Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
WHEN Cecil John Rhodes came up with the grandiose plan to build a railway network from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt, his interests were purely commercial.
Having dug deep into the bowels of South Africa and found alluring treasures, Rhodes wondered what more delights lurked beneath the earth on the 7 200km stretch between the two cities on the north and south of the continent.
“If South Africa has such treasures, how much money can fifty-three other countries amount to?” Rhodes is said to have quizzed.
His ambition was clear. After all, he had not left soggy Hertfordshire in the East of England just to bask in the sun in Africa. He cared little for the continent, the beauty of its people, or its land, but he was concerned mostly about what its soil could give him. His vision of travelling from Cape to Cairo was therefore all about the bottom line and how healthy his ledger would look at the end of that journey.
But for Vusumuzi Mnkandla and Thando Tshuma, a young Zimbabwean couple the journey through Africa has a different purpose and meaning. When they set off from Soweto, South Africa on 10 April, they wanted to explore and expose the beauty of the continent from the comfort of their bicycles. Since then, the couple has been through South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Zambia and they are now in Malawi. Next on their bucket list are Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya, which will wrap up the first season of the continental odyssey.
Along the way, they have had to deal with issues such as language barriers in countries such as Portuguese-speaking Mozambique.
“There were language barriers because they spoke Portuguese as their first language,” Mnkandla revealed in an interview.
“We met people who speak English in areas like Maputo but the majority of people we met on the way have been to South Africa and speak Zulu. In the other province we rode through they spoke Tsonga so we could communicate because we understand the language after living in Johannesburg for so long,” he said.
On their journey, the pair have also managed to cycle through history. While in Mozambique, they also passed through Chimoio where thousands were killed when Rhodesian forces mounted one of its most dastardly operations that killed fighters, women, and even children in 1977.
“We passed through Chimoio which is a place that has a lot of history for Zimbabweans because of the massacre that happened there. It’s difficult to get in even though there are plaques that commemorate the historical events there. The only way you can get access is if you’re a Government official or a media house,” said Mnkandla.
Home is where the heart is and while they intended to journey through the heart of Africa, they have also managed to travel around Zimbabwe, cycling through Mutare, Rusape, Marondera, Chitungwiza, Chegutu, Harare, Kadoma, Kwekwe, Nkayi, Lupane, Hwange and Victoria Falls among other places in the country.
“It was my first time in the capital of Zimbabwe because I had been in Bulawayo my whole life,” said Tshuma.
“So I finally managed to travel to Harare and I did that for free. It took us two months to cycle from Soweto to Harare and by the time we reached Rusape, we had done 3 000km.
“We had spare tyres but we changed one bike completely during our journey. On the other bike, we changed one tyre in Mozambique and so we have one tyre that has managed to do the entire 3 000km.”
Before they embarked on their epic journey, Tshuma confessed that she had left her job so she could fully focus on her bicycle and the road ahead. Why did she do this?
“We were in our comfort zone in South Africa and everything just seemed to be so relaxed. I had a job working at a company called Amandla that makes paraffin and animal feed so I just quit. I wanted to challenge myself and get out of that comfort zone,” she said.
Mnkandla, a musician, said for him, the journey was also an opportunity to market his career.
“I was a full-time musician before this journey started. The good thing about the work she was doing part-time allowed her to work remotely. For me, as a musician, and this is the good thing about a digital world, most of my music is available for streaming. So, as I go, wherever I pass I ask people to stream my music,” he said.
Mnkandla said as cyclists, he and his better-half had different strengths and weaknesses.
As a musician, he had learned that one needed to complement their bandmates. This was a principle he was also applying on their ride through Africa.
“One of the things that we have learned to do is to do things in rhythm. As a musician, you have to complement whoever you are playing with and the same principle applies in cycling. So we have to do things in rhythm because we are in this together. So, if somebody is tired then you have to know how to accommodate your partner. I usually get hungry first and her stomach serves her longer. I ride quicker but that means I get hungrier quickly so we have learned to balance that out,” he said.
While the beauty of Africa is undeniable, some of its bushes and forests are not without their hazards. Despite this, the pair said they preferred to camp in the bush because people were naturally suspicious of them whenever they sought shelter.
“What forces us to camp most of the time is that if you go to the schools most of the time, they’ll tell you that it’s safe there and then they’ll advise you to go to the police. Usually, the police station will be located 10km away from the school and when we approach people, they don’t trust us and think we are thugs who want to steal. This is especially so when they hear that we are coming from South Africa. The perception is that people from South Africa might be carrying deadly guns or other weapons. So now we avoid people. We avoid asking for anything. We go to the bush and we sleep there,” said Tshuma.
The pair now garners thousands of comments and views on social media sites like Facebook, as they become some of the most followed travel influencers on the continent.
The friends they have made on such platforms have also helped them avoid hotspots on the continent in which their safety may not be guaranteed. During this season of their travels, the pair has yet to go through Burundi, which was subject to rebel attacks last year.
“Some people from other countries cycle just like us and we communicate on Facebook. Some of these people are our hosts in the sense that when we get to their country they host us. They update us about the situation prevailing in their country. Last year, they told us it was not safe (to pass through Burundi) but they gave us the go-ahead this time and by the time we get there we are hoping it will be safe,” said Mnkandla.
