Why Africa? With the exception of South Africa, roads in Africa are not steep and virtually free of cars, and cycling is popular with the locals, so you can feel safe and make friends easily. The extreme seasonality in weather patterns means that you are virtually guaranteed of being rain-free for several months if you plan your trip during the dry season. It gets hot at this time of year at low elevations, but the heat is generaly bearable and this also means that your bike will be spared of the weight of heavy clothing. Excepting South Africa again, day-to-day expenses like food and lodging are extremely cheap across the continent, and will be a negligible part of your budget compared to the flight. Food and water are also surprisingly easy to find, as Africans live in innumerable villages scattered across the countryside rather than a few cities with large distances between them, and I rarely carried more than a day´s stock of either. Finally, there´s lots to see in sub-Saharan Africa, and it´s completely unlike anywhere else in the world. On a bike you see, hear and feel things that you would miss in a vehicle, and you cover a greater range of socio-cultural regions and ecosystems than would be possible on foot. That said, I did actually meet a guy who was walking around the world!
There are many reasons to cycle alone. Things like coordinating stops and choosing itineraries are much more difficult to pull off in a group when you´e cycling than when you´re travelling any other way. And when I think of all the things that I was invited to do along the way that probably wouldn´t have happened even if I had been joined by just one other person - everything from staying at luxurious game lodges and wineries in South Africa to taking water from community pumps in Tanzania - I couldn´t imagine having done the trip with anyone else; the added value of having constant company could never make up for all the experiences I would have missed out on.
Let me say this with emphasis: security is not a problem when you´re cycling through Africa. Not once did I feel threatened or unsafe, and the only time that I was robbed of anything was due to the greed of a hyena, not a human. In fact, of all the things I carried on my bike, I believe that the piece of equipment I used least was my lock. Driving a new 4WD around Johannesburg at night and riding a bike through rural Africa, even if you sleep in the bush most nights like I did, are two very different activities with different risks. I recommend the latter.
We are the first generation to have the world at our fingertips as regular people, and anyone who doesn´t take advantage of that is foolish. I´ve decided to sell my bike before I leave Cape Town, but that doesn´ mean that I´m not planning to do a cycling tour in another part of the world in the not-too-distant future. The only question is when I´ll have the time and money to do it all over again and where it will be. Asia? South America? The possibilities really are endless for bike travel.
Cape Town
November 28, 2003