Toby and Stuart prepare for the unknown

The first time we talked about going to Africa was at a beer festival in Faversham. Over a few pints the idea started to form, the acid test would be whether or not it seemed quite so reasonable the next morning, nursing hangovers. Over the next few days we talked the idea over and it became apparent that it was not only a viable trip but a potentially valuable experience. It had the ideal purpose, the ideal itinerary and had come at the ideal time, and more importantly, it was going to be worthwhile. We later met in the British Library and worked out why exactly we were going to embark upon this potentially cavalier, ill-conceived and selfish trip, and the small matter of its logistics. We also went over some of the things we wanted to achieve from the trip to ensure that we had similar motivations. We decided the impetus should be upon investigating environmental and environmentally associated issues that countries in Africa are facing. We ensured that we would both be able to achieve what we wanted from the trip with a surprisingly amicable session of compromising resulting in an agreement upon what the main focus of our investigations should be. What follows therefore is not a manifesto, it is more a set of guidelines which outline what we aim to achieve:

- To ingratiate and engross ourselves into other cultures and customs, therefore allowing ourselves the opportunity to learn from them.
- To take public transport wherever possible to maximise our ability to meet local people and to better understand their way of life.
- To minimise the environmental impact of our travel and to prove that slow travel is feasible on a tight budget.
- To understand the reality of environmental issues for Africans, specifically related to climate change and its implications for future generations.
- To see how environmental issues have affected communities and the ways in which they have learnt to cope. - To investigate the response of governments, the international community, business and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to environmental issues.
- To investigate the role of aid in Africa.
- To investigate the effects of carbon finance in Africa; strengths, weaknesses and barriers to implementation and the ways in which it can bring increased benefits to local communities.
- To experience and relay the realities and personalities of the Africa we experience.

The Route
The following is the route that we are currently aiming for. However, many of the details are far from concluded, much of it will have to be played by ear. Obviously we will be trying to avoid the areas where there is a high likelihood of getting shot and many of the areas we hope to pass through are so volatile it can change from week to week. You also might think we have been planning this trip for years the reality is nearer a few days flicking through guidebooks as the window within which we could embark was so close to the date on which we agreed to jump head first into the whole business. At present, the plan is as follows;

UK – France – Tunisia – Libya – Egypt – Sudan – Eritrea – Djibouti – Somaliland – Ethiopia – Kenya – Uganda – Rwanda – Tanzania – Malawi – Mozambique – Swaziland – South Africa – Lesotho – South Africa

We are going to avoid flying for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we want to try and meet as many people as possible and learn as much as we can from them, we do not want a sanitised version. This also precludes taking our own transport. Secondly, we want to take responsibility for our own actions in relation to climate change and minimise our own impact. This doesn’t mean we’re part of the anti-flying Gestapo, we see it more as a reality that we have to be responsible for our actions and if there’s a viable alternative that has significantly less impact on the planet then we believe we should take it. It just so happens that we are privileged enough to be able set aside enough time to go about our journey in this way. For us it is not the getting there that is important but what happens on the way.

We’re getting to Tunisia through France by train and then ferry before heading along the North coast of Africa to Egypt. Travelling in this way will hopefully allow us to be able to feel places change as we travel further South with the climate and people gradually altering in order to better suit their environment and how it is changing.

We are planning to take about six months for the trip and with regards t what we are going to do when we reach South Africa, that is a bridge we will cross when we come to it. Ideally we’d love to explore further up the west coast. Returning to the UK without flying is hard and we will search for alternatives but so far cargo ships seem way beyond our budget.


Who are we?
We have known each other since we undertook training on Isle of Coll in North-West Scotland over five years ago for a year away in Guyana. We lived in a remote region of savannah interspersed with virgin rainforest in the South of the country teaching local Macushi children at Annai Secondary School. Our living conditions were very basic, we were without electricity or running water and yet we managed the entire year living in a cockroach, bat and rat infested concrete shell without any kind of serious disagreement. The only minor incidents usually revolved around biscuits and who’s turn is was to cycle for half an hour to get them from the local shop, but we were both mildly delirious with malnutrition, so it was excusable and quickly forgotten when we got our hands on a giant block of cheese.

Since then Stuart has gone onto complete a degree in Environmental Geoscience at Bristol University and more recently a Sustainable Development Masters Degree with Forum for the Future. Since graduating Stuart has been working for Climate Care an organisation that funds greenhouse gas emission reduction around the world. Stuart hopes to be able to make the biggest impact possible on climate justice, individuals and countries that will suffer most without significantly causing the problem.

Toby has graduated with a degree in English from the University of London and has since worked in the national and local press and on the radio. He is currently working in the University of Kent and is working to become a writer with a particular emphasis upon environmental journalism. Toby aims to communicate environmental issues to a wide audience in a comprehendible manner which does not patronise, dehumanise or hyperbolise, approaching the subject global but not distant.

We have a good set of complementary skills that give us the ability to get on and get through tough situations.


Purpose of this Blog
Climate change is the biggest issue facing the future of humankind as it encompasses many other issues including poverty, water supply and disease. Climate change has very much been the flavour of the year for the press and of course it is positive to have it in the forefront of the public consciousness. However, people are becoming turned off by the enormity of the issue and it is likely it won’t be long before it disappears from the front pages. The intention of this blog is not to ‘raise the profile of climate change’, there are enough resources and information out there explaining the science of climate change. We are going to be looking at the solutions to climate change whether through prevention or adaptation and the reality of climate change in the places that are on the front line.

We would be going with or without the blog though so the trip is not entirely an activity in communication, it is a fortunate by-product of what we are doing. We both hope that what we experience will better equip us for futures combating climate change. The process of this ‘journey’ (and we mean that in the most pretentious sense of the word) will ‘change’ (and we also mean that in the most pretentious sense of that of the word) both of us for the better and we hope we can in some way reciprocate (and we mean that in the most pompous sense of the word) along the way. We would like to imagine that someone somewhere might read this blog and consider whether or not their quality of life will be dramatically be improved by replacing their current TV with a HD version, even if it much cheaper in the January sales. Someone might even read this and try and do something, that would be amazing.

We will update this blog as often as we can, keeping you up to date with our experiences and adventures; the characters we meet, the cruel, unusual and fantastical forms of transport, the highs and the lows that will go along with travelling into the unknown. We hope you will come back and visit this page and add your own thoughts and opinions to our pieces and the issues we are discussing. Also there will be photos and hopefully videos uploaded for you to follow our progress.

So for us it’s all hands to the pump trying to get organised before we head off on January 9th 2008. Going to the doctors, sorting out the jabs, anti-malarials. Trying to figure out exactly what needs done and when to obtain visas and how exactly we get the Arabic translations of our passports the Libyans are asking for.

All the best,

Toby and Stuart