VFR Tour of Africa

[Bap7788]

Hello everyone,

A friend and I are planning to take a trip around Africa.
We are planning to leave from France with a Diesel piston aircraft (155CV) to avoid being dependant on AVGAS. We have an Long Range tank giving us about more than 6 hours @ 100 kts.
We planned 4 month for the trip with an extra month if necessary.
We are VFR only. Qualified Night
We will use a handler for permits, I have already contacted some, but if you know any please let me know.

We are not in a hurry and will wait for MET to be good on the trip. That being said if you have any comment on MET please let me know ! We would like to start on the 1st of March. East coast to go down to Cape Town than West coast to go back to France.
Legs are 300Nm or shorter (except HESN (Aswan) to HSSS (Khartoum) and HSSS to HAAB (Addis abada). That is actually quite an issue at the moment for me. We have some alternate but fuel availability can be an issue.
We will be on international airport 95% of the time. Refueling will always be on internation airport to maintain both availability and quality of Jet A1.

We have never flown in Africa but have experience travelling there.

I know that it is quite the general topic but I would appreciate any tips, or PIREP of your past or present experiences around Africa.

The place that we are the most worried about are:
Egypt > Sudan for safety
Ethiopia and Kenya/Uganda for high airfield and MET
Gulf of Guinea for MET

I have read almost all of the post on this forum about trips in Africa and taken notes about a lot of things (Cash, thorough pre flight, patience, overfly and landing permits, HF radio for Angola, sat phone etc...) but i felt the need to post here anyway ;)

Thanks a lot,

Arthur and Baptiste.

[meleagertoo]

Why Khartoum - Addis? Why not stage via Bahar Dar or Mekele. BDo they not have Customs?
If not, Eritrea is an interesting place and now the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea is supposedly open you could go via Asmara.
Spend some time in Ethiopia - stunning place.

[Bap7788]

Thanks a lot meleagertoo,

It is actually shorter with your route, I'll talk about it with the handler.
We are staying 5 days in Ethiopia.

[B2N2]

Diesel engine - ECU’s and electronics.
Have you looked at potential maintenance locations and if they’re qualified to work on your airplane/engine?

Of the wall question - will you be wearing pilot shirts and epaulettes?
Couple of years ago I watched a documentary on a Private Pilot flying a DA40 from Spain or Portugal to Asia.
Had to wear a shirt and epaulettes transitioning certain countries where light GA is non existent and if you’re not wearing the “uniform” you’re not a pilot and may be denied access to your plane and all sorts of other problems including being considered a spy.

[Bap7788]

We have found 5 maintenance center in Africa on the diamond aircraft (first choice of plane would be DA40NG), but of course maintenance is a big issue.
We hope the handling company might come up with a few good places to repair the aircraft if needed.

The spy stuff is actually one of the concern a lot of people we are talking about flying in Africa are concerned about, so the shirt and epaulettes could actually be a brilliant idea !

[4runner]

There’s a book, written by a Canadian doctor titled “My heart is Africa”. It’s a really good read for anyone. If you can afford to fly a diamond around Africa, I wouldn’t worry about mx centers. You can pay to fly an engineer to the aircraft If it breaks. Your trip sounds exciting. I would also forgo Sudan(both of them). Kenya is quite ok for GA and I second the uniform suggestion.

[pulse1]

It might be worth your while to look at Katamarino's trip reports, especially this one for Africa which was also in a diesel C182. Lots of tips there for how to deal with the various airports, their corruption and bureaucracy:

https://katamarino.co.uk/index.php/africa-flight-for-every-mother/

[750XL]

Kigali, Rwanda, has a number of DA40's based there fyi

[meleagertoo]

Cairo Aswan Port Sudan Asmara Addis is a good route. You could go by Juba but I think the coastal route is better, esp in a single where you could do without hours of exposure over the Sud.
The real long hop is Addis Nairobi which afaik has to be done IFR in airways where the base of the airway is over Fl100. It is also 700nm en route plus reserves. Somalia is a complete no-go.
You'd have to look into VFR routes down through S Ethiopia where I believe no fuel is available to perhaps Moyale or Marsabit which also appear to have no services whatsoever... A bit out of the way but possibly more useful is Lokichoggio where there is a busy UN aid airfield but even then it's a way to go to Nairobi and Loki is I'm sure still semi military so permits will be required.
Can you run on road diesel if you need to?
If refuelling from drums be scrupulous about water testing and checking each barrel visually using a powerful flashlight for contamination. Never refuel from a barrel which you haven't checked the seal on and watched it being opened. Check your water drains after every refuel no matter where you get the fuel from, but you must give it 10-15 minutes to settle first. Never be in so much of a hurry you haven't time to do tnis! Become obsessive about fuel quality!
Altitude. You're going to be looking at the graphs quite a lot. Use and believe the factors they quote.
Don't underestimate your total weight! Be scrupulous in weighing everything so you know what you AUW is.
Talk to local pilots, they will be a mine of useful information but it is an African habit to tell a visitor what he wants to hear rather than disappoint him by saying something negative.
Turbulence can be severly uncomfortable below cloud tops. Clouds in that part of Africa grow rapidly during the morning and peak mid afternoon. As a very rough estimate you may find by 1000 there will probably be little smooth air below FL80. By 1200 - 1300 it'll be none below FL100 and by 1500 none below FL130. Clouds merge together sometimes making medium level VFD difficult or impossible, radar is of great use but you realy ought to have an IF capability if you are going to fly after 1200 in my opinion. Flight in the turbulent zone can be horribly uncomfortable and vertical air movenemts, both up and down can make lower level flying hazardous. Early starts will become the norm. (cooler so better t/o performance too). I assume you'll be avoiding the rainy seasons. Don't get involved in the ITCZ in a VFR single! Even small amounts of rain can turn dirt strips into a swamp. Don't get caught out by darkness, never assume an African airfield's lighting system actually works unless it is an international airport. Darkness falls very quickly in the tropics and what looks like reasonable dusk visibility at 6000' will be pitch blackness by the time you reach the surface.

Smile, be totally patient, be totally polite and tip an appropriate amount where appropriate but don't pay bribes. A supply of 1 and $5 bills is useful here. Do not overtip! If an airport employee is paid $10 per day one dollar tip is plenty. Five is way over unless it was a very special favour. If asked for 'special fees' or 'local taxes' politely say with a bit of pretend surprise that you hadn't read about these and could they show you the tariff. There won't be one of course so insist, firmly but politely that he provides a reciept with his name on it and convey by your smile and body language that you know perfectly well what they are up to. If that doesn't work ask to go to the senior manager so he can explain it to you. No receipt - no pay and smile apologetically is universally understood...I managed 15months in the area described above and never bribed once. Wear uniform shirts, slacks and gold bars, it does help. Good luck, take lots of photos and report back here when you can!

[Bap7788]

Thanks a lot for all the info.

We are working on our trip and will come back here if we need anything. Or to post pictures of the adventure ;)

[F4C]

A little info on the parts that I know:

There's no fuel in Lokichoggio anymore, the fuel supplier pulled out last year. Same goes for Eldoret. Nearest fuel is Nairobi when heading south into Kenya. ATC at Loki are very friendly however. I'd seriously avoid flying into S.Sudan - Infrastructure is minimal and airfields aren't set up for visitors. You can find Wx (TAF/METAR) online for the major international airports but don't expect it for small regional airports like you get in Europe. You can get satellite rain radar images online which can help for planning but aren't up to date enough to help in flight. Make sure you brush up on Tropical weather, especially the movement of the ITCZ as you'll be passing through it at some point.

Cheers,

F4C

[double_barrel]

A little info on the parts that I know:

There's no fuel in Lokichoggio anymore, the fuel supplier pulled out last year. Same goes for Eldoret. Nearest fuel is Nairobi when heading south into Kenya. ATC at Loki are very friendly however. I'd seriously avoid flying into S.Sudan - Infrastructure is minimal and airfields aren't set up for visitors. You can find Wx (TAF/METAR) online for the major international airports but don't expect it for small regional airports like you get in Europe. You can get satellite rain radar images online which can help for planning but aren't up to date enough to help in flight. Make sure you brush up on Tropical weather, especially the movement of the ITCZ as you'll be passing through it at some point.

Cheers,

F4C

The AIS claims that there is JetA1 in Mandera. Any truth in that?

[F4C]

Sorry, I'm not sure. I just know the supplier at Loki and Eldoret pulled out mid last year.

[double_barrel]

Sorry, I'm not sure. I just know the supplier at Loki and Eldoret pulled out mid last year.

Just spoke to someone who says there is JetA1 in Loki right now to support caravans based there. I don't know if that is a long-term arrangement, I will see if I can find out more.

[meleagertoo]

If there are still Caravans in Loki then ipso facto there must be fuel too.
If the commercial supplier's bugged out then it's shipped in by the operators as their private supply and they may or may not be willing or able to part with some, and that ability may change from day to day so beware in such circumstances.

[Raven 423]

The AIS claims that there is JetA1 in Mandera. Any truth in that?
Treat that as a hearsay. Nearest fuel will be wajir and am not sure if prior arrangements are not required.