The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission.

The scariest experiences of woman who cycled from Cairo to Cape Town on world's longest bike ride

Alice Morrison, the presenter of BBC2’s ‘Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure’, on getting chased by an elephant and why she thinks everyone has an adventurous streak 

Kashmira Gander
Thursday 25 May 2017 17:04 BST
Comments
Being pelted with rocks and struck by a cattle whip in Ethiopia were among the ordeals suffered by Alice Morrison during her bike race
Being pelted with rocks and struck by a cattle whip in Ethiopia were among the ordeals suffered by Alice Morrison during her bike race

When Alice Morrison realised she was about to lose her job as a chief executive because the firm she worked for was closing, she quit the rat race and joined another one: the Tour d’Afrique. She swapped her desk chair for a bike seat, and conquered the 12,000km which make up the world’s longest bike race.

This wasn’t her first taste of adventure. At just six weeks old, Morrison’s life took a different turn to those of the other children in her home city of Edinburgh when her parents packed their bags and set sail to Uganda. She spent the first eight years of her life exploring the bush. “I had a magical childhood,” Morrison, who presents BBC2’s Morocco To Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure, tells The Independent.

After returning to Scotland to live in the Highlands, Morrison has since lived in Ghana, Qatar, Dubai, Syria, Egypt, England, Scotland and Morocco, where she is currently based.

Still, it was Morrison’s trip from Cairo to Cape Town with 63 other cyclists that stands out as her most exhilarating and treacherous experience.

“We got chased by wild elephants. We were stoned by people. People in our camp had malaria and typhoid. We took the lava road to Marasbit in Kenya,” she says.

“I really thought I was going to die,” says Morrison when recalling her encounter with wild elephants in the Zambian bush on the border with Botswana. “I had a charging bull elephant 10m away from me trumpeting. I could feel its footsteps reverberating in the ground. I was thinking, ‘What will it feel like to die? Will it trample me? How long will it take to die?’ I was pedalling like a maniac. And I did think this was a stupid way to die. An elephant can charge at 50km per hour and I can’t reach that on a bike so it just stopped when I got out of its territory.”

Morrison was truly tested, however, when she was pelted with rocks in Ethiopia. “The country has a very young population and there are large groups of kids running around. The youth sometimes stone foreigners or anyone different that they see. And it’s incredibly hilly terrain. So, we were cycling up very steep hills, like this long line of lycra.

“It made me really angry. It wasn’t scary but I was angry that someone, for no reason whatsoever, was being violent towards me. One child hit me with a cattle whip as I was cycling. And you have conflicted emotions because you feel angry, and it’s painful but it was confusing because it was a child and you can’t fight back.

“But if you talked to the kids they would bring you out some water and they would chat and sing and were quite friendly. It really was quite an intense experience. It was a psychologically challenging country but one of the most beautiful I’ve ever been to. And the people were wonderfully hospitable and with an amazing history.”

Morrison’s latest trip to Timbuktu is among the most special she has experienced, as she was able to trace the ancient trade which saw salt traded for gold.

Despite her action-packed life, Morrison rejects the idea that wanderlust is something lingering within some people and not others. “I think I’m a very ordinary person,” she says. “I am not the youngest person. I’m not the sportiest or the fittest or most able by any means. I’m very average. But I’ve been able to take part in some extraordinary experiences because I’m determined.

“I think everyone has adventure in them, but we express it slightly different. A picnic with your grandparents can be an adventure. You just need an open heart and to do things whenever opportunity arises.”

Dodging Elephants’ (Amazon, £8.99) and ‘Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure’ (BBC iPlayer) are out now

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in