johnbyronkuhner.com

Could you cycle this? Yes, you probably could. But watch out for the lions - it's Addo Elephant National Park.

Porto San Giorgio June 26th.

We came down to the water-hole after lunch at the lodge to look at the animals – the lodge is sited on a ridge above this water-hole – and found ourselves surrounded by birds, begging for a bit of our orange (I took a video of one particularly vocal cara avis, but my computer is refusing to upload video files). As we sat there, a beautiful woman sat down on another bench right by us, and we started talking. Her name was Sophie. She had the willingness to engage which is the sign of a solo traveller.

It turns out she had cycled to Addo from Cape Town, a distance of 500 miles. And it seems she had done it almost unexpectedly, as adventurous people often do things: not much planning had gone into it. A friend had invited her down to South Africa – she was from Belgium – to do some housesitting. She had stayed for awhile, and then a bike fell into her hands, and she decided to go see some of the coast.  Off she went.

“I had heard that you can’t bike into the park,” she said, “but I figured out a way to get past the guard and I was going to do it until I heard that there was a group of lions hanging out right by the park entrance. So I decided to hitch a ride into the park rather than bike in.” This sounded like a good choice.

We discussed her experiences so far – everyone, she said, had been wonderful – and the fears which keep people back. I asked her what the plan was from here. “Probably to go all the way to Mozambique,” she replied. “Everyone says I shouldn’t do it, it’s too dangerous, you really can’t do it, but that’s what everyone has said about the whole trip. And I haven’t had any problems at all.” I noted that she was correct, that everything I had seen between Cape Town and Addo revealed a great cycling route – plentiful restaurants and accommodation, fabulous scenery, good wine, good roads, etc. But I also noted that people had told me – though I did not know for sure – that the stretch from here to Mozambique included some areas supposedly much less hospitable for cyclists, the “wild coast” where there was little development and much rural poverty. The coast was supposed to be highly indented as well, and the roads slower. Meanwhile, further along, near Mozambique, were tropical wetlands where malaria might be a possibility. I noted that we had driven the inland route, Route 62, and it would probably be another fabulous cycling route, if she wanted an alternative to the Wild Coast.

She didn’t seem too worried about it. I’ve met other people like her – people who mix bravery with what seems to me a bit of recklessness. It seemed to be working very well for her. We are probably far too fearful, and underestimate the extent of the possible.  That said, I still guessed that the smart thing was to head back via 62, and I suggested as much.  It’s not that other things are impossible: it’s just that it is not always worthwhile to pay their cost.