Since we last met – and I apologize for the long hiatus on this series of interviews – Adi and Fabian cycled Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and are currently in Benin.

Following them is not only great to increase my knowledge of African geography (can’t wait to play Trivial Pursuit again) but, above all, it’s an open window to this region of Africa that only comes on the news when some sort of big tragedy happens.

I’m sure West Africa is far from being one of your “dream destinations” and that’s one more reason to let them show us a reality we wouldn’t otherwise know.

Let’s start with the mosquito in the room: Malaria. Both of you have had it several times. How are you still alive? How do you feel when you have it and how do you get rid of it?

Of course, there are people dying from Malaria, but mostly if treated too late or not at all. Normally, we feel weak, have strong headaches and eventually fever. Therefore, in case we experience those symptoms we do a Malaria quick test, which is available in every little village. For the treatment, there are several drugs with more or less the same contents in it. After 1-3 treatments with those drugs, we normally got rid of Malaria. Sometimes, after one treatment, the symptoms appear again and one has to do another treatment.

I’m sure you have been learning a lot about the West-African culture, costumes and beliefs. What are the biggest stereotypes and misconceptions you saw debunked?

Actually, the culture in West Africa is slowly dying! We expected to find more dances that are traditional, costumes and music. Unfortunately, we hardly witnessed any of that. Even in the remote areas, we stayed with villagers and did not see that kind of culture. Of course, the people love the local music, have some superstitions and in some areas, there are secret societies. Therefore, Africans definitely do not dance half-naked around a fire and hold a stick in their hands making monkey noises!

On the same topic, what has surprised you the most?

The hospitality is incredible and surprises us every day!

I believe that in Africa, more than anywhere else, it’s the people who make the places. Tell us about two or three unforgettable moments of kindness you lived during the past months.

In Mauritania, we explored the inland by hitchhiking for a change, leaving the bicycles in the capital. During these days, we encountered great hospitality and once a family even invited us for a meal, after giving us a ride. In addition, afterwards the father organized a free transport for us to the next town.

At the Gambia River, we stayed a few times in small villages without electricity or running water. The experience in one village was special, since we installed our mosquito net in the middle of the village on a platform. The chief of the village introduced us to the whole village, showed us the school and even organized a trip with a pirogue to see hippos.

During the rainy season in Liberia, we asked a family if we could stay with them for one night and they immediately accepted happily. After dinner, the eldest said we must try the African chicken and he ordered his sons to kill a chicken for us. One hour later, his wife served us another delicious and spicy meal with chicken and rice.

Now that we have learned about the people, let’s go back to the places. Landscapes, beaches, natural parks… which places have struck you as the most beautiful?

• Sahara Desert in Mauritani
• Wild Chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau
• Beaches in Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast
• Fouta Djalon Mountains in Guinea
• Elephants in Mole National Park in Ghana

A lot of scary looking food has been featured on Instagram lately and you also seem a lot skinnier. What is the staple food in West Africa, what’s the worst thing you have eaten and what gives you energy to keep going?

Especially Fabian has lost around 12 kg since the beginning of this trip and looks quite different. As we are doing a lot of sport and were sick a couple of times, Fabian’s body transformation does not surprise us. Rice is definitely the staple in West Africa. Since Ghana, maize is extremely popular and is available in various variations. The worst thing we have eaten is probably rice with a pepper sauce, which was so spicy that we could hardly eat it.

We eat a lot and accept everything as an opportunity to get energy, even if it’s undefined bush meat or unfiltered water.

Looking back to the time when you were planning your trip, how do you feel it compares to what you are actually living now? Does it correspond to your expectations? Were you naïve or realistic?

It is more or less how we imagined it. There is a difference in a way that is hard to explain. We definitely expected more rain and the humidity to be harder on us. Additionally, we thought there would be landscapes that are more interesting and bigger changes between the countries. We were probably naive in thinking to reach South Africa in 600 days, as we realized that we need more time to discover all those countries along the way.

You have passed by areas that suffered terribly with Ebola. Are there still traces of the disease and can you see its impacts on the society?

Yes, definitely! In Sierra Leone, we met many families who were suffered severe losses because of Ebola. There are many orphans and we saw street kids who will hardly have any future because they cannot afford to go to school. We are sure there was an impact on society, since so many people died. It is hard to see how it is now; we would have to stay longer in the country to get a general picture.

I’m the first one to say “nowhere is as dangerous as media portrays”, but you have passed by several war-torn countries and you will pass many more. Have you ever felt “at risk” and do you take any particular safety precautions?

We actually never felt unsafe so far. The most dangerous aspect is always the traffic, but otherwise we felt extremely safe always.

Has this trip changed your core views on life? Did it change your perspective on what you want to do once this chapter comes to an end?

Time will tell! It is too early to look back, since we are still in the middle of this amazing adventure and it will probably take time once we are back home to reflect on every aspect of this trip and life in general. Maybe we have more clear visions when the next interview is due

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The past months have been a cycling version of “Paris – Dakar”, as they have crossed Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Senegal and are now taking a break in Cape Verde (wish I could join!).

By what I saw on social media, cycling Africa really seems like a whole other level of challenge. Stronger language barriers, thousands of kilometres of emptiness and kind people seem to be some of the differences. Let them tell us the rest.

Starting in Morocco, which is a country full of life, diversity and things to see and do. Do you want to tell us about your itinerary, favourite cities (and why), landscape, food, moments…

We took the ferry to Tanger and then cycled a bit along the coast, before we cycled inland to Chefchaouen. At this point, we had to cross some hills in the Rif Mountains.

Afterwards we visited Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech. After crossing the High Atlas Mountains, we reached Quarzazate and then Zagora. From Zagora we cycled the only main road to Guelmim and then through Western Sahara.

Our favourite city was Marrakech, because of the beautiful medina with all its riads and shops. There are many tourists, but it is still quite interesting to eat the food and discover all the crazy things happening at the main square.

Landscape: High Atlas Mountains

Food: Desserts

Moment: Once, a fisherman invited us for dinner and we camped next to him. Even though he was extremely poor and had nothing, he offered us food and water. Unfortunately, we had no common language and communication was difficult.

To reach Morocco was an important milestone for us. This meant we reached Africa and therefore the second chapter or our trip, which we both looked forward to the most. When we entered Morocco, we immediately realized there were changes and we had to adapt quickly to the traffic, culture and climate.

How was it to cycle Morocco? I feel like it’s the kind of country that would attract a lot of cyclists or bike lovers. Any tips in particulars?

Morocco is very popular for cyclists from all around the World. It is no secret that this large country offers various landscapes and people are friendly and hospitable. Wild camping is possible everywhere, local food is cheap and delicious. We loved the most northern part of the Rif Mountains and then the immense High Atlas mountains after Marrakech. The desert was interesting as well and is not as boring as we thought in the beginning.

After Morocco, you cycled for thousands of kilometres in the desert. How do you cope with several days without seeing anything or anyone? What distracts you?

We realized that people have a wrong perception of the desert or at least the part where we cycled. We were surprised about the amount of people living in the desert. Every five kilometres, there was a mobile phone antenna with someone taking care of it and many people living along the road.

Some anglers live next to the steep cliffs in simple huts. Of course, we did not see many people, but every day we had at least a settlement or fuel station where we could buy water or snacks. When we had strong winds or boring landscapes, we listened to music or audiobooks.

You seemed to have some memorable moments in Mauritania. Tell us more about this country that is a complete question mark to most people.

We did not know anything about this fascinating country as well. Mauritanians are extremely friendly and interested. Hospitality is extremely important culturally and we had very warm encounters with locals. The country is rich in resources like iron, gold, nickel and fish, but still ranks among the poorest countries in Africa. Political and ethnical problems make the development hard.

Mauritania offers various kinds of landscapes. On one side, there is the desert with huge and endless sand dunes. In the inland there are rock cliffs and green oasis filled with palm trees and dromedaries.

Somewhere along your journey, you have decided to take a train in the desert. Why did you do it and how epic was it?

At some point in Morocco, we decided to explore the inland of Mauritania without the bicycles. As we cycled a lot in the Sahara we didn’t want to cycle the same route twice in the desert of Mauritania.

Then we read about the iron ore train, which connects the coast to the inland. This was the perfect opportunity to explore the inland by public transportation and take the crazy ride on this train.

The ride was adventurous, since we had to climb the waggon ourselves. Of course, the waggons were full of powdered iron ore and we had to sleep on a huge pile of it. Completely covered in black powder, we looked like miners when we arrived after a long night on the shaky and windy train. Afterwards, we had to wash all our clothes and sleeping bags several times.

Up to now, what were the main difficulties you found in Africa? How did you overcome them?

The biggest problem was to find good food and water in the Sahara and Mauritania in general. In the shops, they only sell things like cookies or sweets, which are tasty, and we like it, but when you cycle you do not get a full stomach from that.

Now that you have reached Senegal, are there any outstanding differences between this country and the previous ones you travelled in (in Africa)?

We expected a big change when crossing the border from Mauritania to Senegal, but it was not as extreme as we imagined. The most prominent change was that all people had dark skin in comparison to only a minority in Mauritania. Additionally, there are more people living in Senegal and the vegetation is greener again.

In Mauritania, there were not many large villages or towns. In Senegal, there was a village every couple of kilometres and mostly full of people. People in Senegal, especially women wear colourful dresses every day. The dresses are more formfitting and a bit more revealing than in the previous countries.

Now, the part I really care about: how’s Cabo Verde?! What are your plans there besides not doing anything?

Cape Verde consists of ten mostly diverse islands and all of them offer different landscapes and things to do and see. We definitely relaxed quite a lot by our standards, but hiked a lot on Santo Antão and Santiago too. There are many different trails for hiking and the ones we did were beautiful.

Surprisingly, the islands we visited (Santiago, Santo Antão, Sao Vicente) are quite green even though there is almost no precipitation all year round. Local farmers are able to harvest bananas, coffee, avocados, papayas and mangos. In Santiago, we relaxed at the beach in the small village of Tarrafal and enjoyed the local cuisine.

When are you going to be back on the road and when are you planning to finish?

After two weeks travelling around Senegal and two weeks in Cape Verde we are really looking forward to cycle again. The plan is to go back to cycling after more two days in Dakar that means around the 21^st of February. We really need to clean our bikes and organize our gear again.

Our original plan was to arrive in Cape Town in the beginning of 2020. However, we realized that most Visas on the way there are quite expensive and we did not plan a lot of time in some of those countries. In addition, we want to travel around the countries too and really discover each country and use the Visas we get. We do not know exactly when we will reach Cape Town. Maybe spring 2020.

Can I meet you in South Africa? Just checked and there are very cheap return flights from London (direct!!)

Yes, this would be awesome!!

Follow these guys in:

Blog: www.cape2cape.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Cape2Cape.org/
Instagram: @cycling_cape2cape

The post [EN] Cycling Cape 2 Cape: The beginning of Africa and loads of desert appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

One of these awesome people I’ve met is Adi. We met in Borneo for no longer than one day but we kept in touch for what it has been, today, more than one year. And now he’s doing one of the most incredible things I’ve ever heard of: A trip from Nordkapp (North Cape) in Norway to Cape Town in South Africa by bike.

Isn’t it the coolest thing ever?

And because I like to share cool things with you, I’ve partnered up with Adi to have a monthly (more realistically, maybe every 3 months) update on their trip here on Mudanças Constantes. To kick things off, an interview about the project and how they are making it happen.

Let’s start with the introductions: who are you guys? Names, cities, age, jobs, horoscope signs, weird tattoos… Give us a quick bio!

We are Adrian (28) and Fabian (29) from a small village in Switzerland called Buchrain. We both quit our jobs for this adventure. Adrian was working as a research assistant in aquatic research and Fabian worked as a wood construction technician.

And a little curiosity: Adrian has a tattoo on his foot with the outline of Switzerland.

Now that we are acquainted, how the hell did you come up with this idea? Have you done any long bike trips before?  

The process started a while back, maybe 3 to 4 years ago. We started to think about a long bike journey first and then later decided to go from North to South instead of going West or East. Upon this we did a test tour 3 years ago in the Baltics for about 2 weeks to see how it feels and if we would like to do this of traveling for a longer period of time. This trip was the longest bike trip we both did, up to this point. Eventually, we started planning the Cape 2 Cape trip with more details and now we are finally about to start.

What does it take to prepare a trip like this? For how long have you been planning, what have been your main difficulties at this stage?

The detailed planning started last summer and it got more intense in 2018. We planned the possible route, equipment, insurances, visas, bank accounts and other administrative things. The main difficulty was to find out if it would be possible to arrange the visas on the way and where. Up to this day, we still don’t have much information on how and where we can get visas for most African countries.

 Do you have your plan all sorted out? Or do you have some room for changes?

We just created a preliminary time plan and route to have a rough idea about how long it could take us. On the way we want to be flexible and change the route as much as we want, according to new information of locals or just the daily mood.

If you want to check our detailed planned route click here.

Right now, what’s your route? Number of countries, kilometres, days, dates…

We will fly to Tromsø and then go as far North as possible by ferry, a 16 hours ride! On the North Cape we will start cycling South through northern Europe, do a detour on the UK and Ireland, then cross France and Spain before we cross over to Morocco. Afterwards, we will cycle the west coast of the African continent until we reach Cape Town. We plan to cycle more than 30’000 km crossing 30 countries in about 600 days.

And what are you looking forward to the most in your trip? And the least?

While I (Adrian) am particularly looking forward to see Ireland, Scotland and Africa in general, Fabian can’t wait to experience the African culture. We are both concerned about the headwind in general and kids throwing rocks in Morocco (something we’ve heard about).

I’m a bit of a loser when it comes to bikes, but what’s your equipment? Talk to all the cyclists out there!

There is a lot to think about when it comes to the equipment for such a trip. I won’t go into details, since we will put all the equipment and the corresponding brands on the website. We are using rear panniers, handlebar bag and a huge dry bag on top of the rear panniers. A tent, cooking materials, sleeping bag, and air mattress are basic equipment we both need every day. Each one of us is carrying between 30-40 kg and in Africa we will have to carry even more.

If other crazy bike fellows want to join you on the road how can they reach you?

There are many ways to reach us. Facebook,  Instagram,  or using the contact form on the website .

And finally, with this huge adventure ahead, are you particularly nervous about anything?

Adrian: I get a bit nervous when I start thinking about the rainy season in Sub-Saharan countries as the “roads” tend to change into impassable trails.

Fabian: I am not very excited about the mosquitoes in Scandinavia and the humidity in the Tropical regions in Africa.

And that’s it! Hope you have enjoyed getting to know these brave guys and their awesome project! Keep up with them through social media and go give them some love!

Hopefully in the next months we get a second interview to know their stories! Have an awesome trip guys!

Boa viagem

The post [EN] A trip of a lifetime: a bike journey from Cape 2 Cape appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.