Since I was in high school I knew that I didn’t want a normal life with a 9 to 5 job, but that was about all that I knew…
Up to the age of 17 my life basically revolved around swimming considering I have been swimming from a very young age because my father was a swimming coach. I was actually very good at swimming and was ranked first in my country for a few events and there was actually a very big possibility that I would compete in the Olympic games at some stage. I really enjoyed the winning part but not so much the hours that I had to put in to get there, so when I was 17 I decided that I did not want to continue with swimming and just stopped (there was a rumor that I had tested positive for a drug test but that is not true).
Up to that stage my whole life had revolved around swimming and it had been my identity and now all of a sudden I didn’t know who I was or who I wanted to be. I had some friends that at that stage maybe wasn’t the best influence now that I think back, but we were basically that crowd tried all the interesting things in life (basically we tried different types of psychedelics and listened to interesting music). We had a very liberal outlook on life and up to this day I believe it was actually a very good mind shift for me.
So now I’ve just lost my identity (swimming) and found a very interesting group of friends and m almost done with school so I have to decide what I want to study. My parents were and are still very supportive but obviously they tell me I have to go study after school, so I looked at the options that I have (my grades weren’t very good) and decided that nature conservation would be my best option (sounds cool, right?).
Okay let me just interrupt myself here. You’re probably thinking why is this guy telling me about his school days when all I want to do is read about his random travels? The only reason I go so far back is so that you can see where I come from and that you can understand why I am the person I am today and why I do what I do.
Long story short, I finished school and went to university and had the typical university life (lots of drinking and partying and not so much studying). But I also had a big revelation. Halfway through my first year of studying I got the crazy idea to walk from Cape Town to Cairo. This would take me two years and even though I was very positive about this happening I had no idea how. Then one of my old friends from swimming contacted me and asked if might be interested in cycling from Cape Town to Cairo! This was a game changer because it would be much faster and it actually seemed very possible. At that moment I promised myself that this was something that I would definitely do.
I know what you are thinking at the moment, “another guy writing about his bicycle tour”, but let me interrupt you and tell you that it is much more than that. It is just this that sparked the wanderlust in me and showed me that it is very possible to see that world without spending a buttload of money.
So to set you at ease I will tell you what you can expect from me in the next few articles namely: Walking with lions in Senegal, Almost going to jail in The Gambia, Dehydration in Namibia and much more…
Jono's Memoirs 