Facebook that she should try to get to Uganda.
At the time Homayounfar was in Saudi Arabia as
borders began closing, “I started realising that it would
not end well. I did not want to be stuck in Saudi so
hurried across to Sudan.”
Homayounfar had little knowledge of the African
continent and especially Uganda, “I did not even know
where it exactly was! I checked the flights, (and) in a
matter of 3 hours had booked 4 different flights to be able
to get there just in time before both Sudan and Uganda
closed their borders. Lucky!”
“So many little hostels were suddenly closed for
business,” added Tracy Charles from Canada, people
were being quarantined in many and refusing anyone
else. “I finally found one, and spent the evening catching
up on the media coverage of the virus.”
Charles was in Cali, Colombia, mid-March. News of
the lockdown took her by surprise, somewhere to seek
isolation was a priority.
“Steel Horse Colombia (an adventure base and hostel),
had put out an offer of rooms to stranded travellers
and the next morning I sent them a message and rode
towards Filandia,” Charles added.
“Over the next 4 hours I rode through many military
and police checks ... more than usual.
“Friends were sending me messages advising me that
the small cities were all shutting down and not allowing
foreigners in.”
Reaching Filandia, Charles found that a roadblock had
been set up by local police and nurses, refusing her entry
to the municipality.
“With darkness coming, I parked my bike at the
roadblock, pulled out my sleeping bag, and settled
down for the night with the stray dogs and police as my
protection.”
As sleep drifted over the weary traveller, she was
awoken to be told that an escort would take her to the
other side of the region, under no circumstances would
she be able to stay in Filandia and by no means at Steel
Horse Colombia.
Trapped?
“My only option was to backtrack and sneak to the
hostel,” she grinned. Making it back through the region,
reaching Steel Horse, they hid the bike and “waited to see
what would happen next.”
Of the travellers we spoke with very few initially sought
a way to return home, citing the challenge as a part of
the overall experience. With borders closing rapidly,
and airlines cancelling flights, returning home became a
vastly different challenge, an adventure in itself.
Trapped?
For British couple, Neil and Steph Hayes, a chance
Pic: David Coulthard
TRAVERSE 14