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

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!

Word for the Travel Wise (06/11/06)

Last week sometime Brendan Hayes of Young Heores stumbled upon my last siSwati lesson and had a thing or two to add about visiting the site to learn the language. He recommends anybody with a true interest in visiting Swaziland consider volunteer travel to help save the life of an orphan. Apparently there are some 70,000 orphans in Swaziland due to the high rate of HIV/AIDS in the country and with numbers that large I’d say it’s time we all try to take action. Check out the website for additional details on how to help.

Today’s word is a siSwati word used in Swaziland:

kukhuluma – to speak

Also known as Swati, Swazi, and Seswati; siSiwati is a Bantu language from the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa. There are an estimated 1,706,924 speakers across the four countries and is listed as an official language in South Africa and Swaziland only. There are a few sites to visit to assist in learning this African tongue. Start with the Swaziland tourism site. The homepage has a sample dialog including the response to today’s word. Young Heroes has their site set up to learn one word a day, but you can refresh as many times as you wish in one day to learn multiple. Lastly, I would search around Amazon more, but this Essential siSwati might be a good start for those really wanting to learn.

Past siSwati words: ninjani

Word for the Travel Wise (04/02/06)

Score! Another cool African language to enhance our experience on the diverse continent. This one comes from southern Africa and is spoken in a country that has one of the only three monarchies left in Africa. Know where it is? I mentioned a popular festival called Umhlanga held every August in the area not too long ago. You can check that here if you missed it, but enough guessing games for now.

Today’s word is a siSwati word used in Swaziland:

Ninjani – How are you?

Also known as Swati, Swazi, and Seswati; siSiwati is a Bantu language from the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa. There are an estimated 1,706,924 speakers across the four countries and is listed as an official language in South Africa and Swaziland only. There are a few sites to visit to assist in learning this African tongue. Start with the Swaziland tourism site. The homepage has a sample dialog including the response to today’s word. Young Heroes has their site set up to learn one word a day, but you can refresh as many times as you wish in one day to learn multiple. Lastly, I would search around Amazon more, but this Essential siSwati might be a good start for those really wanting to learn.

Africa Travel: Swaziland

Beyond going to Africa to
experience the big game, more than anything I would just love to be a fly on the wall and people-watch. For me Africa
is all about culture an diverse tribes and peoples from country to country. Every year a major ceremony called Umhlanga or the Reed Dance takes place during a week at the end
of August or early September. Women of marriageable age gather at the Queen Mother’s residence to set out in parties to
gather reeds. After a few nights pass they will return with the reeds to prepare elaborate costumes like the ones seen
here for dancing. To our advantage one needn’t be a fly on the wall to have the opportunity to view or photographer the
festivities. So long as you register at the Tourist Office one can experience this unique glimpse of Swaziland.

Swaziland is one of Africa’s smallest
countries
located in Southern Africa, between Mozambique and South Africa and of of the last three with a remaining
monarch. For additional info on Swaziland and their traditional ceremonies visit their tourism site here.