Cairo (Global Adventures): Opinions vary, but most cyclists agree that the “Tour d’Afrique” is most likely the longest and most challenging adventure cyclist can undertake on planet earth. 12,000 Kilometers (7,458 Miles) ordeal from Cairo to Cape Town crosses the continent of Africa. While the landscape changes from the wetlands along the Nile river trough the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, past Mount Kilimanjaro and later across the Zambezi River, athletes have to endure approximately 120 days of grueling heat and Malaria infected Mosquitoes. If they can stand it at all!

The tour, which attracts adventurers from around the globe since 2003, was conceived in Toronto/Canada by Henry Gold and Michael de Jong. “Life is so short, so full of imperfections,” so de Jong in an interview with the Toronto Star. “The only time I enjoy life is on my bike in some country not as rich as ours, where there are few cars. Then you are alive. You remember everything so distinctly.”

The trip of a lifetime comes not cheap. Besides the physical challenges participants have to cope with the whooping $12,000 CDN (US-$ 11,200) entry fee that covers food, water and transportation in Africa.

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