Flashbacks from Tanzania

While cleaning up the laptop I found an entry that had slipped past for some reason.

Place: MafingaTunes: New Order, Rammstein, Metallica, Underworld

Wildlife along the roads.

Shoes for everyone.

Ruts on asphalt. These are interesting to ride through I can tell you.

A man's best friend?

We rode some motorcycles today. Most of the roads were under construction/renovation. The Danes are paying for these ones for a change. The road condition in general was pretty shit to be honest as the old ones were falling apart and the new ones were not ready. Add to this big big buses with psychopaths behind the wheel. I think they must have developed the means to drive a bus while wearing a straight jacket.

The main road went through a nature park and there we saw baboons and many giraffes. Good times for photos but the camera was out of juice, so no luck. On the road we did see some new wildlife. Very rare but hard as nails Danish concrete pigs. Even the hardest predators in Africa leave these beasts alone. When you play with fire and pass between two of them enough times you can become complacent. With my extra wide load I did.

These concrete pigs bite if you get too close to them and one brutally attacked me. As a result my panniers are fucked up again, the fuel canisters were destroyed and my elbows would be broken for sure if it was not for my power rangers armor shirt. 

Normal business, but annoying as the panniers have to be covered in plastic bags in case of rain and dust. They were ok for several days since Nairobi, but it was not to be. The day would have been too boring without a little drama, so I should charge Peter for this shit and possibly seek a career as a stuntman. This pannier circus has been a constant source of much amusement for us.

We are getting pretty good at this ”almost in formation” driving. At some point we were in between two or three lorries going uphill and there was incoming traffic. Once that lorry went past, eight bikes – simultaneously – switched to the incoming lane at full throttle. It looked like a pride of lions attacking some big buffaloes. Beautiful.

We managed to find a good hotel in the middle of nowhere and you can find the best barber shop (for men or women) in Africa here. Just ask Ari. The restaurant was another interesting experience where clueless people pretending to know what they were doing were running an actual restaurant. Most of the people present were staff of course and maybe one person in five had something to do with the service or preparing the food today (we were the only customers). Again, this is Africa.

That's it for now

Place: Cape town Airport

Tunes: Imagine what an airport sounds like.

I am writing this at the Cape Town airport. Today was pointless as there was nothing else to do than to pack and wait. Everyone is a bit anxious to get home so that there’s not much going on. The hotel managed to make a mess of all the arrangements for checking out a little later. Peter left first and the Istanbul gang was to follow. Me and Teijo decided to take the same ride, even if our flights were on much later.

I was in for a surprise at the airport. The evening flight of 00:55 to Amsterdam seems to be the only KLM flight of the day. This means that I can only check in my luggage after nine pm. By the time I discovered this, most of the others had already gone across past security. It's an adventure to the end.

In any case, it was a nine hour wait for me. Teijo and Ari kept me company for quite some time but all good things come to an end and off they went.

Nine hours of waiting gives you a ”feel” of the airport and the sights and sounds therein. If hear any more pointless ”African Atmosphere” music ever again, I will be sick. The shops were exactly the same as in any international airport with exactly the same things for sale. Except for more wooden hippos and elephant poo.

This is the end of this blog – for now. Some things remain still not finished. The bike will be shipped to Helsinki and presented on the big motorcycle fair in February. From this fair I will somehow try and get the bike on the ferry to Travemunde in Germany and ride it home from there. The ride from the fair center to the harbour can be a bit tricky if there is a proper winter in Helsinki. Germany should be easier, but you never know.

Then there is also the matter of repairing the motorcycle. It would be cheaper to buy a stick of dynamite, blow this one up and buy a new one than to take this one to the BMW dealer and tell them to fix it. So, I will do everything that I can myself and leave the difficult stuff for them. After this, what happens to the bike? Time will tell. Maybe the Deadhorse to Ushuaia thing.

Some people will ask how was the whole experience? Was it a life-changing turning point in my life? Will I now move to Africa and start an orphanage or donate all of my non-existent future earnings to charity?

To answer these questions I will say this. If you read blogs and books about this kind of thing it kind of sets the bar of expectations pretty high. Everyone underlines the positive and leaves out the negative. If you have made this huge effort, you have to show your friends, family and sponsors just how profound, enjoyable and "huge" the experience was. You just have to! If you cannot do this, you have "done it wrong" somehow. I definitely feel that I "did it wrong" as I did not find enlightenment in Africa.

Maybe the pace was just too fast across the continent.

The rhythm we got into, the long days riding and writing this blog made sure that we did not really have time to do that much on the places we went into. We had no contact with any locals apart from a couple of occasions as we did not know anyone in these places. And if you looked at most of the cities or villages, there was absolutely nothing there that you would want to have anything to do with in any case. 

Add to this the poverty, chronic inefficiency of everything, corruption problems and massive amounts of plain stupidity and there you go. There are plenty of things not to like. Sad but true and this is probably why this blog is a bit one-sided. Some conversations with other travelers and people on the road, lorry/van drivers, some fixers and hotel/restaurant staff were filled with good humour and genuine curiosity. These conversations were very enjoyable, but most of the time there is always a catch. Someone wants something from you. Especially in the Middle East it would seem.

Most people were acting with some kind of logic that I could not comprehend because it made no sense whatsoever. Apparently we should have somehow adjusted to ”African time”. What this precisely is eludes me as it cannot be defined or measured in any way. In Europe shit gets done when it is supposed to. In Africa it might get done if someone feels like doing it, but if not then that’s ok too. Shit might also get done at some unspecified point in the future. Maybe. And when shit gets done, you don't touch that shit anymore. Ever. No maintenance, no anything. There is a certain difference in the standard of living between Europe and Africa. Maybe there is a correlation here?

The single most enjoyable thing was of course the riding. Sometimes it was dull and an air conditioned Land Rover would have been bliss, but most of the time it was excellent. When the road and scenery were just right and you could ride at your own pace without worrying too much, it was the most fun you could have with your pants on. And we had this fun for nine weeks. Who could say no to that.

This trip was an experience that I will not easily forget. It has changed my perception of the world in some way. In ”first world” countries we have things very well sorted out and some of the alleged problems we have in our societies seem even more ridiculous now than they did before and trust me, that takes some convincing. We should really appreciate what the previous generations have built for us here and try to keep what we have.

Would I recommend doing this trip to others? If you are insane and they have not yet taken your licence away, then maybe you would enjoy it. Based on what I have read and experienced, it is a mixed bag. Africa will not leave anyone cold, I can promise that. You will love it and you will hate it and you will have an adventure. You will have stories to tell.

To get more than that, ask someone else that can convince you would be my answer I guess. Read Ted Simon’s and Sam Manicombe’s books and you will get a slightly different perspective on the whole thing. Or if you prefer something better, read the KCCD blog (http://www.kccd.no/blog_no.html).

As for practical things; first of all take less than half the amount of shit I took with you. Knowing what I know now I would still take the 800cc BMW. I would put on all the stuff I put on mine and get a better rear shock, different (much smaller) panniers, a better seat (the corbin seat looks sweet), a cruise control thing and an exhaust that does not sound like a lawnmower. I would take a smaller waterproof duffle bag and a better tank bag. A day bag pack is a good thing to have around and there are some small ones out there that are really compact that you can stuff in the duffle bag. Waterproof kit I did not have after I sent the gore layers from the BMW suit away. A million thanks to Jukka for borrowing his spare rain overalls. I had a poncho but I looked like batman wearing it at 100kph.

Also learn how to ride off-road. Unless you plan to have some common sense and go only after 2013 or thereabouts as then the whole route will be paved (apart from the roads to Lailibela, but you can take a bus for that).

The KTM 900 Adventure whatever is recommended by some people but it is pig-ugly and it requires a lot of maintenance (I have been told by reliable sources). And some skill to ride. If you have that skill and do the maintenance it is no doubt faster and better than the beemer. If you do not plan to go off-road, the big GSA 1200 may be the perfect bike as it is so comfy on big roads and has a big tank. Or you might as well take the RT with the same engine. The Multistrada looks sweet but do you really trust Italian engineering that much.

As a general conclusion, I would say keep your panniers as wide as your handlebar or less. You need maybe 60 litres total in your tank bag plus duffle bag. Do you need a tail bag? Not really. But it is really handy to have around, but in terms of weight distribution it is shit. The tank bag is like your office desk. So, take great care in choosing and organising the one you want. One last thing I want to say is that you should give soft luggage another look. It will not break as easily as hard stuff, it weighs less, is easier to repair and it will not destroy your ankles.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and for bothering to read all this. More nonsense to follow in February.

And last but definitely not the least a big thanks to Ari, Markus, Teijo, Pasi, Jukka, Pekka and Peter Pan Bike for this adventure. Hope to see you in Helsinki!

To Cape Town or whatever

Place: Cape town

Tunes: None

The bike ready to go for the last trip.

You can be sure that without Peter this trip would have been less eventful.

This was our steed for the day. Boring but practical.

A village on the coast with some warships. Get your ostrich eggs here!

Scenery from the coastal road.

Cliffs and scenery.

More nice scenery, cliffs and little aeroplanes.

The cape of good hope (on the beach).

Everywhere you look, there are a lot of sea birds.

Teijo spotted a new Peugeot model that's not yet available in Finland. Cheap thrills.

Today we packed the bikes for the last time and took care of the last bit of ”official” business as we took them away to the shipping agent - in the usual manner of course. Well, almost in the usual manner as no-one ran out of fuel. There was still some space left in the panniers and definitely in the container for big and heavy souvenirs and wine crates that we did not have time to shop. 

The rest of the day was spent doing the usual tourist activities, such as shopping for big and heavy things. This tourism thing we have reluctantly become accustomed to. The Waterfront in Cape town is the tourist center of the city and there are more shops selling wooden hippos than anyone could ever need. The prices are also what you can expect from such a place. Never ever buy anything from this place. They also had a brewery there and life was good. We even spotted a turbocharged Hayabusa! That was one manly bike, except the paint job was pretty tasteless.

My main objective in Cape town shopping-wise was to find a pair of kudu antlers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudu), but no luck at all. The tinternet might help in finding a pair but no bike anymore, so sod it.

Day 2

Sightseeing at the Cape of Good Hope was on the menu today. We found some more souvenirs with a fraction of the price they were at the Waterfront from this coastal town between Cape town and the cape. Never buy anything in the Waterfront shops! Also we found some very very nice beach roads and it seems that the coast around here is full of them. Some amateur motorcyclists on rented BMW’s passed us at some point. Us pro’s take our own bikes to SAA!

The only interesting South African we met today was an ostrich that acted like a lion amongst the cars. No fear nor common sense, just complete disregard, arrogance and stupidity. Actually, forget the lion, but compare it to a fat Egyptian man crossing the road anywhere south of Luxor. I find it difficult to find a difference, except the ostrich can run.

At the cape, there was not that much to see. Many desolate fields of rocks and steep cliffs. It could have been in Norway. Or maybe my head has been saturated with too many great scenic views of the coast. Maybe this is a sign that it is time to go home and reset. We found a couple of shops selling rocks for Pekka and promptly some rocks were purchased. Perfect for air travel, big and heavy. I am sure there is room in Peter’s suitcase.

The evening was spent strolling around in the centre looking at people riding bicycles on their heads. The “proper” centre looks ok and the restaurants and bars etc are nice, but on the street there are plenty of beggars, pimps, drug-dealers, obvious criminals and other hangers around. No police to be seen.

After the last ostrich steak and on the way back to the hotel, the streets had turned very noisy and there was definitely a party atmosphere. The number of criminals had also multiplied and there was a definite tension in the air as well that you better watch out if you get a bit tipsy. The problem we have every day on this trip is that you have a meal in the evening and when there is a good time to party you are tired and falling asleep. This also happened today, so no parties and we simply went back to the hotel. What a bunch of old men.

Penguin hunting

Place: Cape town

Tunes: Nightwish, Armin van Buuren

The new stickers are on and we are good to go.

Scenery from the morning.

Some old planes were also looking for whales.

Closeup.

We found a penguin.

Many penguins actually.

In the mid-day sun also birds rest.

More of the colony.

And still more.

These guys would fit right in.

Professional adventure motorcyclists just take the helmet off and go for a swim. Ride off immediately after.

The coastal road was full of stops like this one for taking pictures.

Pictures do not do the coastline justice.

The waterfront.

Nothing is allowed in this building. Not even trainers!

The famous clocktower on the waterfront.

After last evenings partying this morning was easy. Scenic routes (of dear, here we go again) to Cape town. Now that the Cape is conquered, we will try to find a penguin to take a picture of. These two things have been the overall goal of this whole trip for me.

And penguins we did find! Quite a lot of them actually. Along the costal whale watching route there happened to be a penguin colony. It was of course fenced off and payment was demanded to see the colony. No penguins were seen outside the fenced area even if they were quite cramped inside it. Clever them penguins. It would seem that they are not that active in the middle of the day, like most of the wild animals we saw before. Apparently you can also spot whales from the shore but we did not see any.

So, that’s two boxes ticked out of two. Mission accomplished.

After this penguin excursion we headed to Cape Town on some beach roads. This particular road was absolutely perfect. Rocky beaches, steep cliffs, perfect tarmac, perfect weather and amazing scenery to ride through. It was not unlike Norway, but the scenery was not as desolate and you got to ride higher up on the roads cut into the steep stone walls. The 50km we rode on this road was magnificent and it was the best road of this trip, no doubt about that. The music complemented the scenery beautifully and I can recommend this combination to everyone.

Tarmac can indeed bring you happiness, but too much traffic here unfortunately, so no racing in this scenery. This was an excellent way to finish the motorcycling on this trip.

As we got closer to Cape Town (and the road turned inland), the road got ”ordinary” and eventually boring and the traffic got heavier. Not far from the city there are just miles and miles of slums and the motorway went straight through them. In Cape Town itself the scenery is excellent and is dominated by Table Mountain. It is mostly covered in clouds, or clouds are kind of ”rolling off” the mountain. The traffic is not too bad but as there are a lot of cars, one has to look where one is going. The hotel is nice. 

This place is still in Africa unfortunately and Jukka had to file a report over some money missing from his wallet after a housekeeper had visited the room.

The restaurant where we went for dinner was basically a hippie paradise of some sort with an African twist. Usually I avoid this kind of places and encourage others to do so by throwing Molotov cocktails through the windows, but not now. At least the place was remotely interesting with some made up ethnic food. I was a bit pissed off as I am still looking for a place to change my dollars to Rand as I have too many of the former and none of the latter.

Many jolly speeches were made and the wine was good. We all agreed that there are worse ways to spend ten weeks and that we did a good job in breaking so many traffic rules, regulations and speed limits without getting caught.

Tomorrow awe will have to say sad goodbyes to the bikes as they will be shipped to Helsinki in a container. On the shopping list I have a silver marker and a set of Kudu antlers, so it will be a busy morning.

It is done!

Place: Cape l’Agulhas

Tune of the day: Free falling - Tom Petty

Other tunes: Nightwish, Gun

 From Left to Right: me, Teijo, Markus, Pasi, Jukka, Ari and Pekka. Sitting down, Peter "Pan Bike" Ruotsalo. Cape Agulhas 17.11.2010.

This is as far as you can go with a bike. The reindeer antlers are still there.

This is the southernmost point.

Peter has done it yet again.

Buddy photo.

Pekka has cought a motorcycle.

It was the bikes fault as usual.

That damn Honda is not even dirty after all this travelling!

Stickers from the start and the finish.

This adventure traveller did not make it.

How to begin a post like this? How to summarise the last nine weeks in a puchline?

Just to make it clear; we have now ridden from the northernmost point of continental Europe to the southernmost point of Africa. 22.000km or thereabouts. In about nine weeks and ahead of schedule. This is what we have achieved. In a nutshell, we fucking made it!

When you see that lighthouse next to the cape for the first time in the horizon, the feeling is something not easy to describe. You have the best feeling ever and you smile like a spanner. It has been good and it has been bad. Mostly it has been good as we have been on two wheels much of the time. As time goes by, the better it will get, so all is well...

We finally met up the guys who rode almost a thousand km yesterday and almost the same on the previous day to catch up on us. You can make good progress in these parts of Africa as the roads are good, there is no traffic and nothing to see in the countryside. We all arrived at the cape within a couple of minutes of each other, which was another example on how professional we are. Or it could have been just a coincidence...?

The last bit of riding to the cape was not too difficult apart from the wind. We were being thrown around by the wind like toys and just barely managed to stay on the right lane some of the time. This is most suitable as the winds in Nordkapp were quite something as well. No mist or rain here though.

In these conditions, some locals wanted to show us how they drive here. This was the ”overtaking without changing your lane” thing we have seen since Namibia. The biggest idiot was driving a grey VW and inched his way past us. This lasted in total for about ten minutes and the other (incoming traffic) lane had maybe three cars coming towards you during that time. He could have overtaken us easily and gotten back to the lane but chose to nearly run us off the road instead. 

After taking many pictures at the Cape and in general just trying to take it all in, we found this little B&B place and chilled out. 

This has been a great day any way you think of it. And we have a reason to be happy, no matter how hardy adventurer you might be. I believe some kind of a celebration involving beer and seafood is in order.

The adventure is over?

Place: Stellenbosh

Tunes: Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation

Today was very easy. 200km of driving, a late wake up and some nice scenery to ride through this time. The temperature was also lower than on the last couple of days. The hotel breakfast was shit, but let’s not let that bother us.

We rode through a lot of vineyards, which are very nice and tidy and scenic. It was like riding through a garden. This place is so far removed from anything we have seen in Africa so far. In Stellenbosh we found a nice guesthouse and spent some time buying souvenirs and strolling around. Much good wine was also consumed and the best bit was that it cost next to nothing. Everything we have eaten here was good and not very expensive. Nice place for tourism I have to say.

The boys from the diabled group finally cought up and Peter’s wrist is doing better. They were just as bored as we were from driving through Namibia and South Africa.

We also got a message from Pekka that he has broken a second rear shock of the trip with the 1200 GSA. An Öhlins shock this time, which should be the best thing money can buy for off-road riding. It seems that three weeks in Africa is more than the shock could handle. Those off-road excursions are also getting expensive. This takes the total rear shock count to six.

The dinner in the evening was more than good. Excellent sole fish and a proper amount of it. For less than half of what it would cost in Belgium.

...

After reading the above text I realised that something is very wrong here. We are supposed to be in Africa, living in shit and in general we should do only manly things like proper adventure motorcyclists. This day in particular has been nothing like that. What the hell is going on? Are we softening up before the end? Or is there some kind of a massive fuck-up waiting for us before the cape?

So close you can almost taste it

Place: Clanwilliam – in South Africa!

Tunes: Pritzker Military library podcasts. Iron Maiden.

Today was hot, boring, exhausting, and hot. After about 600km of this forty plus degree torture, we managed to find a hotel in the ghost town of Clanwilliam. This place is much further into South Africa than we planned, but when the going is good, you keep on going. From here there is only 200km to Cape town! The Cape is getting closer and closer. So close that you can almost taste it.

We saw some better scenery today also, such as mountains and some curves and corners that come together with said mountains. The only animals worth mentioning were these little rodents running across the road for no apparent reason. I guess they are just as bored as we are and are playing a game of chicken of some sort.

Getting across to South Africa was very easy with no nonsense or bullshit on the borders.

The hotel in Clanwilliam looks very nice and everything is as it should – in theory. At least the Antilope steaks were good. The staff seem to be a bit confused where you can charge things on the room and how you can pay. The hotel, the bar and the restaurant appear to be separate businesses with different systems.

The hiace team (Pasia and Peter) is following us but we have already won the first medal – first into South Africa. They will stay in Spingbok and will have a very long ride tomorrow to meet us in Stellenbosh.