Johannesburg - It’s reasonable to assume that someone who has travelled the length and breadth of this planet will have valuable travel tips to impart.
However, if that someone has been from Acton to Woolloomooloo via Bora Bora and all points between on every conceivable means of transport, don’t expect advice along the lines of “pack a bottle opener because European beers don’t have screw tops”.
Motorcycle adventurer Charley Boorman, 46, recently completed filming on Extreme Frontiers: South Africa, of which the first of four episodes screens on Britain’s Channel Five next month. A re-edited series – perhaps comprising seven episodes – will probably be flighted here next year.
Boorman is best known for teaming up with actor Ewan McGregor for The Long Way Round and The Long Way Down – the latter seeing the pair taking their giant touring bikes from John o’Groats in Scotland to Cape Town.
Such a documentary series, though, presents a superficial picture of the countries through which the team travelled… hence the second instalment in the Extreme series (Canada was the first), in which Boorman aims “to get under the skin of South Africa”.
Part of this will entail sleeping rough, something he used to loathe until McGregor instilled in him a love of camping, he says.
Enjoying a last cup of tea in Wilderness before we head further up the Garden Route and turn north into the Karoo, he shares his adventure travel wisdom: “Get a motorbike because every other mode of travel is ludicrous.”
Boorman grew up on a farm in Ireland and starting riding motorcycles at age 15.
“Ensure you have a good pair of sunglasses or a tinted visor. Squinting into the sun gives you headaches. A good pair of sunglasses will allow you an extra two or three hours’ biking a day.
“Neither overplan your journey nor leave everything up to chance. You’re never going to do everything you’d like, so decide on the things you absolutely have to do and take it from there.
“Never try to cram too many adventures into one day. Time almost always runs away from you.
“Don’t be too fussed if everything changes at the last minute. After all, it’s an adventure.
“Get a really good sleeping bag, tent and roll mat [camping mattress]. That way – no matter how much the s*** hits the fan – you’ll get a good night’s sleep. That means you’ll be able to deal with whatever the next morning throws at you.
“Take lots of Baby Wipes because you don’t want a rashy bum when you’re travelling long distances on a motorcycle.”
This brings us to Boorman’s participation in the 2006 Dakar Rally.
“The funny thing about nightmare stories is that they are the ones you always remember. Physically, the worst was when I broke my hand on the fifth day of the rally.
“My thumb was pointing in the wrong direction and there I was, banging my hand on the handlebars to try to pop it back into position so I could ride on to the day’s finish. It wasn’t so much the pain… I was panicking about the TV show and sponsors, and letting everybody down.
“I had this weird dream in my head I was going to be okay – that the doctor was going to give me an injection and say I was all right to go on.
“But the doctor just said to me” – and here Boorman puts on a dreadful comic French accent – “‘Charlee, not only can you not ride ze motorcycle in ze Dakar, I don’t think you can wipe your own a***!’
“He was wrong. I was able to wrap a Baby Wipe round my middle finger.” - Saturday Star