When cycling through Central Africa on the homeward leg of my 4-year bicycle odyssey in 2014, news reports of the spreading Ebola virus were intensifying. As I approached the Nigerian border in Cameroon, the disease reached Lagos and the Cameroonian government closed the border. Borders were shutting across the region and I was at a dead end. Regretfully, I flew over West Africa and resume pedalling from Dakar.
For a decade, I ruminated on what I had missed: a vast and varied region with so many sights unseen. Finally, in February 2024, I returned to Cameroon to complete the journey with a wiggly route to Dakar stretching 6,000km across 12 countries. I saw monumental statues, ancient imperial palaces, voodoo fetish markets, water-dwelling tribes, breathtaking waterfalls, palm-fringed beaches and haunting slave-trading forts. From abandoned roads being swallowed by the jungle to restive areas of tribal conflict, the adventure threw up plenty of obstacles. The colour and chaos of West Africa kept me on my toes, providing a healthy blend of type 1 and type 2 fun.
This adventure also revealed how the nature of cycle touring had changed. With the advent of smart phones and widespread data connectivity, it's much harder to be – or to feel – truly lost. I realised that being out of reach and out of one's element are large parts of what formerly provided immersion, insight and introspection.
For a decade, I ruminated on what I had missed: a vast and varied region with so many sights unseen. Finally, in February 2024, I returned to Cameroon to complete the journey with a wiggly route to Dakar stretching 6,000km across 12 countries. I saw monumental statues, ancient imperial palaces, voodoo fetish markets, water-dwelling tribes, breathtaking waterfalls, palm-fringed beaches and haunting slave-trading forts. From abandoned roads being swallowed by the jungle to restive areas of tribal conflict, the adventure threw up plenty of obstacles. The colour and chaos of West Africa kept me on my toes, providing a healthy blend of type 1 and type 2 fun.
This adventure also revealed how the nature of cycle touring had changed. With the advent of smart phones and widespread data connectivity, it's much harder to be – or to feel – truly lost. I realised that being out of reach and out of one's element are large parts of what formerly provided immersion, insight and introspection.
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