22.000 kilometer solo motorcycle journey through Africa - ITCHY BOOTS
Oh Ah.. ah Good morning Internet, it is 8:30 in the morning and welcome back to the channel Today I'm riding the last 500 kilometers back to Johannesburg so I'll be riding this stretch all the way back here and then it is full circle. Then I've completed all of this through South Africa Through Namibia onto Botswana and Zimbabwe and back to Johannesburg so that means 22 000 kilometers through four countries in six months time. And what a journey it has been I also managed to get myself in some situations That in hindsight I'm thinking, how did I get myself into that? Come on.. yeah, yeah. That was bound to happen This is what we're dealing with This Not easy, not easy.. not easy
So what's that gun then? - A 12 gauge shotgun Which we use for riot patrol etcetera. Non lethal rounds. And obviously lethal backup for in case Hello Should I just pass? Nobody home Well then it just got worse and worse and now my seal is completely blown. I think I've lost all of my oil. See it even just by standing here there's just this whole pool down there The handlebar is obviously the problem Careful not to ride into that cactus Woo Hoo Oh it's so slippery here Ah.. ah
Yeah I saw that coming It's so slippery I'm slipping on the side Quick, quick, quick Oh this is so bad for poor Savannah.. saltwater Oh man This is some of the.. oeh. Ah Look It's all caked Keep going, keep going. Keep going Oh it's so steep.. like you wouldn't believe Keep going, keep going. Clutch, clutch What made the biggest impression on me? Wow To pick one is it's not easy but I think it must have been my visit to Etosha Heights where I got in such close contact with wild and dangerous animals while riding Savannah that was truly a unique experience and only in Africa Yeah I see them! I see the two lion, they're now running I'm literally less than 50 meters away from two lions Where are the lion tracks? - Yes, lion tracks Oh yes.. Yeah I see it, yeah
There are lion.. here, three lion They're really close Oh I see them, I see them. Yeah, oh there's one. Oh no, yeah there's one right here right there just behind the bush now. Now I have sight on it, now it's looking me right in the eye
Let me know if it's fine, you can let me know Yeah it's fine. I see it now. I see now the whole lion It's looking.. - You can switch off Switch off - Switch off engine Yeah it's like 20 meters maybe. Nothing more. I don't know where the other two are. That's kind of a thing. It's now just walking away there
He's just looking He's just looking I think they're walking away Just switch off Oh no, there's one there. Oh, there's still one lion there - Put them under on the right Are there still two here or one? I just have sight on one only. That one Two are laying There's two. Is it stalking us? Is it white rhino or black rhino? - Black, black - Yeah, copy that Do I go? Watch out you guys Oh.. oh it's charging, it's charging
Look at that Wow But hold on there was another moment that made a big impression on me Maybe because it was such an inspiration for me and that was when I met James Alexander in Botswana And I rode together with him and it was one of those moments that you meet somebody in your life that you know has changed something for you because they are such an inspiration for you and I was buzzing for days after that and feeling all excited again and having new dreams and new ambitions Alright, today is turning into a very random day I just stopped here to fly the drone and then three bikes rock up look at that And one of the riders.. this guy I recognized him, that's James Alexander and he did Dakar last year in Saudi with this bike And I've been watching some footage of him, riding in the dark in the desert So cool and they're on their way to Kubu island which is.. I also wanted to go there but not today But now we're just seeing if maybe we can just.. if I can team up with them and ride together Yeah - Dakar - Dakar Malle motor Yeah, malle motor that is absolutely crazy Yeah And of course something which is also unforgettable on the trip Were all the nice people that I've met Should I try it Oh no No way you can carry that! Where are you from? Holland Yeah Do you want to give box? Yo Oh Okay Yes Ehh..
Whoo, whoo, whoo Whoooooo In some areas it was kind of hard to meet local people because there was nobody there Like in Namibia there's just so little people living there so then when you travel solo like me sometimes the only people you meet in the day are the people that work at the fuel stations and in the guest houses You are not afraid? You travel alone? Yeah She asks.. aren't you afraid? You are travelling alone, aren't you afraid? - No To Bobonong? On this moto moto? - Yeah You are alone or others are following you? - No alone Why are you doing that? You haven't been so scared? You're not afraid of anything? - No Even if you are going alone? You are just alone? - Yeah - Alright 15 000 km 15 000? - Yeah -Hey It's okay Oh look, look, look.. a small baby Did you hear the trumpeting? You are not scared of elephants? - No I already passed some elephant Okay plenty of them? - Yeah, yeah - Okay They're very nice Sorry, are you not afraid of these animals? This eh.. all alone on the road? Afraid? Yes, you might come across some elephants Ah yes, I saw them also yesterday This one seal is still in the way Oh.. oh Yeah, yeah, yeah Sorry? *Inaudible* - Yes Hey buddy Hey They're just so gorgeous right? You are alone? Yes - Why? - Because I like it And now my Savannah. Oh my Savannah took a beating
The roads were not easy. Pretty rough but she did fantastically and I would not have wanted to do this trip On another motorcycle and I know that so many people think.. ah 250cc, it's not an adventure bike you can't go on an adventure with that. I think that this trip shows that you can and in a lot of circumstances a
smaller capacity bike is actually so much nicer to ride because it's light and I can turn it around on single trails, I can still turn the bike around or pick it up easily even with all my luggage on And yeah there's just so many advantages of having a smaller bike and yeah Savannah really was the best partner in crime that I could have wished for this trip Well this street is familiar This is the area where I was driving on the wrong side of the road when I just started out I am going to stay again over here Hello - How are you? - Good and you? I'm good I am back! - Uhuh! You recognise me? - I recognise you, I've got your suitcase - Yes I was so thinking.. would the suitcase still be here ? Nah, it's still here.. - I told you, I will be back! - Uhuh About six months it was, I think - I think.. I think It was a long journey.. And I am back where I started six months ago and now of course the real question is what am I going to do next? What's going to happen? What can happen Savannah.. all of that and if you've been reading my blog you might already know what I am going to do because a while back I wrote a blog after meeting James Alexander in Botswana that he inspired me so much and that one day I wanted to ride a rally Now I contacted him again after because I was thinking how how do I start with this? I know nothing about rally riding. I have no idea how it all works and I thought maybe it's a good idea
to just visit a rally and just see kind of how it goes and if it's something that yeah maybe I would like to do one day. So I started looking around and then I saw the Kalahari Rally here in South Africa And it's in an area that have not been riding before either, so I was like that's perfect I'm just gonna go there and have a look so I contacted James and I said like 'Hey do you think I could go there as a visitor and stuff like that'. And then he said, that he is going but he's not going to ride in the rally class but he's going to do the adventure raid which is a separate class from the rally but you're spending time in the same Bivouac and it's.. you're very, very close to the rally but you're kind of doing your own separate thing and it consists of six stages and it's hectic like This is not.. it's not going to be easy at all. I will tell you more about the program I think in the next video. But anyway he said I'm gonna do that, why don't you come as well so then I was like, you know what count me in, I'm coming! So that's the plan, so I am going to get Savannah all ready. Get a full, full service. Make her completely ready because this is going to be really, really
tough on her and then there's a whole list of things that you need to bring and you need to have And you need to have sorted so that's basically what I'm going to do now here in Jo'burg get Everything ready and then ride to the beginning of the of the rally and yeah enter the Kalahari Rally. So I am super, super excited about it and I think well if I haven't put Savannah to the test So far then this would be kind of the ultimate, ultimate test for Savannah. Can she handle that? With me as a rider so um.. yeah I'm really, really excited about it. And yeah let's see how that will go. So that's going to be in the next coming videos and so you also get a kind of close-up Look on the Kalahari Rally and we get to see a lot I think. I think it's going to be super exciting. I don't really know what to expect but I think it's going to be absolutely fantastic so
Yeah that was it for today. I really hope you liked this video if you did please give me a big thumbs up and subscribe down below and then I'll see in the next video
2021-10-08 01:30
