Woman shares highs and lows of cycle through Africa

14 hours ago

Alexandra BassinghamWest of England

News image — Ellie Mitchell-Heggs cycled 10,000km from Rwanda to Cape Town over 10 months

Ellie Mitchell-Heggs Ellie Mitchell-Heggs on her bike. Her head is covered with a hat with side panels and she is wearing a sand coloured shirt and black leggings. She is cycling on a sandy dirt road with dry greenery each side. There are hills in the background and she is smiling as she takes the selfie. — Ellie Mitchell-Heggs cycled 10,000km from Rwanda to Cape Town over 10 months

A woman has shared her highs and lows of a "magical" cycle across Africa.

Ellie Mitchell-Heggs, 35, flew to Kigali in Rwanda in May to start her 10,000km (6,214 miles) journey to Cape Town in South Africa.

During her trip, she was chased by tsetse flies and cycled through blistering hot desert during the dry season. But she also shared the joys of the "magical landscape of Namibia", and the "indescribable" experience of canoeing the Zambezi River accompanied by the sounds of lions.

Mitchell-Heggs returned to her home in Taunton, Somerset, on Monday and said she was "excited" to hug her family.

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During her trip, the 35-year-old cycled through Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa.

Ellie Mitchell-Heggs Mitchell-Heggs standing next to her bike with a Tropic of Capricorn sign behind her. She is wearing a sandy coloured hat with side panels and sunglasses and smiling at the camera. She has her bike next to her and is holding the handlebar and saddle. Behind her is a lot of sand and sandy foliage. — Mitchell-Heggs said locals across Africa were incredibly kind throughout her solo adventure

Along the way, she wrote a report on the work of 80 NGOs she visited, focusing her research on education, youth empowerment and gender.

She said she first started thinking about the trip in 2020, and after years of "over-planning" the trip, she decided to set off.

"I thought it would be a good opportunity to have an adventure and highlight the work of the NGOs through meeting with them and seeing whether there was something I can do to address barriers they face," she said.

Mitchell-Heggs said she had morning and evening check-ins with her brothers, who have rowed the Atlantic, and a friend who works in humanitarian emergency.

And although she carefully planned her trip, Mitchell-Heggs said delays led to her cycling through the Namib Desert at the peak of the dry season, which she "wouldn't recommend".

She decided to travel with two other cyclists for that section of the trip and said she "would have gone absolutely mad" if she had not done so "because there's no one else there".

Ellie Mitchell-Heggs Mitchell-Heggs walking in the desert with sand everywhere. He is wearing a sandy coloured hat with side panels and khaki shorts with white trainers. She is smiling at the camera as she walks towards it. — Mitchell-Heggs cycled through the Namib Desert at the peak of the dry season

She said temperatures reached 45C on some days and they would have to stop cycling in the afternoons because of the heat and headwind.

And the group would have to get up at 04:30 every day to pack their tents up to avoid the heat.

But despite the challenges, Mitchell-Hegg said she loved the trip and the main thing the journey gave her was confidence in the kindness of people.

She said she could go days without having to worry about accommodation because people would call ahead to a friend or relative in the next village for her to stay with.

"And when you're on the road for so long, cycling across a continent, you start normalizing what you're doing, and you forget that you're living your best life essentially and living your dream," she added.

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