OUR AFRICAN ADVENTURE

This couple from Pietermaritzburg are travelling from South Africa to Egypt using only public transport

- MELON RADEBE

IT WASN’T the kind of life they envisaged when they got married – they’d been looking forward to spending most of their time together, but instead they hardly saw each other because work gobbled up so much of their time and energy.

So they decided to do something about it. Enough of the rat race, Skyler and Lance Deetlefs said – they were going to sell almost everything they owned and head off into Africa with just a backpack.

Skyler (24), an occupational therapist, and Lance (26), a plumber, decided on a whim to pack up their jobs and go travelling from South Africa to Egypt.

And to make things even more interesting, this couple from Pietermaritzburg opted to do their entire trip using only public transport. Motorbike taxis, tuk-tuks, traditional show sailboats, dugout canoes, minibus taxis, trains and buses – the adventurous pair have used them all since setting out in February.

“We’ve sat next to chickens, had goats tied to the roof and even witnessed a baby cow being put under the seats,” Lance tells us as we catch up with them in Kenya.

It’s a good thing they’re not in a hurry to get to Egypt because travelling through Africa they way they are is a time-consuming business. Their longest bus journey so far took 18 hours and was from Lusaka in Zambia to Lilongwe in Malawi.

They spent 47 hours on a ferry getting from Monkey Bay in the south of Malawi to Nkhata Bay in the north and spent 27 hours on a train from Zambia to Tanzania. On top of this, the train was late and then broke down. The couple had to sit around and wait for about 30 hours.