Absolutely Gutted (Kudu Expeditions Cancels Paris-Dakar Challenge)

dakarDude said:
Cheers all.

Tim - the moniker began life when I used to run round on a BMW 650 Dakar and joined UKGSER - I really miss that bike - why I sold it I will NEVER know and it depresses the hell out of me now its gone :blast

I'm getting a serious hankering to have a crack at UK->France->Spain->Morocco->and finally touching on Western Sahara then riding back home to the UK again.

I've got 28th August until 20th September off work, which was going to be used for the Kudu Dakar run.

I would be looking to go on the 1200GSA, likely alone - but if anyone fancies meeting up along the way or coming along for the craic I'm up for that.

So I am now at the stage where I have 8 weeks to plan everything - I've had all my injections bar 1 and that is due 14th July (more leftovers from the Dakar prep.).

My passport is good for it, just need to look into costings, paperwork etc. and what I might need to take as spare parts for the 1200 just in case.

Will start looking through this section of the site and start gathering info.

Its gonna be good!
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Check out the paperwork and sort it out before you go. Then buy a Michelin map, have a rough route in your head and just go with the flow-do not book hotels, ferries etc in advance as having a deadline will just spoil it.
3 of us went for our first visit last year with me as the supposed leader and I just 'winged' the whole foookin trip:cool. We slept on the beach, at the side of swimming pools and even just off the verge of a main road-real boys adventure stuff:roll. We also met some great fellow travellers from Spain, Italy, Ireland and the USA which really added to the trip.
 
Tonibe63 said:
Check out the paperwork and sort it out before you go. Then buy a Michelin map, have a rough route in your head and just go with the flow-do not book hotels, ferries etc in advance as having a deadline will just spoil it.
3 of us went for our first visit last year with me as the supposed leader and I just 'winged' the whole foookin trip:cool. We slept on the beach, at the side of swimming pools and even just off the verge of a main road-real boys adventure stuff:roll. We also met some great fellow travellers from Spain, Italy, Ireland and the USA which really added to the trip.
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Spot on Tonibe! Sounds like you had a good trip. Very excited again now!
 
Nuther tip.
I'm told if you take out their equivalent of RAC breakdown in Spain it covers Morocco too.
Tim, perhaps you could confirm !

I'd be really tempted to come with you, but i've already got a family holiday in Egypt booked round then.

Hope you have a great time.
 
Thanks for all the info, replies and tips y'all :thumb2

I'm sorted - here is the new plan:

After being pointed towards Motoadventours.com by a fellow GSER, I dropped them (Hana) an email asking her about the Dakar trip they run - and theirs is definitely ON for January next year (Jan 06th-16th, 2011)! - So I have signed up this morning to go with them woohoo! Deposit going down next week :D

I'm looking at doing it on an F800 GS.

..they also include a trail riding weekend in Spain in November as a preparation / meet up - so I will be in Spain for a long weekend in November to escape the British Autumn for a few days. Bargain! :thumb2

Hana at MotoAdventours was saying there is still some places left, so if anyone wants to join the trip, get over to www.motoadventours.com - they seem a cracking bunch and don't s**t themselves about going through Mauritania.

..which leaves a big hole in September where Paris-Dakar with Kudu was gonna be - so I have decided to have a crack at circumnavigating Span/Portugal on the GSA. Home->Portsmouth, ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and then do a clockwise run through Spain/Portugal going through the Pyranees, Andorra, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Sevilla, into Portugal for Lisboa, Porto, then on to Chaves and back into Spain through Leon and back to Santander and the ferry home again.

I've got 20 days holiday booked - Thursday 02nd September up to and including Monday 20th September, so all set!

If anyone is in Spain/Portugal in Sept. and fancies meeting up or coming along, give us a shout. The plan is to take a tent but I'm happy to get accommodation here and there if needed. Basically, wing it!

Another bit of icing on the cake, all my jabs will have me covered for the January run to Dakar, so there's a bit of silver lining in the cancellation after all.

Righty, I'm off to go and book a ferry to Santander!

Happy. :D
 
I've never been on a trip with Hana and David, but I store my bike with them and they are great folks, I'm sure you'll have a great time!
 
i have run with them ,imho they are first class folks, they will keep you right and , they are very good company have a good one
ps if you remember say hello to them from
symon n catherine from scotland
 
Cheers guys, can't wait! Will mention to Hana at Moto you said hello.

Got my ferry to Santander booked - Plymouth to Santander on Sunday on 05th Sept. was the best price wise, so I went with that.

Just gonna wing it. Haven't booked anywhere to stay. :)
 
hi dakar dude
i was also booked to go
had to cancel because of a knee injury in may and was shattered but the they cancelled
are you going with the other company
did you get a refund
 
Hi mate, gutted for you, too - we would have been doing it as I type. What a fcuking pi**er!

I got a refund. Think it was approx 10 days after they cancelled it.

I am now going with http://www.motoadventours.com/

There are spaces left, they seem a good crowd, give Hana a shout there and get yourself booked on.

We depart on 06th Jan, 2011. Should be a riot - and Hana there was saying the only reason they would cancel this run is in the event of an act of war. :thumb2

DD
 
thx
cant do the jan one but they may have one in april
they seem much cooler than kudu
less hassle
 
i cancelled and i dint get a refund
out of good faith they should refund my deposit
thx
 
I just finished the first trip of the new owner of Kudu. The following is important.

DO NOT USE KUDU UNDER ANY CIRCUNSTANCES.

If you have paid any monies get it back now. The owner is utterly incompetent and criminally negligent. The trip was planned using Google Earth without having been there. He had no idea borders were closed. He sells it as a supported trip but it is not. Therew were days with virtually no food. The list of problems is extensive. There will be blogs and reviews about this trip. Read them and you will understand.




dakarDude said:
Cheers for all the comments guys. :thumb2

Still a bit shell-shocked to be honest.

Bit annoyed as I've had no replies to emails I sent to Kudu regarding all this (yet) - and tried phoning them earlier but got a bit of a fob-off and can't get to talk to the person that emailed out the cancellation message. Will try again later. I want to know what the score is from the horse's mouth.

They cite Mauritania as a reason why its off - and yet the situation AFAIK is no different to what it was when they did a recent recce there not long ago and said they were happy with the way things went - even adding 250 miles to the trip! Doesn't seem right - I know Africa is Africa and things change quickly, but blimey!

I almost got my flight home booked Monday night as part of this - good job - that was just short of 550 quid. :eek:
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Lager88

Seeing as that was your first post and we don't know you, could you please provide some more information both about yourself and the abortive trip. Or provide links to other reports/blogs.

Not saying this is the case, but this could be a spoiler by a Kudu competitor.
 
lager88 said:
I just finished the first trip of the new owner of Kudu. The following is important.

DO NOT USE KUDU UNDER ANY CIRCUNSTANCES.

If you have paid any monies get it back now. The owner is utterly incompetent and criminally negligent. The trip was planned using Google Earth without having been there. He had no idea borders were closed. He sells it as a supported trip but it is not. Therew were days with virtually no food. The list of problems is extensive. There will be blogs and reviews about this trip. Read them and you will understand.
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Were you one of the guys leaving the Ace cafe in fancy Yamaha Teneres only a couple of months ago?
 
I agree Tim. Might be useful heads up -might be nonsense.
Lager88 - Can another subscriber vouch for you?
 
AberdeenAngus said:
I agree Tim. Might be useful heads up -might be nonsense.
Lager88 - Can another subscriber vouch for you?
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I was on the London - Mongolia trip Lager88 was on and can confirm what they're saying is correct.
New owner had zero experience in running the show, relied heavily on the experience of the customers from negotiating through borders to loading bikes onto trailers, yet treated everyone like a principal treat students and was primarily driven by making a profit rather than providing a good service.
Food was rarely provided and when it was it was cheap tinned rubbish, accomodation was limited and of a pretty poor standard, Routes and tracks were wrong, as were distances, longest day had us riding to 3am, and regulalry we would ride into the night (12-14 hour days) to make the distances they set. Sounds fun, but not in 40+ degree heat on substandard roads with dust, trucks and diesel fumes...... and the camp at the end of the day was 20 metres off the road in some paddock.
I won't go as far as saying don't use Kudu, but do your research, I wouldn't use them again.

P.S - I also wouldn't buy one of their bikes, that desire to make money meant they didn't change the oil, some bikes were brand new and had 12,000kms put on them by the end of the trip with no 1st oil change.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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