From Istanbul we turned south toward the Mediterranean Sea then followed the coast through Southern Turkey in to Syria. Moving inland we crossed in to Jordan, skirted the edge of the Dead Sea, and then finished our Middle Eastern tour at the ferry port in Aqaba at Jordan’s southern tip.
Our second ferry took us to Nuweiba, Egypt - our point of entry into Africa. From there we headed west to Cairo where we picked up the Nile and followed it past the pyramids, through the Valley of the Kings to the port of Aswan. From there, our third and final ferry took us across Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa, Sudan – Africa’s largest country.
We continued following the Nile’s southerly course through the searing heat of the Nubian Desert to Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. A few miles from there the Nile splits in to its White and Blue tributaries. Our route followed the Blue Nile in to the highlands of Ethiopia, up to Africa’s highest capital - Addis Ababa.
From the cooling heights of Ethiopia we descended south in to the scorching lowlands of Kenya. Passing through the equator we turned south west toward the Masai Mara to visit the game reserves. We then veered around Lake Victoria, through Uganda and Rwanda to Tanzania.
Western Tanzania provided the most challenging riding of the trip. Hundreds of miles of dusty sandy tracks, interspersed with wildlife parks. It was not plain sailing. The bumpy roads took their toll on the bikes, and led to one of our number - Yarema - losing a pannier containing all his ID documents. Yarema embarked on a lone detour to Dar-es-Salaam, insisting that the others - Tyson and Tom - continued south through Malawai. But soon, their journey came to an abrupt halt too. Starved of oil, Tom's bike gave up the chase just a few miles north of the capital.
With Tom's bike languishing in Lilongwe, the pair continued on, riding two-up through Zambia. Yarema all but caught them up, having completed his mammoth detour. But time pressures and further paperwork delays meant the reunion was not to be - meaning the team completed the final leg of the journey separately. Yarema travelling through the boundless canyons of Nambia, and Tom and Tyson crossing the salt pans of Botswana. Collectively they reached the southern tip of Africa - Cape Agulhas - before rounding off their journey in Cape Town.
In total we covered 15,000 miles and passed through 25 countries. By starting in Europe we eased in to the journey on well maintained roads, but as we headed further south the terrain became significantly more challenging. That partly reflected climate and topography, but it also reflected road quality and the relative wealth of the countries we were visiting. As we travelled further south from the affluence of Europe, living standards clearly fell. Looking at the chart below, the drop in income per person is startling.
From Sudan to Zambia, the average person can afford to buy less than one sixteenth of what those in the UK or Canada can afford. Moreover, this decline in income is accompanied by a dramatic drop in life expectancy. For the 280 million people that live in the countries from Sudan to Namibia, the average life expectancy is just 46 – barely half that in Western Europe.
But charities such as Riders for Health and Dignitas are playing an important role in turning that situation around. By providing an effective and efficient mode of transport to get health care to those who need it most, Riders for Health have had a significant impact on the lives of thousands of Africans. Similarly, Dignitas has saved countless lives by training health care workers and providing life-saving antiretroviral drugs all across Africa. More information on these well-deserving charities can be found on our fundraising page. Your life saving support is much appreciated.