Adventurer stops off in Durban North

IT has been a life-changing experience for Dutch national, Willemijke Pommerel, who recently stopped in Durban North on her trip through the African continent. The adventurer has already covered more than 13 000 kilometres (so far) on her trip from Enschede in Holland to Durban. She has travelled through 19 countries since her starting point on 6 January and said she cannot wait to do it all over again on her trip back to Europe.

With only a tent, a sleeping bag with extra blankets and a bag of clothes, Pommerel, quit her job as a waitress to travel to South Africa. Incredibly she’s only had one puncture on her trip to Durban. She has been documenting her trip through a Facebook blog, Mijn Afrika Avonturen.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me that I couldn’t miss out on. I was working as a waitress and I overheard these two guys chatting about riding to South Africa on their motorbikes. When I handed them the bill I told them I ride a bike and I wanted to join them. They looked at me skeptically but gave me an email address. That night after work I immediately messaged him with the subject line in capital letters, ‘I want to go’. He said okay and the next day I quit my job,” she explained.

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“I did eventually start my adventure with one of the guys, I owned a ‘lady bike’ as I like to call it and had to get a bike that would be hardy enough for the trip. Luckily I managed to borrow one that’s done the Holland to Cape Town trip twice before. I split up with my riding partner in Morroco as I wanted to do a few things myself and have my own journey. Depending on the road conditions I was able to do around 100 kilometres a day. But the roads here in South Africa are great so I was able to cover more mileage.”

Because she managed to get down to Cape Town with weeks to spare, Pommerel decided to ride to Durban to see the east coast of the country.

“I’ve met so many incredible people on my journey. It’s definitely made me stronger. I was recently divorced and had lost everything and I found myself living for other people. That was the biggest change for me, it’s been a journey for my soul and it’s been wonderful. The people in Africa are incredibly kind and I’ve experienced wonderful hospitality wherever I’ve gone. I’ve loved this adventure and I can’t wait for the trip back to go and spend a little more time in the places I never got to see properly,” she said.

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