sábado, 4 de julio de 2009

Cycling from Durban to Cape Town for environmental and social issues

Dear reader and supporter,

I am planning to engage a new adventure before reaching Cape Town to work in a backpacker hostel. I undertook a 1000 kms/30-day walk in Mallorca Island and I might need more time to arrive in Cape Town from Durban biking the coast (2000 kilometres), 2 months should be enough. My best friend will support and accompany me on this adventure, also interested to contribute. This is not the first stone we cast! We already circumnavigated Jersey by foot in 10 days and Belle-Île-en-Mer in 3 days. There are multiple reasons for undertaking these adventures: earth preoccupation, to encourage an environmental consciousness through more down-to-earth travels and environmental awareness. I opened a blog (http://fredaupoint.blogspot.com) and we would like to find a media coverage, then we will be ready to interview as many individuals and professionals as possible about what ideas they have concerning social and environmental issues, and living in harmony with the planet. We will, in any case, provide them a sensitisation list on how they can contribute. It will also be an opportunity to emphasise this idea of alternative accommodation by using CouchSurfing, a tent, a hammock but mostly backpacker hostels and interviewing managers. South Africa abounds with such accommodation, holding one of the most popular networks in the world. Through the people we will meet, we will also be able to promote our country, France, and our hometown, Angers, where everybody has a place to live, this is not possible in every city! I like its history and environment. We will prepare a conference tour across the country and share our experience. We are also in contact with directors to create a documentary and compete in European film festivals.

This adventure will start at the beginning of September and we are looking for media coverage and any financial (money per kilometre) and material (2 mountain bikes and a camera) support. Any help in completing a questionnaire would be much appreciated as well. A new adventure might await me across the Mozambique coast by 4*4 in February 2010 (3500 kilometres).

But how this idea comes from? Well, it is a quite long process!

My travelling associated with my professional activities has not met a crisis. Everything happened very quickly, beginning with leaving my hometown and parents last March, 2007 to stand on my own two feet and discover a little more about my country. Working in Spain last October, 2007, I was not too far away, in order to stay around my family ties. However, once I started travelling, the urge to discover more of the world took over. My first project was to circumnavigate Mallorca Island by foot, sleeping in a hammock and picking up rubbish on my way. Having searched for the answers to questions all we ask ourselves about the planet (organised wars and bomb attacks, Genetically Modified Organisms, deforestation, huge amounts of waste in the sea, human pollution, companies controlling governments, etc...), this "into the wild" adventure allowed me to experience the plight of our planet first-hand. I finally came up with the hammock idea! This inspiration came from an American guy I met in Barcelona who had travelled this way in New Zealand. It was his best travel experience so far and was soon to mine!

I felt like going away Europe to get closer to nature and leave from materialistic Western culture behind. I was given the opportunity to pursue my studies in Reunion Island (40% of this island is a national park). I enjoyed my time during these 8 months, organising hiking trips every weekend, the last week was an expedition with 4 buddies from different countries through the 3 amphitheatres and Piton des Neiges, the highest peak in Reunion Island. With the help of an important number of travellers, mostly Metropolitan French people, a common interest in discovering the island had united us and inspired me to initiate some hiking meetings through CouchSurfing. This is the most important online hospitality network where more than 1 million people has registered and I have been using extensively its services for the last 2 years and has became involved as a Nomadic Ambassador promoting the website. You can check-out my profile: http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/fredaupoint. Tremendously increasing numbers of people joined the Reunion group and together we developed a passion for nature. I passed my bachelor of ecotourism with a more than respectable mark. I am already keen to experience new adventures in an English-speaking country, in order to further improve my foreign languages. I eventually chose South Africa, considered as the 6th most diversified country of the world according to the mega diverse ranking.

I am currently a trainee on a 4-5 month placement in Wildebees Ecolodge (www.wildebeesecolodge.com) and managed the place for more than 3 weeks on my own. My projects are progressing very well and my travels too! Discovering African communities, unforgettable Swaziland, the highlands of Lesotho, the astounding Drakensberg mountain range, Blyde River Canyon, and of course the game and marine reserves, surrounding me. Here, the big five are everywhere and we are just next to the oldest African game reserve, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, known to have saved the white rhino. I nearly and only swear by natural spaces' protection, hence my special interest for the ones listed with UNESCO like UKhahlamba - Drakensberg Park and the close by iSimangaliso Wetlands Park, KwaZulu-Natal, Zulu Kingdom. Our main aim is to practice responsible tourism through Ecolabel Projects (www.ecolabel.org.za). We are contributing to the local community with, for example, the management of an orphanage and the organisation of a community tour within the Zulu community: visiting a Zulu settlement and a sangoma, traditional healing, in a mud hut, dances and songs, arts and crafts... I have recently placed a friend from Reunion Island to the orphanage for the purpose of improving management skills and I am currently monitoring her progress from the lodge. I am also creating activities related to the World Cup and posting articles on the website.

I would thank you for forwarding this to any contact that might be interested in either project. Hoping for your support, I send you my greetings from the African bush.

Frédéric Pointeau and Romain Hodé

Aims in a nutshell:

- To experience a wonderful adventure and improving our knowledge of alternative ways of life.
- To meet as many people as possible on the road and interview them.
- To convey sensitisation of social and environmental issues.
- To invite media coverage, sponsorship and fundraising.
- To share my experience with our country by conferences and competing in film festivals.

Similar project beginning next September in USA: www.climateride.org.
Similar project by people from the same province in France: www.saperliplanete.org.