East Londoners Odyssey through Africa in 2011
As the B&B in Nzeto actually was only a B without the &B the team took off without breakfast on a nice tar road towards Luanda. Now Lipstick could prove again its true power achieveing speeds of over 150km/h on
After a good solid sleep team Lipstick proceeded to the border crossing between DR Congo and Angola which is about 4km south of Matadie. The procedures on both sides of the border went very well and 1 hour later Lipstick
It is 8.30am and team Lipstick waits at the office of the barge operator to arrive in order to proceed to the crossing of the Congo River. Patience is not the strength of team Lipstick and the red wine of
Shortly after 5am with a glimps of daylight appearing over the African sky Lipstick was put back into driving mode by packing away Cushions and changing seats from Sleep to Sit position. By that time some 20trucks behind Lipstick and
Last night the team met 2 South Africans at a restaurant who are busy mapping the IndianOcean around Pointe de Noir on a ship. This is in preparation for other crews to search for gas and oil. It was quiet
Point de Noir is the second biggest city in Congo and lies on the Atlantic coast and the team decided to drive there (some 160km) as they were told that it is fully tarred. The road was fully tarred indeed
After breakfast (today with real croissants) the team visited the Albert Schweitzer hospital which most probably is the most famous hospital in the part of the world. Wikipedia quote: The Albert Schweitzer Hospital was established in 1913 by Albert Schweitzer
First thing in the morning off to the Toyota garage for the brake repairs. To the disappointment of team Lipstick the garage could not offer any assistance as they were fully booked with other cares but they guided the team
The team decided to leave early and have breakfast on the road towards Libreville which would be a distance of 600km. This day saw Lipstick driving through very dense forest areas but on fairly good tar road winding itself through
13 & 14 July 2014 The morning after a world cup win is by nature a rather tired one and in true German style had to be started with a good bottle of beer in order to boot up team
It is 8.30 am Sunday morning in Douala and team Lipstick eagerly awaits the arrival of the 2 automotive engineers in Cameroun… A little while later both arrive on a motorbike willingly wanting to take Lipstick to an unknown place
Before heading down to the coast team Lipstick decided to visit the palace of the FON in close by Bafut. Wikipedia quote: The Fon of Bafut is the fon or Mfor (traditional ruler) of the town of Bafut and its
Heavy mist covered the mountain on which the Cattle Ranch resort is situated and the temperature was a cool 22 degrees when Lipstick started this morning on the journey to Cameroun As the bottom of the mountain was reached the
10th July 2014 After a late wake up (due to soccer celebrations) the team decided to proceed to the Cameroon border and stay over in the mountains at the ObutuLodge.There was not too much traffic on the road but
A real rainy day today with the forecasts for the next days also showing a lot of wet weather but the team got off to a good start after saying goodbye to their newly found friends from South Africa. A
For the second time Lipstick could not be started due to empty batteries but with the help of jumperleads,battery charger and the assistance of hotel staff the problem was solved within an hour and thereafter the team went straight off
A late wakeup after yesterday’s horrendous drive was called for and after a good breakfast the team decided to visit the nearby Shoprite shopping complex. On the way to the complex the team enquired with the taxi driver about a
Knowing that some 700km lay ahead of team Lipstick today the team was ready to take off by 6.30 in the morning and was again surprised by Nigerian friendliness when they found out that the security guards must have given
To avoid having to go through the chaotic Lagos border control team Lipstick decided to go up the borderline between Benin and Nigeria and enter Nigeria close to the Benin town Ketou. The trip out of town in Cotonou went
After the horrendous drive the day before the team decided to have a rest today and explore the local area and especially the Ganvie lake village which is in close vicinity to Cotonou. This village is often referred to as
By taxi team Lipstick arrived at the Gabon embassy at 8.45h in order to obtain their visa for Gabon. By Taxi to the Gabon embassy All cell phones had to be handed over to security at the entrance and
Click, click that was all one could hear when turning the key to Lipstick to start the engine and this was a clear sign of a totally empty battery system. The cause of this was most probably the fridge which
Late breakfast for team Lipstick as they only need to drive some 140km from Cape Coast to Accra. Nice road along the coastal area of Ghana and very little traffic until about 30km before Accra when the traffic again became
Early start today as the team needs to meet up with Marius to receive their second passports (They were couriered from SA to his office) Marius and his wife and 2 children live in Akumadan where he is part of
Early traffic in these bigger towns of Africa is really chaotic as everyone on bike,car,truck, donkey cart and scooter want to go from A to B at the same time. There is an endless sound of hooting and traffic rules
It was a bit of a battle to get through the traffic and out of Bamako towards Burkina Faso but after almost an hour later Team Lipstick was on the right road toward Burkina Faso. The prolonged stay in a
Team Lipstick decided for a rest and admin day today in Bamako. The visa for Burkina Faso only allows entry as from 29th June so the task was to enquire from the Burkina embassy whether it would be possible to
After a nice continental breakfast (Andre missed his omelettes) team Lipstick took off toward the Mali border on most probably the only main road connecting Senegal and Mali. This could be seen by the massive amounts of trucks which were
As arranged on Saturday Team Lipstick was ready to arrive by taxi at the customs department on the place of Independence in the middle of Dakar Our friendly car guard duly wearing his Claas hat for ease of recognising was
Due to the fact that the team has to wait for customs clearing in Dakar on Monday morning a welcome rest day in Dakar came in handy to update the web page and to clean up Lipstick (it is amazing
A short distance trip (about280km) lay ahead today for team Lipstick taking them down the coast from St Louis to Dakar. Compared to Mauretania there were quite a few more cars of the road with the road itself in a
The task for today was to cross the border from Mauretania to Senegal so an early start at 7.30 was taken with the route planned to get Lipstick to Rosso from where a ferry would take the team over the
Today again saw team Lipstick driving through the dry lands of the Western Sahara – although on the Mauritanian side. As previously mentioned it becomes a bit boring after w while and the only highlights are the police stops
18th June 2014 Team Lipstick had an early start at 8am as the task was to get as close to Mauretania as possible. Driving through the Western Sahara becomes a little bit monotones after a while as the landscape stays
Team lipstick bit farewell to David who needed to fly back to Dubai – it was really great for David to come over to start with team Lipstick’s 2014 trip especially so that he also was there when Lipstick went
Team lipstick with Andre’s son David on board left Casablanca early morning on 16th June to drive through to Marrakech. The road taken was a beautiful highway and again it was decided to stick behind a recently speedy car so
5th June 2014 Today marks the arrival of Andre and David from Dubai at around 2pm so Willy decided to use the morning to explore the mosque and Rick’s Café in Casablanca. Rick’s Café is a rebuild of the original
Lipstick was ready to board the ferry in the harbour of Algeciras by 9am but had to wait before being allowed on board. Quick and highly efficient passport control but no customs officials available to stamp the carnet de passage
From Freudenstadt( Germany) to Lloret de Mar ( Spain ) On the 11th June at 7.45am Lipstick left Freudenstadt in early morning sunshine and proceeded through the mountains of the black forest which was a slow process due to
3 years have passed since team Lipstick went up north along the East Coast of Africa through Europe to Germany. During our return to East London the idea to completethe return trip from Europe down south along the west coast
The Team Willy Gauss Willy was elected chairman by the group and chaired 24 meetings prior to departure. He comes from Freudenstadt Germany – the ultimate destination of the tour. He loves outdoors ,gadgets and adventures and is open to
3rd August Team Bulldog and Lipstick need to be at Frankfurt airport today for their flights back south. The logistic tasks were to meet Ingrid and Michael on the highway before Frankfurt airport and also park Lipstick in a safe
1st & 2nd August Time for facts today – The team members had to get to Mestre where the port of Venice is situated to meet with their shipping agents – named properly called “team shipping”…. This required a short
30th and 31st July After breakfast the teams fetched their washings from the local laundry in Freudenstadt which added a somehow nicer smell to all members and this had to be celebrated at the local “Brauhaus” a little brewery in
28th and 29th July Having arrived midnight the night before in FDS the teams regrouped and with their limited clothing resources firstly decided to have all clothes properly washed – most of the clothing was left in the cars on
27th and 25th July Nice early train drive to Florence from the close by main railway station when Vera phoned advising that she and Vito would meet us in Panzano – a little village south of Florence this afternoon. This
24 and 25th July The teams landed in Rome around 1.30pm and got to Hotel Napoleon –close to Piazza Emmanuele by just after 3pm. No time to be wasted- they took off by foot to visit the surrounding monuments like
23rd and 24th July After breakfast the teams drove back to Cairo to a hotel in close proximity to the airport. All arrived just in time to watch the Rugby game between the Springboks and Australia… Much to the disappointment
22nd July No breakfast as we wanted to avoid the Cairo traffic on our way to Giza. David managed to get the teams out of Cairo like driving through his home town. Knowing that a few months ago this city
21st July Despite celebrating David’s arrival a few hours befoire – the team members were able to meet up with Ahmed at 8am in order for the final onslaught – getting the cars through final police and customs and parking
20th July With no official paper work to be done today it was decided that today the team would visit the battle fields of El Alamein and also clean the interior of all 3 cars for easy custom examinations. To
19th July After a quick planning meeting it was decided that the team m embers split up so Andre, Rene and Denis would go to the Airport to book flights out to Rome whereas Paul , mark and Willy would
Day 41 – 12 July 3rd day at Wadi Halfa. The bikers arrive. They have endured temperatures of 47 degrees with a wind as hot as a blast furnace. The day is spent in the sweltering heat catching up on
18th July to Alexandria via Suez Canal Ready for the final leg on the African continent to Alexandria the teams left after breakfast towards Suez. It was a long casual drive initially- on a double high way- along the shores
16th of June rest day on the shores of the Red Sea Late awakening – and a – believe it – Breakfast buffet offered by the Magawish hotel put the teams in good spirit. The teams King of diving -Bulldogs
15th of June – Rest day on the shores of the Red Sea after having visited the Valley of the kings… Late awakening – and a – believe it – Breakfast buffet offered by the Magawish hotel put the teams
All were told to be ready around lunchtime and Mazaar came around the house in the morning to give us the stamped carne for the car as well as all the export papers which are required. Transportation of the car
If the outside temperature is 35 degrees at 7am and the generator ran out of diesel one can imagine what happened to the teams wish for a long morning sleep. Besides this there is the problem of that 7.2 mm
Day 35 – 5 July Last morning in Ethiopia. Set off after breakfast at the hotel for the Sudan border. Not too far to go as we are only going 80 km into Sudan and then bush camping. We are
So here they are in Wadi Halfa the border town between Sudan and Egypt. The cars are gone and their location unknown at this stage – the team members just hope that the cars will be found on Thursday 14th
Off to the most northern border town of Sudan – Wadi Halfa – today. This was a real trip through extremely rough desert terrain and through temperatures reaching 46 degrees. The road was fully tarred in a very good state
First thing in the morning was to make sure that all cars have enough fuel on board. The navigation systems guided the teams nicely through town but every now and then a U – turn was required especially when new
5 JULY TO 13 JULY GONDAR TO GEDEREF TO KHARTOUM TO GONDOLA/KERMA TO WADI HALFA 5 JULY : GONDAR TO GEDEREF Did the normal Ethiopian mountain climb out of Gondar wandering how long it would take before we reached a
Words from the editor Hi there all, it’s me again Elaos Natsan the teams editor. We are approaching the cruelly hot Nubian desert in northern Sudan and were glad to park off for 2 days in Khartou….. These 2
Day 27 – 28 June Easy day at hotel. Updated blog for website in the morning. Paul and Rene decided to look for Holland House where we were wanting to camp the previous evening. After many a kilometer Rene decided
In order to avoid the sweltering heat we started to dismantle the campsite with the early sunrise. Within minutes of the sun showing face on the horizon the temperature already climbed to almost 30 degrees. Back on the main road
We left the Goha Hotel in Gondar with cars that received a proper wash and clean up the previous day. After about 180 km we arrived at the border posts between Ethiopia and Sudan. The Ethiopian passport procedure went relatively
After breakfast in the mountain lodge the teams proceeded to look out for the famous Gelados monkeys for which the Siemen mountain is famous for. These creatures can only be found mainly in this mountain park and in a few
After breakfast we went with a local tour guide to visit the religious sites of Aksum. History has it that people lived in the Aksum area 500000 or more years ago . A female hominid skeleton ( Lucy ) was
We left the Jerusalem Guest house at 7am just after we were handed a fax from Willy’s sister in law – Waltraud – who somehow was able to trace the fax number in the middle of the African bush. The
1st June 2011 Again an early morning wake up and by 6am we are on the way to Lalibela with our cars having been refuelled the previous day. We again had to climb mountains to 3200m and had a coffee
ADDIS ABABA TO BAHIR DAR TO LALIBELA TO AXUM TO SEIMEN MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK TO GONDAR JUNE 29 : ADDIS ABABA TO BAHIR DAR Had breakfast at the Ghone Hotel, where we had been staying in Addis, before leaving to
By 7.30 in the morning and after a spartanic breakfast we were on the boat to a monastery which is situated on one of the many islands of Lake Tana. No woman is allowed on this island which is inhabited
It took us less then expected time out of Addis Ababa and the Garmins worked well in getting us on the road to Dahir Bar within 30 minutes. We soon climbed to over 3500m into the mountainous highlands of Ethiopias
Today we had all dirty clothing washed and dedusted our cars. Even the best organised car becomes a bit chaotic after 2 weeks as one tends to be in a bit of a rush in the morning with the result
NAIROBI TO ISIOLO TO LAKE TURKANA TO MOYALE TO AGERE MARYAM TO ADDIS ABBABA 23 JUNE : NAIROBI TO ISIOLO Left Jungle Junction early in the morn around 5am. Quite a job even at that early time of the morning
Day 20 – 21 June Rest day, or so we think. After service of the vehicle Paul, luckily for us, finds that the mechanic has clamped an electric wire into the air filter. Today is general clean up with cleaning
We left before breakfast with the intention to eat something later bin one of the many towns ahead. Soon we found ourselves again climbing to altitudes of 2600 m driving through small villages and about 30minutes into our drive we
We arrived at the border post at 7.30 and were told that because it is Sunday today the border would open a bit later. One of the junior officers promised to phone the senior officer to open up soonest. At
We took off at sunrise from this little oases on lake Turkana and headed off north towards the Ethiopian border. Most other Africa Overlanders take the road via Marsabit but other travellers coming down from up North told us that
A cup of coffee at 5am started us off when team Lipstick discovered that their water stock was down to 4 bottles. Andre and Willy quickly decided to go into Isiolo and buy some more water supply at the 24/7
We were told to leave Nairobi as early as possible or face the morning rush hour with the risk of being stuck in traffic for 2-3 hours. As the bikers arrived a day late they would only follow the following
Day 17 – 18 June Rest day at Watamu. Just chilled out in the morning and watched rugby in the afternoon. Well done Sharks! We went to a local restaurant where the food was reasonable except for the hot hot
BULLDOG REPORT : 15 JUNE TO 22 JUNE LINDI TO DAR ES SALAAM TO WATAMU TO KILIMANJARO TO NAIROBI 15 June : Lindi to Dar Es Salaam Departed early around 6 am after filling up with fuel in Lindi. Still
Greetings from the equator – my name is ELAO NATNAS I am the official mascot for team Lipstick. My main task is to watch over their security, supervise their driving skills and putting the daily blogs together. I am very
Team Lipstick took this rest day as an occasion to have the vehicle serviced and the onsite mechanic of Jungle Junction exchanged the oil as well as topping up the hydraulic oil for the steering mechanism Andre and Willy then
Waking up with great expectations to look at Tanzania’s highest mountain- from the Kenian side of the border – we realised with great disappointment that today the mountain would remain covered in thick clouds refusing us to take any pictures
Our wonderful host Geoff did not hesitate to wake all team members up at sunrise without any mercy for those who insisted to have those absolutely bloody last final drinks only a few hours earlier. Another nice breakfast ensured that
What a pleasure waking up in a beautiful bedroom in Watamu. Blue skies ,27 degrees and a 5 star breakfast thanks to the chef of Club 15 plus a full day of rest caused everyone to put on their best
Firstly in the morning the teams established a suitable repair centre for Bulldog’s wheel bearing problem. The local Toyota dealership was contacted and they assured that they have both spare parts and manpower capacity available to sort Bulldog out before
In the morning we said good bye to team Halfway and team Ivory who would go to Zansibar for 2 days and thereafter head down South back to Souith Africa. It was a great pleasure travelling with them and celebrating
Pieter Booysen from team “ Halfway” who arrived a day ahead of team Lipstick in order to meet his wife Jenny who flew in the previous day, had met an indian business man who offered any assistance which the Elao
Originally this day should have taken us to Lindi in Tanzania but after checking out Lipstick we realised that. new shock absorbers were urgently required. We therefor decided to take the long route straight through to Dar es Salaam which
Having been dropped off at Situ’s mooring station next to the Rani resorts we proceeded to Russel’s cottage , where we met up again with Paul who stayed behind in order to repair some electrical problems with his car. Mark
After refueling and replenishing stores in Pemba we hit the road at 11 am en route to Mueda for an overnight stay so that we could springboard on to the Tanzanian border the following day. The road out and around
Day 10 – 11 June 2011 Woke up to white sand and the sea virtually at my feet. The weather is perfect. After breakfast we board the boat and are on our way to catch some game fish, snorkel and
All resting on Situ island – Pictures say it all: These were 2 relaxing days on Situ island – those out there who would like to know more about Situ can go to the web
With the bulldog tucked in at Russells Camp under the watchful eye of Paul we set sail for three nights at Situ Island. The trip on the sea took approx 1 hr and 20 mins and we arrived after a
Day 1 The day started with the normal exitement that a long trip usually does. However, we started later than usual as we had to get our passports which had been delayed. Leaving at 9.00 instead of at 6.00 in
Awoken by the sun rising over the Indian Ocean all the members enjoyed a beautifull breakfast prepared by the kitchen staff under Donne’s guidance. We all decided thereafter that we would like to cruise some of the other islands in