If you are planning to go Morocco,Western Sahara orMauritania you should make your life easy and carry a document with a lot of copy, which is called ‘Fiche’ papers.
In the beginning we didn’t have one. Every checkpoint was asking “FISH”. 🙂 We can’t speak French, just a few words. Therefore when they said the name sound was for us “Fish”. It was a little weird to somebody saying something like that. After a while we figure out that it is a French word “Fiche”
If you are on a motorcycle like us you don’t want to wait 15 minutes under the sun with all motorcycle gears. Almost every city center enter has three checkpoints, each 5-10 kilometers when you enter and when you exit.
Fiche paper is just your info to give them and save a lot of time. You can make it in your home and than get fifty copies with you. 🙂
We made it on the road. With handwrite and then made copies. What the paper need to write about you and your vehicle:
About you
Your name and surname
Passport number
Birth date and country
Your nationality
Your passport issue date and place
Passport expire date
Your home country address
Your mother and father name
Your job
Family situation
Extra
Date of entree (country)
Place of entrée (country)
Motif for travel
About Vehicle
Mark
Model
Plate number
Color
That’s it…. But please don’t forget it; I am writing English to explain but document has to be in French!
We don’t know when you travel by bus any checkpoint ask about the Fiche documents. If you are backpacker we can recommend that have some copies of document like that or have copy of your passport.
Enjoy your trip in North West Africa…. If you have any question you are free to ask.
Note, the visa starts the day you apply!
We made a short video for our Mauritania journey, roads, life… We hope that you like to watch :
Small details (things) always make life easy and cheap when put in packing list for backpacking, camping or road trip.
I suppose when you travel with a car, camper or caravan the life is more easy then cycling, motorcycle or backpacker to have electricity anytime, make a hot drink and safe food. We are on the motorcycle so maybe our life can be easier than cyclist and backpacker. 🙂
Some little things can make life easy and save a little money on the road as well.
Little solar panel
When we ride motorcycle we can charge a lot of things with our USB charger, which is nice but not when we camp. We bought one little panel to charge our electronics. I can’t charge my laptop but I can charge all others, which needs min. 12V. It was discount so we paid around 25 USD.
Let’s explain why we have;
Some camping site doesn’t have plug to use next to it, we need to walk the bar/restaurant but we don’t want to leave all our staff behind because off safety or monkeys/baboons …etc.
Some camping sites wants to money to use power. It is a little silly because I must pay 3-4 USD to charge my phone. They don’t give a different price how much camper needs power or how much I need. Must pay same price!
Sometimes, when we found a nice bush / wild camp spot we want to stay a couple of days. So, we need to charge phones, cameras, tablet to take photo or watch movie. 🙂
Some countries has electricity problem. We never know when they can have it and we can use it.
We also have a power bank. If we want to charge it we need to wait a couple of hours for it. So, we need plug for it or solar panel.
After all these experience we decided to have one. We like it. It is small and light, easy to carry. If you are backpacker, cyclist or rider and on long term travel or world trip like us we can recommend to you should have one small solar panel. Just make sure how much power / watt/ volt you need your electronics.
With a water boiler we don’t buy a coffee or tea
I don’t know how much you like to drink coffee or tea but we love it so much. When we camp we can boil water easy on the stove but we can’t open petrol stove when we stay in a hostel or hotel. At the same time, we are lazy to open the stove on the road just for coffee and then clean the stove.
We are always careful with our budget to spend money a lot. Looks like coffee or tea is cheap to buy but average taste cost you minimum one dollar. Two persons, two cups in a day means four dollars in a day. Of course, we never pay it!
We bought two water boilers; one is for motorcycle and other one is for plug. We paid three dollars two of them. And we bought one metal mug for them, which we paid five dollars. Total we spent 10 USD to make happy our self any time. 🙂
When we are on the road we use the water boiler with cigarette socket on the motorcycle. It is small therefore takes two minutes to have hot water.
When we are in hotel, hostel, camping site with power plug we use the other water boiler. We can have hot/boil water in a minute.
I suppose most vehicle traveller with a water cooker in the car because has power J they are small and saving money. When we found them I was thinking why I couldn’t find them when I was backpacker because I could save more money 🙂
Soft cooler sometimes work well
We didn’t have any cooler in the beginning because we didn’t need it in Norway. 🙂 When we came to Guinea Bissau we couldn’t keep continue without any cooler. We were riding on the sand under the 45 degrees. We bought ice water to drink cold. Never happened because they were going to coffee water in 1,5 hours. Therefore we bought 5 liters hard cooler. It was amazing the water so cold also we could carry some vegetables with us to keep fresh.
It was nice to have it but carry the hard cooler was taking a lot of space. When it was empty I can not get roll or small than put somewhere. Therefore we skipped it in South Africa but we had it soft 10 liters cooler. Soft cooler doesn’t well as hard cooler but enough for us. Buy ice or cold water and vegetables put in it. It can stay cold all day. We use it most of time when we were going like nowhere. 🙂 If you don’t like to drink hot water to feel fresh you should have something similar. Just make sure when you don’t use it; you can collect and get small.
They are little things but nice things to have to save time, space and money.
A small travel collector bag can really help to put all your cables, plugs, earphones, charger in one bag and find easy.
In the beginning we didn’t have one because we were thinking we never ever need. But didn’t correct.. Sometimes we were taking out everything form our side-bags to find a little cable. We have been using collector bag more than six months now. Believe me we are so happy to have it.
They are small and can not take more space in your bags but can safe your money or make happy yourself if you don’t forget this king of things to add on packing list for backpacking, camping or road trip. 🙂
We had some questions in our mind which was so important for us, How to find water? , How to filter water in the wild? or How to carry water on motorcycle easily?
So, we have been traveling around the world by motorcycle when we were in Africa we passed from desert, sometimes we only find water from lake or underground. You can imagine that sometimes how can be hard to find drinkable water in there but we survived. 🙂
What is most important our body to be healthy: WATER! Do you think that easy to find drinkable water everywhere or just drink from the tap? Unfortunately, you do not find it everywhere in the world.
We drink minimum 2 liters in a day and need 1,5 liters for coffee and cook. So we need to find daily total 5,5-6 liters water. If we look for a challenge and go somewhere like nowhere we must carry minimum 15 liters with us.
We always ask first the water is drinkable or not. If we can’t we can look markets to find water. But some places, we couldn’t find in Africa. We are on the motorcycle so must be easy to carry 5 liters bottle each. Sometimes not easy to put top of our bags or hang on them when we were fighting with sand or mud.
How to find water?
It is good question how to find water in a desert? We knew that we were going some roads, which pass in the desert and we would be there a couple of days. When we told people, who passed there before us they said that no chance to find. So, we couldn’t get risk for it because if we could have any accident or something wrong it could be so hard to find water. We could drink less to survive if we have it. 🙂
Therefore, we have two water bags; 4 liters and 6 liters MSR dromedary bag , with us. If we don’t carry water we can roll them, they don’t take space which is good for motorcycle trip. So, easy to carry 10 liters also we have two camel bag to carry water, which is each 2 liters. Most of the time, we carry them full because we never know what can happen in Africa.
(Sometimes we use one of them to have a shower. If we go to bush/wild camp for couple of days with humanity weather we love to have a shower of course. 🙂 The MSR dromedary water bag works fine for it. )
Yes, they are a little expensive. When we were buying we were complaining about it as well… First we bought 4 liters bag and used a year. After that we bought 6 liters MSR bag and that time we didn’t think about money. 🙂
How to filter water in the wild?
We have tablets and a straw with us to filter water and safe our life. 🙂
Water tablets: One box of tablet has a hundred pills in it. We bought two of them. We can have 200 liters water with that. If we don’t trust the water is drinkable we use a tablet. Just need to wait 30 minutes before drink. To be honest, I don’t like the pills because of water taste but if we have to we do that.
Filter life straw: I like filter stick more than pills. One life straw is for 1000 liters, which is a good deal. Most of the time, I use it with river or lake water. He likes more to use pills.
If you are travel with a car or camper you can carry 20 liters jerry can with filter but that doesn’t work for us on the motorcycle. If you are backpacker, rider or biker/cyclist you can have easily tablets, filter stick or one liter bottle with filter. They never take space. 🙂 Our opinion you should have at least one of them if you plan to travel Africa.
Also, you can check what we add in our packing list which are so small but so helpful on the road.
After many years to be a solo backpacker I think that I learn how make backpacking packing list, especially for camping because i have been sleeping in a tent and cooking myself.
Are you planning a backpack travel to cheap way? So, you will go to camp most likely, also cook yourself. I believe that camping gears / equipment is one of the most important things for a backpacker. Because they can take a lot of space in the backpack also they can be so heavy which we don’t like so much when carry our backpack. 🙂 So, please
Before start to buy anything first, plan a little your travel in your mind to:
-Are you going hiking, climbing or trekking?
-Do you plan to camp for weekends or short travels?
-Are you making a plan for a long journey?
-How often will you set up a tent?
-Can you go camping every season or just for summer?
-Do you really like to be in a tent and enjoy the camp? Or is this only for cheapest way for you to travel?
They are just example questions for you. Before start to search your camping gears please, make sure what you really need!
Backpacking packing list to camping gear
Let’s start with a tent:
I asked all questions myself before buy any camping equipment. I was going on a long trip to South America alone. When I searched about the continent what I could do there. Patagonia was number one on my list after that the Amazon river and rain forest. Also, Lencois Maranhenses was looking like incredible. It was means; I was going to a very hot place, long walking distance also hiking and a little bit climbing. Patagonia and Salar De Uyuni could be cold but not crazy. I could see 0-5 degrees in the night but just for a couple of days.
Amazon river boat journey, Brazil
I decided that I need a tent, which must be light for hiking and long walk, easy pack and set up, when it is hot I don’t want t burn inside or when it is cold I don’t want to get frozen. So three season tent could be great for me. Also, need to be good for rain because long travel means you will see different seasons and you will hit rain. It could be great if I can have a freestanding tent. So much rain or so much sun on the beach, I can open only rain protects part I don’t need the inside tent. It can be like an umbrella to protect me from the sun or rain. J I was solo backpacker therefore one-person tent can be great right? Not for me! I would like to have a little more space inside if I must stay in the tent all day. Also I prefer put my backpack inside the tent. That’s why; I wanted to have a two-person tent.
Lencois Maranhenses, Brazil
When I was searching I found a lot of brands and a lot different prices. Some was really cheap some was definitely out of my budget. I want to have a good one to use many years. Don’t buy every year a new one because it goes useless. In a couple of years how much I paid tents I could have new one. Also the help center or customer service is important for me. One company can look to sell their stuff and than when you have a problem you never reach the help center or never turn back to you. Other companies are always there to help you. It doesn’t matter where you are because they like their brand and customers 🙂
After all my searched I choose only three companies and five different tents. Before I buy I wanted to see it. Sometimes they can look different on Internet. I found some camping shop around and visited them. I could see only three of them which I like.
You need to choose your tent what you want to have. I don’t want to tell you a brand or average price because can be change why you are looking for a tent. I just wanted to write how I choose mine to help you a little bit. I have been using many year Big Agnes tents. When I was alone I had one and after that we had another one for our motorcycle journey. 🙂
How can you choose correct sleeping bag and mattress?
After decide what do you need? Why do you need? You can look for it.
I have been using my sleeping bag more than 4 years. I had 3-season sleeping bag like my tent and bought a light one. So I am fine until 15 degrees after that I must wear my thermal clothes. If the degree goes less than 5 I have really trouble for it. But I go rarely a trip in winter time and sleep in a tent with snow. 🙂 After our Africa journey we could have new one, which I look for 4-season and light sleeping bag. Because we will hit snow somewhere in USA.
Ilha Grande, Brazil
So, I suppose that you can easily have guess that I/we have three-season mattress. 🙂 I don’t know we can call a mattress 3 or 4 season. But we have air mattress. Also when I was backpacker I stayed a lot in the tent. I wanted to have thick sleeping pad because of comfort. And I bought large not regular size. Why? Go to sleep after all day hiking, trekking…etc. carry my backpack. I want to feel al little comfortable and that I am in a bed. 🙂
Cooking Stuff:
I suppose you need some kitchen equipment or basic extra camping stuff as well. We are on the motorcycles now but it doesn’t mean that we can carry everything it doesn’t important kilograms. No, it is important! Because a heavy motorcycle is not good on the mud, in the sand or when crossing a river.
To be honest, pack a backpack is one of the most important things for travel. I have no idea how I could have more space every time when I pack my backpack again with same things. Maybe, I was learning how to pack a backpack or my stuff was getting small. 🙂
Yes, I was learning… Funny thing was; I packed my bag well in the home and started my journey. I went to the first hostel and opened my backpack, took everything out because I stayed a week. When I was leaving I couldn’t fit all my stuff in again. 🙂 After a while later I always had extra space after pack.
How To Pack A Backpack For A Trip
Have small bottles: You need a shampoo right! Go to market and look the price; general, big bottles are cheaper than small. It is good to safe money a little but not good to put a big shampoo in the bag because of space. Put it in small bottles and put small pockets on the backpack. You can do this for almost all your crèmes.
Roll everything: Fold your clothes and than roll your clothes. After that look at them, which one has taken less space?
Don’t take so much heavy (kilograms) with you: Are you going to a long journey? Are you planning to hiking, trekking…etc many hours? Don’t carry so many kilograms! If you like you should check what do you need to carry in the backpack for long trip?
Be careful with balance: Sometimes we can forget this detail. Let’s try to explain: You are in a small canoe and everybody sit on the left side or you have two bottles, each is 5 liters and you carry two of them with one hand. Yep, it is same for the backpack. If you put all heavy things up you will feel that your backpack is heavier than normal. Or the left side is much more heavy then right side. A few days later, most likely you will have back problem.
Do you want to cook on the road?: It means you will have pots, plates, mug…etc. They always take more space in the backpack. Therefore, you should carry outside. Use hooks and lines for it, which I suppose you have already on your backpack.
Use rain cover anytime: Most of backpack has rain cover under the bag in a small zip. I was always using it. Because when I hanged on my pots, shoes etc. they were swing all the time. Or when I put them in the luggage of a bus easily they could stuck somewhere and I could lose it. The other reason was if everything is inside the rain cover I don’t need to check my back all the time to make sure nobody took anything.
Easy access can safe time and make you safe: I never like to open my backpack in a bus station, center, park etc. I didn’t want to show what I have. I know sometimes you have too but for what? I got so sweaty must change my t-shirt/socks. I need sun cream. I must use my power bank, when my battery is dead. For all these reason I must open my bag if I don’t put them easy access like small pockets of backpack.
Maybe, they are a small detail but it always helps on the road. 🙂
If you want to travel around the world or only Africa, South America, Asia… etc you need a comfortable backpack because you will carry it for a long time therefore you need to know how to choose a backpack?
First of all, who am I? I am not an expert like working in a center who giving all advises to you.I was solo women backpacker for a long time. I traveled in South and Central (Latin) America 1,5 years after that 2 months in Indonesia.I learned a lot on the road what I need, what I don’t need. Yes, I have been traveling around the world by motorcycle now because When I fell in love everything has changed. 🙂
I believe that maximum 50 liters backpack is more then enough for a long journey. I was traveling 35 liters backpack, which had all my camping gears, clothes…etc. In this article only I want to write about which kind of backpack you need for your travel.
I don’t want to say any brand like a promotion. But if you buy good one you can use it for many years. Means; pay one time, use many times and safe money. I used my backpack more than 10 years. Now it is in the home and still good.
Don’t buy big backpack, which is 80-90 liters: When you start to pack everything you can see that you still have space and you can put more stuff in it.
Make sure the backpack doesn’t stuck your back: If the backpack stuck your back you will get so much sweaty when it is so hot. If you have space between your back and backpack you can have a little bit of wind in between J also if you have extra stuff like sweatshirt, jacket and no space in your bag you can carry there easily as well.
Some extra pocket always help: You make sure that you can have easy access for all you stuff in the back. Because you don’t want to take out everything in your bag to find only one thing. Could be nice if your backpack open bottom and top or from middle with a zip. Also if the backpack has top, bottom, left or right part has some extra pocket. So, you can carry some small things easily there. Like daily pills, creams, cables, socks, small towel…etc
Waterproof or water residence: Most backpacks are not waterproof. You need a rain cover for it. You must be sure that your rain cover is 100% waterproof. Anyway, if you go hiking under the rain your backpack will take water in after a while because the rain cover doesn’t cover all around the back.
Some ropes and hooks always work: Almost all backpack has some lines or some kind of net on the top. Also has some robes to you can hang on or stuck some stuff like your mattress, mug, pots…etc.
Be sure the backpack fits your body: A lot of companies make backpack, which is same but different size. The backpack must fit on your body. For example, your size is “S” but you buy “XL”. Maybe you can say ‘fine’ I can use it but it doesn’t fit correctly. Or other way around; you are “XL” and try to wear “S”. A backpack is same way as well. If you have a backpack that is touching your head or ass you never feel comfortable when you walk with it. Same thing, if it doesn’t fit for your shoulder as well. That’s why, it doesn’t matter who has which kind of backpack or model, they like so much if it’s not the correct bag for your body you will spend money for nothing.
Please, just keep in your mind these six basic things when you buy a backpack for yourself. And don’t forget to check backpack chart size before buy your backpack. Because backpack chart size can tell you to which backpack correct for your body shape. I hope that I could help a little for it.
Please don’t forget always help one small backpack as well to collect all important stuff and carry in front of you. it is better than hand bag. 🙂 You can use any time when you walk in a city or go small walk or in a bus to save your electronic, wallet…etc.
We are in Africa more than fifteen mounts and we really wanted to go to Malawi to get rest for a while. We heart a lot about white sand beaches, amazing lake and beautiful Malawian people. To be honest, who says Malawi is beautiful we definitely agree about it.
Enter Malawi and visit Kasunga
We arrived Malawi from Chipata, Zambia which was easy border crossing. Also, we apply visa for Malawi in Zambia.
Easy way to go to Lilongwe first and than visit Lake Malawi. But we choose to ride a little inland and wanted to see around before enjoy with white sands. So, our first stop was Kasunga. We found a small, nice also cheap hotel to stay. We just arrived there and started to crazy rain. We stayed in the hotel and couldn’t do anything. Therefore, we decided to stay one day more to see the village.
Kasunga, Malawi
People were so friendly. When we were walking around people was so happy to see us in their village. We went to shopping, talked people, visit bazaar… etc. And we found a nice little restaurant for dinner. Always, possible to find restaurants in the capital city or big cities but so hard to find in a little village. It was really nice taste.
Kasunga, Malawi
Most people are cycling in Malawi. Some is good for it but some doesn’t. So you need to be careful when you ride or drive. Suddenly, they can be in front of you. They also use the bicycle as a taxi (including number plate).
Ride motorcycle in Nkhotakota national park:)
After Kasunga we were going to lake Malawi to find a place to stay a while. We came to a door that was closed and writing “you are entering wildlife reserve.” We were surprised because we didn’t know that the road goes directly through a national park. The security came and opened the door with a big smile. He told us that it is Nkhotakota national park and we have to pass in it because the road passes there. And he was explaining us they have a lot of big elephants on the road. Lion could be anywhere. So, we can’t stop we must keep on riding.
Interesting! Until Malawi, any national park never allowed to us go in. Now we must pass. J Already we had rain and the road it’s not a tar road. We learned that it’s a good gravel road and we can go easily. Of course, I don’t want to get stuck in the soft sand and say ‘HELLO’ to a lion.
Ok; don’t stop just go and than when arrive to exit say the security to call we arrive safely. Which he told us, he must know we finish the road or not.
It was 35 km and took an hour. Because, we didn’t ride so fast. J Our one side was saying ‘see a lion can be amazing’, other side was saying ‘are you crazy? What can you do if you see one in front of you’ End of the road we saw some Elephants and buffalos also baboons.
When we arrived at the exit door she was smiling and saying we are late. Who open the door for us to enter the park he already called her and ask if we arrived or not.
We like the rain or hate the rain!
When we were in the park the rain was already started. And than it was a crazy shower. We couldn’t find any place to stop and we had to ride 100 km to find a gas station. We were totally wet and didn’t know what we should do. It pass one hour but the rain didn’t want to stop.
We learned that if we go to Kande bay we could find a little cheap place to stay. If you want to go a place, which is popular of course room price are not cheap. When we arrived to Kande bay He went to the reception to learn the prices and I was looking around. I saw some camping site has roof and weather was wet but not cold. So, we can camp as well and get everything dry. He came back and said that shared bathroom is 35 USD, it is to expensive for us. I showed him the camping site, we could stay there no problem. The price was 7 USD pppn. Better than room price and we can eat dinner as well because we can’t pass our daily budget. 🙂
We stayed two days to dry all our clothes and enjoy a day with the lovely white beach. But we didn’t want to pass New Year’s eve there.
When we were going to Nkhata Bay we met a American couple (Chris and Kathleen) on the road. It was raining so we couldn’t talk that much but we a had break together at the gas station. We decided to go to the same place and talk about journey. All night we share our experiences and told about Colorado. 🙂
Where can we go now, tomorrow is New Year eve!
We came to Malawi to get rest and enjoy. Therefore we wanted to stay in a room on the beach but we must find something in the budget. We knew that Nkhata Bay is so famous and prices are not cheap. We decided to stay in a room for two days after that stay in our home (tent J) It could be fine if we could be next to a beach.
We ride 50 km and arrived Nkhata Bay but all nice places were full who was empty wanted 45-50 USD per night. We were really upset and disappointed. We didn’t know what could do. We ride 30 km more to Mzuzu but nothing around. We stopped and started to talk. I was going to cry. Not because of only we didn’t find a place for new year eve because of after 15 months in Africa something can be so much to handle it.
La exotica lodge, kanda bay, malawi
We decided to go back around Kande Bay to stay next to the beach. So we turn back all the way. End of the day, we made 160 km but we were same point where we started. 🙂 We saw a sign to La Exotica. Why not, just try! We went there and find a nice room include breakfast for 28 usd and private bathroom. Of course we booked it for three days and enjoyed our New Year eve.
Nkhata Bay is really nice stop.
Finally we arrived to Nkhata bay and went to Mayoko Village. We booked a room before when we went the first time for two days. It was 35 USD with share bathroom. It is really nice place and chalet was ok. We just sat on the balcony and enjoy with the view to rest. Two days passed so fast. We decided to stay a couple of days more because it was so nice. We just set up the tent and the rain started crazy way.
We couldn’t move to the tent and some tent was like in the lake in 10 minutes. He went to reception to say we were going to the tent but waiting for rain to check out. No way to rain going to stop. 30 minutes later, she came to us, who work in the reception, said that we could stay in the room with camping price, which is 10 USD. We were really so surprise and happy. The owner didn’t want to we stay in the tent when the rain was like that. We stayed another six day there. We could eat every day dinner in the restaurant, went to boat trip, swim…etc. It was wonderful.
Going Mzuzu.
After eight days enjoy in Nkhata Bay we went to Mzuzu, which is just 50 km far. We must shop because we didn’t have any food. Just finished to shopping and started to rain again. The rain season is really crazy here, please keep in your mind. We decided to stay one night. And met Paul who is from Kenya and has been working more than a year in Malawi. He wrote us on our blog, Facebook to if we go to Mzuzu he wanted to meet us and buy us dinner. We met him and passed lovely evening. Talk a lot about Kenya and our trip. Also we ate so nice dinner.
Next day, we woke up with rain and didn’t stop until noon. So, stay one night more and see what would happen next day. We made our mattress like a seat in the tent became a cinema room for us. Just enjoy with movie what else could we do more with rain.
The owner, who is from Italy and ex-overlander, couldn’t sleep last night well because he was thinking about us how we could manage the rain. So, he told us we could pass to a chalet with same price. Yeap, we did. It was amazing to see how much owners are friendly and helpful in Malawi.
Nice view from Mushroom farm if you can go.
We learned that one of the highlights in Malawi is camping up the mountain at the Mushroom farm, here you are just next to the cliff with an amazing view over the lake. Also we learned that the road towards it is extremely bad. As we told you before we are in the middle of the rain season in Malawi.
After the rain in Mzuzu we where a little scared about the road, would it be doable for us? We ride 140 km from Mzuzu to the turn to Livingstonia, where our road started. We only had a little bit of rain on the road but when we arrived the sun was shining, so we decided to go up. We ride a couple of 100 meters up the hill when her motorcycle decided to not ride uphill anymore! Wow, this was a shock, this is not good. We decided to go back down, as it was impossible to go up, we needed to find a place to camp at the lake. We found a nice place called ‘Hakuna Matata Camp’ owned by a old South African called Willie.
Our problem with the motorcycle is the clutch pad, we knew this was coming at one point and now we needed to change it as soon as possible. Unfortunately Malawi is not a real motorcycle country and when staying at the beach near the lake there is no clean place to work. So we decided to go towards Tanzania as soon as possible. Here we can find a place to do the work and if we need we can find someone to help us.
Last stop in Malawi before leave…
From there we stopped once more in Malawi at the Flouja Foundation Camp, this is a school run by a Dutch couple. It was a nice place at the beach again and for us very nice, the first place in Malawi with free Wi-Fi. We enjoyed the place when it was not raining and made our self ready for a new adventure in Tanzania, this time including a big technical issue on the motorcycle…
Just a small note about our feeling; We have passed 27 countries in Africa until now. If we look a country to live in Africa it can be Malawi. If you ask where can we leave in Malawi? We can tell around Lake Malawi.
If you will do what we are doing now (living in a tent) I suppose we know what do you need for camping? 🙂 Not only a tent an other important thing is comfortable table and chair.
Travel around the world takes 5-6 years. We will be on the road, sit all day on the motorcycle and sleep in the tent. We must make happy our self in the journey.
I suppose that we never think to have comfortable chairs if we would be on the road a couple of months and then turn back a house.
In the beginning we had Outad chairs. We were looking comfort when we sit, also price to find something cheap. Other important thing it must be light and take less space when you collect it. It wasn’t so small to fit one of our motorcycle bags but we were ok to carry them on the back sit. 🙂
Can watch our video to set up the tent and enjoy to live in a tent: ALL AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL CAMP
Outad chairs are comfortable but not for long term so not for us because we use them a lot. In the morning for breakfast, on the road for long break, in the night to stretch our legs and have dinner, stay at a camping spot more than a few days means you use almost all day a chair. So, the chair had a problem in three months. After six months later it was broken from where we can set up the sticks to sit.
We also buy a table from Gran Canyon brand, which is cheap, light and can use long time. It has only one problem, so low. When we sit on the ground fine but not when sitting on the chair.
End of the day, we paid less money for them but we couldn’t use long time. We wanted to have similar chairs again. This moment we were looking for quality and brand’s help center/customer service. Because after pay a lot of money if something happened we want to connect easily with the company. We bought Helinox chair and tables.
Our chairs are Helinox Zeros. It is so light and pack size is small. Also, they are comfortable. We have been using them for the last 5 months and we are happy to have it.
Our table is again from Helinox. We bought Helinox hard top table. We use our laptop sometimes on it so, nice to have hardtop. We don’t have problem to put mugs on it but could be great if they have mug holder. The table is high enough to eat but when use laptop I can say sometimes “why does is it not high five cm. more?” 🙂
After five moths, we are happy to have them and still they look like new even if we used every day a few hours. Some days 15 hours 🙂
What do you need camping? Other important thing is a tent.
We are travel around the world by motorcycles, sometimes go to hiking or trekking and living in a tent, so definitely we need a tent for hiking, backpacking and motorcycle camping which must ultralight also so much comfortable; Big Agnes, Copper Spur HV UL3 “mtnGLO” tent is our choose for all.
I was using a Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL2 tent more than three years and still was good. The problem, the tent was two persons tent because I was solo women backpacker why could I buy a tent bigger than this? 🙂
Now, We have large size mattress and we want to put our motorcycle gears inside to tent as well. How can we fit in? We like Big Agnes so, we didn’t search any other companies, just we focus the Big Agnes website to find a tent which can be a good match for our journey.
Our video to set up the tent and enjoy to live in a tent: ALL AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL CAMP
We decided to have Copper Spur HV UL3 after our tent experience on the road because;
-Two persons traveling and the tent have one exit; never work! Because we always disturb each other when we were going out or in. We must have two exits to make life easy.
-We like to go hiking and trekking for a couple of days. So we are backpackers at that moment. We like to have light back. We must have ultra light tent for hiking and backpacking to be happy. 🙂
-We love to be on the beach but we can’t carry an umbrella. Freestanding tent can help for it. Just use outside and have a shadow.
-We are on the road all the time. Sometimes we hit the rain for a long time and no place to go around. Again we use freestanding to sit under and wait a little till the shower stops. 🙂
-For a while, we don’t need a tent to use in the wintertime where we will ride. More we need to be happy when sleep 30-35 degrees. Of course, we need a good rain protection so we don’t wake up in a lake with all our stuff. So we need to have a three-season tent for a long time.
-What we have in our tent when we go to sleep? Our L size mattress, sleeping bags, pillows, electronics, helmets, some clothes, sometimes our motorcycles gears and of course two people in it. Great idea to have 3-persons tent right!
-Sometimes we can spend all day in the tent because of cold or rain. We need to sit inside, read a book, watch movie etc. if the tent is a little high it can help a lot. And if it gives a feeling that we have space around us it can be so great.
-Another important thing for us how many pockets the tent has inside and easily we can use a tent collector. When we put little things in one pocket we must dig middle of the night what we look for.
-This was extra, more a luxury thing; “mtnGLO” 🙂 It is our home so we can have a light in it. When we were looking on the Big Agnes page where we saw GLO system, which has light. We always hang on our head light top of the tent. Most of the time, it was falling down because of the wind. We knew that have a light system in the tent it cost us more money. On the other hand we have been living in tent and mostly likely we will keep continuing this for a while so we use it many years. We stay 98% of our travel in a tent so nice to have more comfort.
Big Agnes, Copper Spur HV UL3 “mtnGLO” tent
And we bought Copper Spur HV UL3 “mtnGLO” on the end of July 2017. We were in South Africa at the moment. It was rain, wind and cold because of wintertime. Not that much tourist around therefore rent a studio; entertainment house from “airbnb “ was 20 USD per day. Good opportunity for us to stay a little in a house after one year. 🙂
We have started to use tent in September. We slept in our new tent until now, 100 days in four months. The temperature was around 12 to 35 degrees. We had bad time with wind also with rain. (The rain is crazy in Africa, especially in the rain season. Like a shower and doesn’t stop when start.) We are really happy what we choose to live. We got use to our new house very fast. 🙂
Before start travel around the world by motorcycles we were living in a nice house, which we sold to have money for our journey of life so, traveling nomad and living in a tent full time and feels it is a home.
We will be on the road five maybe six years until we find our home where we want to live. Stay in hotels can be great costs but a lot of money if the daily budget is fifty US dollars for two people everything include. We can make it if we stay in a tent. So, it means, “We must live in a tent!” In the beginning it was scary especially for him. 🙂
Think about it: You never stay in a tent before or go to camp. Okay, you went a couple of time some festival and stayed in a festival tent. Now, you are talking about to live in a tent for five or six years. How can be possible to find a comfort similar a home comfort?
I was traveling in South America and spending most of my time in a tent. I was solo women backpacker and felt freedom when I went to bush camping. 🙂 So, I have a little experience how I can live in a tent. But I wasn’t hundred % sure how can be for two persons and feel a tent is our home.
Before keep continue to read you can watch our funny video to how we have learned live in a tent full time 🙂
We must find a way to make really happy our self to live in a tent full time and feel it at home when traveling nomad. So, we made a list separately. What do we like to the in the home? Which thing we can skip? What we must have with us?
After that we decided: What do we not skip when we live in a tent full time?
-I like to cook a lot. I was going restaurant rarely. Now, we are going to world trip, we must cook well to be healthy and also enjoy.
-We need to sleep well after ride motorcycle all day.
-He likes to lay down and read book sometimes.
– Who can skip a chair or table in their home? Need to sit, eat, use computer…etc.
-Our tent need to be comfortable and look like a little big so we can feel that we are not in a small room and have no space to move.
-I am fine with instant coffee because I got use to it. But he loves to drink coffee with fresh coffee beans. This can be hard because we cannot do that on the road. 🙂
-Watch a movie. Who doesn’t like to do that sometimes? We must have something comfortable to watch a movie and enjoy.
-Also, if we stuck inside the tent because of rain, cold or wind what can we do inside, lay-down all day? No way for both of us!
-If we go to bush / wild camp we need to shower as well. I suppose we can’t live without shower more than a week. We will see on the road.
We made it! CAPETOCAPE
Which kind of list were we making together? We travel with motorcycles. How many kilos can we carry? Because our list was about how to feel comfortable in our new house. We need living room furniture’s, nice sofa and dinning stuff. We must have very comfortable bed and sheet. Buy kitchen stuff to make dessert, salad, food…etc. Also have a coffee machine!
End of the day, we searched a lot and figure out to make our tent like a home and live inside. Really, we go to a hotel after long time stay in bush camps or have a crazy rain and cold. Funny thing, we always miss our bed and home, our tent, after a couple days. Because we love our lifestyle, which is living in our little tent.
I suppose some photo would help to explain it our life in a tent;
If we stuck to tent we can still enjoy eating and working.
We can watch movie like in a cinema. 🙂
We can sleep well in a nice bed.
We can cook almost everything. (Just we don’t have oven yet to make a pizza :))
He can lay down anytime outside to read book our sleep.
We can also enjoy with coffee.
Sometimes, we need our own bathroom to shower. 🙂
So, a journey of life to travel around the world by motorcycle and live in tent… 🙂 It is amazing feeling to be honest!
We couldn’t move to the tent and some tent was like in the lake in 10 minutes. He went to reception to say we were going to the tent but waiting for rain to check out. No way to rain going to stop. 30 minutes later, she came to us, who work in the reception, said that we could stay in the room with camping price, which is 10 USD. We were really so surprise and happy. The owner didn’t want to we stay in the tent when the rain was like that. We stayed another six day there. We could eat every day dinner in the restaurant, went to boat trip, swim…etc. It was wonderful.
