Tour d’Afrique

Riders at the start of the 2017 Tour d'Afrique. Can you spot me?

Tour d'Afrique 2017 – Overview

SECTIONS:

No.	Section	Depart	Arrival	Distance (km)	Dates
1.	Pharaoh's Delight	Cairo	Khartoum	2 280	Jan 13 – Feb 2
2.	The Gorge	Khartoum	Addis Ababa	1 320	Feb 4 – 19
3.	Meltdown Madness	Addis Ababa	Nairobi	1 350	Feb 22 – Mar 7
4.	Masai Steppe	Nairobi	Mbeya	1 200	Mar 9 – 22
5.	Malawi Gin	Mbeya	Lilongwe	750	Mar 24 – 31
6.	Zambezi Zone	Lilongwe	Victoria Falls	1 215	Apr 2 – 10
7.	Elephant Highway	Victoria Falls	Windhoek	1 540	Apr 14 – 24
8.	Dune & Rainbows	Windhoek	Cape Town	1 910	Apr 27 – 13

COUNTRIES:

Starting in Egypt, we will cycle along the Nile past ancient temples, through the Sudanese desert, and up and down the biblical landscapes of Ethiopia’s rugged Semien Mountains.

After crossing the Equator in Kenya, we will pedal past legendary Mount Kilimanjaro, to Lake Malawi, Victoria Falls, and along the edges of the magnificent Kalahari and Namib deserts, en route to the finish of our epic journey in stunning Cape Town, South Africa.

SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• City Tour of Addis Ababa.

• 3 Day Classic Serengeti Safari in Tanzania.

• Chobe River Cruise in Botswana.

• Sossusvlei Sand Dunes at Sunrise in Namibia.

TRAVEL:

This will enable us to do some sightseeing in Cairo and to attend the numerous Briefing Sessions being planned by the organizers, before the Tour officially starts at the Pyramids, on the 13th of that month.

They say that, “if your dreams don’t scare you, then they are not big enough” this trip is surely going to test this hypothesis!  

ROUTE MAP:

Judith and I have entered the 2017 Tour d’Afrique Cycle Tour which starts on the 13th of January in Cairo and finishes on the 13th of May in Cape Town.

The trip length is approximately 11 500 km, which will be done over a total of 121 days, 90 Cycling Days, 2 days Bus Transfer (In Ethiopia) and 29 Rest Days. The Complete Tour consists of 8 Sections.

The 8 Different Sections of the Tour d’Afrique:

We will be traveling through 10 countries all in all:

Sudan,
Ethiopia,
Kenya,
Tanzania,
Malawi,
Zambia,
Botswana,
Namibia, and
South Africa.

Since this will be the 15th Anniversary of the Tour d’Afrique, so the organizers have included:

While another added highlight of the Tour for us, will be the arrival of longtime cycling friend, and Dairy farmer, Michael van den Berg, who will be joining us for the last Dunes & Rainbows Section, from Windhoek in Namibia to Cape Town in South Africa.

More details of the Tour d’Afrique and our current Profiles can be seen at: www.tdaglobalcycling.com/tour-dafrique/people

We will depart for Cairo, flying Egypt Air from O.R Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa - Monday the 9th of January, arriving on the following day.



While the Organizers have a Classification for those people who ride every “flipping” inch, this being the granting of EFI Status, I will be attempting EFB Status as well (every “flipping” Beer). I intend trying out every different commercial beer and brew I can lay my hands on, in each country, while traveling down the length of Africa.

Cheers, Mike T