Africa: The Route, Weather and Culture
Added on Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Africa: The Route, Weather and Culture
Continuing on from my last blog introducing the planning and research to a big trip, having decided your target destination - never fear, it’s highly unlikely that you are the first bike nutter to do this trip! Someone else will have for sure. And now with the Internet, forums and blogs you can quickly learn from other people’s endeavours and in particular - their mistakes.
Read the blogs, lurk in the forums and buy a few books and some maps. Get into the right mind set here - because this is fun, exciting and part of the whole experience. A word of caution though, always process the information from these sources with a fair degree of common sense and don’t take everything as ‘fact’ - remember, these ‘stories’ and ‘words of wisdom’ are from other mere mortals who have a perspective and a view, based on their own inherent bias, fears, limitations and prejudice. Let me expand on this; I was recently reading a blog about travelling through the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco.
Now you may know that this area is arguably the drugs capital of North Africa and cannabis is a major source of income for locals. There is a very strong ‘hard sell’ going on in that area - you will without doubt be pestered to hell, to buy some ‘gange’ ‘grass’ ‘weed’ and to such an extent that their sales technique may unnerve you - eg. running alongside the bike or worst still, chasing the bike in a car! However, the blog said reasonably strongly that the area was in fact ‘dangerous’ and to be avoided. Well hey, travel is all about the experience - even the slightly dangerous ones - so, weigh up the information and make a choice. What one person see’s as dangerous another person won’t, what one person sees as a very hard day’s ride - others won’t. Certainly, Ewan and I would never have gone anywhere in Africa if we had listened and acted on all the scaremongers.
World weather is upside down at the moment. Ask anyone who’s been travelling recently. It’s hot where it shouldn’t be hot and wet where it’s not supposed to be wet. The weather is crucial to your route and your progress. Heavy rains can turn a passable dirt track into a torrential river - even out in the desert. A fun river crossing can turn into a major challenge - and may be block your progress - or really ruin your day! So do a bit of research on the weather and see if there is a pattern to give you some assurance.
The countries you travel through will have local customs and cultural norms that are far far away from our own. Breaking those rules may be rude, disrespectful and even dangerous. Study the country and think about it - are there any special holidays or religious festivals on while your there? Will these affect you? Or will they make your presence awkward? Walking around the streets looking for lunch during Ramadan or trying to join in a festival of celebration that you later find is about the end of British rule - may be two good examples of poor planning!
Cheers
Charley Boorman
www.charleyboorman.com
