Take On Africa

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The ride from Labe through the heart of the Fouta Djalon hills towards Kindia in the south of Guinea was simply stunning. The photos don’t really do the place justice unfortunately, but perhaps they give an idea of what it was like. The journey took longer than expected, primarily because one day we ended up [...]

3 weeks, 4 countries, 7 boat rides, 1200km cycled. There have been good days and bad days, the best days and worst ones. At times it’s been tough and tiring, and yes there have even been tears. At times it’s been thrilling and exciting, and I’ve thought I must be the luckiest person alive. All [...]

A lot has been and gone since the last update… 3 weeks, 4 countries, 7 boat rides, 1200km cycled. There have been good days and bad days, the best days and worst ones. At times it’s been tough and tiring, and yes there have even been tears. At times it’s been thrilling and exciting, and [...]

Soulful St. Louis Arriving in St. Louis was the best introduction to Senegal I could have hoped for. We crossed the bridge from the mainland having weaved our way through the bustling market between the donkey-carts and equally slow-moving black and yellow taxi cabs congesting the roads. Over on the island, the pace of life [...]

“Knowledge is like a Baobab tree, one person’s arms cannot encompass it.” – African proverb On the ride from St. Louis towards The Gambia, we have passed many impressive baobab trees and one evening we even camped beneath one.  I thought I’d share with you some of the photos… The Baobab tree, Adansonia digitata, can [...]

Since my last update in Nouakchott, where I signed off at the point of disembarkation of the iron-ore train with decision to take a bush-taxi to Atar in the depths of the Mauritanian desert rather than cycle the 120km piste, so much has happened I don’t quite know where to begin or what to write [...]

This is Africa After spending the best part of a week travelling through the desolate desert, arriving in Nouadhibou was an assault on the senses…. it felt like we had finally arrived in Africa: battered cars weaving down the dusty roads, swerving now and then to avoid an overloaded, donkey-pulled, rickety, wooden cart; the drivers [...]

Gateway to the Sahara Guelmim, the ‘gateway to the Sahara’ as it is known, which hints at it’s former importance as a trading post on the caravan routes of old, had few distractions for a solo cyclist like myself. I spent little more than 24 hours in town and fairly evenly divided this time between [...]

Climbing the argan tree The landscape from Essaouira to Agadir was dominated by the Argan tree, which is indigenous to this region and similar to the olive tree. I passed the occasional shepherd by his flock of goats, who seem to find the fruit a plentiful delicacy. The goats could be seen not only reaching [...]

Yes, you’ve guessed correctly, it’s another anecdote involving food. I’m gathering quite a collection of these, but for now, I’ll just share the latest fruit fiasco. I spent a couple of days cycling from Tiznit to Guelmim recently – Two small towns in southern Morocco, which have little to entice tourists who aren’t on a [...]