A $450 Yamaha XT600, $230 in the pocket and a trip across Africa.

Turkana Gear

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A $450 Yamaha XT600, $230 in the pocket and a trip across Africa.
Just a little reminder of what motorcycle adventure travel is really about.

Back in 1993, yup that's 30 years ago, our good mate Nardus Du Preez had just finished his studies and South African military service when he decided to ride a motorcycle from South Africa to the UK.

He bought an already 10-year-old Yamaha XT600 for the princely sum of $450, scraped together another $230 for travelling money and set off through Mozambique with a travelling companion.

They wild camped most of the way, ate basic local food and stretched every cent as far as it would go.
Not long into the trip, Nardus was robbed of his money. Later, some kids made off with most of his clothes. But they kept heading north, Nardus now riding in locally made flip-flops because he no longer had shoes.

By the time they reached Egypt, the two of them had just $60 left between them.
And yet, what came out of that journey was an incredible collection of adventures, experiences and stories that are still worth telling more than 30 years later.

I've always loved Nardus's story. Not just because he's a friend, but because it reminds me of what got us into overland long-distance motorcycle travel in the first place. The freedom, the people, the unexpected stuff that happens along the way and the sheer joy of seeing what's around the next corner.

After all these years travelling ourselves, one thing hasn't changed. Some of the best adventures aren't had by people with the most money, the newest bikes or the fanciest equipment. They're often had by ordinary people who simply decide to go and figure things out along the way.

These days it's easy to get caught up in thinking you need the latest adventure bike, a fortune in accessories, the perfect luggage setup, a fancy Instagram account and perhaps a YouTube monetisation strategy before you can even leave the driveway. 😁

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with a nice bike, decent gear or sharing your travels online. We do all of that ourselves. But somewhere along the line, I think we've made motorcycle adventure travel seem far more complicated and expensive than it needs to be.

You don't need to turn every trip into a production or prove to the internet that you're an adventurer.

Sometimes all you need is an old motorcycle, a bit of curiosity, a sense of humour and enough determination to keep going when things don't quite work out.
Getting going is still far more important than getting everything perfect.

And if there's one thing years on the road have taught us, it's that the stories you'll remember most are rarely the ones where everything went according to plan.😁✌️

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