The Tour d Afrique bicycle expedition commenced on the 16th of January under the watchful eye of the Sphinx in Cairo, Egypt and will finish in the beautiful cosmopolitan city of Cape Town, South Africa on 17 May.

This is the 3rd Tour d’Afrique bicycle expedition whose objectives are:
• To raise funds for the purchase of bicycles for HIV/AIDS health care workers    living in rural areas of Africa where sustainable transport is crucial for    provision of the necessary health care.
• To donate a shipment of bicycles to the National Council of Women whilst in    Kenya as part of a programme whose aim is to donate more than 100    bicycles per country to be used by health workers in seven different    countries in Africa
• To promote the use of human powered transportation for adventure, as a    sustainable transport alternative, as a tool to improve the quality of life and as    a means of preservation of the African wildness and biodiversity
• To demonstrate that travel through Africa is a real adventure, and that cycling    is a healthy sustainable way to challenge one’s body, test the depth of the    human spirit and enhance the health of the cyclist whilst he/she experiences    the world’s most exotic and alluring continent first hand.

The SuperSport Channel on DStv is dedicated to all sport and the uplifting effect it has on people across the African continent and is therefore happy to support this extreme sport initiative as it journeys from Cairo to Cape and touches the lives of people in Africa.

It is the third year that cyclists will brave the route from Cairo to Cape Town that will take them across some of the harshest and also some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world.

Cycling through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, intrepid adventurers prove that it is possible to cross the African content by bicycle in four months via a safe a mode of transportation that will lead the way to the future of the bicycle in eco-friendly tourism.

The cyclists will spend four months on the road cycling for around 130km’s per day for five days in a row. They will then have two days of rest as long as they have covered enough km’s to allow them to finish the stipulated 11 400km’s on time.

Tour d’ Afrique presents an opportunity for individuals to pit their endurance against themselves and others. The tour also acts as a vehicle for the promotion of the bicycle as an affordable, healthy and sustainable mode of transportation. The car that has taken over as the preferred vehicle of transportation in our world has brought with it grid-locked traffic congestion, air pollution, bad debt and road rage.

The bicycle offers an alternative, healthy mode of transportation that brings man closer to the workings of his natural body and in return promotes a sustainable environment. A collaboration between the Tour d’ Afrique, the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN), and the ITDP has ensured that bicycles will be distributed to health care workers all along the route of the tour. The National Council of Woman of Kenya were the proud recipient of bicycles in Nairobi on the 18th of March.

A press conference and welcome reception hosted at the luscious campers heaven - Upper Hill Campsite - on Menengai Road, Nairobi celebrated the event. The cyclists arrived at the campground from Thika road to a warm welcome, a much needed cold drink and delicious snack, and rest in the hot afternoon sun.

Cyclists on tour hail from South Africa, the UK, Canada, the USA, Holland, Sweden, and the UK. Young and old put their lives on hold for four months for the opportunity of a lifetime to traverse the continent that gave birth to mankind.

The tour is not without its trials and tribulations. With recorded temperatures soaring to 40degrees at times, cyclists consume around 16 liters of water a day. They burn calories faster than the weigh-less calculator can add up. A cyclist from the UK, David Houghton, dryly remarked that: “food never tasted so good, we are eating anything that is not nailed down”

Thus far, cycling through the nearly non-existent roads of the Sudan has proved to be the toughest. At one point in time cyclists were given only a few liters of water a day for drinking and bathing. The body’s need for fluid took control and one cyclist decided to drink his rations and bathe in the leftover dishwater. The next morning he had spaghetti bolognaise sliding down his cycling shorts, but his thirst was quenched – for now.

Aris Block, a Dutch cyclist had a lethal encounter with another cyclist in Egypt that left his collarbone broken. He had to be airlifted to Holland. Three weeks later the brave Dutchman rejoined the group in Sudan to only suffer another break in Ethiopia. He is not easily deterred and is recovering in Kenya, eager to join the tour from there.

Follow their brave journey on www.tourdafrique.com. Pictures of printing quality may be downloaded from www.tourdafrique.com/05media.htm

Please contact the tour’s communication team Astrid Stark and Theresa Brown at astridstark@gmail.com or teebrown@gmail.com.

They were available at the following Kenya number: 072 492 6234 in the month of March. Their South African number is +27 (0) 84 400 42 11. See also www.benbikes.org for more information on the NGO that they work closely with in the distribution of the bicycles to health care workers.

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