Wellingtonner takes on Africa
2008-12-11
Maggie Follett
FOR Danie Nel of Wellington, there’s nothing like a challenge, especially one involving sport. Earlier this year, the super-fit 50-year- old CEO of Afriplex, ran the Comrades Marathon, before mounting his bicycle the following day and setting off on the Toyota Freedom Challenge – a punishing 2300 km mountain-bike race from Pietermaritzburg to Paarl. Not content with this achievement, he (and another young athlete from KZN who had also completed both events) then immediately embarked on the Berg River Marathon. After a disabling back injury from a capsized canoe, Nel was forced to abandon the third leg of his quest. Now, five months later, Nel has been offered another chance to push himself beyond the limit. He and three other Freedom Challenge riders from Gauteng and KZN (Hennie de Clerque, Francois Riekert and Rohan Surridge), have been invited to establish and cycle a similar mountain- bike route, from Mount Kilimanjaro to the Malawian border. (Nel summitted Africa’s highest peak with his wife and teenage children a few years ago). As with the South African Freedom Challenge, the aim is to open up uncharted, infrequently visited wilderness territory, so as to create jobs, support community-based conservation and promote adventure tourism. The four riders left South Africa on Monday 1 December and drove through Zimbabwe, Moçambique and Malawi to the Tanzanian border at the top of Lake Malawi, in 4x4 vehicles sponsored by Toyota. The intended 12-day cycling route, which consists of approximately 1300 km’s of rugged terrain, runs from the border, around the west side of Ruaha National Park, to Kilimanjaro. Depending on logistics, the team may take an alternative route, driving up to Kilimanjaro and cycling back down, sticking to cattle-tracks and footpaths, or badly-rutted roads with minimal traffic. Nel is accustomed to long-distance cycling events, having previously participated in a 4000 km cycling event from Paris to Istanbul, and from there to China. The African venture is the first phase of a bold long-term initiative to establish the world’s longest and toughest mountain- bike route, from Mount Kilimanjaro to Cape Point.
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