Don't explore and you'll never discover...

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.