Angola, it's not like they said.

Outstanding story and photos! Thanks for sharing this with us mortals. I, too want to hear how Fred is doing - what was the final diagnosis/prognosis for his injury?

Thank you for sharing your story with us. That was awesome. You remind us all of the beauty of adventure riding. It's not about the destination, it's all about the ride and the experiences that are made possible by it. We're thankful that y'all made it without any seriously serious injuries.

Come on MJ one more post please coz we would all like to know how Fred is

All I can say about this trip is .... ACOJONANTE
I enjoy it as a pig in the mud

Newcastle United FC sponsorship (Northern Rock), Juventus badge

Truly stunning. I'd be lying to myself if I said I'd do a trip like this, but I'm just glad someone did. Bravo.

Ray

As far as Fred is concerned, finally, 14 days after he broke the ankle, and back in South Africa, he is operated on and the lot is screwed back together.

He is still on crutches but the cast should come off this week. His left knee that was injured on the last day is still giving him grief, but the x-rays don't show any obvious problem, so it will probably just need some time to settle down.

He is not discouraged though and have done short rides already. He will be fine.




About the next trip; difficult to say. We do shorter trips all the time, it's an addiction. Then, periodically, I do longer more road biased trips, but my mates are not overly keen on this, they are not happy unless the going is difficult. That brings us to the longer distance, offroad trips such as this Angola one. We have a wish list of about three options that are always on the cards. Angola re-inserted itself on this list. This trip report might create a bit of a skewed impression of Angola. The area that we travelled in is a small part of the country. The rest of the country is very water rich with mountains, waterfalls, many rivers, lush forests and no Himba. I'm really keen to see some of that.

While on the subject I would just like to add a rider. We are not experts on Angola, it's people or anything else for that matter. So, when I write these reports, keep in mind, I call it as I see it. Don't take everything as gospel. I have for instance in the meantime found out that the Himba and Herero do not share a language, it's just similar. But that's really the point of travelling; seeing new and exciting things.


As for the bikes, all were more or less modified to take luggage only . Otherwise they were all standard and all of them made the trip without any major damage. All of them had to be stripped down totally though, due to the sea riding thing. Almost all had some sand or water still captured in the suspension bearings and or wheel bearings.

I have been very critical towards the 640 in the report. That was how things were at the time though. It is thoroughly unpleasant to ride something like the doodsakker on a bike that cannot be allowed to stall. In the end I only had a fully functional bike the final two days of the trip.

The fact of the matter is that there were only two issues. One, the choke; I don't rate this as a problem, it can be sorted out easily on the road. Two, the battery; this has nothing to do with the bike. It was a battery problem only. The reason the new battery that I bought in Tombua died within the first 250km, is that it was not the sealed type and the battery box in the 640 lies at an angle. So the overflow allows the corners of the lead plates to protrude above the acid line. That's my stupidity. I should have foreseen that.

And let's not forget, the 640 is the only bike that had a kickstart. If any of the other bikes had been in the same situation, we would have had real problems.

My problems with the 640 did have one good result. From now on a multimeter will be standard in my toolkit on long trips. If we had just been able to diagnose the problem the first time it broke down in the desert, it would have removed all the mental stress for the balance of the trip.




As far as the phenomenal amount of comments posted (and PM's) goes, I would like to say thank you. Thank you to all. I do not write these reports with the intention to receive flattering comments, but I know the comments are posted for me and my buddies' benefit. It really means a lot to us when we see other people get to enjoy the trip as much as we did.

But let's just keep things real. None of us are exceptionally skilled riders (excepting when I'm drunk, then I'm fcking quick). We are just a couple of guys that have the opportunity to ride in exceptional places and meet exceptional people. And make no mistake, we are very aware of how fortunate we are to be able to do so.

Like someone's signature line says: "carpe the living shit out of the diem"

What a fantastic trip, followed by an equally fantastic Ride Report. Many people go on some really great trips, but it takes something special to make readers feel that they've shared it with you. What an emotional roller coaster of a ride. Like so many others have commented, thank you seems so inadequate, but thank you for sharing this with us.

Thanks also to dceggert for his work - much appreciated as well.

Thanks for the great report.

My goodness! Perhaps I missed it, but that's the first time I'd realized that he had spent two weeks on a broken ankle!:eek1

I've told this to too many people to remember, but my biggest regret from my two years in South Africa (1984-1985) is that I didn't explore more of southern Africa by motorcycle. I did some motorcycling (dirt riding and some group rides in and around Jo'burg), and I saw a fair amount of the country travelling by plane and car. But, in 20/20 hindsight, I didn't see nor do nearly as much as I would have liked. And South Africa lends itself to exploring. Its hard to describe to Americans how magnificently beautiful and interesting that part of the world is.

Thanks again for the report.

Thanks for letting us know Freds ok .... and thanks again for sharing with us

Well,all I've got to say is that I found a link to this adventure on another site and have lived vicariously through the 4 of you during its duration.
The fact that the 4 of you went through what you did and was still managed to post updates,PHENOMENAL! Recalcitrant bikes,injuries and timely updates. I'm truly speechless and you all have earned my respect and admiration.
I know you guys are glad its over,but I'm going to miss firing up the box to see what the gods threw at you!
Hell,I'm a street rider and you all inspired me to join this site and I'm looking to sell/trade one of my street rides for an adventure bike. The Mojave Desert is a big place and Bill Clinton didn't steal all of it!
Looking forward to your next long one. If your ever in SoCal,the beers on me .

OK, here is the updated report for .pdf download.

http://www.4shared.com/file/27666139/f93973b7/Angola_Trip_-_updated.html

I decided to update the format as well as the content. I hope this does the trip better justice than the original file. It was OK, but was rather bland. Anyway, it is shorter at 132 pages, but the file size is ginormous at almost 19M. Gasp!

Anyway, I thouroughly enjoyed going through it again page by page, post by post.

Fantastic

Quite simply this is the best ride report i've ever read on Advrider, fcuking superb, makes me think i should keep my gob shut about my wanky little trips.

Top stuff.

I'd love to buy you all a lot of beer!

I,ve been riding street bikes for over 30 years but just started lurking around the ADV site for sometime now. Been trying to decide what kind of dual sport to get so have been just trying to gather information .
Then I ran across your guys amazing trip today and could'nt get off the PC untill I finished reading it. I've toured across parts of the US 2 or 3 times and had my moments but ,WOW, you guys killed it, what a trip! Thanks for one great real life story ,with pictures to boot!
You make me want a dual sport more than ever .

Thank you for your trouble. I'll send Fred a copy, he does not have access to high speed internet.

I'm a fan of yours, thank you very much for your comments.

MJ you have personally recruited more new ADVriders than anyone I know of in the three or so years I've been here.

I can't tally the number of "First" posts I have seen while following this thread but it must be in the 20s or higher. Many from other walks of life that have the adventure bug now.

You my good man have sold a lot of new bikes around the world... And, it won't be hard to find other mates on your next adventure.

Just caught up with the final pages and this epic report is chock full of incredible pictures, but I have the say this MJ post was really cool:



On the whole adventure, well done!