Donna-Rae wanted to shop and see animals and trees in Africa.  Greg was more interested is trying to avoid being run over by an elephant in Botswana or a minivan taxi in Cape Town or Jo’burg.  Trying to make those two agendas mesh killed the job for Moses.  What Donna-Rae did not know was nearly all the wild game in Africa had been killed for food.  The animals left survived in private game reserves or national parks.  A famed park, like Etosha in northern Namibia, prohibited motorcycles, thus requiring an expensive car or guided tour.  The same with the Kruger National Park in South Africa.  Most of the private game reserves carried visitors through on viewing vehicles, often another expensive guided tour.

     The prices for rental motorcycles were reasonable if they wanted to rent something in the small scooter range, but for what they needed they were looking at $250.00 per day plus $1,000.00 deposit which was rumored to be seldom returned.  If they were going to circle around in Africa for two months, waiting for warm weather for their ride to the North Cape in Norway, a rental motorcycle was going to cost them as much as purchasing a new $20,000.00 model.  To purchase a used motorcycle was also going to be expensive due to the high import taxes. 

    They also discovered the price of a leased Land Rover was in the Bill Gates Budget, not the Donna-Rae and Greg Budget.  For even a small car it was going to cost at least $100.00 per day and then it would not be allowed to leave South Africa. When vehicle rental, safari fees, food, gas, visas and sleeping were totaled the figure staggered Donna-Rae.  She said, “If we go that way there wont be any money left for shopping!” 

    As they worked on their options it became clear there was going to be no room in their budget for the Land Rover, and if there was no Land Rover there would be no need for Moses, leaving the idea of a Moses dead. To leave some wiggle-room for miscellaneous items (curios and souvenirs), two $18.00 sleeping bags were purchased before they left Cape Town.  They were off to look at curios, souvenirs, trees and animals for Donna-Rae with the possibility of meeting other international motorcycle travelers for Greg to trade travel stories with and take photographs for a new book he was working on.

     Each afternoon in the blistering heat the tent had to be unloaded and set up, then sleeping bags spread out.  In the sweltering morning heat the tent would have to be taken down, then packed along with the luggage and other miscellaneous camping items. With bad knees and a sore back from crawling in and out of the tent and sleeping on the ground, grumpy Greg was overheard grumbling, “Moses ain’t dead. I’m f****** Moses.”

     Some of the campgrounds provided a cooking shed where meals could be prepared and dishes washed.  One of the tests for Moses-Greg was to make sure the water was heated enough to kill any diseases it might carry.  While Donna-Rae was worrying about wild animals that might find their way into their tent each night, Greg was worrying about insects and water borne diseases that might find ways into their bodies any time.

Once they left Cape Town and headed north to Angola they saw no other motorcycle travelers and few motorcycles.  The emptiness of the roads reminded them of time spent riding through Peru or Chile, there seldom being other “motorheads” or motorcycle adventurers for Greg to bond with along the way.  The desert did provide some trees for Donna-Rae to photograph, like this one in Namibia.