Book Review: Trans-Africa by Motorcycle: A Father's Diary

Trans-Africa by Motorcycle

Embarking on any extended overland adventure can be quite daunting... opting to do so with your 17year son adds that extra layer of anxiety.  Opting to use a 16year old 1981 Yamaha XT 500 to do the trip on, makes for one major adventure.

"Trans-Africa by Motorcycle: A Father's Diary" is the story of Lawrence & Gareth Bransby and their overland adventure from South Africa to the United Kingdom.

Overland routes varied considerably in the mid 1990's compared to what we have these days.  Central Africa was an option to transit from West to East, along with the option of shipping from Eritrea to the Middle East and heading North into Europe.  Lawrence and Gareth opted for the latter route.

Lawrence & Gareth Bransby

An extract from the introduction:

We opted for Yamaha XT 500's, 1981 models which we bought cheaply and which are renowned for their robustness and simplicity of design. They have points and coil ignition, easy to repair along the side of the road, easy to find spares for. The engine has about 5 moving parts, the gearbox said to be so over-engineered it could be used to drive a tractor...
We couldn't afford expensive aluminum panniers so made one from galvanised sheeting. We constructed carriers from angle iron for the jerry cans, water bottles and thousand and one other things necessary for the trip. 

Africa Overland: What the Hell are we doing here?

What the hell are we doing here?  Might be a question you have asked yourself on your overland adventure...
Authors Murray Gough and Peter Travers turned there late 90's Trans-Africa adventure into a book and video titled "What the hell are we doing here".  It's a fun read highlighting one of the last routes from North across Central Africa and into East Africa prior to political turmoil that changed the route South.

The DVD can now be found on YouTube:

Overland eBooks

I must admit that I have a passion for my Amazon Kindle - I read a book, and then very quickly skip onto the next.  This little ebook reader is fantastic and a must have for any overland trip as it can contain your whole library.    Owning one prompted me to investigate if any overland related ebooks were available:

Here's a list of the books I found (links to Amazon UK).  There are not as many as I had hoped, including no ebooks from author Chris Scott (Overland Handbook).  Most of the older titles are not available which I would have thought would have been easy to do.

What the hell are we doing here
Malachite: a Journey in Africa
Lonely Planet Africa
Jupiter's Travels
Lois on the Loose
Red Tape and White Knuckles: One Woman's Motorcycle Adventure Through Africa
Running With The Moon: A Boy's Own Adventure - Riding a Motorbike Through Africa
Tuk-Tuk to the Road: Two Girls, Three Wheels, 12,500 Miles



More Kindle Overland Books
Here is a link to additional Kindle Amazon UK books.
Amazon UK Bestsellers in Africa Travel (Kindle)
General Africa Travel

Updated: 26 January 2012
The world of overland digital ebooks is constantly growing which has resulted in this blog post being outdated in a very short period. Keep checking the digital ebook websites for the latest updates. One last thought: be sure to support our fellow overlanders through the purchase of their books...