autumn 2012 - 4-Seasons.de

12
Living the Dream
Living the Dream 13
My beautiful laundrette:
Lake Tanganjika, Zambia.
All the way from Cape Town to Cairo – mostly on dirt roads.
You’re in your early twenties, have just left school and led a
sheltered life – why did you decide to start with such a big
tour? Wasn’t a 12,000 kilometre cycle tour through Africa
a bit out of your league?
Tim: We weren‘t so mollycoddled. Fabian backpacked around Tunisia
and Morocco before, I visited friends in Kenya. We realised
quickly that Africa is different than the picture we receive in Germany.
There is so much vibrancy and enjoyment to be found!
Fabian: It wasn’t our aim to act the part of the hero and survive the
most dangers. For most Europeans, Africa is still the blank spot on
the map and full of negative news; people first think about wild
animals and bandits but we wanted to see what else there is and
document it.
What was it like to start cycling into the unknown?
Fabian: Pretty easy going. South Africa is very similar to Europe.
Behind the Namibian Redline however, the real Africa started. A
redline is supposed to keep the wild animals out of South Africa,
however, we experienced it rather as a cultural boarder.
Did you meet lions and men with weapons?
Tim: There are hardly any lions left outside the national parks.
Crocodiles and lions didn’t cross our way either.
Fabian: We got arrested a few times though…
You got arrested!
Fabian: The word »arrested« gets used frequently in Africa. Not
every arrest ends up in prison. One night, we camped in a cornfield,
in the middle of the boarder area between Zambia, Malawi,
Tanzania and Congo. A pick-up appeared in the middle of the >