Tuesday, 1 March - still in London
Can you travel across Africa by public transport? The answer to this question has to be yes, there has to be ways and means.
Perhaps not in cases where countries are officially at war with each other, but generally speaking human beings will always find some cost effective way of getting around – even if it’s not government supported.
So, if the answer has to be yes, than why does the answer keep coming up no?
This weekend my spirit has been tested to breaking point – if I hear the word “no” or the phrase “the problem is” again in the next 24 hours I will probably descend into a primordial scream – again.
In the pseudo-world of Africa created by travel guides and travel agents the only way it seems that you can travel across the continent, in particular across less travelled routs, is by private car. Something that is too expensive and dangerous for two mechanically inept independent journalists to attempt.
I am frustrated beyond belief that in the 1970s on his way to Australia my Dad travelled down the Red Sea by boat from Alexandria to Djibouti and that route, although it surely must exist for trade, seems closed to people looking for an alternative to air travel.
I also refuse to believe that the ancient trade route of the Nile has been abandoned altogether.
This frustration turns into anger when I call up a travel agent billing themselves as having “unparalleled” knowledge of Africa to find they only really know anything about the East Coast south of Kenya. How dare they misrepresent themselves like that? When Steve very rationally points out “Well that’s what people here think Africa is” my anger bubbles over. Is this acceptable?
The one bright spot is Rainbow Tours that at least lists all the countries it covers on its home page and has an excellent ethical and eco tourism section.
I know it will be OK, that we will find ways and means as we go along – or at least I hope we will… If I’m wrong, if the world of Africa presented by travel guides is closer to reality than I give them credit for…well, we could end up stuck in the Sahara en route from Egypt to Sudan…
