Text: Tania Steyn. Photos: Tania & Francois Steyn. Article from the April/May 2012 issue of DO IT NOW Magazine.
Cape to Cairo on two 200cc MotoMia Motorcycles: Part 1 – South Africa to Uganda.
The ‘made in China’ sticker can be found on more than half of the goods we own these days and let’s he honest, the association is not always a positive one. But, the price is cheap and in today’s tough economy that is exactly what we need. When thinking about motorcycles we immediately think about BMW, KTM, Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki, to name only a few; all are good quality and very expensive.
These are the kind of machines that you find on the long road, all kitted-out with riders in protective suits and mean-looking boots, as they take on the African continent. But, what if there was a less expensive option? What if the ‘made in China’ sticker on a motorcycle actually didn’t mean that it would breakdown around the next corner, and what if you could go all the way from Cape to Cairo on a motorbike that cost the same as a laptop?
My husband Francois and I decided to put this theory to the test and within three months we took the plunge; we quit our jobs, bought two brand new 200cc MotoMia Pachino’s and planned our Cape to Cairo trip. Planning is definitely not our strong point, but with the help of a few friends we finally made it to the starting point, the Killarney race track in Cape Town on 6 September 2011. After a few honorary laps around the track on our loaded Chinese bikes the next morning, we waved goodbye and set off on our three-month journey across Africa.
When we left that morning my mind was invaded with questions such as, “Oh no, why us? Why did we have to do this?” Funny, as we were going on an adventure that we’d labelled as ‘the trip of a lifetime’. I soon started to relax as we headed up the familiar N7 on the way to Springbok and got used to the singing sound of my MotoMia’s wheels on the tar road. I quickly forgot about the challenges that still lay ahead and only focused on the here and now, what we would eat and where we would sleep. For me, there has always been a special magic about riding a motorcycle and the uncomplicated way of life it offers.
During the first leg of our journey through the Northern Cape and Namibia many people approached us to find out where we were heading to and what bikes we were riding. Most were very surprised and excited to hear that we were planning to go all the way to Cairo. In Namibia we camped at some of the most beautiful places and although we stuck to the main highway, we had quite a few adventures as we battled through sandy roads to get there. Even though I managed to fall over a few times, Namibia’s stunning bushveld and dunes made it all worthwhile.
Our night spent in Otjiwarongo also led to a somewhat different kind of adventure. It is not an easy task to decline an offer to become a valued partner in diamond smuggling without sounding like a complete idiot. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much that night and as the sun’s first rays appeared we left in a hurry to avoid another ‘friendly’ conversation with our somewhat scary neighbours. Our next adventure, however, proved to be much more exciting. As we arrived at the petrol station in the tiny town of Divindu, to fill up our bikes, we bumped into Charley Boorman, the legend from the TV series ‘Long Way Round’ and ‘Long Way Down’. He was leading an overseas group of bikers from Vic Falls back to Cape Town. We spent some time chatting and both he and his group were impressed with our MotoMia bikes. Charley proved to be a very nice guy and he’s shorter in real life than on television. To top off our great Namibian experience we came across an elephant roaming freely next to the road just before crossing the border into Zambia.
Our first border crossing into Zambia did not go so well though, it seemed like we had ‘sucker’ written on our foreheads, as the fixers quickly picked us out from the rest. We were led from a dilapidated caravan to an old shack where we had to pay for a whole lot of things like carbon tax, road toll, council levies and insurance. It was only later when we learnt that we didn’t have to pay for all those things, and from then on we made sure that we did our homework before crossing a border. Nevertheless, the fixers and border officials were very friendly and we got through quickly.
I enjoyed the people of Zambia. At a small petrol station on the way to Vic Falls one of the female petrol attendants said to me, “You have such a nice structure!” At first I wasn’t sure if she was referring to my bike or my figure, but Francois was curious and asked her what she meant. It turned out that I was blessed with a nice African body. I liked that! We also met up with a young French couple, who were cycling around Africa, and had lunch together under a large, shady tree next to the road. Swopping stories, they were astonished by what we had experienced. We were just as impressed with them, as they even had balsamic vinegar and a variety of small spice containers on their bikes, as well as two huge accordions from which they played some exquisite French music for us. In Livingstone we spent a few days exploring Vic Falls and enjoyed meeting more travellers at the vibey Jollyboys Backpackers.
Malawi ended up being one of my favourite African countries to visit. With a laid-back attitude and island-style living along the lake, we soon realised why Malawi is called ‘Africa for beginners’. Lake Malawi, the third largest lake in Africa, is also reportedly the habitat of more fish species than any other body of freshwater on earth. From there, we travelled northwards along the lake from Senga Bay, past Nkhata Bay to the Sangilo Sanctuary, snorkelling and swimming in the lake as we went along. In the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve we had the opportunity to trek some crocodiles with local guide, Juma. It takes Juma about two hours to walk the five kilometres to work every day and we learnt from him that if you own a bicycle in Malawi, you are considered a rich man. Despite Malawians not having much, we met some of the most active and friendly people there.
Tanzania turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of our trip. Initially we were planning to take the tar road up to Dodoma before turning left to Rwanda, but after talking to a few locals along the way we decided to take a short cut through the western side of Tanzania on a gravel road that stretches northwards alongside Lake Tanganyika, the world’s longest freshwater lake. On our first day we travelled from Mbeya towards Tunduma and up to Sambuwanga and totally misjudged the distance and time it would take us to travel on difficult gravel. After a seriously hectic ride, of which most was in the dark, we ended up arriving at our hotel at 23h30 that evening. The next few days also turned out to be quite an adventure as we endured rain and battled through slippery, muddy roads.
We helped a local fix his bike, then had to get a few locals to help fix Francois’ bike, saw more than 300 hippos basking in a river in Katavi, dodged busses that appeared from nowhere and swam in the beautiful Lake Tanganyika. After eight days we finally reached Rwanda.
Our detour through Rwanda and Uganda was a result of one of my lifelong dreams; to visit the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. It cost USD500 each to buy a ticket in Kigali and three days later we visited the Pare des Volcans, home to five of the eight volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains and the base from which American zoologist Dian Fossey conducted her research on these primates. The experience was worth every dollar as we trekked through thick forest vegetation to spend time with these wonderful creatures. We also visited the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali to learn more about the history of Rwanda and the sad events that led to the genocide in 1994.
As we were a bit behind schedule, we didn’t have much time to spend in Uganda. In four days we drove through the country and only spent some time in Jinja, which is also known as the adventure capital of Uganda and the source of the Nile. We also met up with fellow South African travellers, the Voetspore team, who had left South Africa around about the same time as we did.
Now almost halfway through our journey we looked forward to the second part of the trip through what we knew would be a bit more difficult than what we had just experienced. So far the bikes had passed the first part of the test with flying colours, but we were interested to see what would happen when we took on the dreaded gravel road in the northern part of Kenya into Ethiopia and the desert roads in Sudan.
Find out more about our fantastic journey in the next issue of DO IT NOW.
Related Content
