Egyptian biker stops in Ethiopia as part of Nile basin countries road trip

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Travelling the Nile river basin countries on a bike, which covers thousands of kilometers and often have varied climates, patchy infrastructure and at some places insecurity may seem a daunting task. But an Egyptian solo biker Mansour Al-Fardi who arrived in Ethiopia this week as part of his biking travel across these countries says this intimidating mission is worth it.

The 39 year old Al-Fardi who started his trip on December 9, 2012 from his home city of Alexandria which lies on the Mediterranean cost, arrived in Ethiopia on December 28th passing through Metema, crossing from The Sudan. He says he started this trip to create closer ties between the people of the Nile basin countries.

The trip he named “Sons of the Nile” is expected to take four months to complete, with him already finishing the 4,300 km leg of the journey of the total 18,000 km round trip which ends back in his home city of Alexandria.

From Ethiopia, Al-Fardi plans to travel to the southern Nile basin countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda Rwanda, Burundi and a potentially risky trip to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

On the return trip to his home town, he plans to travel through the newly independent country of South Sudan, and if things go according to plan he will visit Eritrea, another Nile basin country.

Al- Fardi who speaks Arabic, English and French says he started his trip on a motorbike because he likes to travel and is a fan of motorbikes, and hopes through this trip to spread positive energy and cooperation between the millions of people who share and make a living out of this historic river Nile.

He says the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and Egyptian embassies in the respective countries he traveled helped him.

Al-Fardi’s plans however doesn’t end with himself or this trip as he says in the future he envisions having a similar trip by bus to all Nile basin countries representing people from those countries.

Back in November, a group of intrepid Franco-Egyptian travelers had made a four day stay in Ethiopia as part of their long tour of the African continent by  a car convoy  starting from the Egyptian capital of Cairo with the eventual plan to reach the South African coastal city of Cape Town.

Source: CapitalEthiopia.com