The year we sent the Super Tenere 750 ahead to Nairobi & then travelled around Tanzania two-up with setting up MOTOAVENTURES in mind.
We were on a tight budget, but evenso it ended being a memorable “safari” (Trip). Our lunches would be fresh samosas sold by children at petrol stations, followed by mangos bought from roadside vendors. Here’s John eating dessert.
Our accommodations were generally REALLY little local African lodges (the real thing and atmosphere) and for security we’d take the bike into our bedroom with us. Our dinners would be roast chicken accompanied by ugali (maize/cassava mash, a very typical East African dish) and a hot tomato sauce.
In Arusha we had a mechanical problem with the bike so while waiting for the spare part we arranged a Land Rover with driver/chef and went off into the bush for our own wild safari. The Land Rover’s rear leaf suspension was tied on with rubber strips made from old tyres – so needed a bit of repair every now and then. Punctures were the order of the day 😊. In one of our camps we had a Maori warrior protecting us from wild animals while we bathed in a shallow stream.
Lake Natron with its thousands of flamingos, Kilimanjaro frequently in the distance and just open space with no-one else around.
We managed to get across to Zanzibar, getting local guys to help us lower the bike into a small ferry boat. There we found a wonderful little African lodge by the sea and based ourselves there a few days. You could wade out a long way and the sea was a wonderful variety of turquoise colours.
One memory – there was the day we went shopping and I climbed on the back holding the eggs and yoghurts. John turned her round and the wheels slid out, and we were down in front of all these expats having their morning drinks on a terrace. Did they help – no way – it was the local chaps who rushed over. I didn’t break one egg or spill the yoghurt. 😊
At the end of our trip the bike was left in Nairobi and eventually sold to a local. It was the bike he rode from London to Cape Town during ’91 &’ 92.
