http://www2.polskieradio.pl/eo/dokument.aspx?iid=119337
Cyclists to cross Africa in steps of pre-war traveller
05.11.2009
A group of Polish cyclists have set off on a journey around Africa, following the footsteps of traveller Kazimierz Nowak.
The journey started in the western town of Boruszyn, home place of Kazimierz Nowak, Polish correspondent and photographer who was the first man to travel across Africa twice by bicycle and on foot.
Between 1931 and 1936 he covered a distance of 40,000 kilometres, visiting Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Congo, Ruanda, Rhodesia, Angola, Algiers and other African countries.
Several dozen Polish cyclists want to repeat Nowak’s journey in order to commemorate the traveller and remind people about his achievements. The aim of the journey is also to learn about contemporary Africa and compare it with colonial times.
The travellers will ride bicycles constructed solely for the purpose of the journey, ride horses and camels, travel on foot and by canoes. The first passage of the journey – from Tripoli to Murzuk in Libya – will take a month. The whole journey is scheduled for two years.
Although setting on a journey to the hottest continent, cyclists first had to cover a distance between Boruszyn and Poznan in heavy snow. “In Africa it can’t be worse than that. We don’t expect snow, rather strong wind,” said one of the cyclists Dominik Szmajda. “While we are in Africa, we will probably miss that snow,” said another participant Lukasz Wierzbicki. (mg)