One Road One World

Author: One Road One World

  • Border Crossing and Bribery for Southern Africa

    Border Crossing and Bribery for Southern Africa

    After Western Africa, we started Southern part in Africa. You can find border crossing, vehicle pay and bribe details here to Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

    Namibia 

    We entered Namibia from Santa Clara border

    Passport – this is like Angola a real border with electronic passport control all easy and straightforward.

    Import vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about that)

    Vehicle insurance – No insurance needed in Namibia

    Road tax – We needed to pay 177 Namibia dollar each motorcycle (possible to pay with card)

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Leaving Namibia

    We left Namibia from Vioolsdrift border

    Passport – All electronic and easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about that)

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    South Africa

    We entered South Africa from Vioolsdrift border

    Passport – all is electronic easy to get the entry stamp.

    Import vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage

    Vehicle insurance – No insurance needed in South Africa

    Road tax – no road tax to be paid in South Africa

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Leaving South Africa

    We left South Africa from Oshoek border

    Passport – All electronic and easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about that) We had a hard time to have a stamp to our Carnet here. Because they said that we cant get stamp from this border we have to go Mozambique border. They already showed us a list which South African border you can have enter and exit stamp for the Carnet. She had last day of her carnet and it was coming sunset. Therefore we didn’t have time to go Mozambique border for it. After told a while they gave us exit stamp.

    If You take Oshoek to enter or exit South Africa You must remember it for your carnet.

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Lesotho 

    We entered Lesotho from the Sani pass border

    Passport – you need to fill in a paper with your details and how long you want to stay, after that easy stamp.

    Import vehicle – no export/import in Lesotho

    Vehicle insurance – No insurance needed in Lesotho

    Road tax – We needed to pay 50 rand each motorcycle (cash)

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Leaving Lesotho 

    We left Lesotho from Calendoorsport border

    Passport – not electronic but easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – no export/import in Lesotho

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Swaziland 

    We entered Namibia from Ngwenya border

    Passport – easy crossing, passport stamped straight away.

    Import vehicle – no export/import in Swaziland

    Vehicle insurance – No insurance needed in Swaziland

    Road tax – We needed to pay 50 rand each motorcycle (cash)

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Leaving Swaziland 

    We left Swaziland from Lomahasha border

    Passport – not electronic but easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – no export/import in Swaziland

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Mozambique 

    We entered Mozambique from Namaacha border

    Passport – you need to fill in a paper with your details and how long you want to stay, this also to get the visa (more details see visa story) .

    Import vehicle – you need to fill in a form and you will get a TIP for free

    Vehicle insurance – you need to buy third part insurance costs 10 usd per motorcycle

    Road tax – no road tax to he paid

    Bribery – few fixers around but just ignore them.

    Leaving Mozambique

    We left Mozambique from Ressano Garcia border

    Passport – easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – show your TIP

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Botswana 

    We entered Botswana from the border Schilpadhoek

    Passport – you need to fill in a paper with your details and how long you want to stay, this 8s also to get the visa (more details see visa story) .

    Import vehicle – you need to fill in a form and you will get a TIP for free

    Vehicle insurance – you need to buy third part insurance what is valid for 3 months costs 50 Pula 5 usd per motorcycle

    Road tax – you pay a road fund and permit valid for 1 year this costs 115 Pula (11,50 usd) all is possible to pay with card.

    Bribery – no money or gifts are asked

    Leaving Botswana 

    We left Botswana from Kazungula

    Passport – easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – just write down you license plate number

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    Zimbabwe 

    We entered Zimbabwe from Kazungula

    Passport – you need to fill in a paper with your details and how long you want to stay, this is also to get the visa (more details see visa story) .

    Import vehicle – you need to fill in a form and you will get a TIP for free

    Vehicle insurance – you need to buy third part insurance costs 20 usd per motorcycle

    Road tax and Carbon tax – We paid 11 usd per motorcycle

    Bribery – No bribes or gifts asked, also only friendly fixers around

    Leaving Zimbabwe 

    We left Zimbabwe from Kariba

    Passport – easy to stamp out

    Export vehicle – just show your vehicle registration at customs and also at Interpol, you receive a stamp to leave the border.

    Bribery – No money or gifts asked for

    We are keep continue our Africa journey next is Eastern Africa trip

    We made a short video for our Zimbabwe journey. We hope that you like to watch :

    FS

     

  • South Africa Journey

    South Africa Journey

    We entered South Africa in the wintertime, daily temperatures around 15 degrees with a strong wind from the south didn’t make it very nice to ride motorcycle, so we passed the border and half way to Capetown we found a hotel to spend the night. They had a small heater and a hot shower so that’s what we needed; it was too cold for camping at this moment.

    We thought that we needed a break after West Africa; we were now a year on the road without a descent break. The next day we had a long day riding to reach Capetown, about 500 km, normally we don’t do these distances but now we booked the apartment to get rest, there was a roof waiting for us so we can do it.

    We arrived at the suburbs of Capetown around 4:30,our fuel tank was getting empty, we where looking for a gas station a while but they where all away from our road. With only 7 km to go, my motorcycle was empty, damn, on the highway and next to the townships, not the best place of course with a empty tank. We got out the rotopax quickly and filled up both our tanks, a lot of people were passing the road from here into the townships, they all looked strange at us but just said hello.

    Tank full again, leave immediately to our apartment where we arrived at sunset, we got a warm welcome from our host and she made a basket with food and drinks for us. We where happy, the room looked nice, had everything but most important for us a heater J, after 2 days we booked another 10 days at the apartment because we enjoyed a lot and stayed there 3 weeks in total.

    Capetown

    All we did there the first 10 days was watching movies and relaxing. After that it was time to visit some friends we made on the road who where in Capetown as well, we visited Nicholas our Australian friend who stayed at a backpackers in the city centre, we went out for dinner and a few drinks, so nice to see him again.

    We decided to go for a ride together to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, we found a day when the weather was sunny. A nice ride with the 3 of us on empty motorcycles, so lovely. We arrived in Simons town we stopped for coffee and who was sitting there having lunch, Billy the Irish guy we met in Namibia. What a small world, he wanted to ride to Cape Point as well so we where with the 4 of us now, great!

    You can watch to great view and road around Cape Point  :

    After the Cape we ride back to Cape town passing Chapmans Peak, this is an amazing motorcycle road next to the ocean. We watched sunset all together and said goodbye. What a great day out together. A few days later we went out for dinner all together again and said goodbye to Nicholas who was continuing his journey on the East coast. After that we met our other friends Kevin and Emma again, they arrived in Capetown begin of August. We left our first apartment and moved to the city centre close to where they where staying. We spend a lot of time together, they where about to leave back home after being on the road for 3 years.

    Ferry is uncle now!

    When we where with Nicholas my phone was ringing, my brother called me with the news I was waiting for, I became uncle for the first time J I was so happy my niece was born on the 19th of July, I felt so proud. This is also the reason we booked a ticket to the Netherlands, I really wanted to see my niece and hold her in my arms. We told my parents I was coming alone to safe on the costs but I took Gulcin with me of course, a nice surprise for them haha. We fly in the beginning of August to Holland and stayed there 3 weeks, nice break from the wintertime in South Africa.

    Luckily as we are sometimes we found Barbaros, a Turkish guy living with his family in Capetown many years, he knew a place to store our motorcycles for a month, that was great of course. He told us a lot about Capetown as well during a lovely dinner.

    Airlines lost our luggage 🙁

    After visiting Holland we fly back to Capetown fully packed with a lot of new motorcycle clothes, bags and new tires. We packed everything well so we didn’t need to pay anything extra, we had a short stop in Paris and arrived in Capetown again around 9 pm. There they announced a few names to come to the luggage office, unfortunately I hear my name as well, I went there and they told me 1 of my bags was still in Paris and will arrive tomorrow, damn that’s not a good start. I went quickly back to Gulcin to see if she collected our other bags and told her 1 bag would arrive tomorrow. None of our bags arrived yet and unfortunately none of them came. Without any of ours luggage we left the airport highly disappointed. Next we called the airport again, they couldn’t give us any information, we needed to check online what was happening. We waited 4 days!! for our luggage, this was a really hard and frustrating time for us. And it was such a big relief when all the luggage finally arrived. We got ready our motorcycles and ‘finally‘ said goodbye to Capetown.

    Finally Cape To Cape. We made it!

    Our next goal Cape Agulhas, this is the most southern point of Africa when we reach that we finished the Cape to Cape (Cape2Cape) route. We ride all the way from the North Cape to the South Cape 🙂 it took us about one year to make but and it was a great experience, we loved it!! The last to get there was pretty rough as the wind was nearly blowing us of the motorcycle, but we managed and it was a great feeling. When we arrived in Cape Agulhas we stayed at a lovely airbnb again so this was a good opportunity for us to go there with an empty motorcycle and take some great photos 🙂

    Cape2Cape
    We made it! CAPETOCAPE
    Riding on Garden Route and Making Friends

    From Cape Agulhas we followed the garden route and slowly slowly the weather was becoming better and a little bit warmer. We where invited to stay with a local guy Derek who is a traveller himself as well by motorcycle. He has a small farm and has his own brewery there, of course I tasted his beers and I really liked them he’s doing a good job! We made braai and shared a lot of stories.

    After Derek we got invited again from Burcu and Simon a Turkish / English couple who moved to South Africa, we had a great time again with them and some good laughs. Gulcin and Burcu talked nonstop together in Turkish, so Simon and I left the house to see if we can spot some whales from the shore. It’s the season the Humpback whales are passing; we took binoculars and our camera. We got lucky and some of the showed their tale as well, wow amazing to see even if it’s from a distance.

    After 2 days it was time to say goodbye, as we wanted to pass Lesotho and had booked a ticket to Madagascar so we had a time schedule something we don’t like but you have to deal with it sometimes. From Cape Francis we ride straight to Lesotho and the Sani pass, a mountain road I was really looking forward to ride. This is one of the famous roads in South Africa for motorcyclists to ride.

    CapetoCape

    Visiting Johannesburg

    From Lesotho we went in 1 day to Johannesburg, the second biggest city of Africa. I was expecting the worst for the traffic but it was not so bad at all, in Johannesburg we got invited again to stay at some peoples place. This time with Nimet and Jonathan a Turkish / South African couple. Again we made a braai and shared a lot of stories.

    In the meantime we find a place to store our motorcycles in Johannesburg as we where flying to Madagascar from here, we went to a restaurant called Istanbul Kebab, where we got a warm welcome from Burhan, he made us a lovely Turkish lunch. We spend long days at the restaurant drinking tea and talking about everything, we brought our motorcycles and bags to a garage for storage.

    Her father is in South Africa. Meeting after a year again

    When we came back from Madagascar we had a special guest visiting us. Gulcin’s dad came over from Turkey to spend 2 weeks holiday with us, of course we can’t travel by motorcycle now so we rented a small car.

    Her father never slept in a tent and the camping life is totally new for him, but this is our way of living so we wanted to show him this as well.

    With the 3 of us we headed towards Kruger park to see if we can catch the big 5 there J first we had a stop planned at a place called Hippocamp, where as the name says you can be lucky and spot some hippo’s.

    We spend a whole day at the river observing the hippo’s and had a great time, they opened their mouth and showed how big they are. Of course we did keep a distance from them as this animal has the most killings of human in Africa. From here we went to Kruger Park.

    We spend 3 days in Kruger Park and drive nearly 700 km in the park, we spotted so much, lions, elephant, rhino, buffalo, hyena and much more. We didn’t see the leopard unfortunately so no big 5 just 4 but what an amazing experience we had so many of them next to the car it was crazy! And most important her dad was enjoying himself so much :).

    From Kruger we went to the Panorama route in South Africa, here we visited a few waterfalls and a 2 canyons, again we where all enjoying the beauty of nature. Every night when we were on the road with her dad we camped and he was enjoying it, especially when we started the braai. He loved to prepare our dinner and as a dessert we had marshmallows, oh yes this was a great choice. Pancakes in the morning, marshmallows in the night, what a holiday haha. After 2 weeks we brought ‘baba’ (Turkish father) back to the airport and said goodbye, we see you in Turkey again 🙂

    Good bye South Africa

    Now it was time to pick up our motorcycles again, in the meantime Gulcin applied for a new passport so we only needed to pick this up and we were ready to go. Who we had contact in the embassy, invited us to stay with her fora few days as well, so before leave from South Africa we decided to stay with them. Esra and Ismail are amazing couples and we can say good friends as well. We could want to stay with them more but her visa was running out.

    Time to hit the road towards Swailand.

    FS

  • Visa Application in Southern Africa

    Visa Application in Southern Africa

    Visa Application in Southern Africa details:

    Namibia

    Visa rules have been changing country to country. He is from The Nederland. He can stay 90 days without visa. I am from Turkey and I need to apply visa which is 150€.

    I don’t know why I wrote my notes to Turkish passport doesn’t  need visa for Namibia. I was lucky on the border that nobody asked about visa. We told them on the border; we want to stay 30 days and they gave us stamps.

    South Africa

    I suppose that most countries holder don’t need visa but They have some rules about how long want to stay. They gave stamp to Ferry for 90 days stay. They told me Turkish passport can take 30 days.

    When we fly to Holland and came back He had again 90 days and I had 30 days. But when we were coming back to Madagascar He couldn’t get another 90 days. They said that He needs to fly from Holland to have new 90 days. But They gave me again another 30 days.

    Lesotho

    The Nederland passport doesn’t need visa for 30 days stay, Turkish passport has to apply visa which is 50 USD.

    When we were on the border They didn’t ask about the visa to me and we took  a stamp to stay 5 days in.

    Swaziland

    Finally Ferry and I have same rules. We don’t need visa. We didn’t know how long we can stay because they didn’t write any note on the stamp how many days we can be in.

    Botswana

    Botswana doesn’t want to visa from Turkey and Nederland (also all European passport) for 30 days. But we had to pay road tax. You can look detail here.   

    Zimbabwe

    If you are going to Zambia as well Best way to have Kaza Visa. They run out the visa sticker there fore we got single entry and 30 days visa which was 30 USD. If you want to have multiple entry It is 45 USD.

    They have also daily visa which is a little cheaper If you want to visit only Victoria falls. Daily visa is 25 USD. But I saw on the border They were giving 3 or 5 days for daily visa. Maybe you can ask to have it like that 😉

    About bribe, road and carbon tax, vehicle insurance detail…

    Mozambique

    We must apply for visa. Good think that you can do it on the border. They have standard price to visa for everyone. Just currency was a little different. When we look to list was writing 75 USD or 895 R (around 68 usd) or 3.925 Mt (around 65 usd). If you have Mozambique money with you You can pay less. But the border exchange doesn’t good price.

    Madagascar

    I suppose everybody has to pat on the border. Means visa on arrival. We paid 25 € (also pay 28 USD) each for 30 days.

    If you plan to stay more than 30 days You should say on the border.

    **** You can also look for Western African countries visa and Eastern African countries visa details.

     

    We made a short video for our Zimbabwe journey. We hope that you like to watch :

    FS

     

  • We couldn’t find that much things in Mozambique

    We couldn’t find that much things in Mozambique

    I didn’t find what I was looking for in Mozambique. But it has some nice beaches and friendly people.

    We arrived at the border early in the morning. After visa and traffic insurance paper worked we were ready to enter Mozambique.

    Ferry wanted to check the road before leave. No phone! He put in to charge in the morning where we were staying in Swaziland and he forgot to take it. The place was 25 km far from the border. We were sure that if he goes back he could find the phone. The problem is we applied for a single entry to Mozambique and we already got the stamp. Leave the phone behind or pay 75 USD again for the visa. This was not a good option for us because we will spend money for nothing. At the same time one lady came out from the visa office to take something from her car, which was next to us. I started to talk with her and explain our problem. In the beginning she said that if Swaziland border didn’t put stamp on his passport everything could be fine. But he was going to another country how they can accept for it. She was telling us we had single visa and already had stamp. After talk a while she said Ferry to go inside with here. Ferry came out with exit stamp from Mozambique. They told him they would help us.

    I told Ferry to go and I could wait on the border. I was in front of the visa office it should be fine. Our Indonesian friends were with us as well. We told them that they can leave if they want we can meet a campsite again. They preferred wait with me. Which was so nice. Because I didn’t know how long it could take. He needs to ride dirt road and enter-exit Swaziland again.

    Ferry turn back 1.5 hours later. Swaziland had enter-exit stamp again. And they took 50 R road tax again. The old receipt didn’t work we paid 50 R 4 days ago when we entered first time because he exits one time already. They were so helpful on the Mozambique border. They gave second enter stamp to Ferry and finally we entered the country.

    We hit the road but couldn’t go so far because we spent a lot of time on the border. We turned a sandy road from the main road. Where we were looking to stay was closed. We saw another sign to stay. It was soft send to ride. So Mario and I waited. Ferry went 3-4 km to ask for camping. When he came back we learned that he doesn’t allow to camping but it wasn’t crowded at the moment and coming sunset. So, he allowed to camp for us one night.

    Next day we hit the road again to go some beaches. Main road of Mozambique was so boring for us. Nothing was really special to see. If you want to turn anywhere you need to say hello to sand. 😉

    We passed a lot of countries in Africa until Mozambique and we never get stopped before because of the speed limit. We are always so careful about the rules because we don’t want to pay for bribe. The sign says 80 and than suddenly 40. They stopped us because his speed was 45. We said we always careful for that and went slow than. They said ok. In 100 km other speed control. They said speed limit is 60 and his speed was 65. For us, it was impossible because Ferry saw the sign and passed slow I was just behind him. And he had a car in front of him who was going fast. They decided to stop Ferry. We talk with them for 15 minutes. We saw that nobody was planning to give a ticket for us because of the 5 km difference; more they wanted a bribe. Of course we didn’t pay anything.

    speed limit control Mozambique for motorcycles

    We arrived afternoon to our second place and spent two days in the swimming pool. Here was last point to be together with our friends.

    We were keep continue to the north and arrived at another beach. I was on the sandy road for 18 km. I really got enjoy that moment. Maybe, because of my new bags or because of new tires. Nothing shaking on my motorcycle anymore and motorcycle is keeping the road well. Of course, it was enjoyable to ride.

    We didn’t like so much the place where we stayed. Therefore two days later we hit to road again towards Tofo beach, Inhambane. I wanted diving in Mozambique. It was the best place to see sharks and dive. But I wasn’t lucky to see sharks. Anyway, it was nice dives and I see big mantas.

    We were looking for our road a little as well to where we want to go first after Mozambique. When we learned about the kaza visa for Zimbabwe and Zambia we decided to turn back South Africa and go to Botswana. After that get one visa and enter two countries. So, after Tofo we decided to turn back and stayed a couple of day our second place to get rest.

    We passed the sandy road and arrived at a little village on the tar road. I felt something wrong with my motorcycle. At the same time Ferry said that I had a flat tire. How is it possible! We were almost next to a tire repair shop. So, we didn’t want to fix it our self because it is taking ages with bike pomp to fix it. We saw actually I didn’t have a flat tire. Where I had problem in my inner tube in Gabon. The point was opened. We fixed it after 5 minutes barging we paid 340 MT. They wanted 500 MT.

    Finally, we arrived where we wanted to stay. Our plan was two days in the beginning but we were there 7 days. It was a nice place which is quiet, cheap, with own private shower… etc. Actually, it was a good break for us to write our articles, get rest, take care motorcycle, and talk a little for our road plan….

    How do we get ready ready everyday to hit the road? We made a little video about it in Mozambique, free to watch 🙂

    GS

  • Our Journey must short in Swaziland

    Our Journey must short in Swaziland

    We were planning to stay in Swaziland for a week but the weather didnt allow us to do that.

    We were on the Swaziland border. We finished all paperwork and jumped to motorcycles. But we couldn’t ride because of the rain was like a shower. We waited on the border, drunk coffee and ate cookies. ;( After stopped the rain we were on the road again. It was coming sunset and could come rain anytime. Therefore we just ride to Legend backpackers hostel. Stayed in a room or set up the tent? The price was big difference between share bathroom room 470 R and camping 180 R. Also, the campsite was looking good. How much could be rain more, go to the camp!

    where can stay in Swaziland cheap

    After set up the tent we went to the kitchen to cook dinner and we met Indonesian couple who were traveling same motorcycle (almost because we have Honda CRF 250L, they have Honda Rally 250) We were really surprise because most of time Ferry and I talk about how can you travel with our motorcycle two people and bags. They were doing that. Well done…

    It was so special for us to met Mario and Lillis because we met in Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Mario comes from there. We spent nice night together. Talk a lot about journey, travel, Indonesia, Africa…etc.

    The rain started in the evening and didn’t stop the next day. More than 36 hours. In a minute, we thought about moving to a room to get warm. On the other hand, it didn’t make sense to collect the tent wet. We already set up everything. We said “

    Stay there and see how much our tent can handle the rain” Mario and Lillis were planning to leave after the rain. They got ready. They were just waiting and talking. Of course, they couldn’t leave. 😉

    Next day the rain finally stopped. We decided to move and go somewhere in Swaziland. But the weather wasn’t looking good when we checked the forecast. So, we had two options; stay and wait for good weather or pass to Mozambique. Mario was planning to pass Mozambique. It was a good idea to be together a little for ride and enjoy.

    travel southern Africa by motorcycle

    We went to Hlane Royal National Park. It is close to the Mozambique border and a good option to see the beautiful Swaziland view.

    Mario and Ferry started to fix my motorcycle screen, which I broke in Namibia when I had a accident. My father carried a new one to Johannesburg, South Africa. Yes, we didn’t fix in there and carry with us almost a week because we didn’t have correct size of screwdriver but Mario has. 😉 Do you think that two guys can fix it? Yes, sure! I suppose that they were trying to see how much they are strong because they almost broke my new screen…

    We had a good time there to see the view and make BBQ in the night. The other day after breakfast we hit the road again to Mozambique.

     

  • We had a very interesting journey in Namibia!

    We had a very interesting journey in Namibia!

    This is a country we have been looking forward to, this will be the first country we are going to try and see the big wildlife animals 🙂 Also, it means for us that we were going to finish Western Africa and start to Southern Africa part.

    Do you need visa for Namibia?

    We entered the country through Angola pretty easy and got a 30 day visa for free, finally not the crazy West Africa prices anymore. After a few days Gulcin called with a friend from Turkey who lives in Namibia and he asked her ‘Where she got her visa’. She said ‘just a stamp at the border’ when he said ‘impossible!‘ Huh, apparently Turkey passport holder does need a visa for Namibia and this would have been the most expensive one so far (150 Euro), I guess we got extremely lucky. No idea what we would have done if they didn’t allow us in but we don’t need to think about that. 🙂

    Be careful to ride!

    First of all after the border there are a lot of signs, drive left, keep left, yes we are going to ride on the wrong side of the road from here. Another big change in Namibia for us is that there are big supermarkets, shopping malls where you can find everything. The world totally changed!

    Meeting Wildlife…

    We went straight to the most famous National park from Namibia to Etosha. This place was recommended to us by our friends who visited the park before. Here we stayed just outside the park on a campsite, the most expensive one ever!

    We paid 30 usd for the campsite, we did had our own spot with privacy for that including shower, toilet and kitchen. As it is winter time in Namibia it was getting really cold in the nights, we checked our shower and decided it was possible to sleep inside here to not freeze so much, it just fitted.

    Next morning we went to the safari, starting at 5 am we entered the park and where really excited about what we will see today. We started with some antilopes, not so interesting as we see them a lot on the road as well and then there showed up some zebra’s and giraffes. Yes that’s a good start! The giraffes are not as tall as we thought they will be, but that is just our imagination, they can’t help that 😉 We continue driving and suddenly over the radio we hear, we found number 3. So we rushed to the place, no clue for us what we can see there. We arrived at a small waterhole and there they are, 4 lions! Awesome, so we stayed there for a while observing them, there comes a group of animals to drink. The leader stops and looks around for a while and decides to try to drink, all of a sudden the lions start moving and showing, hello we are here this is our waterhole you are not allowed to drink. So the leader goes back to the group and wait a little bit more, but after a while they decide to leave and look for another waterhole, this was just a small thing to see how nature works but so interesting.

    After the lions we spotted a rhino and 2 cheetahs, some more zebra’s and giraffes and then I started to tell the driver that I would really like to see elephants. This is my favorite animal, so he changed the road to a place they are more often spotted and yes, there they are! Wow, I was so happy 🙂 this has been a beautiful experience for us and did see a lot of wild animals.

    Meeting our overlander friends again and going to see Sun/Bush People.

    On the way back to the campsite we meet Kevin and Emma who we met before on the road, they are self driving with there 4×4 and Emma’s brothers came to visit them. We decided to meet outside the park and go a campsite together not so far away from the park but less expensive then ours. Of course we had a lot to talk about that night and made a plan for the next few days to do something together. We all wanted to see the original local tribes.

    So we all decided to go to see the Sun/Bush people in the North-East of Namibia. This was a pretty long ride, 280 km on the motorcycle with the last 80 km dirt road and as a nice surprise 6 km of deep soft sand 🙁 we love deep soft sand especially after a long day riding NOT! When we arrived we find a spot to camp and had dinner, the next day we would go and visit the Sun-people and they will show us their lifestyle. Kevin and I made the most delicious pancakes for breakfast and we went to see the tribe. This was a really nice experience they showed us how they hunt, make fire, make their own medicine and they finished with a dance. So cool to see they really get in trance from their dancing and enjoying it for the best, after this we sit for a while and talked with them around a fire. A experience we will never forget!

    Next day morning it was time to go our own way again, the first 85 km was the deep sand and a dirt road. Kevin who rides a motorcycle himself as well really wanted to ride a little and Gulcin was fine to sit in the car with Emma for this part so they switched, I ride with Kevin to the main road, there Gulcin got back on her bike and we said goodbye to Kevin, Emma and her brothers. We will see you again hopefully in Australia and Tasmania :)))

    Traveling Namibia

    We left Kevin and Emma and just passed the first city to find a campsite to figure out where we will go in Namibia and make a route to ride. The first day we needed to do some shopping, we needed some blankets to stay warm in the night, a SIM card and food for the road. The roads are long in Namibia and there is a lot off road, where you won’t find a supermarket for days. We first went to Otjiwarongo….. Where we bought everything we needed and had a unpleasant experience in the night (see a thief try to enter our tent)

    From there we went to a campsite owned by a former overlander who allows everyone with a vehicle from outside Africa to camp for free. The place called Oppikoppi, the owner is from Belgium and extremely friendly, we stayed 4 nights at his place. As we stayed for free we where able to eat in the restaurant a few times as well where they sold some really good pizza’s, we love pizza 🙂 in the night mostly there showed up some porcupines which are pretty cool to see.

    see porcupines in namibia

    From here we tried to visit another tribe which is called Himba but unfortunately this was just a commercial thing.. After 4 days we said goodbye to Oppikoppi and started riding towards Twyfelfontein we will be on a gravel road for a couple of days ending in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.

    First serious accident for her

    We ride 4 days on the gravel roads, passed some really beautiful places, passed some really bad parts with a lot of corrugation on the road. On some parts they where working on the road, this was the most horrible, trucks passing constantly with high speed leaving no view, just dust.

    This is where Gulcin had her first real accident, she fall down with the motorcycle when she wanted to give a truck some space to pass and ended in a lot of gravel and soft sand so couldn’t control the motorcycle anymore and this with a speed around 60 km p/h.

    I got really scared when I this happen in front of me, normally I ride front just now I didn’t. Luckily Gulcin was totally fine herself but the motorcycle had some damage, her screen was broken and the handle bar twisted. As it became dark we needed to keep going slowly to the next village where they had a campsite but this was still about 30 km. We managed to get there and the next morning we took a good look at the bike. It looked like she could continue the road but we needed to take care as the handle was not straight it will feel pretty different to normal and you are not riding on a tar road.

    Going to Swakopmund-Walwis Bay

    We left and just when we left the village another rider came in front of us, we stopped and talked for a while with Billy from Ireland who was traveling around South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to make a tour which he will do later with Charlie Borman (writer of the book Long way down).

    After talking for about an hour it was really time to leave for us, as we had a long ride in front of us and had a damaged motorcycle. We ride slowly and after 250 km of gravel road we arrived at the salt road towards Swakopmund this road is in pretty good condition and sometimes nearly like a tar road, 80 km from here to Swakopmund and then another 25 km to Walvis Bay.

    In Walvis Bay we had a place to stay in a house with Niyazi, finally a roof above our head in this cold. We where so happy, Niyazi really took care of us. We went a few times for a ride on a empty motorcycle, visited some high dunes, the moon valley (Namib-Naukluft National Park) and the city Swakopmund what they call the Düsseldorf of Namibia. I don’t really agree on that because Swakopmund is a new modern city and Düsseldorf has a lot of historical buildings. But it was a nice city! Unfortunately, we had our first bad experience in there. People attacked us middle of the road and nobody help us!

    The moon valley I recommend everyone to ride when they are around, it’s a beautiful gravel road and it really feels like you are riding on the moon. At least I think it must feel the same 😉 no motorcycle trips to the moon yet, but you never know what is possible in the future.

    Soussesvelei broke our heart!

    Unfortunately we had another bad experience in Walvis Bay where we got attacked in the middle of the street (15 people attacked and robbed us middle of the road). After 6 days we said goodbye and left Walvis Bay to ride the gravel roads again for a few days, we where on our way towards the Soussesvelei, this was 2 days riding on some of the worst roads we ride on so far, all the corrugation is driving us crazy! Half way we found a nice campsite with hundreds of zebra’s around in the night at the waterhole.

    Next day we ride to the Soussesvelei, half way a 4×4 passed us really fast and stopped a few hundred meters in front of me, a guy jumped out and started jumping and waving in the middle of the road to me. I told Gulcin what’s happening? When I came close I see it was our friend Nicholas from Australia who we met in Mali and Togo before. He was traveling with his girlfriend with a 4×4. It was so nice meeting Nicholas again. We talked to long, he give us some cold water and snacks as he is carrying everything now and knows what you miss on the bike. 🙂

    When we arrive at the Soussesvelei we got a really bad surprise. After all this bad, bad roads we where not allowed to go there with our motorcycles, wtf! We have been riding all this horrible roads and now when there is finally a little bit of tar you don’t allow us to go on, we where so disappointed that we immediately left the place and didn’t enter.

    Not happy at all we continued our road to find a campsite again. Of course at this moment nothing to find and we ended up next to the road, good thing is no one drives in the night so we felt safe enough to spend the night here. We looked our maps and find the fastest way to go to the main road, we where so much done with the corrugation on the road it was too much for us our brain was shaking in the night.

    Going to Fishriver canyon and meeting Semih.

    From there we went south towards the Fishriver canyon but before that we got invited to stay at Semih’s place,

    Semih was one of the first people who asked us to come and visit him when we told we where going to Africa, so we had to visit him and the family. He’s working in Namibia to make a really big dam so the area will have water all year round. It is an amazing project to see close.

    From here we went our last attraction in Namibia the Fishriver canyon. Absolutely worth visiting, it’s beautiful to see, especially around sunset. We camped nearby, we got warned for the Baboons stealing food, so we where really careful.

    Gulcin got a bit sick here and in the morning I prepared the breakfast, put everything on the table, made coffee when Gulcin asked me for tea. Ok no problem, I walked to the motorcycle and got the tea, turned around and see the ass of a baboon running away with our bread, f##k! Not the bread, take a banana, not our bread. But he did, luckily they know about the baboons stealing food at the camping and I was able to buy a expensive bread from them, now she’s protecting our breakfast.

    Bye Namibia…

    From the Fishriver canyon we went to the border with South Africa to stay 2 nights at the Orange river.

    Namibia it surely is a beautiful country, best way to travel is by 4×4 and stay in the touristic camping’s, there is a lot to see. I think our stars didn’t match with each other.

    FS

  • They attacked us middle of the road to robbery in Walvis Bay, Namibia!

    They attacked us middle of the road to robbery in Walvis Bay, Namibia!

    I suppose that Namibia wasn’t our country. Because this is our second robbery experience in Namibia after somebody tried to enter our tent when we were in!

    When we were on the road a person invited us in his house. When we arrived to Walvis Bay we stayed with him. He is really so nice and friendly. It was amazing to meet him. Our plan was stayed two days. But fixed my motorcycle, see around and spent time with him means 4 days. Our last night, he wanted to show us around because we didn’t go out any night. In Africa, if it’s not necessary we prefer to not go out in the night.

    First we went to Swakopmund for dinner after that we walk around. It was 8:30 pm, he said that let’s go to Walvis Bay and look around as well. When we were passing close to the house I wanted to go home but Ferry didn’t allow me. He wanted to see together. We came a place where everybody is out and looking like Western Africa for us. We stopped the car and went to a bar just a few meters far from the car. Everybody was dancing and enjoying the night. Some girls came to me and showed how I can dance. We stayed there 30 minutes and than leaved. It was 9:30 pm. He told us to walk around and look how the life was there. I asked him ‘safe to walk here?’ he said that he went there a couple of times before and nothing worried about. Fair enough for us…

    From next day morning…Attacked started just corner of the blue building

    We were passing the next street from a big square. They had a lot of street food and nice people around. We just came the corner of the next street three guys came to us to talk. They look like drunk. They told a little with our friend and than came to Ferry. I saw Ferry’s face that he was not happy with the people. At the same time, he told me that they were trying to open the zips from his jacket. I told him maybe happened accidentally. They leaved in a second and we kept continue to walk. Maybe we walked 15 meters suddenly came seven guys around us. They were trying to separate us. At the same time I have no idea that they blocked Ferry. They were touching him more like controlling his pocket. I jumped between them and pulled ferry back. I remember that I was screaming to go away!

    I turned our friends and said ‘It is good idea to turn back to our car. I am not sure here really safe with those people.’ We were far from the car 70-80 meters. We need to turn back to the square after pass it we have just a meter to the car. I was looking around to find another way to go the car and if something happened how we could escape. At the same time I was so calm, talking with our friend and Ferry.

    We just came to the corner 15 people blocked our road. They pushed me out and 7-8 people turned around our friends others were around Ferry. We were in the middle of the road. The traffic stopped because our friend was on the ground and no way a car can drive around. People were on the street and just looking what was going on. Also they had some bars a few meters from us and have security but nobody was coming.

    Nobody was touching me. Everything going on in front of me and I had no idea what I should do. I just went down and look for a glass or stone to protect myself but I couldn’t find anything. I was so lucky I couldn’t find anything! I heard Ferry’s scream to HELP! I jumped between the guys and tried to push them back to give a little space so Ferry could run. I hit a guy, scratch another one. One guy was keeping Ferry’s jacket and I bite him. It was crazy because when I was doing this I was thinking at the same time ‘the can have aids or some other virus be careful’

    Anyway, Ferry had a space to go out from their circle. I saw a taxi and tried to open the door to jump in. But he locked to door and tried to move away. The traffic wasn’t moving well because our friend was still on the ground and people up him. I tried to open another car door but same thing he locked the door. At the same time some people came next to our friend. I wasn’t clear that they came to help robbers or help our friend.

    I was looking around, trying to be calm down and think. I could have time to that because even when I hit guys nobody was hitting me. They were looking me a second and than keep continue to take out Ferry’s pants and jacket.

    Of course, they didn’t stop they made a circle around Ferry again and they torn his pants pocket. I was still trying to open car doors. I opened a car door finally. I was going to jump in with Ferry. That moment the scream took my mind. I never heard a sound like that before Ferry. ‘Somebody help! Police!’ I felt that I lost Ferry. Somebody used knife or something. In a second I closed to the car door and I started to hit people. I wanted to kill them in a second because I didn’t know what happening to Ferry between them. Finally, some people move and Ferry escape between them again. Nothing was clue anymore for me. I saw a car and open the door before he locked (it was red polo). I jumped in and pull Ferry in as well. The car was going but definitely wrong direction. I told him to stop. Ferry was saying that our friend behind us and we need to help him. No reaction from the driver.

    Where were we going? Who was the guy? I told him to stop again but he didn’t stop. I opened the car door and told him I would jump if he doesn’t stop. Suddenly he turned a street that didn’t have any street light, nothing, totally dark. Nooooooo! He stopped and two cars stopped behind him as well. I closed the door and locked it. The driver was screaming get out. Get out where? Who were behind us? What could we do? I was just trying to think but I almost lost my brain and can’t focus anymore. I just saw Ferry opened the door and went out. Cars were behind us, their light on but nobody moving. I told Ferry to RUN! I was running behind him. When we came to main road he almost crashed a taxi. The taxi driver couldn’t understand what was happening. We jumped the car and said him ‘please drive they are trying to rob us.’ The taxi had already a customer in it as well. The red polo driver came and tried to take taxis key. Taxi driver hit his hand and kept the key. We were just saying drive and go to a police station. He drive a little but had to turned back to go a police station. It means we had to passed again where the red polo was. The polo’s driver tried to close the road and stop the taxi. But got around.

    Actually, we didn’t know where the taxi driver was going but we were sure that he was on the main road. We explained everything to him. We really wanted to know what happened our friend. Ferry said ‘F##k! I don’t have my wallet’ which has motorcycle register, driver license and our bankcards. At the same time my phone was ringing. It must be our friend! Yes he was. He escaped from there and asking where we were. No idea. The customer said that we were going to xxxxx police station. He said he was coming there, meet there. We arrived at the police station and taxi driver asked 10 R. No wallet, no money. We told him if he wants he could wait our friend and we could pay him. He didn’t wait and left (big thanks for him).

    When we entered the police station it was 11 pm. It means we fight to run away more than one hour. Polices were looking me so strange what we were doing there. We explain about the attacked and robbery. Of course, they were asking where it happened. We didn’t know. Finally our friend arrived and told other details what the police need.

    We were so happy to see him in one piece and he was totally fine. After that we he jumped in the car. The persons left from the area. Just a few people were up to him so he could stand and started to run. 3-4 guys run behind him and hit his leg to fall down. He fell down but stand again and arrived to car. When he was leaving by car they tried to break the window and stopped the car. But he didn’t stop and drive towards to them.

    After here I will try to cut stories a little because If I want to write all details It looks like I need write more pages;

    The police said we were fine so no case. I got really angry for that. Yes, maybe we just needed to say Thank you GOD! And turn back to the home. If I do that I know that I never forget what happened today and I will always be scare to go somewhere. My life will never be the same again….

    I told the police about our register and driver license. If we can’t find them we have to go to our Embassies and explain all. We need papers from them about the case and than they need to think the next step. They said ok to help but they didn’t have a car to go back to the robbery place. I said we have car. 5 police can sit in and Ferry and I can sit bag. They said how can we find them it was a crowded attack. I told them I saw three of them well and will remember their face. If I see again I can recognize them. So, we went back to the area. Police told with somebody and said that hard to find. No way! I took a police with me and went to all bars and street to find them. They were disappeared. Some people were coming next to us and saying ‘we saw what happened we were looking at. If you give 400 R we can show you where they are’ No comment!

    Police wanted to stop looking. Therefore made me mad… I just started to scream middle of the road that ‘Nobody can touch us like that. Which country this is! You can’t help tourists in your country! Which kind of police you are! Which kind of people you are!….etc.’

    It was unbelievable the red polo came and stopped. I saw the driver was flying. I have no idea what he took. It was look like living in another world at that moment. I showed the police this is the guy who took us. The driver came and said us “He saved us we have to pay him for that. When he was running he hit a car and has damage. We have to pay for that as well’

    Anyway, I am skipping some details now. It was 4 am and they found the guy who started everything first. Who in the beginning tried to hug Ferry and opened his jacket zip. The police said that go back home and come back 8 am in the morning. They were going to talk with him to learn where our register and license is.

    We went home but no way to sleep. We went back to the station at 8 am. Of course the shift has changed and three women inside. They looked us so strange and asked why we were there. Serious! We explained the story again. They had no idea about it. Just said that they have two person in the prison maybe one of them is ours. They took them out and we pointed who is ours. Which street it happened is not their responsibility. We had to go to another station. Really! All night your police were with us, and our suspect is in your prison. They didn’t want to open the case because we were tourist. We were going to leave from Namibia soon and they would have more robbery cases in their hand without witness.

    Our friend called somewhere and than the phone ringed at the police station. Suddenly everything changed. They opened the case and wanted help us. But end of the day, they sent us to another police station because the case must be there. We went there. I came face to face with the guy again. The police allow to me talk with him. We talk for 2 minutes and than he didn’t want to talk with me I suppose I have a little sharp tong. 🙂

    The other police station got only our friend and Ferry’s story. The investigator said that they must have mine in the case as well. Ok, no problem. I just started to talk with the police, when we hear a gun shot outside. They left us inside and they went out. We saw one guy was keeping his shoulder and everywhere blood. One police took the gun from other person’s hand. We heard he shot him for only for 10 R. We were scare enough. Of course, it was a serious problem therefore came more police to the station. Some of them got surprise to see us there and read our case. And then he asked us what we were doing there, not a safe area for tourist. First of all it was 9 pm. Second we were on the main road. Third, we didn’t know safe or unsafe area. Just local people were around. We didn’t get drunk or do something wrong. We were coming from DRC, Congo, Angola…etc. where the life looks like same as there. We were in Africa more than a year and never happened something before. We saw always people were so friendly and learn a lot about culture. So, if the police told us that not safe how can you see local life. After he listened us he agreed with us. He wanted to keep open the case and help us. He made some phone calls when we were there. We told him that we didn’t want a case just want to have our register and license to leave from Namibia. He said he would find it and the case stays open. When we were leaving the police station the police said that they have a place, which is called ‘crime watch’ and just 2 km. far from the station. We must go there and check our wallet. I didn’t want to go there alone so I wanted the police call here and learn info. He said no! We must go. OK….

    if something stolen from you in Namibia where you can find it

    Our friend passed from there and we went to the little house. We just entered from the door and who was sitting inside gave Ferry his wallet. Ferry’s driver license, register and bank card were in it. No money and credit card. I suppose the police knew our wallet was there.

    On Monday morning we had our case on the court. They said that 9 am in the morning and we wanted to be there. But it was coming noon and no news. So, we decided to leave before it gets to late. We were looking for our case to what happening. 3 months later the court found him no guilty!

    Who started everything name was Efraim

    We were so lucky that nobody used a knife or gun because everybody was carrying something. A while we talk about it what we felt what should we do… And we decided to keep continue our journey. I hope that we never have something like that again.

    GS

  • A thief–robber tried to enter our tent in Namibia when we were in!

    A thief–robber tried to enter our tent in Namibia when we were in!

    To be honest, we were thinking that we are totally safe therefore we could get rest a little and sleep deep in Namibia after western Africa. We didn’t know that it was only a dream for us.

    It was wintertime for Namibia when we entered. Our sleeping bags and the tent can keep us warm till 15 degrees. That’s why we decided to go to a city for a day so we can go shopping and stayed at a camping site. Normally, we never stay in the cities for camp. We arrived to Otjiwarongo, found a campsite. We put our motorcycles in front of the reception and our motorcycle gears-bags inside the reception.

    We turned back before sunset. Set up the tent and had dinner. It was 8 pm but cold and dark. It was time for us to go to the tent. The campsite was crowded. Only one rental car, a lot of local workers who are working on the roads and stay at the campsite.

    We watched one episode from the TV shows and get ready to sleep. I heard steps, which were coming, next to my motorcycle at 9:30 pm. When I told Ferry, he said that ‘it just from the next tent’. Ok, maybe I was wrong. Just five minutes passed I heard a zip was opening. I was sure that this was my side bag. I told again Ferry that ‘somebody is opening my bag’ He said same thing but I was stubborn to check it. We open inside the tent zip and look outside from our front tent (ex-tent had storage in front that we could put some stuff in it. So we had second zip to go out and also had a little window that we could see outside; didn’t need to leave from the tent) Ferry said that I was wrong nobody around. Fare enough because we checked outside.

    Passed 10 minutes. That time I was hearing steeps just next to my head. Definitely somebody outside but at the same time we had a tent just behind us maybe 2 meters far. I wanted to tell him again but I knew that he would say again same thing. So, I just tried to be quite and listen outside.

    Suddenly, Ferry jumped from the mattress. He said that he saw a shadow next to the tent. It must be same person what I was listening before. We heard a zip sound. Ferry got out the sleeping bag and moved to open our inside tent zip. He was sure that somebody opened our storage zip. He was right!

    Ferry was in front I was his back. We came face to face with a man, half of his body was inside our tent and digging to find something. When he saw us he got surprise and started to run. Ferry was behind him without any shoes. I was screaming to him don’t run behind the thief. Because we didn’t know he was alone or somebody waiting for him on the corner. But this is some kind of human behavior I guess.

    When I was screaming and Ferry was running I saw some people started to run behind to Ferry as well to help him. Other people came to me and ask ‘are we ok? Did he steal something?’ I said no because we had only shoes and some basic stuff in front of the tent, nothing valuable.

    I was really so much anxious about Ferry because there passed 15 minutes and nobody turn back. Did somebody do anything to him? Or he cut his feet or something? Because the ground had a lot of stones and glass. I saw him 20 minutes later, he was coming slowly. Thanks God! He was ok. He said that he run behind the thief until security. He didn’t go to the street. Other persons went, who jumped behind Ferry to help.

    That moment the security or who is responsible for the camping site came to us. She was asking we were ok, anything steal. Yes, we were ok and he took nothing but it was strange that we were in a secure campsite and something like that can happen. Also, she was telling us ‘If the thief steal something they could find easily because they have a security camera’ Are you really serious to telling this! How could somebody enter from the reception door if the security there? They told us, sometimes people come around the bar inside and if they need the toilet to use they can pass to the campsite for toilet. Possible that the guy see motorcycles and the tent so tried to look what he can find. No comment for that….

    Of course we couldn’t sleep in the night and we got ready early in the morning to leave from there.

    It was our first experience that something happened after a year on the road. We talk about our behavior. And promised each other that nobody never run again behind a thief. It doesn’t matter what they take from us.

    In the morning the first thing we did? We bought pepper spray!

    GS

  • Last part of Europe journey for a while.

    Last part of Europe journey for a while.

    After the North Cape our plan was to go to Turkey through the east of Europe. We have been learning to make a plan. 🙂

    We didn’t do that much things in Finland. Just went from north to south in Finland and passed to Estonia. And we traveled around the other Baltic countries, Latvia and Lithuania.

    *** You can also watch our short video about Europe trip, just click 🙂

    When we were in Tallinn Ferry lost his wallet. He didn’t carry that much money in it but motorcycle register and driver license was in it. We couldn’t find anywhere. He decided to apply again new papers and send somewhere in Europe. We were trying to go to Belarus. Of course we couldn’t enter it. In the border they said that he is fine inside to Europe without papers but no way to enter Belarus without paper. We just tried… 🙂

    Meeting nice people on the road…

    Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and than Poland. When we entered to Poland we saw that my chain had a serious problem, didn’t work to back rear tire because than chain has already lost profile. We went to Honda deal in Olsztyn. We met Gregory who could speak German a little, Ferry too. Gregory said that he has to change the chain but can’t do that at the same time because they don’t have the right chain. We could wait a day but we need to find a spot to go camping. When we told it to Gregory he didn’t allow us to go and called his wife. Marta was in the mechanic service in 15 minutes to pick us up to go to their home. They are amazing couple to spent time with them. Next day, Gregory fixed the motorcycle also checked up well. But we couldn’t leave because we wanted to stay with them more and enjoy every moment. 🙂

    You never lose anything on the road! 🙂

    When we were there my phone was ringing but I didn’t check it. Because the number is belong to Norway and nobody knows our number to call. Must be wrong number. Called more than 5 times, same number! I asked Ferry to his wallet that he put our number in it. He said we had Norway number card info in it. The calling number is from Estonia. Maybe, somebody was calling us about the wallet, why not…

    Ferry called back the number. The call was from Holland Embassy in Estonia. Somebody found our wallet and gave to the police who waited a week. Nobody asked there fore they decided to give the wallet Holland Embassy because has important document in it. The embassy was asking to Ferry how he could travel without papers. 🙂 After talk a while he told me that The Embassy sending his wallet to his address in Holland.

    At the same time his father called us and gave a good new, which he sold his apartment. We need his papers and also sold the home. We changed our road again went to Holland from Germany.

    We slept on the highway in Germany. 

    We know that you can’t camp everywhere in Germany and hotels are expensive. The road is so far. When I made two times 570 km in a day I got so tired and we have 900 km in front of us to make in a day. We never loose anything, just try. When we go home we can get rest….

    Of course, we couldn’t make it. We made 700 km. Maybe we could go more but German highways are so crazy for me. No limit for speed. Cars go so crazy. I never understood what passed next to me in a second. J I wasn’t feeling comfortable to be on the road with my 250 cc motorcycle when cars make 300 km per hour. We stopped a parking area but we couldn’t wait until morning without sleep. We can’t open the tent there as well. End of the night, we opened our hammock next to our motorcycle and slept inside a couple of hours.

    Holland Again

    We stayed in Alkmaar a week. When we decided to go back Holland we bought some parts for the motorcycle and parts for the motorcycle on Internet. He sold the house, we got rest a little and visit his family to said bye bye again but this time for our Africa journey….

    Tires are expensive in Turkey. If we change them in Holland we would make 5.000 km or more in Europe still. We need good profile for our tires in Africa. So, we decided to carry tires on our motorcycles to Istanbul, Turkey. It took two days to figure out how we can carry everything on the motorcycles. 🙂

    Hit the road again.

    We passed again Germany. It was fourth time. I suppose I passed all big highways in German east to west, south to north. We passed Czech Republic, Poland and arrived in Ukraine.

    Every year, I go to travel somewhere with my father to see new things together. I invited my father to Ukraine for a week. He came to Lviv. After a couple of days he took a train to Kyiv. Ferry and I ride our motorcycles and met my father there again. When he was going back to Istanbul We gave everything to my father to carry Istanbul what we don’t need on the road until Turkey.

    It was a stupid accident…

    After Ukraine we passed to Moldova. It is beautiful and cheap country. We spent a week there and then a couple of days more because of me. I collected nuts from the trees. When we were in the hotel I tried to open them with a knife. I was going well until the knife cut my hand very deep. It was blood everywhere and I couldn’t stop it. Middle of the night Ferry found the owner but couldn’t communicate because of the language. Good thing she was Italian and I can speak a little Spanish, means we can understand each other. She called an ambulance. They did everything well but I can’t ride motorcycle with bandage on my hand because my glove didn’t fit. We had to wait a couple of days before my skin closed well.

    Going Turkey

    We decided to go to Turkey as soon as possible. Because if something happened to my hand I would like to be in a hospital and explain all details in my own language. When my hand was hurting me It wasn’t easy to go fast of course. Therefore slowly we passed through Romania and than Bulgaria and arrived to my home. We waited almost three weeks until the doctor said we can keep continue our journey everything is fine.

    At the same time we changed our seats, had a screen for our Honda CRF 250L. We went everyday to my friend’s mechanic service to learn about mechanic. I was more watching because of my hand Ferry was working everyday with them.

    When we where ready to go to Africa it was the beginning of November. If we pass Balkans we can be in Morocco middle of December, which means we cannot go to Atlas Mountains because of the snow. Also, November and December are not a good time to ride Balkans because of the rain and cold.

    Okay, we skipped Balkans and go to Morocco directly. We have a plan still to ride motorcycle in the Balkans. Just we will do that later.

    We ride from Istanbul, Turkey to Igoumenista, Greece in two days and we took boat to Brindisi, Italy. We ride in Italy to the Civitavecchia harbor to take a ferry to Barcelona. We went to Barcelona to stay for 5 days but stayed there a week because of Ferry’s carnet had some problem and we waited to arrive in Barcelona. Anyway we were lucky with the weather and had a nice place from Ferry’s friend to stay, we really enjoyed Barcelona.

    13 of November, we were on the boat to start our Africa journey by motorcycle…

    go to morocco by boat with motorcycle

    GS

     

  • Norway is a paradise to ride motorcycles….

    Norway is a paradise to ride motorcycles….

    We stayed in Norway a month. I wish we could stay more but it was so cold. Normally best time to be there in July and August but we were unlucky for the weather in 2016. We were on the north so we never understood when the dark was coming and how much time we could spend on the road. Each road was so enjoyable therefore we ended the day mostly around 10 pm.

    In this article we wanted to write amazing motorcycle roads or scenic roads in Norway also a little about hiking points as well. Maybe it can help your journey to ride in Norway;

    Our first day in Norway, we ended up around Moss. It was light rain sometimes during the day and we didn’t bother so much. When we found a spot the set up our tent the rain started crazy. In 5 minutes we were totally wet. We were trying to set up the tent but rain and wind were so much to do that. First time, I saw first time Ferry broke down. He stopped and said that “Go and find a hotel. I can’t do this any more.” Maybe, it was good idea but collect everything, go back to the road and start to look for a hotel could be take more time. We could get more wet and I didn’t want to do that in the dark. I told him “stayed under a tree I can manage everything.” We need to help each other. If I broke down like him who can help us? I opened the tent and put everything in. Tried to cook inside, made a coffee and calmed down. The rain didn’t stop all night. Good thing was our tent didn’t take water in….

    We woke up with a lovely day. After breakfast we were on the road again. When we arrived to Lavik we found very nice place to camp. We wanted to enjoy in the camping. So, we made only 70 km in a day.

    When we started our journey in Europe to the North Cape we promised each other for “Nobody push to ride more and more if we find a spot to enjoy just stay there. This is our journey…” Therefore, it doesn’t matter to make 50 km in a day or 300 km.

    Next day, we were on the road to Skien. We arrived at a nice lake. We saw a sign that was writing, “You can camp here but not more than 3 days.” We could stay 2 days. J It was really lovely place we love it. In the night we met 2 local guys (Gisle and Tore), one rider and the other one just walked all the way to the North Cape. We learned a lot for the road from both of them.

    One thing is so nice in Norway you can camp everywhere just don’t get closed to a house less than 150 meters. And if you are staying in a private property more than 2 days go and get permission from the owner. So, we didn’t think so much when we started to ride each morning when we would be end up.

    We were going to Kjerang but suddenly the rain started crazy. If we have rain it means so cold for us because we were riding mountain road. We called a person who invites us to stay with him in Stavanger. He said that we could come anytime. So we turned to our road Stavanger and arrived his house totally wet J We stayed with him 4 days. If the weather was nice we were going somewhere to ride around. First time, I understood that amazing feeling to ride motorcycle without bags. When we were staying there we went to Pulpit Rock with one motorcycle but we where not so lucky with the weather. It was too much foggy and we couldn’t see down 🙂

    Our next destination was Trollturunga. They were telling us to we couldn’t finish in a day because of the weather and mud. We didn’t want to put our motorcycles in the parking area and go a couple of days. Why? If something happened them J We arrived around 9 pm and it was still day light. We had a plan to start to hiking go to the top watch sunrise and turn back next day. All our plans stay on the table. We have learned about it….

    We started to hiking but when it was 2 am, the rain and wind started again. Therefore we decided to open the tent somewhere. Next day, we arrived to Trolturunga rock to see view under the rain. We waited to the weather change a little for photo but no way! Ok, stay one day more next to the amazing rock and view and turn back next day. The weather was crazy. We woke up in a lake. It wasn’t like that when we set up the tent. J We turned back to the motorcycle under the rain. Everything was wet on the motorcycle after 3 days rain. It was 5 pm. Nothing around to stay cheap. We looked a basic hotel that is 30 km back on our road but 25 USD. We went there and found the owner. We were lucky because they had only one room with share bathroom. Also, they have a room to where you can dry your clothes. Of course, we liked to place so much. Everything got dry in a day but the weather got worse. What could we do? Stay in the room, got rest and watched a lot of movie to wait next day? Yes, that might have been a good idea but we didn’t do that 🙂

    After that we went to Gjendesheim to hiking again but rain, a little snow and cold didn’t allow us to do the hiking for 3 days. We just made Bessengen path and than turn back to the fjord to find a less windy spot to set up tent. I wrote before about the weather that we where not lucky about that for 2016.

    We had a lot of things in our mind but we couldn’t. We were checking the weather all the time and changing our road. We knew the weather wasn’t good but we didn’t want to skip Greiganger Fjord. It was so cold and we were just thinking how we could open the tent. Suddenly, we saw a sign before the Fjord. A house was renting their room. The price was 450 NOK which is not too bad because we could sleep in a room. 🙂

    Greiganger Fjord and area is really so nice to see. We spent a couple of days there to enjoy tracking and landscape. We are riders so we always look for a nice motorcycle road to ride. So, we choose road 63 after that 650 and 661 (towards Eisdal to Linge than Vestnes). We were going to pass Atlantic ocean road and the view was amazing on the road. Means for us “Camping! Camping!”

    From there we went to Bud and than started the famous Atlantic ocean road and passed to the drunk bridge. Yes, the bridge shape is so exiting but when I was riding on it, it was just a bridge. When we arrived to Trondheim it was camping time for us because of the landscape. When we woke up we saw kids around us. The place is their play area. They were so curios of course what we were doing in their game area. After breakfast we were on the road again. We were really looking forward to ride on road number 17, which is one of the most beautiful scenic roads in the world. The road is total 650 km and has 6 ferries. If you can’t catch the next ferry find a spot to camping and enjoy the view. (Until now, we passed more than 45 countries and still road 17 in my top 5.)

    We spent a couple of days on road 17. Because a lot of place means for us “Camping! Camping!”

    And of the road we got on the boat from Bodo to Monkenes for Lofonten Islands. We went directly to A which is very famous with the view in Lofonten Island. Of course, we can’t miss the view, we need to stay minimum one night to enjoy.

    We didn’t ride main road (E10) in Lofonten islands. We went small roads to see villages and find nice free camping spots. We went from A to Andenes because we wanted to see everywhere in Lofonten. Andoya road has really nice landscape and an amazing spot next to the beach for camping. We where not lucky with the weather to swim but maybe you can be lucky for it.

    Time to go Nordkapp(North Cape) We took a ferry from Andenes and kept continue our road. How the weather could be like that. When we arrived to the most Northern point of Europe, North Cape it was a little snow L We couldn’t spend so much time there also we didn’t camp because of cold. And we couldn’t find a place to stay because they were closed or fully booked. We had to open the tent somewhere on the road. And first time I broke down. I got so cold and couldn’t feel my fingers anymore. I was just complaining myself to what I was doing here. Ferry was also cold but he was so calm down. He set up the tent and boil a water for coffee and for put to our feed. This is the way, keeping us on the road. Who break down first other one stays calm and helps….

    Next day we woke with sun but still it was cold. We decided to pass to Finland and go down fast towards Africa. Because we made our first goal to went the North Cape. We were on the road almost 2 months. Each day we learned a lot about our self, ride motorcycle, leave in the tent…. etc.

    GS