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….

The morning was spent packing up but there was no rush as the short flight to Nairobi wasn’t due to depart until late afternoon. It had turned out to be a very relaxing few days but time to say goodbye to Mombasa and get to Nairobi. I received an email from the cargo agents telling me that Simba had arrived and that they hoped to have Customs clearance by the following day.

I came across this chap on the way to the airport and wondered if it would catch on at home!

Despite the lower cloud cover, Mount Kilimanjaro was looking quite spectacular and brought back many memories of previous trips there, the last one being only two years ago with Kerrie.

It was about eight o’clock by the time I eventually got to the hotel, even though it was close by the airport. There were a good few American tourists hanging around the lobby having just returned from the Rift Valley where the great wildebeest migration is happening at the moment.

I started prepping the pannier bags in my room but decided to hold back until I actually had Simba…

As today was a ‘significant’ birthday it had been penned in as a relax and reflect day. This quiet part of Nyali with a sparse sprinkling of tourists was perfect. The area around the long white beach right in front of me had a Robinson Crusoe feel to it and you could look for a mile in either direction only making out the odd local guy patiently shore spear fishing in the distance. I had decided not to venture anywhere further than this ‘petite paradis’ for the day and just soak it all up.

I met a guy strolling along with his camel and thought “what the heck” asking him if he could give me a lift for about a mile down the beach for a few schillings. The guy had no problem with it but I’d swear that the camel threw his eyes up to heaven when he saw me! Now anyone who ever rode a camel will know just how difficult it is to get on and off and I sure ain’t no Lawrence of Arabia. Anyway off I strolled on my desert ship.

We stopped further down the beach when we came across a coral reef boat just sitting there. They had told me back at the hotel that I would likely find one around here and within a couple of minutes the “captain” came running over to me. I told him that I just wanted to take a spin over to the long coral reef which could be seen about half a mile offshore and perhaps have a swim out there. We had an enjoyable haggle for ages during part of which he insisted that I would need a passport to go there. He maintained in all seriousness that the offshore reef was an island outside of Kenya (bear in mind that the reef disappears each time the tide comes in). We eventually agreed a fee, no passport, and off we went (but first I had to wait for ages while his helper went off to fetch an engine). The fee was also to include anchoring up to do a bit of snorkeling.

I could see a similar boat with several people onboard in the distance and we came alongside them out at the reef. These shallow bottomed boats can get right onto land, needing only a couple of feet of water. He dropped anchor and stepped off the back of the boat onto the sadly dead coral. As I was in my bare feet he kindly volunteered his flip flops for me to walk on the sharp surface. What Kenyan people lack in some aspects, they more than make up for in kindness and by simply being nice.

We spent a while on the reef island and he very knowledgeably described the various and unusual species of shellfish and sea spiders. These have a very ticklish sensation when you hold them in your hand and look a bit creepy. Then, after making our way back to the boat, we headed about half an hour southward towards a good area for offshore snorkeling.

The other boat headed in the same direction and soon both were anchored close by. Getting in to snorkel was no problem but I wasn’t so sure about getting out again because he had no ladder. Anyway overboard I went without any further hesitation and started to look around below. However a swell suddenly came up making the water very choppy and the visibility poor. Given that the boat had now started to drift on it’s anchor he called me in. Clambering back onboard took several attempts and I now have plenty of bruises after trying to use the engine as a ladder. We had been out for about four hours as we made our way back to shore.

I bought a fresh coconut from a guy along the beach as I walked back to the hotel. The liquid inside was so nice. When I got back to my room I showered and rested up for a bit before heading out to the same restaurant I had eaten in previously.

I mentioned in conversation with the waiter at the start of the meal that it was my birthday and, even though I had declined a dessert, they produced a beautiful ice cream dish on a plate which had inscribed on it with chocolate “Happy Birthday”, and it really had been, the perfect start to the next decade….

When I woke up at 4am I was itching like crazy and counted 23 mosquito bites, at least the once that were visible. Lovely start to the day!

Aziz from the safari company was waiting out front at 5am and ready to bring me to Tsavo which is about three hours from Mombasa. It was still dark as we drove out of the city and I watched folk everywhere starting out for the day. Life is hard for most of these people but they seem to push on regardless with a sense of purpose and dignity.

We turned off the main road at a place called Buchama after about 150km. Et voila, Tsavo National Park spread out before us way past the horizon. Driving on safari is a bone rattling experience but nonetheless it is fantastic to witness so many magnificent animals in their natural habitat.

Aziz explained that going on safari is like fishing, in that you can be lucky or unlucky with what animals you get to see. They are not there perform for you and quite often are too deep into the bush to be seen.

However today turned out to be one of the lucky ones and as well as seeing several lions it took a keen eye to spot two leopards on the edge of the bush. Aziz was well pleased, as was I because, having been on safari a few times previously, I had never seen one. He told me that he had recently taken a group of Japanese tourists on a seven day safari and they didn’t even see one lion.

We drove through the reserve all morning and eventually stopped for lunch at a game lodge. Animals in the wild generally sleep under shelter from the hot sun in the afternoons so we then took about an hour and a half to make our way out back to the entrance gate.

I dozed off on the drive back to Mombasa and woke up just as we were approaching the new railway station outside the city. This is where I was to have taken the train to Nairobi from before I changed my plan and booked a flight.

It was about seven o’clock by the time we got back to Nyali and I thanked and said goodbye to Aziz for a wonderful day. I was too tired too bother leaving the hotel again so I ate there and off to bed….

After breakfast I mentioned to the receptionist that I had a second class seat on Tuesday’s train to Nairobi and she warned me to be careful with my luggage. It got me thinking and I was now concerned that some or all of my stuff might disappear from the luggage carriage over the six hour journey. When I arrived at Mombasa Airport I had noticed on the carousel that many of the luggage zips were open. My own had been padlocked but the outer zips were also open.

I thought that this could be worse at a train station so I checked online for a flight option and found a Kenya Airways flight for the same day. One hour flight for €50 so I booked it. The thought of losing any (or even all) of my stuff just didn’t bear thinking about, especially as the journey in a proper sense hadn’t even started yet. I travel light with just old clothes but some meds/first aid and motorbike bits and pieces would be difficult to replace.

I took an Uber into Mombasa city and first went to see a former colonial prison known as Fort Jesus. A bit of a sick name really for a pretty grim place where, within the walls of which, many not so ‘Jesus’ like tortures were carried out over the centuries. It was built by the Portuguese but operated by various Omani moslem sultans to subjugate dissident rebels who fought against their oppressors (one wonders who the real “infidels” were!!). It was also used during various eras to temporarily incarcerate slaves before being shipped on to Zanzibar and then the “civilised” world.

Moslem influence is very prevalent in this part of Africa given it’s proximity to Arab countries and it was just as brutal on the indigenous people as was the influence of the Christian European invaders. I was reminded here of an article I once read about how Africa is not poor, it was robbed.

I then hopped in a tuk-tuk and wobbled into the nearby “Old Town” which is the historical centre of Mombasa. Narrow streets and countless people busy bustling their way through the day was a backdrop to the dirt, the smells and the dust in the air. It is quite a small area and one can only imagine what living conditions must be like for the residents of this part of the city. It didn’t take long to get around and as it was now sweltering so I got back to the Uber and headed back to Nyali which is the area where most of the tourist hotels are located.

Dinner after a quick swim and then an early night as I had to be up next morning at 4am to be ready for the driver who would be bringing me to safari at Tsavo…..

Woke up to glorious sunshine as the rain the previous night didn’t last long. I headed straight for a splash in the ocean and was so nice to feel the warm water. However the sea is very shallow around here and there is a lot of rock with some sort of razor shell attached to it lurking not far below the surface. I managed to give myself a decent sized gash in my foot but the very salty water helped to heal it.

I came back and had breakfast and decided to take it easy for the day and not venture too far. I had to organise to get to Nairobi on Tuesday to be there to collect Simba on Wednesday morning.

The area where the hotel is located is a bit outside Mombasa so I just pottered around a bit for the morning before taking a taxi to a local shopping centre.

As it is not possible to book the Nairobi train without being registered with a national payment scheme called M-Pesa I went into a local agent to see if he could book it for me. After a lot of beaurocratic ping pong he booked a seat for me on the Tuesday afternoon train for the six hour journey. However he could only get me an €8 second class seat as €15 first class was booked out. Should be interesting!

The possibility of doing a one day safari from here was an idea worth exploring and, after a bit of research and emailing, managed to confirm one for Sunday.

I came back to the hotel and decided not to have dinner there as mediocre is the kindest thing that I could say about the food there. Local people are extremely friendly but one doesn’t come to east Africa in search of culinary experience. So it was nice to try some place different and it wasn’t too bad.

I got back to the hotel early to get a great view of the “red moon” that everyone was talking about and that was especially spectacular in this part of the world….

My own departure time had finally arrived after a whirlwind few days of meeting friends and family to say goodbye. There had been an enjoyable evening with a small group of friends on the weekend before last which involved at least one Irish coffee too many!!

All the planning had pretty well come together with the exception of a little uncertainty as to when Simba would arrive in Kenya and whether it would be to Mombasa or to Nairobi. Apart from that all was ready to go.

Those of you who read the blog of my last trip will recall that my daughter, Kerrie, flew out to join me for the last couple of weeks. This was a nice bonding thing that we had done on many trips over the years but unfortunately (albeit with a hidden bonus in another way) she would not be doing so this occasion. Herself and Eoin have recently made me a grandfather for the first time so I most definitely had to say goodbye to Kaylee.

(Maybe some day Kaylee will be up for a little road trip with her grandfather!!)

Ruth dropped me to the airport and it should not go without saying how grateful I am for her support and to recognize the sacrifices that she makes when I head off on these trips. She has always been encouraging, notwithstanding that I know that she does have private concerns for my safety.

So after the traditional last pint of Guinness at the airport it was on board Ethiopian Airlines eight hour flight to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia before connecting to Mombasa in Kenya.

It was very hot and muggy at Mombasa but still felt good to be back in Africa. The local handlers for the cargo company had a guy waiting to meet me almost as I stepped off the plane and he was to collect my Carnet and fly with it to head office Nairobi. I had earlier received an email from Darryl in London telling me that Simba would not be in Nairobi until Tuesday, July 31st. I had recently felt that this was how it would pan out so was looking forward to spending a few days exploring around Mombasa.

The taxi drive to the hotel was nice in the sense that I was starting to suck in the smells and the sense of east Africa. Mind you, it took the driver three attempts before he got to the right hotel – and perhaps one of the first two might have been a better choice!!

There were storm clouds rumbling over the Indian Ocean and I was knackered so it was time to sleep……

In a way today was the start of the trip, even though I don’t fly out to Kenya for another two and a half weeks. Simba had to be dropped off at James Cargo near Heathrow Airport so that they could crate and fly him out to Africa to be there, hopefully, in advance of my arrival.

I left home without much fuss or fanfare as I would be back by the end of the day. Driving down the M11 to Rosslare I thought about the couple of months ahead and simply savoured the nice flat road which I knew would soon be something that I would pine for when riding some of the more remote roads in Africa.

It was a beautiful sunny morning as I pulled in to Rosslare Harbour. Ireland has been in the middle of a heatwave and even at 7am the temperature was close to twenty degrees. Hundreds of cars queued to board the Stena ferry to Fishguard and it was lovely to see the excited faces of children heading off on their summer holidays, probably through the U.K. to campsites in France. It brought me back to when we used to bring Kerrie and her soulmate, Suzanne, away to Eurocamps many years ago. As always, motorbikes get preference boarding ferries and Simba was soon tied down.

The ship pulled out on schedule at 8am and Simba theoretically waved au revoir to Irish shores for some time. The crossing was smooth and uneventful and I spent some time chatting with a couple of bikers who had just spent a week touring the south of Ireland.

The 400km ride across South Wales and England was painfully slow due to a major road accident close to Cardiff and took almost six hours instead of an expected four. I called ahead to say that I was running late and Darryl from James Cargo stayed back to accept, check and log in Simba.

All done and dusted, I called an Uber to bring me the ten minute journey around to Heathrow Terminal 2 for the short flight back to Ireland.

It was a long day and about midnight by the time I got home. Nothing for it now but to spend the next couple of weeks packing and making sure that everything is ready for for my own departure in a couple of weeks….

A lot of the usual million things to organise such as medical/motorbike insurance, Carnet de Pasage (the bike’s passport), tropical inoculations etc. have been sorted out and hopefully nothing has been overlooked.

Obviously the condition of the motorbike is a priority and, once again, the wonderful team at Maddocks BMW in Bray have taken care of everything. They have looked after me so well over many years and I have always had great confidence setting off on a journey knowing that the bike has been given a very personal and considered servicing.

(Above Grainne, Avril, Janet, Tom and Gary bidding me farewell)

The motorbike has been thoroughly mechanically checked out and, after a bit of debate about which tyres to use, we agreed on Tourance original. The alternative was a pair of Karoo 3 but, although better suited for gravel roads, we felt that the Tourance would be better able to last in excess of 10,000km. Hopefully this is the right choice as I don’t fancy the tyre rubber getting down to the smoothness of my head – Baldy Biker does not go well with baldy tyres!!

At this point in the blog it’s time to give the bike a name. This simply makes mentioning it easier as it would become a bit tedious to keep referring to it as ‘the bike’ or ‘the motorbike’. So, as before, and although it is a different motorbike, I am going to stick with the name “Simba”. It was a lucky name on the last African journey and hopefully will be again.

Next step is to get Simba over to James Cargo in London so that they can transport him on to Kenya…

Here we go again!!! Africa beckons once more and, two years on, it’s time to hit those dusty roads.

To those of you who journeyed with me last time, welcome back. Sharing my last trip with you was, for me, such an important part of my ‘safari’ and I am delighted to have you back on board. Here’s hoping for an equally enjoyable, memorable and safe experience.

If you have just climbed on board as a new pillion then you too are equally welcome. I hope that you will feel part of this adventure and that it will be something that you will look forward to sharing.

I must express enormous gratitude from the outset to Ruth, Kerrie, Eoin and now Kaylee (who, at just over two months old is the most beautiful grandchild one could ever wish for) for their constant support, caring advice and encouragement. Sadly Kerrie will not be able to join me on this trip because of the demands of motherhood but perhaps, in time, Kaylee will don a helmet and ride pillion on some future road trip with me….

This time the journey will begin on the shores of the Indian Ocean at Mombasa in Kenya. I will then ride west across southern Kenya, stopping in Nairobi before crossing the border into Uganda, and will stay in Kampala on the northern tip of Lake Victoria. Next country will be Rwanda and then south down through western Tanzania until reaching Malawi. After taking a break beside Lake Malawi I will make my way to Blantyre in the south of the country and then turn westward into northern Mozambique. Thereafter the planned route crosses into Zimbabwe, stopping off in Harare and Bulawayo on the way into Botswana. I intend crossing through the centre of the country this time and may even do a safari into Chobe from Maun. Then onwards into Namibia to explore as much of The Skeleton Coast as is possible on two wheels and where perhaps I might be lucky enough to encounter the San people of the Namib Desert. I will continue on by traversing South Africa into the landlocked kingdom of Lesotho and hope to ride across the Drakensberg Mountains down the Sani Pass back into South Africa. I will likely finish the journey back on the shore of the Indian Ocean, but this time at Durban, from where James Cargo will ship my motorbike back to Ireland and I will fly back home.

It’s a bit of a zigzag route and this is an approximate outline of the journey ahead but it will of course be subject to alteration depending on weather or political situations. It would be great if you could take time to read the blog posts but please bear in mind that previous experience would suggest that reports may be sporadic because WiFi is not always readily available.

So that’s what will be happening over the next couple of months and it would be nice to have you along for the ride.