Two months before my travels, I must admit it was
with a great sense of relief that I had a travelling
companion. A work mate from the uranium mine
decided to join me. Even though we hardly knew
each other, I thought our common desire to travel
Africa would make us suitable travelling
companions. Not so. For five tension-filled months
we travelled from Kakadu, down the West
Australian coast to Perth. Boarded a cargo ship in
Fremantle for the ten-day crossing to Durban in
South Africa, then rode north to Kenya. We parted
ways in Nairobi. He went by cargo ship to Europe
from Mombasa and I ventured into Africa alone.
And this is when my odyssey really began. A word
here about travelling companions. Back in 1993,
there were quite a few people travelling Africa by
motorcycle. In fact, at one campsite on the shores
of Lake Malawi, there were ten – five Australian,
two Swiss, one German and two Japanese. Cape
MacClear in Malawi is one of those key meeting
points for travellers of all descriptions. Another
was Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe and also Mama
Roche’s backyard campsite in Nairobi, Kenya.
When I arrived at these places, it was just accepted
we’d hang out together. We are motorcyclist: we
are of the same ‘tribe’. These days, it appears there
are literally hundreds, if not thousands, travelling
the world by motorcycle.
Heather Ellis
Lake Malawi - A Meeting Spot for Overlanders