Winner of Africa trip tells us about his adventure

Winning the trip of a lifetime to Africa with Charley Boorman after going on the Garmin zūmo Ride Out 2012 was surprising, amazing and scary all at the same time. 4 countries, 5,000 kilometres, 25 bikers in 18 days – a challenge even for an experienced motorbike like me. But I couldn’t wait!

My trip started with an 11 hour flight to Johannesburg, then onto Livingstone, Zambia.  It was a fantastic opportunity to get a bird’s eye sight of the grand and impressive Victoria Falls. A great sight to start the adventure. We woke the next day to have breakfast with zebra and giraffe wandering within 20 feet of us. That’s all before we got on the motorbikes! When we set off we rode 560 km on the first day – a sign of the distance we covered throughout the trip.

The lure of Africa is hard to define: From wild open plains to dense bush-land, lush rainforests to barren deserts and endless horizons broken up by mighty rivers supplying thundering waterfalls. And the people – wherever we went we met warm, friendly people that welcomed us into their homes and communities and shared their local knowledge.

Highlights include a safari boat trip and seeing crocodiles, hippos and elephants, kayaking just meters away from dolphins, and then towards the end of the tour, proposing to my girlfriend – who said yes!

It’s truly been a trip of a lifetime.