns I could see on my 1:4,000,000 map.
Before a border crossing, make sure you know the currency exchange rate, what documents you need to buy at the border (insurance/visa/temporary import permit, and other papers) and how much they should cost you. Only have that amount in your wallet, plus what you consider to be a reasonable fee for the bloke who will inevitably walk you through the whole process. Armed with this information, a cool but stubborn attitude and all the time in the world, borders are tolerable.
Most of all don’t worry. You’ll learn what you need to when the time comes just by talking to people. And you only need to be one step ahead – planning too far in the future is constricting and much harder to do well. Knowing where not to go is much more important than knowing where to go. Every country in the world has it’s dodgy areas. Don’t be put off by them, just go around them. Over time you’ll learn the difference between genuinely dangerous areas and places someone’s heard are dangerous (the whole world!).