Dev - Meet the Guides

Meet the Ride Down South Support Crew

Michael Durham

Michael Burton-Durham is a motorcycle adventurer who loves being out on the open road, showing fellow adventurers the wonders of South Africa, and other parts of Africa.

He is an all-round nature lover and discoverer and outdoors junkie. The thought of being locked indoors makes his toes curl backwards. Michael lives in Cape Town, but travels often. He has spent most of his life riding bikes, from MX and Enduro bikes, street bikes and then on to adventure bikes.

He loves spending time exploring back roads, mountain roads and ‘roads’ nobody was supposed to travel! He is a hiker, swimmer, dad, doggy dad, and “gotta be outdoors” person. He has been on a number of Ride Down South adventures this past year, and will be hosting riders from around the world on many more in 2024.

“My experience of riding in Southern Africa has led me on this path of doing what I love and what motivates me every day - the pleasure of sharing our beautiful region with our guests in the best way possible - on two wheels.”

Andrew Vaughan

Andrew Vaughan is the owner, lead guide, chief mechanic, email replier, and new route explorer at Ride Down South.

Andrew formed Ride Down South in 2016 after returning from a two-wheeled adventure with a friend to Kigali, Rwanda. Having seen how awestruck his Canadian friend was by the experience of riding a motorcycle through some of Africa’s most scenic spots, it seemed natural to see if there was a way to share that with others.

It turns out there was - and is. In his former life Andrew worked as a mechanical engineer in the aviation industry. He spent a few years at UK-based Rolls Royce Plc where he worked on the design of turbofan engines for Airbus and Boeing airliners. Andrew is also a qualified career coach and runs an education non-profit called This Better Work.

His biggest motorcycling adventure was a 30 000km ride from Vancouver, Canada to Cape Town via Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa on a Kawasaki KLR 650 in 2007. Since then Andrew has ridden his Africa Twin 750 through 17 African countries and just about all of those south of the Equator.

Some awesome TripAdvisor reviews we’d like to share

If you’re after adventure, mateship and a real sense of achievement…

I’d highly recommend a trip with Ride Down South. As a long time tour organiser and operator, this was actually the first time I’ve ever gone on a tour as a customer and you far exceeded my expectations. It wasn’t just the riding or the bikes, it was the whole package, the choices of accommodation, the great meals but above all the enthusiasm and willingness to go that extra mile (or 100 km) that shone through in you and your team.