The chanting of the lions

After the rough crossing of the Namib, I took a week off in Windhoek to recover my strength, to eat very well, to braai (barbacue) every night with very good friends, and most importantly

NamibiaNicolás Marino2 June 2015africa, namibia, kaokoland, damaraland, desert, opuwo, himba, tribes, cycling, bicycle, touring, lions, animals, elephant

The Sublime Beauty of Desolation

Throughout my years as a traveler, I have discovered, especially since I began to travel by bicycle, that the essence of a country and a culture lies in that delicate transition that occurs between its the renowned points of interest.

NamibiaNicolás Marino21 May 2015cycling, namibia, sossusvlei, deadvlei, desert, namib, africa

Enjoy the Silence

By the time I arrived at Vioolsdrif, the South African border post, all the landscape and atmospheric phenomena around me had been transformed; an extra-planetary sunset indicated my course: Namibia

NamibiaNicolás Marino12 May 2015cycling, bicycle, magic, surreal, namibia, bicyle, touring, desert, namib, namib rand, hyena, sunset, colors, milky way, night photography

My South Africa

After saying farewell to my dad at Cape Town airport, my holidays come to an end and it is time to finally prepare to start this new long leg of the journey along the west coast of the African continent.

South AfricaNicolás Marino5 May 2015south africa, cycling, bicycle, touring

Holidays

From the first moment I embarked on this trip, I had contemplated the idea of flying to Buenos Aires once I arrived in Cape Town, to take a vacation to visit my family and my friends.

MiscNicolás Marino31 March 2015cycling, traveling, bicycle, argentina

Africa ONE

After completing the Asia stage of this trip at km 17,150, on March 21, 2014 we left Cairo and on March 2, 2015 I arrived in Cape Town at km 33,457. That is, WE left and I arrived

MiscNicolás Marino20 March 2015africa, video, adventure, cycling, bicycle touring

The (bitter)sweet Joy of the Arrival

By the time I crossed the border again, to re-enter South Africa, all the bright green colors that had accompanied me from Kwazulu Natal and all the way through Lesotho, had now turned completely yellow.

South AfricaNicolás Marino3 March 2015cycling, cape town, bicycle, traveling, africa, south africa, adventure

The Quad-Breaking Kingdom

Looking at a map of Africa, it looks just like a dot lost in the immensity of a continent; so small that it is very easy to overlook. It is a "freckle" called Lesotho, dubbed the Kingdom of the Mountains and there as if it were a separate world belonging to a fairy tale, I entered through its highest portal: Sani Pass at almost 3000 mts of altitude.

LesothoNicolás Marino25 February 2015lestho, kingdom, africa, southern africa, bicycle, bicycle touring, cycling, traveling

InSANIty Pass

It feels really odd to start a new day after spending a night in which you definitely thought that your time to leave this world has finally come.

LesothoNicolás Marino20 February 2015lesotho, sani pass, bicycle, bicycle touring, pass, mountains, africa, south africa, drakensberg, range

Ride the Lightning

It's really impossible to predict when our time can come; that moment, that one time that we all in one way or another fear. In order not to worry, we can go through life trying to

South AfricaNicolás Marino15 February 2015south africa, lesotho, sani pass, drakensberg, mountais, cycling, bicycle, bicycle touring

Leaving Africa

Finally, after 10 months of riding across the east of Africa I arrived in South Africa, the great, and probably the only real, industrial power of this continent. This is the last country before completing the tour around the first half of Africa.

South AfricaNicolás Marino10 February 2015africa, bicycle touring, bicycle, cycling, drakensberg, kwazulu natal, midlands meander, south africa, touring

In the Blink of an Eye

When I opened my eyes after crossing the border, I entered Swaziland, then I blinked and when I opened my eyes again I was already back at the South African border.

SwazilandNicolás Marino3 February 2015adventure, africa, bicycle, black mamba, cycling, manzini, southern, swaziland, touring

The example of Mozambique

Mozambique is the vital proof that mere material poverty is not enough an excuse to justify the endemic problem of the sickly demands of money to the white man (assumed rich by definition) that happens invariably in almost every country of sub-Saharan Africa.

MozambiqueNicolás Marino1 February 2015adventure, africa, bicycle, cycling, east, mozambican, mozambique, people, touring, traveling

The Simplicity of Life

Mozambique is probably, one of the countries of the world to which I had most longed to reach. I dreamed of a green country, exuberant, of long straits of uninhabited idyllic beaches along its extensive coastline on the south of the Indian Ocean.

MozambiqueNicolás Marino20 January 2015adventure, africa, beach, bicycle, chimoio, communism, cycling, indian ocena, maputo, mozambique, paradise, rural, tofo, touring, white sand

The Garden of Africa

After spending weeks in the bush, arriving in Zimbabwe brings a great welcoming break to the monotony. However, I didn’t really know what to expect of this country, so famous for the immortal Robert Mugabe,

ZimbabweNicolás Marino10 January 2015africa, baobab, bicycle, cycling, economy, mashvingo, mugabe, mutare, rural, southern africa, touring, traveling, zimbabwe, zvishavane

"you'll be barbacued"

After having spent Christmas in Livigstone with Father John, I continued the road with a stronger spirit. Cycling with a broken heart is not an easy job, but once I had crossed the legendary Zambezi River, in Kazungula, I could be sure that when I arrived at the zoo, there would be no more room for sorrow.

BotswanaNicolás Marino31 December 2014adventure, bicycle, botswana, bush, chobe national park, cycling, elephant highway, elephant, lions, touring

Zambia is Not to Blame

Finally, we arrived to Zambia, where we officially entered the south of Africa. However, together with the arrival to this new country, many strong changes would also arrive; a change that I would never have imagined real, but it became imminent

ZambiaNicolás Marino20 December 2014adventure, africa, bicycle, chipata, cycling, livingston, lusaka, mango, victoria falls, zambia

Walk on Water

Only 35 days had passed since we returned to Africa. What we had been through in the last four countries was so intense that they seemed 350 days. We accumulated more than 2000km of exuberant mountains, crystal-clear blue lakes, african jungle, savanna and bush filled with wild animals.

MalawiNicolás Marino20 December 2014adventure, africa, bicycle, cycling, fish, fishermen, fishing, lake, malawi, plantations, tanzania, tea, water

Redifining the Safari

When we think about Tanzania, the first thing that comes to mind are the wild animal poetic pictures walking through the immense Serengeti savannah during the annual migrations,

TanzaniaNicolás Marino17 November 2014adventure, africa, animals, bicycle, crocodile, cycling, elephants, hippopotamus, katavi, lions, national park, safari, savannah, sukuma, tanzania, touring, tribe, wild, wilderness

If You Want Money, You Ask for it

Sometimes, massive human tragedies such as genocides need to happen in some countries, that are unimportant (and sometimes completely unknown) for most people in the world, to be recognized in the map of humanity.

BurundiNicolás Marino5 November 2014adventure, africa, bicycle, bujumbura, burundi, cassava, cycling, genocide, lake, poverty, tanganyka, touring, tragedy