A jaraama everyone!

Please excuse the late blog entry - it’s been an eventful two weeks. I have to say it’s nice to get your personal messages asking about updates and to know that someone is actually reading this stuff :)

On Tuesday, 5. November 2019 I headed over to Madou’s Bike shop in Dakar in the afternoon. He said he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with King Kong and said it would be better to go “the” electrician. Modou (not the same person) pushed me 15 km across town (I’m used to this by now ;) to the Medina over to Modou’s (yet another guy - these are all short forms of the name Mohamed). The Medina is bustling area full of craftsman, a cool place to hang out and see men at work. I got a good impression from Modou (the electrician) and we (I was there to hold KK’s hand(le)s) spent the next two days working on the bike. Modou proposed to change the 6V system to a 12V system. He didn’t know what the root of my starter problems was, but he said the new system would last me until Cape Town, so I agreed.

To take a break from the motorbiking I decided to go for a fun dive off the coast of Dakar on Thursday, 7. November in the morning. Bumpiest boat ride of my life - talk about taking my mind off King Kong. I was happy to crawl back to land - no joke XD. The only PG footage I have though is of a guy washing his goat on the beach before the dive :)

In the afternoon I headed back to Modou’s and King Kong was ready to roll. Modou even installed a USB port so I could charge my phone. He also hooked up my GPS charger so I would be able to navigate (fancy I know!). The changes further included a new CDI, a new regulator, a new 12V battery, and 12V light bulbs all around. KK started up at first kick (even without choke) and was purring like a kitten. I paid the man roughly EUR 100.00 and was a happy camper once again. Back at the hostel (great vibes!) the whole place congratulated me on a fixed motorbike (cheapest place in Dakar - turns out now my insurance will pay for my overnight expenses - oh well :).

On Friday, 8. November 2019 I changed my oil and rode around town a bit to do some shopping and more importantly test riding. All was well. I was leaking a bit of oil but not enough to go back to the mechanic’s. I took the boat back to Ziguinchor in the evening (calmer seas going South than coming North) and rocked up to the Guinea Bissau Consulate at 10 am on Saturday morning. This was the most relaxed Visa drill so far. 10 minutes and CFA 20’000 later I was on my way to Guinea Bissau. I rode the 150 km to Bissau with no issues at the border and set up my tent at the Gorilla Hotel run by Nick, a Rastafari(I) electronics dealer with a Yamaha XT 600. Here I met Max from Germany - an old soul, scholar and gentleman. He’s travelling around Africa in two years and is an experienced adventure rider. We exchanged stories and decided to do a bit of off-roading the following day. Guinea Bissau is a small country and not as developed as Senegal. It’s interesting to see the colonial influence in Africa once again (Portugese, Sagres and Super Bock ;). On Monday, 11. November 2019 I went to the Ivory Coast consulate to apply for a Visa. In the afternoon Max and I hung out with the Gorilla Gang (Papice and Dani - good vibes) and the next day we visited a school next to Papice’s house. This is a private initiative started by a man in the neighbourhood because the public school isn’t reliable enough to actually be open and ready for the children. Tuition is about EUR 5 a month and what they need most at the moment is money to build toilets and buy paper. The school is called "Centro de Aperfeicoamento Em Ciencias Exatas". If you're interested, here is Papice's facebook: 

I picked up my Visa at noon and Max and I headed out towards the Guinean border in the afternoon. We rode about 220 km and decided to wild camp before crossing the border to Guinea the next morning. Right when we were stopping - drum roll - King Kong stopped and wouldn’t start. I had rode about 500 km all in all since Modou’s fix in Dakar. Max and I cooked pasta with Sardines (Max brought cooking gear - I’ll remember that for the next trip) and the dinner discussion circled around possible fixes and alternative travel plans for me. I really thought I might have to give KK up. After all that’s happened, the bike seems irreparable. My plan C right now is to ride a bicycle to Capetown - no mechanical problems there!

The next day Wednesday, 13. November 2019 I woke up and had to decide to either backtrack to Bissau via truck or scooter push or instead accept Max’s very kind offer to pull me to Conakry (still about 350 km of bush away). I opted for the later because my Tanti Elisabeth has friends in Conakry and I figured this would be a better place to work on KK. This day turned out to be the most intense adventure so far. Max pulled me via chord (it tore multiple times) wrapped around my handle bars and looped into my left hand grip across the Guinea Bissau-Guinea border at Simbeli. The single trail led through bush, mud, plank bridges a river and multiple little hills (I want to say mountains).

It was hot, humid and tiring. We did about 30 km and had to stop and set up camp in a little village at about 3 pm. After asking permission from the chief to set up camp we bucket showered, drank a can of coca cola (thank you globalised capitalism) and raided the village shop for pasta and sardines (I see a pattern developing). It was a pleasant evening after a hard work out and we ended up providing the evening entertainment for the kids of the village (turn up the volume for this next video).

The next day Max and I put on Jimmy Hendrix on the JBL (another thing I’ll bring on my next trip) and got to working on KK. We realised it would take us days to get to Conakry if we continued with our bush tow. Max was confident we could get the bike working. I wasn’t convinced considering the history you all know. I thought I would stay in the village for a couple of days until the provision truck came along and most likely would charge me a horrendous price for a lift to Conakry. We started checking the bike and made out the same old problem: there was a spark, but not strong enough. I had a spare CDI with me that I had bought off Modou in Dakar (just in case - you never know) and Max suggested trying it. Here goes nothing I thought - but believe it or not, King Kong started back up after Max push started me. I couldn’t believe it! We decided to get going and to never turn off the motor again XD. We made it to Boke that afternoon and spent the night at a “hotel” for 10 EUR a person. The amenities were the same as in the village (no running water, no electricity) and we cooked our pasta with Sardines (this time with real tomatoes) but all in all we were glad to be out of the bush.

The next day KK started (yes!) and Max and I rode the 300 km into Conakry dodging police, potholes and crazy drivers along the way. We found Tanti’s friends Conny and Peter Flückiger from Switzerland easily enough. Although Conakry is a crazy place. The roads in the city are worse than out in the bush sometimes. This is really the least developed country so far. Conny and Peter run the missionary base for SAM here and Max and I are staying on the compound and are enjoying electricity, running water and Birchermüesli. We trekked around the city today and yesterday and already had a nice run in with the police. After a couple of hours Peter had to come get us. We made friends with the ladies though - they gave us food and our own Pular names. In the end we paid EUR 20 to leave and take a selfie. TIA.

I’m at a bit of thinking point. I’m going to try and fix King Kong myself as no mechanics have really been able to solve my problem so far. To those of you suggesting to just get a new motorbike (preferably one from this century) - I hear ya. This however is not that easy, as almost all East African countries and South Africa require a "carnet de passage” to enter their territory with a vehicle. I had to put down a deposit of CHF 4’000 in Switzerland with the TCS which I only get back if I bring King Kong back to Switzerland. This is a guarantee for the countries along the way that I don’t just leave the bike in their territory and circumvent local import regulations. If I get a new bike - say in here in Conakry, then I would have to put down a deposit here which I would only get back if I bring the bike back to Guinea. Right now trying to remember high school physics and fixing King Kong myself seems like the best option. Or the bicycle  idea - I’ll let you know :)

Take care

Chris