I'm Off to Africa

In a recent geek point survey conducted informerly in the flat, I am proud to report that I came in second from bottom. That's right, someone else has the Balham techno-geek crown. I don't own a projector, i've never bought a games console and I've never posted to a blog. Well, until now that is, although I'm still nowhere near unseating House Geek 2 from their podium spot.

So for those of you that haven't heard yet, I'm moving to Malawi in March. Well, to be more specific, I moving to Malawi over March and June - I'm doing it very slowly. By boat and bicycle. But more of that in a minute.

Why Malawi?
Well, why not? Oh yeah, and Kathy is going to be there ;-) Kathy has been given the opportunity to open a new district for the NGO Link Community Development (Link), in the south of Malawi. Link operates a number of programmes to improve the standard of education provided to children in some of the poorest areas of Africa. It's an excellent opportunity for Kathy, and there's a big IT project about to kick off that I will be getting involved with, so we've decided to go for it.

I've found a freight ship that will take me, my bike and panniers to South Africa. From there, I plan to mountain bike and camp my way to Malawi (around 5000kms), taking in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique on the way.

Approximate Itinerary
1. Mid March: Freight ship from Antwerp to Cape Town (approx 19 days)
2. April 15th: Depart Cape Town on the Freedom Trail off-road mountain biking route across South Africa (2200kms)
3. 18th May: Arrive in Pietermaritzburg, Eastern South Africa, continue north by secondary roads to Swaziland
5. Early June: Arrive in Maputo, Mozambique
6. June: Travel up the coast of Mozambique (1300kms), camping en route.
7. End of June: Arrive in Mulanje, Malawi.

You can see my route to the right of the screen.