Someone asked why I do these crazy things, I decided it was because I read too many National Geographic Magazines in my youth. You also find out more about your own country and your self when you travel and talk to people who see things a little differently. And as Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to racism"I am on the road again, (got to read that to music and Hank Williams drawl)

After a 22.5 hour journey I arrived in Johannesburg South Africa. It was a bumpy ride and I do not think my stomach settled for three days. Ivan and Debbie were at the airport to pick me up. It was a real pleasure to have their help and company, I will miss the good people of South Africa. South Africa is one of the places that I will be sure to visit on my next trip around.

The plan this year is to ride to Europe and fly home on the 30th of January. This year I ride solo, I will miss the company and sharing the experience. There will be benefits, no one will know how many times I get lost, and I will be able to pick routes I would not go down if we were two up. In general the plan is to ride east to Mozambique then in to Malawi and the Riff Valley. Which direction I go is not set as much depends on weather and type of roads. Once I get to Egypt I have three options, west through Libya to Tunisia and cross to Italy, east to Israel and catch a roro boat to Italy or cross from Egypt to Turkey to Bulgaria. Will wait that decision until I get there and see who is having a war.

I had wanted to spend a few days in SA but my Carnet ran out on the 25th, (Sunday) and I was not sure how much problem it would be finding where to have it sign out and new one signed in. Also I would be a day late so that might cause problems too. So as soon as I got the bike sorted and picked up a new version of Tracks for Africa for GPS, I headed for Mozambique.

Maputo

Moz went the Communist way with streets named after Linen and Karl Marx

Down Town Maputo

Roads were good as we started out heading north

The sign

Day two: Was on the road early, as it will take a while to get use to time change. Rode to Lindela and found a good spot for the night by 2:00. Laid down and sleep till 5:30 PM then was up till 10:00. Not sure how long to shake this jet lag.
When I set out to write this Journal/blog it is often the little things that stand out. For lunch today I had two tomatoes from street side stand and a young boy offers to sell some gob things which I bought a few. They were like someone had deep fat fried gobs of pancake dough, I was either hungry or they were good and went well with the tomatoes. Next to the vegetables stand was a “hardware” store with solar panels and the store owner spoke some English. To me it was a sign that things were improving in Mozambique which in 2000 was the poorest country in the world. Now if we can only get the NGOs interference from abroad out so they do not distort the economy they should make it.

Hauling logs and a little extra (see goat tied on top

Day three: Rode 650 k to a resort that was built before the wars and seemed to be in much need of maintenance but progress was being made.

Where I got my tomato lunch

Most fuel stops were modern and new, but here the station was closed so someone set up selling out of barrels

Roads have inproved greatly in the last few years but some they have not got to yet. One hole was big enough to swallow a VW

The new bridge over the Zambezi River, The old one was blown up in the wars. This just opened this year

Another bridge that has been replaced with destroyed bridge in back
ground

Day four: There were three options for route to take through Moz and into Malawi. The first was up to Tete on tar roads but we were there last year and I wanted to see more of Moz. The next two were dirt road routes one in the far south of Malawi was how I wanted to go but it was starting to rain as I got to that turn. Dirt roads turn to mud real fast and can become difficult to impassable real quick. So I headed over the new bridge and hoped the weather would be better north. Stayed the night in Quelimane, a city with many old colonial building in various states of disrepair. But the city was jumping with people and businesses.

Day five: This is where I find out if I can ride African dirt roads, 450 k today, of which 200+ were dirt. After about 50 k in on dirt the road turned to new tar road unexpectedly, I had lowered the tire pressure for the dirt but went 10 k before stopping to air them up thinking the tar might end. Two K later it did end and I went 25 K on construction detour till I got back to the dirt that the map indicated was “partially maintained”. I think the part that was maintained was the first 50 K so for the next 150k I was standing on the pegs to lower center of gravity and keep the bumps from jarring the bones. This road is kind of representative of Moz, at one spot where I stopped for a drink I saw chunks of tar mat, this road had been tar once but after communist bankrupt policies and 25 years of civil war it was back to dirt. But like the country the road was being rebuilt. Moz will become a developed country again as long as they can keep the corruption down and stay the course.

the dirt

Detour route

Old colonial buildings along the road,

More dirt road

insurance "Office" Malawi

Easy check out at the border and into Malawi to real nice tar road. I had planed on fueling up on the Moz side because Malawi has had fuel problems in the past. But all stations were out. Fuel reading said I had 98 k of fuel and GPS said 98k to where I wanted to stay. Much to close so I started looking for black market fuel or fuel station on Malawi side. First station was out but said I could get some up the road and sure enough I found a station that had fuel. With my preoccupations with getting fuel I forgot to check to see if I needed insurances and when I got to a police check point I I had to negotiate a reduced “fine” and go back to boarder to get insurance.
There is a dramatic change once I crossed into Malawi with some large tea farms, pine and eucalyptus plantations. Even the small farms are neater and better organized. Made it to Blantyre and a backpackers lodge totally wore out.

My thoughts about this part of Africa is that if Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia were to develop farming along US standards, or China standards, they could feed the entire African continent. As a former Zimbabwe farmer I met in Blantyre said “if you walk barefoot in this ground you will put on weight”. As it now stands the Zimbabwe government took all the white farms and they are now in ruin. In Mozambique they went the communist way and had big collectives that when the government went bankrupt they switched to a market economy and broke them up into small unorganized plots. Give me a few hundred acres in Zambia and I could make Iowa look bad but it is all under tribal control. If the Chief lets someone start a commercial farm he can loose title, so they have determined it is better to keep his subjects poor.