AFRICA: Ride for Malaria

Very nice so far. Please keep us updated of your progress while you are in South Africa and maybe we can join you for a ride if you are in our areas.

We have reached the southernmost point in Africa where the Indian Ocean meets with the Atlantic ocean. There is only one way to go now - up North!

It has been a hectic past week. We have ridden over 1,000 KM in and around Cape Town searching for gear. We are now ready to start riding north along the coast of SA and then into Mozambique.

So far South Africa has exceeded all my expectations. The people are extremely friendly, the scenery amazing and the roads spectaculars.

We have started to come across survivors of malaria and friends of people that have died of malaria. The stories are sad beyond to what words can describe.

Our first host Johan spent 20 days in coma from celebral malaria. He made it very clear to us that the most dangerous thing in this continent is a tiny mosquito - no the big 5 or the people or the trucks.

We plan to stay in Cape Agulhas a couple of nights and start editing the pictures and videos. We will soon update our blog.

thank you for following!

On it! Great forum and great riders!

AMAZING PIECE OF ROAD

Thank you! We will be riding along the coast. Let me know if we come close!

Cool mates, cool undertaking, cool report with cool pictures, cool gear and very cool stickers

We left Cape Agulhas and headed towards Oudtshoorn.



There we spent a few hours exploring the Cango Caves - spectacular!



In Oudtshoorn Tarci had a crisis and try to run away on top of an Ostrich luckly this two guys were able to stop her!


In Kysna we had an amazing day with spectacular views and delicious foods.



The riding has been just amazing!



In Addo we were able to see lots of Elephants.



Jon from wilddog.za.net gave us food and shelter



The above picture and the ones below are from the Wild Coast.



Green hills, dirt roads, no traffic and the India Ocean as background... what else do you need?



Yes, beautiful beaches!



Our first fall after hitting an unexpected deep mud stretch on the road.... this is my first time riding 2-up off road and with a fully loaded bike. Any advice on the best way to ride?



We had a great swim by the Hole in the Wall.



In the above picture on the right is our hut were we spent a few days. The views were unbelievable. If you want more than just pictures you can check our blog post. (Tarci is editing the blog post and will be up in the next few minutes).

Nice scenery there.

If you are still running the Anakees then there is your problem with the mud.

Are these guys alive?

exciting RR... keep safe guys...

We are still alive!

We are currently in Tofo, Mozambique after 6,000+ kilometers (approx. 4,000 miles). Finding internet has been a challenge and finding a good connection to upload pictures impossible.

The ride so far has been fun, exciting, challenging and at times hard.

We had a hard crash a few days back with the bike fully loaded. We stayed in someones house at the beach and to get there we had to ride in a stretch of deep sand.

On the way out we crashed. The bike felt on top of my leg and I hit my shoulder on the ground pretty hard. Luckily nothing broke but I've been having a back pain for the last couple of days.

From here we are heading north and we plan to cross into Zimbabwe this upcoming week. We hope to find a good internet connection to upload pictures and update the thread with our latest rides.

I hope the back heals quickly for you. Thanks for the great RR so far. South Africa has a special place in my heart, hell for that matter all of Africa does! looking forward to the rest of your ride and for a great cause!!

Glad to hear you're alive, sorry about the crash. Looking forward to pics and updates. Good luck.

After the Wild Coast we headed to Durban where we got new tires on the bike. The street tires with over 8,000 miles on them where not doing the trick.



We also modified the location of the filter so that I can change it in Durban. Apparently you cannot buy a filter for the f800gs and you need to replace the whole fuel pump - crazy!



In Durban, John at Gear-Up uploaded a nice route mostly dirt on the GPS until we reached Country Trax headquaters.

At Country Trax we decided to do off-road training since Tarci had never been off-road and I had never ridden two-up off road.



The course was amazing and I will be posting more about it in the vendor forum.



The picture above is part of the training. A huge downhill, with a circle/slope at the end and then up and downs again.... a lot of fun and challenge ridding two-up...



While at Country Trax we got to meet DJ Cleo who apparently is a famous DJ in South Africa. DJ Cleo and Angie in the picture above where shooting a television show and we got a chance to be part of the show.



We left Country Trax with new skills and decided to hit dirt roads again so we could internalize the training. Above Tarci is taking a break with beautiful surroundings.



We went up North to the River Blyde Canyon. The whole area is an amazing place to ride with stunning views.

After South Africa we headed to Mozambique via Swaziland.



Swaziland provided a nice scenary and some so-so dirt roads.



We stopped for lunch at a reserve and we got to see some wild life (or not so wild)...

The following day we headed to Mozambique where the people are very friendly. The main highway was for the most part in good condition but in several sections it will turn into this:




On the road we stopped to buy some avocados for breakfast and decided to donate some of our clothes to the sellers. The were extremely happy and we had to take a pic:



After a long day ride we finally reached Tofo, Mozambique...


We are currently in Vilanculos. Tomorrow we head toward the Zimbabwe border and the next day we plan to cross the border.

Thank you for all the feeedback and I'll soon reply to the individual posts..

I forgot to mentioned that Tarci is really enjoying the off-road riding that decided to start learning to ride as we travel whenever we can get a hold of a small bike:

Well done on the training, I suspect it will help a lot.

Great RR Salvador !! keep it coming !
Saludos

Me too

Great RR Salvador !! keep it coming !

Cooltours many people think that cooltours.ch is my website

I wish i had the Anakees I had some european street tires! Now I have on the back a hydronaut (sp?) and on the front a more off-road tire. So far the combination is holding well off-road.

Still alive and thank you for checking

thank you for the feedback!

South Africa is such an amazing country, biker friendly and very safe once you step out the big cities. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to do a tour! Africa so far has exceeded all my wild dreams and expectations!

Thank you for the feedback! More pics coming soon!

The training was huge confidence builder and it is paying off especially riding two up with a loaded bike in dirt roads.

Gracias Mario!

thank you!!! more coming soon!

After more than 13,000 km we are in Dar es Saalam, Tanzania. We plan to stay here a few days and try to process our Sudan visas which is a painful process!

Finally we have internet in the room with decent speed. Pics and RR up in the next couple of days

We spend only one night in Vilanculos as the beach was not the best to swim in and the prices were on the high end.

We decided to wake up early the next day to head to the border town of Chimoio. It was probably on of the longest day so far on the bike and we were happy that we were making very good time.

However, 10 miles before reaching the town the bike started to feel different and we decided to stop to find out our first flat of the trip.

I had the bike for more than 3 years and never had a flat until that day. I never had change the tire on a F800GS which made it for a very interesting learning!



I was able to break the bead fairly quickly by taking the boxes off the bike, dropping the bike of the floor and kicking the wheel as hard as I could. I got off the tire, removed the innertube and found the nail that caused the head ache!




The BIG challenge was getting the tire back on the rim. I tried as hard as I could, I got some locals that were passing by to help me and finally I gave up. I got a local guy to put the tire on the back of his bicycle and walk to the nearest mechanic.


While we were there we got to meet the owners of the shop. The big guy on the picture saw the Research Malaria stickers and started telling us his story with malaria. Head it almost every year! He also told us about all the challenges in the area.


Anyway, after 3 hours or more we manage to put the tire back together. Finally, I was happy to be back on the road but withing a few minutes of riding the back tire was flat again. I was closer to town and tired. So we decided just to keep putting more air on the tire until we reached our backpackers place for the night.

The next morning we put air on the tire and drove to a tire place. When they took the tire apart it was full of holes. We pinched the shit out of it trying to put it together.

The next day we headed to Harare so see the facilities of Riders for Health.


Denis, one of the Director, was there waiting for us. He explained to us all the work they do training healthcare workers to ride bikes and providing the service of vehicle maintenance. Amazing work!

That day we were lucky that they were conducting a training and could join part of it.



They were doing both off-road and on-road techniques.



After Harare we headed to Great Zimbabwe. It was good ride until we got another flat tire!



I'm not sure the cause of it as there was no nail or thorn. It seems that the mechanics pinched the tired when putting back together but we had ridden with it more than 500 miles. This time we were able to change the tire in record time. 80 minutes from realizing we had a flat to packing everything back and being on the road.


View of Great Enclosure from the hill.



Walking n the wall of the Great Enclosure.

Great Zimbabwe is largest pre-colonial building in sub-saharan Africa and second only to the Pyramids of Egypt in Africa. It was a great place to visit and to learn more about the Shona culture.

That was a crash course in tire changing. All the bad juju is gone, the rest of the trip will be flat free. Great pictures.