Let me start off with a
hypothetical situation. I'm two years younger sitting in some strange
hippie looking woman’s caravan. She calls herself a fortune teller
and I'm there awaiting to hear my future (obviously). As I'm watching
her look into her crystal ball she starts to explain that in two
years time I will be sitting on a computer, in the middle of
Khartoum, posting on my very own blog. She goes on to... Wow, hold
up, pump the brakes, let's evaluate this first statement. First of
all I would look at her as if she's mad because I don't even know
what country Khartoum is in let alone what continent it's on.
Secondly I would have to assess whether she's been smoking something
dubious as I'm definitely not the type of person who spends much time
on a computer. Thirdly I would have a little chuckle to myself as I
considered the incomprehensibly minute possibility of this trifecta
placing before a more likely and plausible scenario. Lastly I would
probably get up and leave, feeling somewhat sorry for the crazy woman
and her incompetence. I probably wouldn't even demand my money back
as whatever I paid must surely have been worth listening to the
foolery that escaped her lips.
Yet lo and behold here
I am sitting on a computer, in the middle of Khartoum, posting on my
very own blog. Truth be told, the only reason for this situation is
that I was allowed the once in a lifetime opportunity to join up with
two good mates (Tom Perkins and Matt Chennells who have cycled from
London) and explore a bit more of the continent that I have been
bought up on. I've come over with very few expectations and I haven’t
allowed myself to be guided/misguided by the media so that I can
hopefully absorb everything and form my own opinions of both the
people and the places. Three days in and I have already discovered
things that I otherwise would never have known and I can't even begin
to imagine how much still awaits.
Our plan from here is
to head south east, following the Nile towards the Gallabat border
post where we will cross into Ethiopia. Leaving behind the dry, flat,
sandy terrain of Sudan and facing up to some pretty serious ascents,
as we start climbing into the Ethiopian plateaus. Hopefully our legs
will survive the onslaught so that we can continue towards Addis
Ababa. Here we will await the arrival of the fourth and final member,
Richard Buster Brotherton, who's currently enjoying a bit of farmers
league cricket and preparing his steed for the journey. Once the four
of us are reunited we can assess our options and start making our way
down towards Kenya.
So that's pretty much
the short term plan and I'm looking forward to setting off and
discovering a whole lot more about the diverse cultures, beliefs,
terrains, climates, lifestyles, wildlife, politics and perhaps even
delicacies that Africa has to offer. Through this blog I will attempt
to account for as many of the experiences that we encounter and
opinions that evolve from this exciting adventure.
