Travel Story : heather ellis - africa
So if you ’ re planning to travel and are a little worried about travelling alone . You won ’ t be alone for long . In fact , I suggest you ’ re better off alone as you ’ ll have a far more interesting experience , a far more richer cultural experience as the locals will be less inclined to approach you when you ’ re with another or in a group . They ’ ll think : ‘ You ’ re okay because you ’ ve got a friend . But when you ’ re alone , they ’ ll want to make sure you ’ re okay . They ’ ll want to help you . And this is ubuntu . It is a Bantu word from South Africa that literally means : ‘ I am because we are ’ or the universal bond that connects us all as one . It became the title of my book because it encapsulates the very essence of my journey . Rather than rob me , rape me or something equally bad or worse , people always wanted to help me , offer me food or a place to sleep . This ‘ kindness of strangers ’ echoes many a traveller ’ s experience .
I first came across the word ubuntu in Cape Town when a young African woman asked me : ‘ White woman , why you travel Africa ?’ Her voice demanded my attention , as if it were the voice of one who rallies others to fight , and I thought she may have something to do with the anti-apartheid movement ( this was 1994 a year before apartheid ended ). ‘ I felt drawn here ,’ I replied . ‘ There is a kind of humanness to Africa that we don ’ t have in the West .’ ‘ Ubuntu ,’ she ’ d smiled knowingly . ‘ You will find the way of ubuntu as you travel Africa . The African people will help you . This is ubuntu .
From the very beginning of my travels and especially once I was on my own , my journey quickly unfolded as a spiritual exploration of a search for some greater ‘ unspoken ’ meaning . This too is not uncommon for those that travel independently by whatever means .
On my first day travelling alone in Kenya , I ended up taking a wrong turn on my way to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and rode into a luxury safari camp . I rode in on a mud road just on dark and as the TT600 had a six-volt headlight , which is no better than a torch light , I couldn ’ t ride back out . I couldn ’ t sleep in my tent as there were no fences keeping the lions inside the reserve and I couldn ’ t afford to pay for a luxury banda . But help arrived and I was given somewhere to sleep and a hot meal . As motorcycles are not permitted in game reserves in most parts of Africa , the next morning I parked at the entrance and was soon invited to join a Spanish tourist group on a two-day game drive of the Maasai Mara . A few days later , at Lake Naivasha , I met a Japanese girl riding a very overloaded Suzuki FX200 . It was her very first day of travelling alone in Africa and just like me in those early days , was so very unsure of herself . After a few days exploring the area , we both felt so much more confident when we each continued our own journeys – she to the south and I to the north .
Later that afternoon , I had my first puncture . Before my trip , fixing a flat was something I ’ d practised over and over again but that was months ago . I was miles from anywhere , in the middle of scrubland and it was almost dark , but I needn ’ t have worried as two Samburu warriors armed with spears appeared out of nowhere . Again help arrived and there was no need to worry .