Cairo to Cape Town and Back Home Again

After a couple of weeks back in Okotoks, it seems time for some final reflections on our adventure in Africa.  To start off, a few numbers:

-over 11,000 kilometres cycled

-89 cycling days

-28 rest days (we needed every one of them!)

-4 transit days (bus, ferry)

-77 nights of camping

-43 non-camping nights in accommodation ranging from icky hotel rooms to a luxury safari tent

It is wonderful to be back home with family and friends nearby but I feel kind of...restless, so it must be time to plan another trip!  Deciding to sign up for the TDA gave me the challenge of a lifetime and I was glad to find myself able to persevere through the 121 days and enjoy 99.9% of my time in Africa.  I guess life is like that; not every moment is wonderful but the bad ones make the good ones that much more appreciated.  Travelling by bike through the 10 countries gave me a new understanding of the realities of life for many people less lucky than I.  We live lives of privilege here due to little more than the good luck of being born in Canada. Despite their sometimes precarious circumstances, the people we met were generally kind, courteous and interested in us.  Some time and distance has even mellowed my perception of the children of Ethiopia, but I may not go back there anytime soon.  I hope to return to Africa one day, to spend more time in the places that truly enthralled us and and to delve a little deeper into understanding the infuriating complexity of a vibrant, noisy, dusty and very real continent.

We have been asked to participate in the grand opening celebrations of Ridley's Cycle in Okotoks with a few photos and stories of the Tour d'Afrique - I will post the details here when I have them.