In January 2010 we decide to tour Africa by motorcycle. A series of accidents gives us the necessary kick in the arse, while delaying the departure by 9 months. We start in June 2011 in Bucharest and end in the same place in August 2012. Some of the expedition setbacks were: being stranded with minimal supplies in a remote Cameroonian community, towing the broken bike, malaria, attacks by a hippo, a scorpion and many Tsetse flies, riding 3000 km off-road in the Congo through torrential rain and mudslides, tackling bureaucrats and military men, and buying a cup of tea in Egypt.
Yamaha XT660Z Tenere Adventurisation - Mods
SW Motech 30mm Bar risers
Short Adjustable ALU Clutch and Brake Levers
Scottoiler crampbuster
Large Metal Footpegs
Custom Center Stand
Custom Alu Engine Guard
Hein Gericke Tuareg Tankbag
2X41l Alutech Cases with Custom Rack
29l Alutech Topbox with Custom Mount
Custom Mount for 5l Jerrycan
Custom Mount for 2l water bottles
Custom alu clips for drybags
Continetal ContiEscape for Europe and TKC80 for Africa
AKRON waterproof protective GPS case
LED Spot
12v 150W Power Invertor
SW Motech 30mm Bar risers
Short Adjustable ALU Clutch and Brake Levers
Scottoiler crampbuster
Large Metal Footpegs
Custom Center Stand
Custom Alu Engine Guard
Hein Gericke Tuareg Tankbag
2X41l Alutech Cases with Custom Rack
29l Alutech Topbox with Custom Mount
Custom Mount for 5l Jerrycan
Custom Mount for 2l water bottles
Custom alu clips for drybags
Continetal ContiEscape for Europe and TKC80 for Africa
AKRON waterproof protective GPS case
LED Spot
12v 150W Power Invertor
Unfortunately our dreams were shattered when on the 7th of October, just before our set departure date, Jon was hit by a car 70 meters from our doorstep. He is fine now, recovering after the shock, reconstructive surgery that repaired a severe testicular rupture and 5 nightmarish days in a communist hospital. We are hopeful that he will soon get back to 100% health, but the aftershock of the accident is just beginning to haunt us. You can see the bike here, the damages are extensive and we are still evaluating costs. We don't know if the guilty driver who carelessly generated this drama will be in any way cooperative to help us recover the money lost, in any case we are determined to move on and pursue our plans. Thanks you for the good wishes.
We will continue to update the situation as it develops.
We will continue to update the situation as it develops.
Farewell Party
party in stoian militaru. friends. fish eggs. whiskey.beer. wine. barbecue. we must buy another petzl. nosaj thing. freud. surprise gifts from friends. matcha lemonade.
here with us: mish,laura,mihai,andreea+alex,diana,stefan,betty,radu,albert,mitica,madalina,andreea,dumitru,iulian,andu,razvan,sabin,tibi
here with us: mish,laura,mihai,andreea+alex,diana,stefan,betty,radu,albert,mitica,madalina,andreea,dumitru,iulian,andu,razvan,sabin,tibi
Saua Dichiului
12th of september: we are now one month behind the original schedule and the main reason for this delay is that our moto clothing - ordered since the beginning of august in some pretty big german shops has not been delivered yet! The other stuff is here: camping gear from the states, bike parts from Hong Kong and Holland etc. What a weird situation, but more on the shopping for the gear saga later on.
Even as I was not properly equipped for it, we decided for a short day trip to test how the bike handles at full load: alu panniers, dry sacks with camping gear, photo gear bag, spare tires, everything. We rode on DN1 to Sinaia, leaving Bucharest at noon and took a left towards Bolboci Lake, which we were not to reach afterall, due to night coming and cold weather and our decision to return to Bucharest on the same day. The ride through Saua Dichiului proved to be more than we bargained for, offering us a great but challenging 30 km trip on gravel which later turned to a bumpy dirt road with patches of rocky slides. The landscape was atmospheric and beautiful, with the sun setting over pine and fir tree covered mountains with the here and there naked cliff at corners. The layout of the road was a joy, with exciting twists and turns and with almost nobody in site for miles. The bike performed beautifully and Ionut rode more aggressively by the hour, with me keeping my balance on the bike as he stood up to tackle the bumps. The hardest part was crossing a muddy slippery area in the woods. The impressive load was no biggie, but some adjustments are necessary. We rolled into Targoviste late in the evening to enjoy a pizza and a hot tea with Valeri, Mihaela and Edi. The old town has been restored and developed into a charming place, with lively pubs and cafes and small shops, a better more coherent gathering area for the locals than what the similar part of Bucharest has been turned into.
Back home after midnight, many new ideas about what to do, we are happy, tired and very cold. Next week a second test trip is planned, hopefully some friends will join in and I ll have my gear on also. Cannot wait to leave for Africa!
Even as I was not properly equipped for it, we decided for a short day trip to test how the bike handles at full load: alu panniers, dry sacks with camping gear, photo gear bag, spare tires, everything. We rode on DN1 to Sinaia, leaving Bucharest at noon and took a left towards Bolboci Lake, which we were not to reach afterall, due to night coming and cold weather and our decision to return to Bucharest on the same day. The ride through Saua Dichiului proved to be more than we bargained for, offering us a great but challenging 30 km trip on gravel which later turned to a bumpy dirt road with patches of rocky slides. The landscape was atmospheric and beautiful, with the sun setting over pine and fir tree covered mountains with the here and there naked cliff at corners. The layout of the road was a joy, with exciting twists and turns and with almost nobody in site for miles. The bike performed beautifully and Ionut rode more aggressively by the hour, with me keeping my balance on the bike as he stood up to tackle the bumps. The hardest part was crossing a muddy slippery area in the woods. The impressive load was no biggie, but some adjustments are necessary. We rolled into Targoviste late in the evening to enjoy a pizza and a hot tea with Valeri, Mihaela and Edi. The old town has been restored and developed into a charming place, with lively pubs and cafes and small shops, a better more coherent gathering area for the locals than what the similar part of Bucharest has been turned into.
Back home after midnight, many new ideas about what to do, we are happy, tired and very cold. Next week a second test trip is planned, hopefully some friends will join in and I ll have my gear on also. Cannot wait to leave for Africa!
Test trip no.2 - Giurgiu
The place is well known. The beach, the Danube, the willows - everything is where it should be. The plan was to ride Transfagarasan route, but the weather got colder over the week and we checked the webcams in balea and decided that camping overnight at 3-4 degrees would be a bit of a strech. So we rolled into Giurgiu. Dumitry joined us by car. This time we left home the spare tires, after deciding that we are already going to ride with 10-20kg over the recommended mass and that we need to ship the tires to Spain from where we will pick them up on our way to Morocco. The ride to Giurgiu is nothing to write home about. But the peaceful place is a joy in itself. We tested the cooking gear and made a lovely Tom Yum Gung soup, grilled salmon and veggies and drank some delicious juice homemade by Dumitru. We set camp on the bank, see below the clip with the tent pitching by Ionut. The tent performed well under the hefty rain that lasted through the night. Still, we need more bush camping for a serious review. Gear update for this test: mounted and fitted the alu clips for the webbing straps used to secure the lateral dry sacks in place, mounted the alu jerrycan and water bottles holders, gloves+boots+ Arai Tour X3 arrived and in use. A note on this helmet: the sizing must be off, cause I ve tested it on two XS heads (53-54 cm diameter) and it s way too large. Also the shell is very heavy for an XS, over 1650g! So the Arai will only be reviewed by Ionut. I returned mine and ordered a Shoei. Overall the trip was invigorating, and the evening on the beach by the fire and the dark Danube, stunning.
Dispatches from this adventure
Maghreb + West Africa
We spend the first month of the expedition in medieval medinas, in the High Atlas and in the pink dunes of Morocco. Then we go fishing in Mauritania‘s Sahara, visit the Dogon people in Mali and discover the Kasena people of Burkina Faso. Later we fall in love with Togo and flee voodoo in Benin. We meet Fela Kuti’s son and take a selfie with the president of Nigeria while volunteering for an incredible primate conservation NGO. This section of our tour of Africa by motorcycle ends with an adrenaline-pumping month in Cameroon, where we hit both rock bottom and the highest summit of our lives.
Mount Cameroon
Climbing Mount Cameroon in one day and a half on the Race Track and having a second attempt at fixin...
13 years ago
Cameroon – Jungle Fever on Ring Road
We hit rock bottom while being stuck with a broken bike, no money and no food in a bush community of...
13 years ago
Selfie with the President of Nigeria
Volunteering for Pandrillus, an American-Nigerian wildlife conservation NGO and meeting Olusegun Ob...
13 years ago
Drill Sanctuary on AFI Mountain
Information provided by Pandrillus. Photos by us. For more please visit www.pandrillus.org Pandrillu...
13 years ago
Makoko of Lagos
Makoko, a picturesque century old slum on stilts, is one of many shoreline communities threatened by...
13 years ago
Lagos and Abuja
Lagos and Abuja are the two contrasting faces of Africa's largest nation: one is its the economical ...
13 years ago
Benin – Voodoo And Coconuts
Once a major slave shipping port and the cradle of voodoo religion, modern Benin was dubbed The West...
13 years ago
Tiebele and the Amazing Houses of the Gourounsi People
Tiebele of Burkina Faso is famous for the unique mud-brick architecture and intricate frescoes of th...
13 years ago
Burkina Faso – Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso
Exploring Burkina Faso from the quaint capital of Ouagadougou, to the waterfalls and mud-brick mosqu...
13 years ago
Dogon Country
In northern Mali, where the Sahel stretches a sandy plain up to Burkina Faso, lies the Dogon Country...
13 years ago
Djenne, the Mall of West Africa
Djenne is an island on Bani river, and also an island of medieval civilization in the north-west of ...
13 years ago
Mali – City vs. Village Life
Bamako is a sprawling metropolis, with scooters and cars entangled together in big traffic jams, wit...
13 years ago
Mauritania
Lonely Planet calls Mauritania “a place apart”, “a Muslim country with a black African twist...
13 years ago
Morocco, A Warm Up for the Tour of Africa
9 months since the accident that offset our plans, we begin our round-Africa adventure with a month ...
13 years ago
Gabon, Congo Brazzaville & Crossing Congo Kinshasa
We cross the Equator in Gabon, we go off the grid in Congo Brazzaville, then we cross overland the mighty Congo basin, from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi.
Congo Crossing
Two weeks before Christmas of 2011 and 200 days into our tour of Africa by Yamaha XT660Z Ténéré ,...
13 years ago
Into the DRC
In N’Kundi we were now local gods, so changing money, refueling and finding food was a child’s ...
13 years ago
Congo Brazzaville 100% Off-Road
The first thing we heard entering Congo Brazzaville was “Donnez moi l’argent!”, a stark remin...
13 years ago
Gabon – Crossing the Equator
We celebrated the National Day with the chilled and rather hip looking border officers who welcomed ...
13 years ago
Southern Africa
We find a home away from home in Zambia, at Victoria Falls. In Namibia we meet the Himba people, cross world’s oldest desert and second largest canyon, reaching the southernmost point of the journey at Cape Agulhas in South Africa.
Dwesa Nature Reserve for Date Night
Dwesa Cwebe Nature Reserve is one of the best kept secrets on the Wild Coast. After spending the fir...
6 years ago
Wild Coast by Land Cruiser FJ80
The Wild Coast, also known as the Transkei, is one of the most remarkable and spectacular coastline...
6 years ago
Bavianskloof and B-Day at ER
To recap quickly our 4×4-powered story, after buying a car in Jo’Burg and trying in vain to r...
6 years ago
Lesotho Epic
6 1/2 years ago the rocky bends proved a bit challenging for our fully-loaded Tenere. I remember tha...
6 years ago
Johannesburg & Drakensberg. Hiking Tugela Falls
24/12, The Drakensberg In the hip Maponeng district of Johannesburg the usual artsy-fartsy crowd gat...
6 years ago
Into Botswana
A wilderness safari into Botswana to warm-up before leading our first ever 4x4 tour ...
8 years ago
Dust, Sweat And Prayers in Zambia
In Livingstone the turquoise cabs were desperate for customers. Riding the steep track to Nsogwe, we...
12 years ago
Botswana – Between Heaven And Earth
Crossing the border into the country where we would go back to our free camping routine was a bit of...
12 years ago
Computer Says No
Did we think that the visa nightmare was over? Well, Ethiopian visa just started giving us headache...
12 years ago
Cape to Cairo via East Africa
We ride on the roof of Africa in Lesotho, witness the Okavango Delta in flood in Botswana, revisit Zambia, ride on rails in Mozambique and sail by dhow from mainland Tanzania to Zanzibar. In Kenya and Ethiopia we face inclement weather and discover an African Holy City. After riding in 54°C across Sudan‘s Nubian desert, we end the tour with the Egyptian Pyramids and Turkey’s Cappadocia.
The Thousand And One Egyptian Sins
Syria becoming a bloodbath has rendered our plans to continue across the Middle East, towards Asia, ...
12 years ago
Ramadan In Cairo
Cairo 19 – 24/07/2012 The Tale of the Jewish Physician’ from the ‘Thousand and One Arabian...
12 years ago
The Nile Valley And The Red Sea Coast
Egypt 17 – 19/07/2012 As we were informing in a ‘fast forward’, after long negotiations an...
12 years ago
Trapped In Travel Purgatory
Photo taken from the ferry by Carola during the crossing of Lake Nasser from Wadi Halfa to Aswan Egy...
12 years ago
Desertaholics
Sudan 06 – 11/07/2012 In climatically harsh corners of the world, access for routine measureme...
12 years ago
Planet Ethiopia
Ethiopia 28/06 – 06/07/2012 There’s a marvelous feeling to enter a fresh territory where, li...
12 years ago
Lalibela Ethiopia- Assume Bedazzled Position
With the impressive 4190 m Mt.Yosef in the background, Lalibela may not feel like it’s situated a...
12 years ago
Weather Goes Rogue In Kenya
Kenya 10 – 27/06/2012 Thank you officers, for letting us in. The 20th African border penetrate...
12 years ago
Natron Schmatron
Tanzania 08 – 10/06/2012 We had returned to pick up our motorbike to the crumbling old customs...
12 years ago
Everything’s Better In Zanzibar
Zanzibar 03 – 07/06/2012 The Arab spring was bubbling and the architecture industry was tumbli...
12 years ago