As far as travelling through Africa goes, images of a blood-thirsty safari expedition through a dusty tundra often come to mind. But getting to Africa doesn’t have to be a colonial adventure. The Tour D’Afrique has been traversing the beautiful, but oft-harsh African landscape with a less inhumane objective for a decade now, heading a tour from the tip of the continent in Cairo, Egypt, all the way down to Cape Town–on bicycles. The 12,000 km event has attracted around 400 cyclists since its inception, all with vastly different stories; Tour D’Afrique has had participants from every walk-of-life, from university students to doctors to a double amputee.
Their race comes with hardships. The plateaus of Mt. Killamanjaro and the Sahara offer lateral and elemental challenges. Stone-throwing kids have been known to make a game of falling cyclists, and accidents have happened in the heavy traffic of Africa’s urban centres. Racers don’t just ride to win, they ride to raise awareness about the opportunities cycling can offer African communities while raising money for various cycling charities.
Thankfully, much of the last ten years of the Tour d’Afrique have been documented for everyone’s reading pleasure. In 10: Celebrating Ten Years of the Tour d’Afrique Bicycle Race and Expedition, a breathtaking series of photographs are being released as 252-page coffee-table evidence of this grand trip. While the photographs are meaningful on their own, short anecdotes of the riders exhausting experiences accompany the images for a more immersive reading.
The book launch for the 10th anniversary book will occur at the Rivoli this evening from 7-9pm. Books and tee-shirts are available for sale. Can’t make the event? Books are available for sale here.
