Riders: Gareth Morgan, Jo Morgan
Motorcycles: BMW F800GS
Distance: 10,210km
Countries: Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia
Trip description: Back riding in Latin America – the plan is to start where we left off from the “Up the Andes’ ride – in Brazil. Plunging into the Amazon territories of Brazil, French Guyana, Suriname and Guiana – part road, part jungle and part river and sea crossings, is our first challenge.
Then we intend to follow that up with a traverse of Venezuela in time to get to, Colombia for Christmas. Feels like a great way to cap off a wonderful year of riding on the South American continent.
Situated in the depths of Guyana’s Amazonian rainforest I have had a yearning to visit this place, not just because it is a fine example of ecological tourism but because it represents a very successful joint venture between the indigenous Amerindians, private sector tourism interests and the government of Canada. Guyana you might know is […]
We can’t traverse directly from Guyana to Venezuela so there is no option but to go south into the top of Brazil and then head back up to Mr Chavez’s kingdom. The two countries dispute the area we’re in so there is no direct contact. The route is 600 kms, mostly of jungle trail from […]
We were waiting for the tropical down-pour to finish, under a verandah of a gracious wooden house in Paramaribo when a man joined us. He wasn’t very well dressed and looked a bit the worse for wear. He unfolded a sign and was asking for money (I think). The sign said “Help me , my […]
We’ve hit the country on Independence Day – 35 years since they said goodbye to Dutch rule. It hasn’t been all (Parbo) beer and skittles since then although with a series of military coups having been the style of governance since.This was pretty well forseen by the locals with half the population fleeing to Holland […]
Although its per capita GDP is 10 times that of Guyana and 3 times that of Suriname, we figure it’s not because they are all rich in French Guyana but rather because there is such a large population of French people here running the colony and the space programme, they lift the average. Because when […]
Always been a dream to get to this island to see just what the environment was for the prisoners sent here by the French. Made famous by the book by Henri Charriere but more significantly the location where Alfred Dreyfus was imprisoned after being falsely accused of espionage for the Germans – he later was […]
Well, getting to the top of Brazil felt great. Not many travel this way and I understand why – distance and temperatures are just a couple. We were hassled, as soon as we got to the border town of Oiapoque, by boat guys wanting to put the bikes into little tin boats. Down a steep […]
We set off early for 220 km to the top of Brazil. The road might be impassable is the rumour, a bridge in the Indian reservation area has been burnt. My tummy rumbles as a bread roll with butter and coffee is not quite enough. Sweat rolls into my eyes and drips off my nose. […]
We left Macapa dripping sweat in 30 degrees, humidity must be near 100%. We have a dinner date in Calcoene about 350 km away and pleasantly surprised by the road having seal all the way, with only occasional works throwing us into the red dust. Our host Mickie, seems to be community central in this town […]
Across the mouth of the Amazon, or more accurately the Amazon delta is a mere 333kms as the crow flies. But our river boat can’t be so efficient so instead it weaves its way through the most narrow of channels, crosses wide open rivers and into more channels until finally, some 36 hours and 440 […]
