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Chasing a Vagabond: a Father-Son Trek from Alexandria to Cape Town Using Public Transportation

August 19, 2022

When Can Blaschke opted to take a gap year, he wanted to do more than just break from education: he decided to dedicate three months of his time off to a vertical trek down Africa, using only public transport alongside his journalist father, Björn Blaschke. The duo commenced their journey on 30 June, 2022, starting from Egypt’s Alexandria, in hopes of reaching South Africa’s Cape Town by September. The original plan was to pass through 12 African countries: Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and finally South Africa. Unfortunately, due to visa complications and border restrictions, they had to substitute Ethiopia with Uganda.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Björn Blaschke (@bjoernblaschke) The duo tailored their route around the Trans-African Highway Four, also known as The Cape to Cairo Road or Pan-African Highway. This road will connect 10 out of the 12 countries in the Blasckhes’ plan and is set to be completed by 2024. It is part of an ambitious, yet unrealized trans-continental road network. Two destinations, Malawi and Namibia, are therefore deliberate detours as the Blasckhes wish…


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