The ultimate road trip: 12,500 miles across Africa on a motorcycle

by Sean McLachlan on

Thomas Tomczyk is serious about motorcycles. He’s done three motorcycle trips across India, from the steamy southern tip all the way up to the frozen highlands of Ladakh. Now he’s starting his childhood dream–an epic trip 12,500 miles (20,000 km) across Africa.

His zigzag tour will take in 22 African nations including South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, the Saharawi Republic, and Morocco. . .

. . .before he ends up skinny, exhausted, and happy at my house in Spain, where my wife will fatten him up with her excellent paella.

Full disclosure: Thomas is a friend of mine. We covered the massive Hindu pilgrimage of Kumbh Mela together in 2001 and barely managed not to get trampled to death by hordes of naked holy men. But even if I didn’t know him, this trip is so thoroughly cool I would have reported on it anyway.

Thomas isn’t just going on vacation; he’ll be visiting innovative grassroots projects that are making life better for the average African. Through his website Africa Heart Beat he’ll be telling us about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, such as creating a job center for landmine victims in Mozambique, an AIDS theater group in Botswana, and a Muslim-Christian vocational center in Mali that’s bringing the two communities together.

“The idea of crossing Africa came to me when I was 10,” Thomas says.”A large map of the world hung above my bed in a small Warsaw apartment. I would study the geography of each continent, its road and railroad network. The most prominent continent would be Africa, placed in the middle of the map, right above where my head would rest on the pillow. The idea stayed in my mind for years. I would eventually learn to ride motorcycles in India and cover the Horn of Africa for publications in Poland and US. In January 2009 my grandmother passed away and I decided it was time to do the trek I’ve been thinking about for so long. Traveling for travel’s sake was past me, and I decided I needed to find a purpose as I travel, something that would give meaning to the journey and benefit others.”

While 20,000 km is a long way to ride, he’s done it before in India. His longest journey there was 20,000 km on a 1950s technology 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet. I’ve ridden that bike and it’s a monster– heavy and tough enough for the task. This time he’ll be probably picking up a KTM 640 LC Adventure, a lighter but rugged off-road bike from a dealer in South Africa when he flies there Thanksgiving Day.

He’ll be crossing some very remote areas but will keep in touch as much as possible with an array of communications equipment. There will be regular updates on his blog, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. On the day after Thanksgiving, when Thomas is safely in Johannesburg and on the first day of his eight-month journey I’ll be writing about some of the gear he’s bringing along and share some advice he has for covering your own journeys as you do them.

Know of a project Thomas should cover? Tell us about it in the comments section!

Terror warning for northern Mali, Timbuktu

by Sean McLachlan on

Timbuktu and northern Mali have long been attractive to adventure travelers, but now the United Kingdom is warning Westerners not to go there for fear of terror attacks.

The travel advisory, which you can read here, states that the provinces north of the River Niger, including Timbuktu, are the operating grounds for the terror group Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Magreb. On January 22 of this year they kidnapped a group of Western tourists near the Mali-Niger border and later murdered a British national. The advisory also warns that two popular festivals, The Festival in the Desert and Sahara Nights, are in the danger zone and should be avoided.

This is such a shame, as Timbuktu, shown here, is a World Heritage Site and the Festival in the Desert is one of Africa’s best music gatherings. Mali is a poor nation and people need the hard currency that tourism brings. It seems that once again the actions of a few criminals are ruining it for the decent folk.

Have you been to Mali? Did you feel safe? Tell us about your experiences in the comments section.

Still traveling on $5-a-day budget, but switch dollars for euros

by Jamie Rhein on

Back in September of 2005, Adrienne wrote about Leon Logothetis, the ultimate frugal traveler who travels on $5 a day and the kindness of strangers for his show Amazing Adventures of a Nobody. Three and a half years later, he’s still at it, but he traded the $5 dollars for 5 euros for his journey from Paris to Moscow.

In this New York Times Q & A article, Logothetis, talks about his experiences and offers tips.

If reading that it’s possible to travel on just $5 a day gets you feeling excited and ready to sling on a backpack, consider Logothetis’s answer to what you can do on such a modest amount.

“Nothing.”

At least you can’t without help. Logothetis recounts how he has been given places to stay, been fed and offered rides. He’s found Americans particularly generous.

One tip he has for anyone who is relying on others is to not be upset if someone says “no.”

Reading about Leon’s experiences reminded me of my trip to Mali with a Peace Corps friend. We had very little money and wanted to budget most of our cash for the journey to Timbuktu. One night in Mopti, we slept at a guest house on a sheet covered mattress out on the balcony. Even that cost $1.50 or so, and that was years ago. I remember shining my flashlight of the bathroom, just big enough for the toilet, in order to get the roaches to scurry away. There was a certain thrill from seeing just how little we could spend and how much frugality we could stand. It was kind of fun in a sick sort of way.

The new season of Amazing Adventures of a Nobody airs on Fox Reality Channel starting on January 25.

From London to Timbuktu in a Flying Car

by Kraig Becker on

British adventurer Neil Laughton will begin a unique odyssey tomorrow. The former special forces officer will depart from London on his way to Timbuktu, located in the African country of Mali, and while a journey like this one is interesting in and of itself, it is Laughton’s mode of transportation that really sets it apart.

Laughton will be traveling in a specially designed dune buggy dubbed the Skycar, which is a cross between an off-road vehicle and a paraglider. Utalizing a giant parachute and a large fan mounted on the back of the car, the driver is able to take flight, transitioning from the ground to the air in just three minutes. While in flight mode, it typically cruises between 2000 and 3000 feet, but can reach altitudes as high as 15,000 feet. All the while running on biofuel, making this an environmentally friendly endevour.The 4000 mile expedition is expected to take roughly 42 days, traveling from London to France, Spain, Morrocco, Mauritania and of course Mali. The return trip will also pass through Senegal as well. Much of that distance will be covered on the ground, where the Skycar can reach speeds of up to 108 mph, but Laughton will pilot his flying car over the Pyrenees, followed by the Strait of Gibralter, and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, although Laughton hasn’t ruled out taking to the sky at other times as well.

The team behind the Skycar sees this adventure as a shakedown cruise to test out their little toy. If all goes well, they intend to sell the vehicle to the general public, hoping to get as much as $75,000 for a car that can literally take you just about anywhere.

You can track the expedition’s progress on the official website.

[via the BBC (video included with story)]

One Day in Africa: Lives of six ordinary Africans

by Jamie Rhein on

When I watched the trailer of One Day in Africa, the latest documentary of Brook Silva-Braga, the resonance of village and city life in most African countries was immediately evident. It’s a resonance that often doesn’t make headline news. It resides in the pattern of each day that starts before the sun comes up when Africans, in particular women, get busy.

The shot of women pounding grain comes to mind. When I lived in a Gambian village for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, the thwack of a wooden pestle against a mortar as it removed husks from grain was like a heartbeat.

What Silva-Braga shows about African life is that it has rhythm and cadence and is not totally embroiled with AIDS and poverty. There is another theme to explore, one that involves the complex melding of African traditions with the modern world.

Sure AIDS, poverty and violence do exist, but they are not what Brook Silva-Braga set out to show in his second film project. His first film, A Map for Saturday, was a documentary about around the world travel–his and others. That film included every continent except Africa.

One Day in Africa is a companion project in a way, but the focus is different. In this latest project, Silva-Braga got up close and personal with his subjects– six Africans, both men and women, whose stories are typical of the stories of others who live in this vast continent. [For the trailer, keep reading.]

These six could be like any other six, but in their typicality, their uniqueness also comes through. Athough their lives may not look anything like ours, the essence of what they are after is recognizable. How they resonate in their own lives is an alluring tale.

  • Titus, a store owner in Kisumu, Kenya has just reopened his store after it was ransacked during the presidential election. For him, life is about moving forward.
  • Howa, a young woman in Farge-Fundu, Niger starts her household chores at dawn in a place where it’s hard to imagine that anything could grow in the dry landscape.
  • Bridgete, a pregnant woman in Lilongwe, Malawi is hoping for a son and is unsure how she will get to the hospital since her husband is a bit lackluster about the idea of driving her to the hospital in his taxi.
  • Sali, a university educated woman in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, has high expectations despite living in a mostly male dominated culture
  • Osman, a merchant in Fez, Morocco, has many “brothers” who help him sell his goods to tourists.
  • Brahim, a farmer in N-8, Mali, feeds a family of fourteen from his efforts

From the snippet I saw, part of the film’s charm and interest lies with Silva-Braga’s questioning of the subjects. As they go about their day, his voice is heard asking them questions about how they see their lives. Through the interactions, the viewer is led into the intimacy of conversations that are similar to the swirl of dialogue that happens around us every day. Conversations about life, hairstyles, work and the mundane.

Look for the film’s screening schedule on March 1 at the One Day in Africa website. It will be making the rounds at various film festivals.

Brook Silva-Braga graced Gadling with a stint as a guest blogger in 2007. His posts, grouped together as the series “Across Northern Europe,” are a thinking person’s missives about aspects of travel. Reading them is also a look into Silva-Braga’s head, not a bad place from which to view the world.