Enduro vacation around the heart of Africa: Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda & Kenya

Typically, participants fly overnight from Europe to Kenya and land in the morning hours in Nairobi. The OVERCROSS driver picks you up from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and takes you to the workshop where the Kibo rental machines are waiting for the participants. The group meets at the hotel for the first tour briefing and subsequent dinner. After a final drink, it's off to the bunk.

We leave Nairobi in the late morning after a hearty breakfast and travel about 300 kilometers north across the equator. We have planned the first day on the machines as an 'acclimatization day' for the man, the machine, and the traffic. About 100 kilometers after Nairobi, we make a brief stop at a typical Kenyan coffee trader by the roadside before we then drive on light off-road tracks to our day's destination. In the late afternoon, we will reach the camp not far from the Ugandan border and set up the tents.

Today marks the first border crossing with the motorcycle convoy and our support vehicle (Toyota or similar). Welcome to Uganda, welcome to the heart of Africa!

We travel along typical African roads toward Jinja, on Lake Victoria, where the Nile originates. The source of the Nile was only discovered by Western researchers in 1862. Here begins the 6,650 km long Nile, the longest river in the world. We arrive at sunset in the chaotic traffic from Kampala and dive into the nightlife of Uganda's largest city.

We ride with our enduros along the shores of Lake Victoria heading southwest through the East African highlands. This can be up to 1,500 meters high in Uganda. Our route takes us through the Rwenzori region, which borders the Congo and is a phenomenal hiking area. After a day stage of about 300 kilometers, we reach Lake Mburo. Here, we set up our camp for the night and end the evening as usual by the campfire.

Near the border with the Congo lie two parks where the last mountain gorillas live. One of them is the Bwindi Rainforest, which we reach via winding roads and smaller off-road stretches. The Bwindi National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 and is world-renowned for the mountain gorillas that call this place home. We set up our camp for the next two days at the foot of the Albertine Rift.

Today, the travelers have the option to relax for a day or visit Bwindi National Park, which is home to half of the world's gorilla population! With a little luck, you might discover one of the ten monkey species such as the black-and-white colobus, the silver monkey, or the chimpanzee, as well as elephants and various small antelopes, and of course mountain gorillas, which are truly very, very impressive!

At the foot of the Virunga volcanoes on the border with the Congo, we drive the long winding serpentine roads to the small town of Kisoro. In Kisoro, we make a coffee stop, get supplies, and then travel to the border to Rwanda. Depending on how long we take at the border, we drive along the main road to Giseny by the lake or again through the hinterland along the border with the Congo, from where we will have a great view of the lake.

We say goodbye to the rainforest and head to the capital Kigali. Our route takes us over beautiful mountain passes until we reach the legendary Hotel Rwanda. Terry Gregory filmed the story about the genocide in Rwanda against the Tutsi and moderate Hutu in 1994. The film is based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, who saved over 1200 people from certain death.

After breakfast, we set off to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which is 12 kilometers away. About 250,000 Tutsis are buried here. After visiting the memorial, which gives us insight into the dark chapter of Rwanda's history, we will likely ride thoughtlessly on our motorcycles over well-developed asphalt roads, asking ourselves at every police checkpoint: Where were you in 1994? After this experience, the border control to Tanzania will not ruffle us anymore. In Tanzania, we tackle the last tough 50 kilometers on poor roads and in the evening wash down the day with a good wine by the campfire.

Along the Burundian border, we travel on typical African tracks towards the east. We are in for a day full of dust and dirt, just as every enduro rider wishes for. If we are unlucky, rain will be added, and then we have a 'fight day' ahead of us through African mud. We will reach our camp by Lake Victoria in the late afternoon, where we will leave our motorcycles and take a raft trip. We will also go fishing! So hopefully for dinner, there will be fish, fire, and... wine?

Today you are always riding along a boring road on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, we are racking up miles with the enduros until we reach the border to Kenya. We pass the Serengeti, which extends eastward to Ngorongoro and the Rift Valley, and reach our campground at sunset.

The sun rises and we start the engines of our Kibus. We have several hours of off-road ahead of us until we reach the border to Kenya. After crossing the border, we treat ourselves to a cool drink at the edge of the Masai Mara, as time will hardly allow for more. We leave the Masai Mara to the left and speed with our foot on the gas towards Naivasha Lake.

We get up early and at dawn we set off for the last kilometers on small federal roads to Nairobi, where we will drop off the motorcycles at the workshop for inspection and will then be taken to the airport. Those who still have time can spend the evening as usual around the campfire with BBQ and wine.