Travel always involves many moving parts, enough that the adventure will always be unpredictable. The best you can do is be informed enough to ballpark the sorts of unpredictability you will encounter, and have some ideas about how to respond. When it comes to bicycling across Africa, my partner and I are less prepared than usual simply because there are more moving parts than usual. We know things like how to ride a bicycle, how to change a flat, and how to spend extended periods of time living out of a tent. We’re learning things like how to to align a drive train derailleur and repair a tubeless tire. We know things about Africa that you can read about in books and see in documentaries, but very little about the practical minutia of navigating the continent day-to-day.
On the one hand, I wonder if it is disrespectful to arrive to a place so naive. On the other hand, there is no other way to learn than through experience. That’s really the thesis behind all of these adventures–to have experiences. Experience is all we get in this lifetime, good ones, bad ones, and everything in between. All I can say is that the more I experience, the more I feel present in this life. The more I share experiences with others, the more I can connect. The more experiences I have, the easier it is to relate to humanity in each person I meet. If there was something else we were supposed to do with this life, I missed the memo, because as far as I can tell getting out there and being alive is all there is.
So we’re diving into Africa and long-distance cycling relatively unprepared, but is there really any other way to do it?
While waiting on bikes and parts, instead of twiddling our thumbs we rented a car in Johannesburg and drove out to South Africa’s massive Kruger National Park (it’s bigger than the state of Connecticut). This proved to be a great way to experience the wildlife of African Savanna up close and personal, without guides or tours or much structure. The park has simple rules. Stay on the roads. Never step outside of your vehicle. Camp only in designated sites. No driving at night. That’s it. These axioms appeared to suffice for maintaining a wild and free ecosystem that could be experienced through observation. Nevertheless, often animals were close enough to the road that you could experience an unambiguous and mutual regard. There’s nothing quite like it.
the first fool 