A long way to go

Hi, and welcome to "A Journey south".

First, "A Journey South" isn't a very good name. Quite informative, but not very good. Therefore I hope some of you creative-minded readers could come up with better suggestions.

Since this is the first post on this blog I would like to give you a brief introduction on what this blog is about.

The whole thing emerges from a dream I have had for a long time. A motorcycle-trip through Africa. The motorcycle has been exchanged with a car, and after a close look at the map, I see that not only Africa is to be visited. I will actually use almost half of the time in Europe and the Middle-East.

Using a car, rather than a motorbike, means I can and will have visitors who join me on some parts of the road. Two of them are my friends Sigvart and Andreas, who will join me in Tanzania and Malawi, but I'm not really sure they know where Malawi is.
Since others might be in the same position, I have made two maps, that show the countries I intend to pass.

Red countries are to be visited. 

I hope these maps give you some impression on where I'll be going. Drawing was never my strong side.

Now, for those of you who know some geography, you will notice that these maps don't show all the countries I intend to visit. They give the impression that Turkey shares borders with Egypt. Sadly this isn't the case, and I'll cross Syria and Jordan, inshallah, on my way to Egypt.

It might look as if I have the route all figured out, but that's not the case. I hope that I won't have to make any changes due to political reasons, but especially in Europe, I have every possibility to alter my route. In the southern part of Africa, I could visit Mozambique or Lesotho. So if you have been to any of the countries I intend to, or could visit, I would be very grateful to get a comment or an e-mail (hanstsoa@yahoo.com) with recommendations of places worthy visiting. I most likely know about the big tourist attractions, but if you know something off the beaten track, it would be faboulous if you shared it

So this blog is about a Journey from Norway to Madagascar, passing 28 countries and between 30 and 40 thousand kilometers. The trip will start in September, and if all goes well, I will arrive in Madagascar at the end of April.