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Addis Abeba was the first big city we saw after leaving Khartoum. The thousands of peoples, cars, minibuses, tuktuks, bicycles and animals just merge together in a big humming something. I think they still call it traffic. It’s like driving in Istanbul just double the amount of vehicles, throw in some animals, destroy some roads and remove the last traffic rules there are… but again after a while you get used to it and it works just fine. The first nights we spent at Wim’s Holland house. Topher and I had to get the visa for Kenia and an extension of our Ethiopian visa. It expires on the 30th what would be ok, but we wanted to have some extra time, if something should go wrong. So we got that done and another very important thing. We got our first hair cut since we left 🙂 For dinner we went to a small restaurant called African queen. The restaurant is run by an ethiopian lady who lived for over 30 years in Freiburg and learned cooking there. Unfortunately they couldn’t make the Sauerbrauten, which is on the menu, but we got some very good food and some Spätzle 🙂
It was a very nice time at Wim’s and we met a lot of interesting peoples and learned some good advices and stories. We got in contact with Seid because my luggage system was broken … again and needed to be welded. Seid, an overlander himself, is a very friendly guy and known for helping and supporting overlanders that come nearby Addis. We moved over to Seid’s place and he offered us to help us with some maintenance on the bikes. So we changed the oil, cleaned my carbonator, got the welding done and wanted to change the spark plugs on my bike. That worked fine with the first one, but the second came in wrong and messed up the thread… A broken spark plug thread could definitely be the end of your journey. The next morning a friend of Seid with more experience came over and with him we got the spark plug in, slowly forcing it in and out, bit for bit. It worked and I really hope it lasts till I am home again 😉
We headed on and had a look at the stele in Tyia, before we found a small hotel a little further down the road. Today was a big ethiopian holyday, the day of the cross. At night everywhere small bundles of bush where set on fire. We took a walk around and it was just a beautiful atmosphere.
Our next stop was the paradise lodge in Arba Minch and yes it’s like a small paradise 🙂 From the bar you have a gigantic view over the Nechisar national park, the lake Abaya and the lake Chamo. 
The food was also really good and we could spent some time at the pool. We took the bikes and visited the local crocodile farm. Here they breed Nile crocodiles for their skin and you can see them in different ages and sizes.
After two nights the paradise time was done and we were on the way to Moyale, to cross the border to Kenia and to take the so called hell road to Marsabit.
The last 50 km to Moyale coming from Mega, where we spent the night, were already quite tough because there were constructions everywhere. So every 500 m there is a diversion from the tar mark which consist mainly of sand. Very very soft and light red sand that behaves more like a fluid than something solid. It took us awhile to master this part of the track, but I think with a smaller bike and without luggage it can be a lot of fun.
Roter Sand from David on Vimeo. Road Closed from David on Vimeo. The border crossing was no problem and we were on the hell road. The first 70 km were as promised tough. A mixture of loose gravel, sand, wash board, pot holes and stones was demanding a lot from the bikes and from us. But we made it without any loss ;). Then out of nowhere it came … tar mark, for the next 50 km. The road was in a perfect condition and we just blasted over it. Tonight’s accommodation was bush camping at a nice remote place near the road. On the way through the bush Topher unfortunately hit a tree stump with his left side case. The case got deformed and tore up at the bottom, but we managed to bend it back to a certain level and closed the gap with tape. That should work till we find a better place to work on it.
The rest of the Moyale road was a short run on gravel and 100 km tar mark all the way to Marsabit. Seems like this hell is slowly freezing in. So in the end we were glad about all the tar mark but also a bit disappointed. At least we got a taste of what it used to be 😉
We wanted to stay a couple of days in the youth hostel in Khartoum to get some rest and to meet up with David. Unfortunately the power supply shot down in the first night so the fans weren’t working anymore. Like with everything else there are to side of the story. For us it was a very sweaty and sleepless night, but for the mosquitos it was a feast… big time.
David had some trouble to get his bike off the ferry in Wadi Halfa and it was not quite clear how long it would take in the end. So we decided to hit the road again and wait for him a little bit more downstream in Ethiopia. The landscape changes a lot while crossing Sudan vertically. When you leave Khartoum you’re still in a desert, but 100 km to the south it suddenly starts to get green. At first there is very light green colored grass, that makes the whole landscape look like it was in pastels. The green gets darker with every km you travel south and more and more plants appear. (Some nice pictures from the Afri Pi)
We had a good run (10.09.14) and stopped 60 km in front of the border for our first “bush camping” in Africa, next to a field 😉 of cause we asked for permission before we put up the tents. In the evening our camping site was visited by some ethiopian guys who were walking all the way from Ethiopia to Khartoum. We didn’t find a common language so we don’t know exactly why, maybe to find a job. It is a tough thing for them to do, because it is a really long way with a climate getting hotter and hotter and the only thing they were carrying was a wooden stick. No equipment, no supplies, no water… we shared some food and water with them, gave them some pounts and whished them good luck for the rest of their journey .
The border crossing in the morning was surprisingly easy without any hassle and after less than 3 h we were good to go. Maybe it helped that one of the customs guys thought that Topher was looking like Thomas Müller :p ( I, Topher, was not happy with that) or because it was the first day of the new year in the ethiopian calender. With a “Melkam Adis Amet” (happy new year in amharic) you had all smiles on your side 😉
Our next stop should be the Tim&Kim village in Gorgora at the lake Tana, but because we were already low on fuel and didn’t want to use the black market gas on the road we took a detour over Gonder to find a proper gas station. This was unfortunately not a good idea. Although we did get benzin (the third gas station had it) the gravel road from Gonder to Gorgora (50 km) was in a really bad condition due to the raining season. There were many ups and downs and we had to cross many deep mud puddles and small rivers which were over floating the street. At some time I got stuck with my front wheel in knee deep mud while trying to cross a mound. Pulling the bike out again was a mayor pain in the a… One puddle got Topher, cause it was a lot deeper than expected. He went through it and shot out on the other side (dribbdemudpuddle) up a small hill. There he wanted to lay the bike to the side but it still had too much momentum. It turned over and came to rest standing upside down. Luckily Topher had no problems getting off the bike right in time. He then pushed the bike back to the side and with the help of some locals we were able to get it upright and on the road again. The result of this maneuver was a broken windshield, a missing right mirror, a damaged mounting of the toolbox in front of the engine and a not so amused Topher. But there were no injuries and the bike was still working perfectly so we kept on going. We mastered the whole 50 km in 3 h and arrived 20 min before sunset totally exhausted but very happy at Tim&Kims village and were welcomed with an ice cold beer. Probably one of the best in our lives.
After a refreshing night in a bungalow we cleaned the bikes and started the operation on Topher’s bike. As you can see she survived and is almost as good as new. The toolbox was easily reattached, the two parts of the windshield are held together by three big screws and the mirror got some tapeing. In the end it wasn’t too bad, just pure type two fun.
Coming soon: Days at the lake Tana, meeting David, getting to Lalibela and hopefully some fast WiFi…
While we kept waiting on quotes from different cargo companies, we used the metro bus back to Europe :p to do some of the sights of Istanbul. The following two nights we would stay with Kadir, a very good friend of my brother. Thanks again man, for the great time.
Our first stop was the Galata Tower from where you have a beautiful view over Istanbul.
From here we walked all the way to Sultanahmet to get a good impression of this part of the city. We had a small Kokoreç as a snack on the go ;), a quite fatty and little bit hot but very tasty dish mainly made of lamb colon. We visited the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (the Blue Mosque) and had a look at the Hagia Sophia right next to it. Than we spent some time in the Topkapı Sarayı (palace of the sultans) and walked through the grand bazar (Kapali Çarşı).
On our way back we stopped for a balik ekmek (fish sandwich) at the Galata Bridge. In the evening we joined Kadir and his friend to watch the turkish super cup, Fenerbahçe vs. Galatasaray. The game was a bit chewy and it took to the penalties to see a goal and a winner (Fenerbahçe), but we had a good time with the guys.
The next morning we took a ferry cross the Bosporus back to Altunizade and used the next days to plan the air freight of the bikes. Information kept coming in drop by drop. Sometimes it was really annoying and a challenge to keep calm… well, at some point we figured out that we had to organize the crates for the bikes ourselves. So we looked for a motorbike importer or retailer nearby and found the Motorium in Maltepe (www.motorium.com/wordpress). The very friendly and helpful shop owner Tolga Büyüköner, who used to ride an Africa Twin in the 90th, couldn’t provide us with used boxes but offered us to get them build by Kadir (another one 😉 ) a friend carpenter. With the language support of Ahmet Astepe we could make ourselves understood of what we needed and Kadir will even provide the straps to secure the bikes and deliver the boxes to the airport, which suits us well. Still there are many things to get done for the shipment on Tuesday, fingers crossed it will work out 🙂
The people in the Motorium are motorbike enthusiasts and were very interested in our trip so we promised to drop by on Saturday to talk a bit more about the things we already experienced and the places we want to go.
Today we had perfect riding conditions and stopped only for a sip of water and fuel. We drove more than 600 km leaving Croatia passing Serbia and entering Bulgaria. The last part of the serbian route lead through a nice canyon and was a lot of fun to ride.
In the late evening we found a camping site east of Sofia, the only one for 50 km in any direction. Well the guy at the reception was quite surprised when he saw us. It was hard to tell if that was because of the bikes or because there hadn’t been any guests in the past decades… that’s what the place looked like. We got a key for the toilet, which turned out to be a complete apartment, a completely rotten apartment. There were black armchairs, which used to be red, mold in the corners and a huge slug with a tiger strip-like pattern on the back sliding across the bath room. I guess toilet wasn’t the wrong term, after all. As sundowner or “Feierabendbierche” we had a croatian pivo (beer).
After a refreshing night in the tents we decided to not do another > 500 km trip to reach Istanbul. Instead we drove to Alexandropolis, a little town at the greek mediterranean coast. Mostly the condition of the bulgarian highway wasn’t that good, what made the speed limit of 140 km/h kind of pointless, at least if you didn’t want to stress test your suspensions. After a stress less border crossing and numberless construction sites on the greek highway we reached the gorgeous camping site which was only 50 m to the sea. After a quick swim we had calamari and sufklaki with an ice cold verina (greek beer). Then we went back to the beach to finish the day of with a bottle of bulgarian beer and a pipe, under a sky full of stars and even some shooting stars…
The next day we started unhurried at 11 o clock to reach our first major destination Istanbul. After 40 km driving along the coast, we arrived at the border and passed it without any hassle. We just needed to show the passports, the registration documents of the bikes and a valid insurance a few times. No need of a carnet so far.
We sticked to the country road instead of taking the highway to see a bit more of the landscape and to skip the highway toll 😉 The closer we got to Istanbul the more cars were on the street. We wanted to spend the night at a camp site in Sultanahmet, the old and touristic center of Istanbul. This “otopark” had been recommended to us by a couple from cologne we met in Bulgaria on the parking lot of “Kaufland” supermarket. But when we got there, the traffic was already sticky, the guy wouldn’t let us in. We asked why and after a while it seemed that the park was booked out… probably.
So after a short rest we went on to the house of my grandparents on the asian site of Istanbul. I knew that there is always a lot of traffic in Istanbul, but since we had only to go 15 km what should go wrong. After three hours with nearly 40°C air temperature and 80°C coming from the engine we arrived like the last man standing. Since we consider safety first we were still wearing our full motorbike gear and helmet, this plus the constant pulling of the clutch with the left hand was a proper torture. The traffic to the bridge had been literally like lava, steaming hot and edging its way forward. In the meantime the sun had set when we crossed the bridge going dribbdebosporus. The traffic here is “slightly” different to Germany, but you get along quite well once your grown into it. But don’t get me wrong, with the heavy loaded bikes it still feels like being an elephant in a bee hive.
We were warmly welcomed by Tante Suzy with hugs and a nice turkish dinner. Restored we went for a walk looking for a turkish beer. Unfortunately they don’t sell alcohol after 22 o’clock, which made Topher almost feel like being at home in Freiburg. So we had some Uludaǧ and Çamlıca lemonade, “schmeckt auch gut” (tastes good too).
Rushing through Europe to Istanbul and letting the adventure start in Africa… jap, that doesn’t work!
The first day I tiped my twin while hoping on, because of an uneven underground. Topher’s battery stopped working on a slip road and needed a jump start. It was raining the whole day. Again the battery, we already called the ADAC when Topher found a loose screw, which caused all the trouble. Never the less the battery should be replaced because, it probably had taken some damage through the old rectifier. To the nearest motorbike supplier we left our route taking a shortcut into Austria. Arriving at the local Louis store we realized that it’s a holiday in Austria… so back to Germany setting the route to Munich and try to find an store there, the next day.
Late in the evening after not much more than 200 km from Freiburg 😛 we settled down in a very nice camping site at Bad Wörishofen.
Day two: Strange noises coming out of my exhaust, unfortunately the inner pipe broke… Really, I mean I already drove my bike 5.000 km without any problems…
In Munich we found the store after some detours, Topher replaced the battery and my exhaust problem was apparently not that bad. After stocking up on food we had shashlik for lunch at a road side stand in Munich which happened to be next to a brothel and the “pimp lady” sad next to us. In general the costumers of the food stand looked rather run down…
Off we went to Austria. It started raining in Munich and didn’t stop for the next 5 h. Temperature dropped to 8°C on the Austrian highway. No fun! The rain stopped after the Katschberg Tunnel and since we were so cold and we are too rich decided to warm up with a quick visit to Malta.
We made it and started our trip, yay! After a nice and emotional farewell we finally crossed the Ignatz-Bubis-Bridge in Frankfurt heading into Dribbdebach country on a Tuesday with perfect riding weather.
Our first stop was Stuttgart where we met with our good friend Benny, who was our generous host for that night. After some barbeque and a good time on the PS4 we had a rather short night, which was kinda hard for 50% of us ;).
The next day, the weather changed after ten minutes on the road and it didn’t stop raining till we reached our next stop, lovely Freiburg.
In Freiburg we stayed for a fortnight at Vanessa’s and Topher’s place, to exchange the rectifier on Tophers Twin to finally abolished the electrical issues… and we uprgrades the boxes of the bikes 🙂
Today we had a nice evening with Vanessa and “freibugarian” friends in a cozy tavern with Spätzle and beer 🙂 Tomorrow we will travel on finally leaving Germany heading towards Austria.
Ha ha, there is not much you can’t transport with a AT 🙂
P.S.: small update of the bikes site