DURBAN to DUSSELDORF- Cheap Aussie Style

i got to Divundu at the start of the Caprive Strip after a few days and it was getting a bit late and was looking for a camp site,
headed down a rough little track down to the Okavango River and came across this camp ,not exactly rough camping



it was $50 aussie for one of theos flash tents with an ensuite , a 3 course dinner and a great breakfast ,there were crocs
and hippos galore ,right under my balcony which was over the river
saw my first elephants on the side of the road heading to Botswana
here i am getting sprayed for foot and mouth

i headed for Maun to do a trip on the Okavango Delta
i was recommended the Old bridge campground ,it is great ,cold beer and big shady trees

check out the lock on the shower

a couple of guys on GS beemers from Switzerland and chek republic
we took a 2 day trip in wooden Morokos ,which are local dugout canoes
this is heading to the delta





nile crocidile

on the Okavango River

the old bridge backapackers from the river

That's an impressive Croc. I can't believe I swam in that swamp (1976). Was there much road sand between Namibia and Maun? There used to be I believe. If so how did the KLR manage? I have a similar bike (DR650) and have avoided sand so far but wonder how it would cope.

no the hippo aint too fond of sand she wiggles and burps and farts
nice log bridge

,here is a nice little fella wandering about on this section of road with signs that read something like ,stop at your own risk native wildlife in area

so what does the hippo do ,but start coughing and farting from 110 down to 105 ,95 ,85 hiccuping ,oh no , i pass more elephants and other critters ,then 75 ,74 73 ,holding its own ,but still 70 km from Kasane with the sun lowering in the sky ,the last thing i want to be doing is stopping here, so i am holding in own in 4th gear, at about 68 kph , i pulled on a little choke and it slowly crept up to 80 i let the choke off and it died completely ,fuck ,i pulled up , full choke ,it fired up , and i spluttered my way back up to 80 ,after 40 km of this it cleaned itself out
,maybe a bit of shit fuel last stop

the ferry accross the Zambezi, it is a free for all to try and get on this thing



Victoria Falls ,now aint that something to see



oh yeah ,i found this , i might just buy it ,rust free 67 splitty

I'm from Zimbabwe, born and raised... lived there for 18yrs before moving to Brisbane.

At Vic Falls, you used to be able to do the bridge bungee jump for free if you do it nude...

until too many nude backpackers turned up

not much to report here, pulled my tank off changed fuel filter i did go on a sunset booze cruise ,that was a great idea, hangover all day yesterday, rode up to Lusaka today , bike was still shit ,good sometimes but definatly starving for fuel ,then fine ,then shit again ,if i stop its fine for a while , grrr ,might have to pull the carby, got here on dusk ,but will look for a front tyre tomorrow then off to Lake Tanganyika for a 2 to 3 day boat trip on the MV Liemba on friday

Hey Dave, if you fitted an additional inline filter it restricts the fuel flow to much, ditch it and all will be good. Worked for me

thanks glen
that was my next option ,seems funny that it has been fine for the first 9000 km though

While you are at it, throw the bike on it's right hand side, Remove the main fuel tap on the left hand side and see how much crap is on the filter on the top of the fuel tap

bike was fine after i ditched the extra filter and cleaned the one in the tank
i headed up to Luaka as i was on my way north to Mpulungu , i spent half a day in Lusaka trying to find a tyre , Kal tyre ,if anyone needs a new tyre , its a Kenda and was about $60

safety first here in Africa

selling charcoal , these stalls all over the place



i went to Subway to get a feed and camed back and noticed my kill switch was all limp and did not work , , thete were a bunch of guys standing about , one offered to push me as the ignition still worked , so 2 guys push started me for a fee of course and 1 tried to steal my tyre ,nice guys
so i got back to the backpackers and started to pull the hippo down , they had tried to yank some wiring and smashed my kill switch , i managed to trace it with my trusty little test light and it was broken in the kill switch start button loom , whil i had it apart mt exhaust had been leaking at the join next to ythe airbox , the heat melted a hole in my airbox , do out with the prattly putty , all fixed except i needed to find a starter button , no luck, so it was a coin to bridge the fucked switch hanging off the bars
i then headed north and turned off towards Democratic republic of Congo
nice campground in the middle of nowhere

friendly staff

I have a Safari tank ,so better head in to the Safari Bar

I went in the 25 km to the place where doctor Livingstone died ,I presume

these guys ride on some rough ole tracks on a Bajaj Bicycle

i even visited a palace , pretty modest if i must say so

Hello Mista , how are you

DRC in the background

Lakes like oceans

glad i didn't pitch my tent here

Had my own AK47 equipped guard while at the bank

making bricks

selling slate , these guys were making gravel from rocks by hand with hammers , now that is hard work



they live in shacks but have phones in the boonies


spot of fishing

kids being kids

the local bus

This road was sort of following the border of Democratic Republic of Congo, and was full of people walking and small villages for moer than 1000 km , i got a sore arm from waving
I stayed at a little village called Kaputa , fuel $3 per litre , room $7
not much choice on the menu , but friendly smiles


fill up by the 5 litre

marsh land all around , again the DRC in the far distance


its the burning season


i ended up in a little village called Sumbu on the edge of the Sumbu national Park , i bumped into a guy Called Vic who runs a resort in the game park , he gave me some pointers i snuck past the entrance to the park as they don't allow bikes , Vic said the lions should leave you alone , just watch out for the elephants


Vics directions said , you go for about 15 km then the track runs out ,then go down the little track to the river

little track was steep , steep and rocky , it was about 2 kph ,slipping and sliding down this nightmare of a hill , looking over my shoulder for these lions ,

did i mention steep and rocky



the track kept splitting and i had to do a little tracker work finding the fresh tracks

i finally made it to the bottom , there was no way i was getting back up that track , unless it was on a Gas Gas
then came the river


these guys loaded me up on a leaky old wooden boat for the crossing $10



boat was empty at the start


see the croc over there he says


done deal , they were all smiles

Keep it coming.
Enjoying your RR !

bump

hey crazydog
are you in jo burg or cape town , i have used the levers a few times and like them , maybe send them to oz , i just did the M.V.liema on Lake Tanganyika for a few days , 100 year old german boat , pretty cool ,i you do it in hope you like nshima, will post pics ,i am off to Burundi tomorrow , i am jammed in a small sweaty internet cafe next to a 82 model XR200

Great stuff.

Greetings from California...Lovin your report!!!

Now that's an adventure! Are the panniers standing up to it?:eek1

cape town

having a bad day , gps fucked , lap top fucked, and just blew my rear shock again , this is the stqte of the art hand made in USA one, that has only done 12,000 KM , so it now bucks around like an old mole and steers me off the roqd in corrugations , i hava just about had enough ,and i aint near anywhere to get it fixed
the panniers are doing ok , not exactly dust proof but still in one piece

Sorry to hear that you are having problems.
On the rear shock, on those corrugated roads that shock works very hard and as a result get very hot. Also the shock is hidden away a bit so it does not get much cooling air flow past it plus the hot exhaust pipe is also right next to it so that does not help either. So take it easy and let the shock cool down from time to time.
BTW in northern Kenya there is a road that is named the shock killer.
Enjoying your report.