TOMS MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE TO AFRICA: Part 1 – From Austria to Miss Moto Moroc and more…

Tom Possod is a RISER Ambassador and has decided to travel through Africa on his bike. His tour starts in Vienna and his goal is to meet women whose passion is motorcycling (#WhoRidesTheWorld) and to find beautiful trips in Africa. In this blog post, he talks about the first days of his journey and the challenges he faced in the beginning.

The last days have been stressful because for such a trip a lot has to be planned. And unfortunately, the newly ordered tyres arrived too late, hence I will start my trip with a 24-hour delay. Due to all this, I had to cancel my plan to visit friends in Milan before taking the ferry crossing to Africa. But now finally the day is here: Weather is looking good, new tyres are here, service is done and I am fully motivated! From Vienna I drive south to my first destination, the ferry port in Savona, Italy. The plan is to take the ferry on the following day, shortly after midnight in the direction to Tangier in Morocco.

Because of my late start I mainly drive on the motorway to make up some of my lost time. However, I make an obligatory stop shortly before the Slovenian capital Ljubljana at the legendary Krapfenwirt. Strengthened with a freshly baked doughnut, I head back onto the motorway and continue in the direction of Savona. The trip goes well and I am shortly after 15:00 o’clock near Venice. I drive on and decide to spend my last night on Italian ground in the surroundings of Cremona. At the next petrol station I find out where the next campsite is. After the gas station attendant sees my “fully” packed motorcycle and hears that I am on my way from Austria to Africa, he insists on taking a picture of me. Afterwards it goes off to the campsite. The tent is put up, the sleeping bag is rolled out and I enjoy the Italian kitchen with a cool beer before going to bed.

The morning is cool and I slowly pack all my things, because I still have enough time until the departure of the ferry. After the obligatory morning coffee I drive over a country road to Savona to buy my ticket for the ferry and find out the time for boarding.

At the ticket ferry counter, I ask for the departure time and get an answer that I really didn’t expect: “Oh…already left”. After asking several times whether we are really talking about the same Morocco, I unfortunately realize that I have looked at the departure times for the wrong day. Oh great! The fact that I’m not the only one to have this happen today is only a small consolation.

So I reschedule and find out what the alternatives are. I learn that another ferry is leaving Genoa for Tangier in two days. I make the most of the time and visit my friends, who drove to the Ligurian coast over the weekend and are therefore fortunately not far away. I spend the two days of waiting with my friends and check my luggage again. The lighter the luggage on the bike, the more fun you have riding it. Unfortunately, I did not find a suitable tank sieve in Austria and from past journeys I know that one does not always get clean fuel in parts of Africa. Therefore I get myself a tea strainer as provisional solution, because I did not find a tank strainer in the surroundings. The two days then fly by and finally 51 hours on the ferry stand only between me and Africa.

Finally! Africa, here I am with my bike. I arrive in the evening with the ferry and after the necessary formalities (vehicle papers, entry papers, etc.) have already been processed on the ferry, the journey continues relatively quickly on land. I drive another 100 kilometres and then set up camp for the night at a larger petrol station. I simply spread out the tent underlay next to my motorcycle so that I am protected from the morning dew and then it’s “Good night”.

During the night the parking guard had an eye on me, so the next morning I invited him for a coffee. The temperature is nice, but I decide to put on my raincoat to get less of the wind. That’s good. It gets cooler with every kilometre and it also starts to rain. After about 120 kilometres I have to stop to warm up at a gas station with Moroccan tea. After the short break I go back on the road. After a rainy and cold 250 kilometres drive south, I finally arrive in Casablanca. Crowds of people are moving through the city and everything seems very chaotic. But my plan is to meet someone here. I meet Dalila Mosbah, the founder of the motorcycle club Miss Moto Maroc, the first all-female motorcycle club in Morocco. She organises regular meetings and at the last meeting in mid-March there were even over 400 participants with their bikes. Unfortunately I arrived in Morocco too late to be there, but according to the stories and pictures it looks really cool (link to her website: https://www.missmotomaroc.com). After the very nice meeting with good conversations, good food and drinks I notice that my journey to Casablanca consumed a lot of energy and the cold in combination with the rain unfortunately makes itself a little noticeable. I get an accommodation tip from Dalila and am led by her through the very chaotic traffic in Casablanca. Alone I probably would have needed 2 days 😉 . I check into the hotel and think that a little rest and time in bed will give me the necessary energy for tomorrow’s journey. So good night Casablanca.

For breakfast I have fresh pita bread with cream cheese, lemon jam, olives and dates. The weather doesn’t look so bad, but the owner of the house tells me “rain all over Morocco”. So raincoat over and off I go. After 5 kilometres I’m already in the middle of a cloudburst. At a gas station I get a plastic bag to protect my sleeping bag from the rain. That’s the only thing that isn’t rainproof and if it gets wet, then “Hallelujah!”. 10 kilometres later I have to take a necessary break due to the heavy rain. So I drink some tea and hope that it will go on soon.

The weather gets a little better after 2 cups of tea and that means for me back on the road. I want to ride my motorbike in Africa and not only drink tea, although it tastes really good here. After 30 minutes the boots and gloves are completely soaked and boots are filled with water. In addition, it doesn’t seem to have rained for a long time and the road is slippery, like an ice sheet. This means: Slowly braking and driving with foresight because the traffic offers constant surprises here. Then the decision: Highway in the inland or coastal road. I decide for the coastal road, because the stress on the motorway is enormous in such weather. Gravel and soil soaked in water then result in the perfect mud road. Exhausting!

The coast might be beautiful, but due to the rough sea it looks more frightening than peaceful. The fact that I’m freezing can’t stop me and my perseverance will be rewarded with better weather a little later. I can drive about 100 km/h again and reach a campsite shortly after 4 pm. For the night camp it is definitely too early, but I go in and check if it is a good place for me to stay over the night. And then I discover something. A VW bus with Austrian license plates. Its owners, Nadine and Benni, have both sold their belongings, quit their jobs and are now on a world tour. They took a year time for their trip. They are very friendly and I stay at the campsite to talk to them. After such a ride, a fun evening is exactly what I need. We talk until late into the night and at the end everyone goes to bed with a full stomach and with motivation for the next days.

This was the beginning of Tom’s journey. You can find a little preview of his next blog post here: