JPFreek - Index

JPFreek - magazine - Index

The Tour d’Afrique is an annual cycling adventure unparalleled
in magnitude. The race/expedition passes through ten African
countries; Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi,
Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Each border
crossing is marked by a stark contrast in the language, food,
music, clothing, money, vegetation and geology of the previous
country. Traveling at the pace of a bicycle facilitates the
appreciation for all these changes.
Although it is a race and an expedition, this adventure is not
reserved for elite athletes. Since its inception in 2003,
participants have ranged in age from nineteen to seventy- five
and eighteen different nationalities have been represented.
Cycling ability ranges from amateur racers to purely recreational.
The supporting infrastructure permits anyone to participate. It is
a staged event, where each day the route navigation is explained
and marked. Cyclists need only carry the bare essentials as the
support trucks carry all personal equipment and the staff
prepares four meals in attempt to satisfy the participants’
insatiable appetites. The international staff consists of not just
drivers and cooks, it includes, medics, bike mechanics,
logisticians, navigators and communication specialists prepared
to deal with any situation that may arise. Owner and company
founder, Henry Gold describes it as “Ordinary people doing
something extraordinary”.
The route explores the diversity Africa’s history and wilderness.
It visits the monuments and ruins of the ancient cultures of Egypt
and provides time to enjoy the modern societies in Lusaka and
Coke stop in Sudan
Elephants in Zambia
Cape Town. Participants can retrace the footsteps of Dr.
Livingstone or sail to an island monastery on Lake Tana. The
desolation and bareness of Kenya’s Dida Galgalu lava rock desert
is juxtaposed by the fertile lands and over population of
Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains. Africa’s big five can be seen from a
bakkie in the Ngorongoro Crater, but it’s more exhilarating to
pedal past a bull elephant in the savannahs of Botswana. From
the scuba diving Mecca on the red sea to the beautiful beaches
on the Atlantic in the Western Cape, the highlights are countless.
The raw and unpredictable nature of the African continent
provides many challenges. The cycling terrain includes sandy
corrugated roads switch-backing out of a river gorge or thick red
muds that cake your drive train. Other days the tarmac is like
black silk. The climate provides extremes of
wind, rain, heat and cold, from the
sweltering humidity of Lake
Malawi to brisk starry skies
of the Nubian Desert.
Participants and
their
equipment
must be