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Special to Africa Travel
Magazine
Tour
d'Afrique Race News
TOUR D'AFRIQUE
AND TOYOTA MAKING HISTORY
For the
first time since its inception the Tour
d'Afrique organizers are producing
television news inserts and a documentary
of the 10-country, 12 000km annual bike
adventure from Cairo to Cape Town and
Toyota has volunteered the services of
'Baobab', the lead Toyota Fortuner from
the recent pioneering 'Timbuktu to Table
Mountain Expedition' to make this
possible.
Timbuktu
expedition leader Geoff Dalglish and PR
consultant John Elford raced 'Baobab' more
than 5 000km from Johannesburg to northern
Kenya last week to meet the elated but
travel-weary convoy of cyclists as they
pushed south along some of Africa's most
punishing dirt roads.
'Baobab'
will be used by an international TV crew
filming the world's longest pedal-powered
epic as well as serving various logistical
roles for the Tour d'Afrique management
team.
"We are
delighted to have the support of Toyota"
said Henry Gold, President of Tour
d'Afrique Ltd currently on a scouting
mission in Asia for the company's next
epic bike adventure, the Silk Route.
"Baobab will make all the difference in
terms of the coverage we'll be able to
achieve across the second half of the
Tour, and we look forward to sharing the
adventure with television audiences
worldwide."
The latest
adventure in the action-packed life of the
turbo-diesel Toyota Fortuner makes it one
of the most travelled examples of the
rugged 4x4 breed in existence, and
possibly the only one to have driven
through no fewer than 17 African countries
on both the west and east sides of the
continent.
In the
space of a year since the South
African-built Fortuner rolled off the
production line in Durban and was launched
to the local media, Baobab has become
something of a celebrity, starring in the
SABC TV travel series Go South, as well as
appearing in numerous magazine, newspaper
and website features.
"It has
been a remarkable vehicle and worthy of
its Baobab nickname," Geoff Dalglish says.
"After being used as one of the original
media launch vehicles, Baobab led the
12-country, 62-day Toyota Timbuktu-Table
Mountain Expedition, celebrating its
homecoming in grand style on Cape Town's
Table Mountain at the end of a remarkable
trans-African odyssey that threw up every
imaginable challenge."
The latest
trip from South Africa through Botswana,
Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya again saw the
Toyota play an ambassadorial role, this
time in its new Tour d'Afrique livery,
attracting admiring attention wherever it
goes.
"While we
were in a hurry to meet up with the
cyclists in Kenya, our East African safari
threw up a number of highlights, among
them getting up close and personal with
lions and elephant in an unfenced campsite
in Tanzania's Mikumi National Park, and
seeing snow-capped Kilimanjaro rise out of
the early-morning mists in Kenya's
Amboseli National Park. "It is a sight
I'll never forget," Dalglish
enthused.
Tour
d'Afrique 2007 is the fifth annual running
of an extreme adventure event that will be
televised worldwide, attracting serious
competitors and leisure riders from all
walks of life, among them a blind Kenyan
motivational speaker, Douglas Sidialo, who
rides a tandem cycle.
The Tour
arrived in Arusha on Wednesday, where they
spent three days resting and sight
seeing.
The Tour
is due to reach Cape Town on May
12.
For the
latest updates visit
www.tourdafrique.com/tourdafrique and
click on 'blogs'
For
photographs and more info,
contact:
Theresa
Brown
Tour
d'Afrique &endash; South Africa
Tel: +27
21 421 9342
Cell: +27
84 353 197
Toyota
&endash; South Africa5
email:
theresa@networld.co.za
Mike
Coo
Tour
d'Afrique &endash; Canada
Tel: +1
416 364 8255
email:
mike@tourdafrique.com
Geoff
Dalglish
Cell: +27
82 990 1032
COOLER TEMPERATURES, ROLLING HILLS
AND BIKE DONATIONS IN KENYA - WEEK 8 OF
THE TOUR D'AFRIQUE BICYCLE RACE
Tour
d'Afrique, the annual 12 000-kilometer
bicycle race/expedition from Cairo to Cape
Town, billed as the world's longest and
most grueling bicycle race, has completed
its eighth week of the 17 week
odyssey.
After
facing down scorching temperatures and
unrelenting corrugated lava rock roads
through northern Kenya last week, one of
the cyclists remarked "The Tour de France
is luxury compared to this!"
After
crossing the Equator the scenery changed
dramatically once again as the cyclists
experienced cooler weather, huge elevation
climbs on paved roads and lush green
vegetation.
"What made
the climbing easier were the amazing
views; Mount Kenya, rolling hills covered
with sunflowers and corn crops, thatched
cottages and super friendly Kenyans who
smiled and waved and told us 'not much
further!'" reported Tour Leader, Shanny
Hill.
The Tour
arrived in Nairobi on Sunday, bringing to
a close the section known as 'Meltdown
Madness' where they were welcomed by the
Kenyan media at a press conference in
Nairobi.
Tour
d'Afrique Foundation, the fund raising arm
of the Tour, donated bicycles to Maji
Mazuri and the National Council of Women
in Kenya, two NGO's dedicated to easing
the suffering of HIV/Aids victims in
Nairobi.
"It was
more than your average press conference"
reported Shanny Hill "It was full of heart
and emotion when the kids from Maji Mazuri
arrived, on their way to receive their
treatment, and recited a poem of
celebration they had created especially
for the occasion."
The
cyclists will enjoy a rest day in Nairobi
today and prepare for the fourth stage of
the Tour &endash; "Snows of
Kilimanjaro".
This 12
day, 1012 km section from Nairobi, Kenya
to Iringa, Tanzania, will take the
cyclists past views of Mount Kilimanjaro
and its smaller sibling, Mount Meru and
into the city of Arusha, the gateway to
the Serengeti National Park, where the
cyclists have three rest days in which
visit the Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara,
Taragire and Ruaha.
Leaving
Arusha, the Tour will cycle towards Dodoma
along roads where the Masai will be their
constant companions. The cyclists will
experience some of the most unique,
verdant, memorable and least traveled
parts of Tanzania on this leg before they
finish the section in Iringa.
Dutch
racers, Adrie Frijters and Eva Nijssen
still hold the overall lead in the men's
and women's race.
For
regular updates and more information visit
www.tourdafrique.com
SOARING
TEMPERATURES, LAVA ROCK ROADS AND SINGING
WELLS ON 'MELTDOWN MADNESS' - WEEK 7 OF
THE TOUR D'AFRIQUE BICYCLE
RACE
Tour
d'Afrique, the annual 12 000-kilometer
bicycle race/expedition from Cairo to Cape
Town, billed as the most grueling bicycle
race on earth, has completed its seventh
week of the 16 week odyssey, crossing the
border into Kenya last week. The riding
conditions have changed from the paved
roads and rolling hills of Ethiopia to the
dry, corrugated dirt roads of Northern
Kenya as the cyclists take up the
challenge of riding the 18 day,
1630-kilometre section from Addis Ababa to
Nairobi known as 'Meltdown
Madness'.
 "The
temperature has increased markedly since
our border crossing at Moyale." reported
Tour Leader, Shanny Hill. "The
off road tyres are back on and the dust
has returned." Over the next week, the
cyclists will travel through the volcanic
rock desert of Dida Galgalu, cycle around
majestic Mount Kenya, cross the Equator
and undergo some of the most drastic
elevations changes as they cycle towards
the halfway point of the Tour &endash;
Nairobi.
On
Monday, the riders will enjoy a rest day
in the little town of Marsabit situated on
an isolated million-year-old extinct
volcano which rises almost a
kilometer above the sea of desert.
Home to many Ethiopian and Somali
immigrants, it is renowned for its
"singing" wells where local people make
"human ladders" to fetch water for their
cattle from deep within the
earth.
Celebrated
blind cyclist from Nairobi, Douglas
Sidialo and his pilot, Joash Aswani are
still riding strong in 5th position
overall and look forward to receiving a
warm welcome from their fellow countrymen
and women when they ride into their
hometown on Sunday 11th March.
Dutch
racer, Adrie Frijters still holds the
overall lead in the men's race, with Eric
Sechler of Sweden, 2 hours and 49 seconds
behind him. Due to a wrist injury,
Janet Alexander from New Zealand who won
the first section, dropped into second
position on 'The Gorge' section, with Eva
Nijssen of Holland taking the lead in the
women's race by close on 48
hours.
More
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