AFRICA: Ride for Malaria

Changing tires is pain in the ass but at least now we have the process down.

Now the bike is starting to feel the millage on it. The steering is starting to shake as if the steering bearings need to be replace. I'm planning to tighten it a bit and see if that helps. The bigger worry is that engine head is starting to leak a bit of oil. Nothing major so far - there are not oil drops on the floor but one side is covered with oil and dust. I have read on some threads that is a common problem with the F800GS so I'm hoping it holds until I'm back in Europe and I can take it to a bmw dealer :huh

After spending a few days at Jungle Junction in Nairobi servicing the bike and visiting the Masai Mara national park we decided to head north and face the infamous road from Isiolo to Moyale.




Since it is the rainy season we decided to hire a 4x4 pick-up truck and load up the bike. By the time we start driving the 500 kms to the Ethiopia border it was midday/noon.

Above is a picture of one of the better roads as we left isiolo. From there the road got much worse. Since the driver and owner of the truck were scared that it might start raining we drove 18 hours straight mostly through the night and we have not pictures.

However, I'll share with you the picture of the road from a fellow traveler that did the same road a few days apart from us



The road was miles and miles of mud, deep mud and very deep mud. There were trucks that have been stuck there for almost a week waiting for it to dry so they could continue.

It was definitely a unique experience to be with a driver high on khat (a plant that gives you a high similar to cocaine) that had never driven a 4x4, riding at night in one of the more dangerous roads in east Africa for 18 hours straights....

Anyway... we were lucky that we made it so quickly and that we are safely in Ethiopia.



This upcoming week we continue into Sudan and then Egypt.

We plan to finish the ride and reach Cairo at the end of May. In June I'm planning to organize a tour in Nicaragua and ride from coast to coast

We are currently in Luxor Egypt after a week riding across Sudan. The pic above is on the brand new road from Khartoum (capital of Sudan) to Wadi Halfa the last town before Egypt.

The ride has been amazing, at times challenging and now we are in the last few days before we send the bike back to Switzerland.

Unfortunately, we had a major issue with our malaria website. If anyone reading this thread is familiar with wordpress/joomla and godaddy and can help us bring it back to life let us know.

On the positive side I was selected by my undergraduate college to receive the Young Alumnus Award for the work we are doing in Malaria. While the award is great to have the best part is that this will help us increase even more awareness.

Swiss Cargo which is helping us ship the bike back to Switzerland will also be featuring an article of our trip in their magazine - we feel very fortunate of how everything has come together.

After almots 20,000 kms, 10 countries and 135 days on the road we have reached Cairo

awesome ride!

where are you now ?
have you finished ?

Yes, we have finished our travel across Africa and I have relocated to Mexico City where my girlfriend got a good corporate job.

I'll be working on a couple motorcycle related ventures with both for profit and non-profit purposes.

Way to go Salcar, appreciate what you're doing with the awareness and research .
Finally, a rider with a cause (there are others out there for sure). One of my dreams is to do this, beside malaria there are hosts of other endemic infectious diseases in the tropics (and other regions) that we all would like to control if not eliminate like filaria and schisto, but your chosen path can cover other mosquito-borne illnesses. Just make sure you got the proper prophylaxis for the particular region you are visiting.
Keep up the good work and more power to you and your crew.