It’s just
under two weeks until Rick and myself set of from Kampala on the 5000 km ride
to Maputo, and Johannesburg on the 5th January. Now seems a good
time to think about what we might find in these few months travelling across the
continent. I want to cover three things: firstly to assimilate some of what I
have read and heard in preparation for the cycling trip in the form of three
incredible journeys that have already been done, second to talk about
Sponsorship and the proposed route, and finally to wish everyone a Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year
Before
I
start, however, I want to make my bias while writing this, and the rest
of this blog, clear. I’m writing from a Western perspective (or
“global north” perspective, however politically correct you want to be)
with
only English as a fluent language, and therefore my choice of literature
is
limited by what has been previously published. Necessarily, much of this
therefore reflects the colonial history of the continent. Whether it is
actual
colonialists writing, or those trying to walk in their hallowed paths.
This
clearly isn’t an accurate history of the areas we want to visit, and it
surely
doesn’t represent the outstanding journeys no doubt taken by resident
Africans.
Whether these are hundreds of miles on foot by a Masai with his cattle
across the highlands of Tanzania and Kenya, or marches through the Congo
during
brutal slavery drives. I take my pick from a select few that have made
it via a
literary medium to a bookshop near me.
Eric
Shipton
The oldest of
the journeys is that of Eric Shipton
in his book Snow on the Equator, and was recommended to me by my Godfather.
Prior to Alpine and Himalayan fame, Eric Shipton spent 5 years
(1928-1933) as, amongst other things, a farmer in the Aberdares in
Kenya. He
spent his spare time hunting and climbing the peaks of East Africa
(making the
first ascent of Nelion in Mt Kenya and Mawenzi on Mt Kilimanjaro), and
even
attempted prospecting in the Gold Rush around Kisumu, Kenya. When he
finally decided that his time was
up, he faced a choice: Does he take the road up through Eygpt, or the
boat
around the Cape of Good Hope? Both being relatively pricey choices, he
chose
neither. He filled his backpack with a few bare essentials – a mosquito
net, but no tent or roll matt – and bought a bike for the sum of £1 in
Kampala.
From there he wound his way through the Great Lakes of Northern Uganda,
sleeping under the stars wherever he went, he believed that if he slept
in the
house he would be afflicted by typhus. He crossed the Congo, stopping
off at
one point for an incredible Greek dinner with a merchant, and ended in
Yaunde
in Cameroon, where he could return home on a steamer.
Dennis
Burkitt
 |
| Route of Dennis Burkitts "tumour safari" |
Dervla
Murphy
The third and
final journey is, in my limited reading experience, the most impressive. To
those of you that have read Dervla Murphy’s books I am sure her approach does
not come as surprise. Nevertheless, at the age of 61 she chose to cycle from
Nairobi, Kenya to Harare, Zimbabwe. It’s impossible to describe each and
everyone of her incredible experiences; from hearing the first responses
of Ugandans and Tanzanians to AIDS, to coming face to face with a leopard while
taking a mountainous crossing in to Zambia. At one point crossing the middle of
Tanzania on a dirt track she does not speak and barely sees another person for
four days. Quite honestly, each story is more amazing than the next, and it
makes someone who is about to attempt a similar endeavour already feel very
meek!
Each of these
journeys has its own characteristics that qualify their impressive standing.
Shipton was a pioneer in many ways; he had incredible vision and adventure in
what he did, and had the presence to record these experiences. Dennir Burkitt
combined an inquisitive nature and assiduous scientific approach that went well
beyond a lab bench. Finally Dervla Murphy, beyond her obvious courage, always
took time to ask and record the stories of the people she met. All of them
combined their experiences with a broad background of knowledge on the places
they visited to give an outstanding account of their travels.
To contrast
their approaches with other, (in my opinion) less impressive journeys, is a
more challenging and less rewarding task. One could talk about Henry Stanley. During his “How I
found Livingstone” or
Congo explorations hundreds, maybe thousands of porters died to fulfil his
self-glorification and the appetites of the readers in the UK and US. More
recently, Tim Butchers Blood River highlights well the sad economic declines of
Sub-Saharan Africa throughout the mid 1970’s and 1980’s, but his haughty,
non-interactive approach to his journey is less commendable.
Sponsorship
Choosing
whether or not to be sponsored for something like this is a difficult choice. I
am not choosing to do this for the purpose of raising money – its something I
want to do because I think I will enjoy it. And therefore I feel a tinge of
guilt when asking you to sponsor something I enjoy doing. A bit like asking you
to donate when I eat Christmas Cake… I also believe that charity is not the
answer, and that we should be campaigning for a fair and equal society rather
than one in which access to water and sanitation, education and security fall
to private charity for security.
Nevertheless
reality being as it is, these freedoms are far from guaranteed for many people
and action needs to be taken sooner rather than later. We have therefore
suggested WaterAid as a charity to which you may choose to donate. To give you
an idea of the scale of the problem (taken from WaterAids website):
- 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population. (WHO/UNICEF)
- 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population. (WHO/UNICEF)
- 1.4 million children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation - 4,000 child deaths a day or one child every 20 seconds. (WHO/WaterAid)
What has WaterAid done?
- Since 1981, they have reached 15.89 million people with safe water
- Since 2004, they have reached 11.02 million people with sanitation
- In 2010/11 they reached 1.45 million people with safe water and 1.62 million people with sanitation.
- Just £15 can enable one person to access a lasting supply of safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation. (WaterAid)
With shifting climate patterns due to climate change, this problem will only continue to grow. If you do want to help this very worthy cause, please do so here.
Our Proposed Route
Finally, to outline our route (which is of course constantly under review). In short, we will be travelling through 6 countries; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa, and covering over 5000 kilometres.
We start in Kampala, travelling around
the south of Lake Victoria. Then, via Nairobi and Moshi, we travel to the coast
of Tanzania, near to Tanga. From there we travel inland, towards Mbeya and into
Malawi, along the west coast of Lake Malawi. Here we stop off in Blantyre where
we make our final dash to Maputo, and then Johannesburg.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE AND A HAPPY
NEW YEAR!
