Take On Africa

You are browsing the archives of Africa.

I’ve just created a short video of the cycle from Morocco through the Western Sahara and Mauritania. You can check it out on my new website: Helen’s Take On… video of Cycling Across the Sahara

I’ve just put together some short videos I took while on the Niger River… unseen footage until now… You can check it out here on my new website: Helen’s Take On…

The big question (when you arrive is Cape Town after 20 months cycling nearly 25,000km) is ‘What next?’ Well, here’s the answer…. http://helenstakeon.com/blog/whats-next/ As you can see, I’ve set up a new website for my new adventures. I’ll keep this Take On Africa website live, but most things I post from now on will be [...]

Keen shoes – Targhee II I just love Keen shoes! These lasted the duration of the trip – that’s over 24,000km of cycling and walking when the roads were too bad to ride. Through torrential downpours, river crossings, muddy tracks and sandy paths. Ok, so they’re very worn now and I’ll need a new pair [...]

Tent – MSR Hubba Hubba This tent was a great choice – a two-man tent which is free-standing and can be put up inner only meets all the needs of travelling in Africa. The inner, a mesh material, acts as a mosquito net – I frequently put this up on beds in cheap hotels where [...]

Cape Town!! I made it. After 24,600km and 1000+ beers! It’s a great feeling! Anyway, here are some pics from the last bit of the trip from Namibia into South Africa and along the West Coast. I spent the weekend by the Berg river in Velddrif (Thanks to Rusty, Kim and co who put me [...]

I spent a week in Luderitz – a quaint, quiet town. Perfect for relaxing. Photos of the last part of the trip coming soon…

Not much mentioning of the bike recently? Apart from one puncture (the first since Ghana, 8,000km ago) it’s been a smooth ride. Good tarmac roads since I left Lubumbashi – that’s 3,000km of excellent roads – and barely a hill in sight. Easy pedalling. Time to think; time to look around. Time to ponder and [...]

From Sesriem I took a short trip to Sossuvlei to see the dunes there. Pretty stunning but dunes nonetheless. And I’ve seen a lot of dunes now! But with all the rain there was a lake where the river ended and well, that was rather nice. After that, it was a real slog south to [...]

Three tiresome days from the coast in the direction of the Gamsberg Pass and I arrived at Rooisand Lodge. No, there’s no camping here. Oh. I asked to fill up my waterbottles instead. Instead, Tobias the manager said they were closing due to change of ownership but if I wanted there was a room (with [...]