At 9am I called Geoffrey Mato from Tradewinds Cargo to see what time I should come to the depot and he said to leave until after midday. An Uber brought me over to collect him at his office and we went from there to Customs clearance at the back of the airport.
Bikes being transported are normally left crated and boxed so that the client can inspect it and verify that nothing has been interfered with since it was packed up in London.
A few bits of paperwork were still to be completed at Customs but before long it was time to start stripping down the packaging.
I have to once again compliment James Cargo in London for the way that they pack motorbikes for shipment. Apart from one wing mirror adjustment and re-mounting the top box, it was ready to ride.
An audience of about twenty guys had gradually gathered to watch Simba slowly reveal himself and there were a few wows when the bubble wrap was pulled back. Practically all of them helped to physically lift Simba off the base pallet and hey presto we were good to go.
I dropped Geoffrey back to his office for a final batch of paper signing and this short journey must have been rather uncomfortable for him. I had removed the rear seat back at home as there was no need for one on this trip given that there would be no pillion passenger joining up.
From there on it was just me and Simba as we rode out of the cargo compound and into the craziness of Nairobi traffic for the short spin back to the hotel. I could feel my heart beating faster to the excitement and thrill of riding back in Africa once again. This feeling is possibly best described as being like sitting in the front seat of the scariest roller coaster you can imagine and not allowed to cover your eyes. And it was going to be daily each time I would start up the bike for the next +10,000km.
The rest of the day was spent getting bike and baggage ready for an early start the following morning….
ZIGZAGGING AFRICA BY MOTORBIKE 