Riders spoilt for choice in adventure travelling worldwide

A few years ago, a friend proposed a motorcycle ride with a difference. The idea was to ride from Johannesburg to Tanzania and then climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I declined, more for the climbing part than the riding, though I did have slight apprehension about the unknown that comes with riding across different countries.

For the last few months, I have been following the exploits of Noraly, a Dutch motorcycle rider who is exploring North, East and West Africa, having ridden across Southern Africa, from India to Europe and from Ecuador to Alaska, among other tours.

This Africa ride is her seventh season, which she documents on YouTube, with short snippets on Instagram. I also recently came across Nigerian Ebaide who just started a solo-ride trip from Kenya to Nigeria and have been following her exploits online.

A cursory search online usually serves up content from various people on interesting motorcycle adventures across countries, continents and the globe overall. I have nothing but admiration for these adventurers but prefer rides that are a bit more organised.

Vintage Rides, with offices in France and India, has quite a few tours that are on my bucket list, and they have different categories of trips.

There is the Motorcycle Ramble with four- to six-hour ride time a day with the opportunity to interact with and experience the country’s culture; the Luxury Tour, which only involves three to four hours on the bike and luxury accommodation; and the Adventure Tour, which is all about riding, spending six to eight hours in the saddle.

Their tours are across the world including Morocco, Peru, Mongolia, Argentina, France, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey and Bhutan. They also have tours on the continent, including SA, Rwanda and Tanzania.

On my bucket list is a ramble across Indonesia, Vietnam or Peru on a Royal Enfield.

Adventure calendar

Another tour I have been eyeing for some years now is riding Route 66, from the east coast of the US to the west coast, starting in Milwaukee, travelling 4,640km and ending in Los Angeles. This would have to be on a Harley-Davidson, and Easy Rider Rentals and Tours has a VIP Harley Guided Tour that looks ideal.

Closer to home, Bonafide Moto Co has built a great adventure calendar of short to long rides. I have done their Taco Tuesdays, which is a lovely evening ride with other motorcycle enthusiasts. I keep promising myself to go on the Sani Motorcycle Adventure in Lesotho and the Namibian “The Land God Made In Anger”.

A few years ago, I followed Bonafide’s Joe Fleming’s adventures riding in India and this year, he launched the Lost Tusk 1,500km ride in India, as well as Upper Mustang motorcycle adventure, which is a ride mainly on dirt roads in Nepal. As with the Vintage Rides tours in Asia, the India and Nepal Bonafide Tours are on Royal Enfields. Most of Bonafide’s tours involve more dirt than tar so an adventure motorcycle or a scrambler with knobblies (off-road tyres) is needed.

Another place for tours is on BMW Motorrad’s platforms, especially internationally. They have links to all of their official travel partners worldwide, including in Latin America, Europe, SA and New Zealand. Their range of motorcycles is broad enough for one to find the most appropriate for the specific tour.

The only problem is that the more I research tours, the longer the list of tours I would love to ride becomes. Perhaps when the kids are out of school.