Humanitarian Tourism On Two Wheels [Travel]

Riding or cycling with the wind in your face can be extremely liberating.

Combining two things like going on a tour, but on a motorcycle is not only exciting, but a form of relaxation no spa can ever replicate. In Africa today, tours on motorcycles are becoming common place, especially in places like South Africa where motorbike tourism thrives. It is a special kind of tourism that combines many things into one.

Recently, a Kenyan couple dazzled the world with their story when they toured the world on their motorcycles. But they are not the first to achieve such a thing, and neither will they be the last.

The Kenyan bikers, Wamuyu and Dos, took off on a world tour on July 3 for a three-year journey. Their first stop was Uganda, then Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa before heading to South America. Presently, they are scheduled to visit all seven continents of the world. And after planning for this expedition for two years, it is certainly achievable.

The choice of riding

On the reason for the expedition, Dos, the husband, who once rode from Kenya to South Africa and back in 2015 on an 1800cc bike said, “Two main reasons; the first reason is we really enjoy the adventure. My wife and I are very outgoing and we love touring the world on our motorcycles. The second reason is we are travelling the world as Kenyans and as Africans. We want to tell the story of Africa, not by other people who come, but as Africans who want to tell the story.”

Going further, Dos shared that “The journey has been really amazing. In terms of the border crossings, whether the Kenyan side, Ugandan and Rwandan side it has been very seamless. Thank God for the East African Community. The roads are perfect, the weather is amazing. I can’t complain,”

Wamuyu on her part is no novice either. She is Kenya’s top solo female rider, having travelled the longest distance of 3100 kilometres through Tanzania and back.

For her, “The first thing that makes this journey unique is that I am travelling with my husband… (laughs) I know a lot of people would love that opportunity to be able to do a similar thing with the person they love most, their best friend so for that is the most unique part of the journey.”

In 2015, first-time adventurer and South African, Keegan Longueira was officially confirmed as the new Guinness World Records holder for fastest cycle from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa.

The 23-year-old pedaled for a total of 59 days, eight hours and 30 minutes before reaching the end of Africa’s vertical length. That is exactly 10,526 km of African soil averaging a seemingly impossible 175 km a day. ### Cycling for a cause

His achievement while not mere tourism, bordered on humanitarian tourism, as Keegan is a long-standing supporter of Operation Smile South Africa, a charity that provides free cleft palate surgery to children in low and middle income countries, Keegan had been raising money and awareness for the last 3 years cycling the 1,600km from his birth town Witbank to Cape Town.

According to him, “It was a real underdog story. I was under-prepared, underfunded. It’s like a first date, but rather a date with adventure, you don’t know what to expect”.

He further stated that, “It’s a dream come true. It really makes all the suffering I did on the road worth it. It’s something really amazing, watching one of these surgeries happen, a life being changed forever – what I am doing is not just about raising the money for these surgeries, but making a change in people’s lives, for the better”.

Riding a motorcycle around the world is a popular adventure among thrill seekers and explorers from many parts of the world, but today, more and more Africans are joining those league of people. Uniquely, these Africans aren’t in it all for the thrill, they do it for a cause and as a means of bettering Africa.