Gael warning on the Ivory Coast

[Drumacoon Lad.]

The last Africa trip for the Gaels team, was a 7 country gallop around Southern Africa documented below:

Gaels in Mozambique.

I've been in semi retirement for a few years and improving my golf handicap, whereas Simon has been exploring many of the 'Stans'. However, we've been planning another trip together for over a year. I use the term planning loosely, as we have a relaxed approach to an itinerary. I still remember with horror, the trip report where the guy wanted a recommendation for a place to stay for one night in Western Sahara(or Moroccan Sahara if you're a Moroccon Gendarme). He had firm bookings for every other night of his return trip to Gambia. That rigid planning is not wise, what if you have a puncture etc., and it certainly doesn't suit Simon and I. We are more comfortable with deciding each day how far to go. We do plan the essentials, visas, innoculations, bike preparation, navigation, tools, spares and ferries. Ferries can be a sore point with me, as I turned up at Portsmouth for a previous trip, and was told there was no ferry to Santander that day. In fact Simon had booked us on the Bilbao ferry and I sheepishly joined that queue, after checking the booking.

So what degree of itinirary planning have we done. Well, we plan to catch a ferry from Portsmouth to Santander or maybe Bilbao and ride through Spain, take the ferry to Tangier Med(the modern Tangier port), and ride south through Morocco. How far south, I hear you say, well, if you spotted me coming out of the Ivory Coast embassy in London last Monday, then you might have an idea and, of course, the title may have already let the cat out of the bag. We hope to set a moderate pace, makeing time to smell the flowers, tagines and other spices, which is easy to say, but the urge to cover ground quickly is always strong.

With the Côte d'Ivoire visa in my passport, that completed the set of 3 that we needed. We got the Mauritania and Guinea visas on line. The Mauritania visa required the submission of photos, precisely 480 x 640 pixels, not 481 x 640, it must be exactly as specified. Ask me how I know! So we have our visas and will leave next week. Here is an approximation of our route from Tangier to Côte d'Ivoire

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[The Other PaulG]

Fantastic, have a great trip.

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

In the past, when we've ridden together, there's always been a significant difference in the size of our bikes. The most extreme contrast was Simon on his trusty 1150 GS and me on my tiddler of a Suzuki 125, and for Mozambique, Simon was on an 800GS and me on an XT250. The 125 did fine, covering 20,000km, but it was a struggle to overtake trucks and escape charging elephants. The 250 was much better and more capable on bad roads, and fast enough for Africa, still not sure about charging elephants though . The 250 was registered and parked in Namibia, and then like an idiot, I sold it. Meet me for a pint and I'll try and explain my thinking at the time.

A few years ago I saw a video of Itchy Boots(a skilful Dutch lady rider) touring off-road around Southern Africa on a standard Honda CRF250. She proved how capable the bike was, well beyond my abilities, and it was a Honda, so pretty uncomplicated and reliable. It wasn't light, but less weighty than most adventure bikes.

So with that background in mind, the Africa trip discussion started. With my positive experience if small bikes, I proposed getting CRF250s, so we could benefit from both being on the same hardware. We kicked that idea around for a bit, and committed to that plan by both buying a CRF250, both bikes had some experience, but seemed sound and had some good accessories. We immediately enjoyed riding the bikes. I made the fundamental mistake though, in buying one from a tall South African gentleman. The 50 mile ride home, was my most scary ride in years, without being able to touch the ground. Clearly the suspension had to be lowered.


We've been prepping the bikes for a trip to Africa for most of this year. My suspension was good but lowering it was a priority. It came with a hand made pannier frame which suits the Magadan panniers. These soft panniers are what Heineken would have made, if the Adventure rider Walter Colebatch had not already designed them. I've used on the 125 and the XT250 and I had to shake off some Mozambique/Namibia sand, when I dragged them out of the shed. Again the top box from the XT250, fitted the bike well, as did the tank bag. The gearing on mine was aimed at off road, so higher gearing and a new chain were required. This is getting a bit technical, so I'll leave the bike stuff and show another couple of photos.

Simon came around today so we could do a review of our tools and spares to reduce unnecessary duplication. So it was a chance to get the 2 bikes together.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

It seems Simon took this photo over my shoulder today. I think he may be suggesting I have too many screens I can't see the issue, I have a GPS, with Tracks4Africa loaded, thanks Simon. I've also have an Aoocci C6 Android Auto screen, running Google maps and a front pointing camera, and of course my phone as a backup. And a tiny temperature gauge. Doesn't seem excessive to me

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

This is a sample of the essentials tools and spares we have to squirrel away in those, hopefully Tardis like, panniers. Not included are the 2 Swiss army knives I'll be taking. I'd take more but I got grief from Simon when I took 3 if these wonderful knives.

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[Oldrat]

Excellent, I love your write ups, I’m in for this one.

Have a great trip guys

 

[richardbd]

 

[ShakeyGS]

I'm intrigued by the use of the word 'tools' to describe a bit of old inner tube and two tins of sardines.

 

[Mike_E]

Looks like an amazing adventure.

I am sure you know already, but just in case you're not aware... Cote d'Ivoire has an election on the 25th of October. Predicted to get a little spicy ... Current leader (Allassane Ouattara) is going for his 4th term.... Constitution says 2 max!

I go there for work about twice a year but we're blocked from going between 17th of October and the end of November.

I'm guessing if you stay out of the big cities you'll be fine.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

I'm intrigued by the use of the word 'tools' to describe a bit of old inner tube and two tins of sardines.

Very observant! Note to self, be careful what you photograph. Well, no adventure rider heads off without a piece of inner tube, which has multiple uses.

The sardines were to prompt a discussion about lunch on the road. Combined with some local bread, they would keep us going. In fact, we pass a large sardine factory on the edge of the desert, near Tan Tan Plage. The smell, when the wind is off the sea, would put you off sardines for life. Other travellers, who passed that may remember

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Looks like an amazing adventure.

I am sure you know already, but just in case you're not aware... Cote d'Ivoire has an election on the 25th of October. Predicted to get a little spicy ... Current leader (Allassane Ouattara) is going for his 4th term.... Constitution says 2 max!

I go there for work about twice a year but we're blocked from going between 17th of October and the end of November.

I'm guessing if you stay out of the big cities you'll be fine.

Cheers
Mike

Mike, that is good intel, for me at least, Simon may be aware. We aim to arrive mid November, so hopefully, things will be quieter. We'll monitor the situation as we go along. Thanks again.

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[Fireblade]

I’m looking forward to this tale.
I did some work in Côté d’Ivoire years ago, pre-civil war, I’ve been back since, but the last time was probably 2006.
I loved the place.

 

[simondippenhall]

Just to set the observant tossers mind at rest: although the little route map above shows us going through Mali, we won't be this time! It was sketchy enough last time i went through and it's now deepest red, so we will try the rather rough roads of Guinea Conakry instead!

As Jim said, there has been an extensive fettling process (which doesn't mean something won't go dramatically wrong, especially as my wee 250 has done 25,000 miles already). The last step for me, after changing oil, oil filter and air filter was to leave my CRF at a local mechanic to give it the once over, replace brake and coolant fluid and fit new chain and sprockets, and give it a fresh MoT.

The sharp eyed will see that I found a way to get to and from the mechanics establishment which was 7 miles away,,,but don't worry, the Brompton is not coming to Africa.

 

[Northern jock]

It sounds like an excellent idea for a trip and I’m impressed by the planning, all very coordinated.

Some great places to go through en route, unfortunately many now red zones which is a real shame, you could have nipped along to Timbuktu before heading down through Burkima Faso otherwise (I spent a birthday in Ouagadougou once, mainly because I thought it was the best named capital city I’d heard of).
Staying a little west should be good and exploratory which is what we all want.
I look forward to your trip, vicariously from my fireside, while I plot something.

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

It sounds like an excellent idea for a trip and I’m impressed by the planning, all very coordinated.

Some great places to go through en route, unfortunately many now red zones which is a real shame, you could have nipped along to Timbuktu before heading down through Burkima Faso otherwise (I spent a birthday in Ouagadougou once, mainly because I thought it was the best named capital city I’d heard of).
Staying a little west should be good and exploratory which is what we all want.
I look forward to your trip, vicariously from my fireside, while I plot something.

Thanks for your comments Jock. I've also spent birthdays on the road in Africa and my birthday this time is in the first 2 weeks of the trip, so I may be in the Sahara or maybe Senegal. My family send cards early, so I can open them on the day, and no doubt Simon will rustle up a bottle of bubbly, even if we're in the desert .

I had one birthday morning in this Bedouin tent(below), near Dakla and opened my cards with a head torch. I loaded the bike in the dark and rode off, to be greeted by this view of the camels and riders coming out of the morning mist. Not a bad start to a birthday.

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[Northern jock]

A camel train in the early morning is a hard sight to beat, really reminds you where you are. That’s excellent, very evocative

 

[simondippenhall]

Meanwhile back at base the packing continues….medical kit just about there. Next step will be to take stuff out of boxes so it fits a small container

Also a good time to review all the paperwork we will be carrying….a remote border crossing (into Guinea for example) is not the moment to discover the officer requires a colour photocopy of our e-visas!

Unlike in the past this time we have e visas for Mauritania and Guinea and a good old passport stamp style visa for Cote d’Ivoire.

I will post a pic of my clothes packing later as I know @richardbd likes to give me a critique .

The biggest element of our packing is bike related …a spare tube and related tools for tyre repairs, and we also have an oil and air filter each. I am carrying a set of clutch plates (potentially capable of being divvied up between the two of us if we face problems). I also bought a light and cheap fault decoder for the ECU. Obviously we hope not to use any of the above, which is often the magical property of packing them!

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[richardbd]

I will post a pic of my clothes packing later as I know @richardbd likes to give me a critique .

Poised, keyboard at the ready Simon.

Mind you, your Brompton on the luggage rack has already rendered me awestruck...

 

[MikeS]

Very interesting trip this, especially as I have recently bought a CRF300L although I won't be doing anything as adventurous as this.

 

[Northern jock]

Meanwhile back at base the packing continues….medical kit just about there. Next step will be to take stuff out of boxes so it fits a small container

Also a good time to review all the paperwork we will be carrying….a remote border crossing (into Guinea for example) is not the moment to discover the officer requires a colour photocopy of our e-visas!

Unlike in the past this time we have e visas for Mauritania and Guinea and a good old passport stamp style visa for Cote d’Ivoire.

I will post a pic of my clothes packing later as I know @richardbd likes to give me a critique

.

The biggest element of our packing is bike related …a spare tube and related tools for tyre repairs, and we also have an oil and air filter each. I am carrying a set of clutch plates (potentially capable of being divvied up between the two of us if we face problems). I also bought a light and cheap fault decoder for the ECU. Obviously we hope not to use any of the above, which is often the magical property of packing them!

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Looks good, only question would be if you have water purification tablets (or a filter) for when you can’t buy nice stuff?
The bulkiest thing I normally have that I struggle to reduce is a pair of shoes, the heaviest an inner tube. I now carry one, half way between front and rear sizes.