Riding under the banner of Operation Smile, he has faced off against the elements and is finally out of Egypt.
His third day has started off pretty early with him cycling in the dark for at least 20 minutes before getting the chance to see a serene sunrise.
By Day Eight Keegan was almost out of Egypt where misfortune crossed his path, as he narrowly escaped being robbed at knifepoint.
While cycling through Sudan and after being chased by children grabbing at his cycle bags, he managed to find a good stretch of road where he regained momentum.
“A guy on a three-wheeled motorbike pulled up, and I will never forget his face – protruding teeth, wide grin, deep set eyes and big lips. He started talking in Arabic. I answered hello and smiled at him. Then he started rambling on I pointed at my ears to indicate I couldn’t understand. He stared at my bags but I just looked ahead and kept cycling,” said Keegan.
The man on the bike began shouting ‘money money!’ to which Keegan replied “No,” he then replied “Yes!”
“I started getting worried, there were no cars ahead and none behind. It was really quiet with sugar cane fields growing into the roadside. He shouted at me again and as I looked back, he flashed a Stanley Blade at me – the hate in his eyes!” continued Keegan.
Keegan went cold inside, his mind raced as the man kept trying to push him off the road.
“I could see a sugar cane donkey carriage ahead and decided I would sprint and try find the driver and ask for help, I just kept praying and praying – ‘Please God protect me’. I answered him one last time ‘I have no money!’ He looked ahead, his passenger whispered something to him and they drove off ahead leaving me be,” said Keegan.
Another minute passed and Keegan found himself cycling past a police vehicle. The would-be robbers had surely seen it or known of it and decided to give up their chase.
“I stopped for safety and just breathed,” he said.
By Day Six Keegan covered 920km with the driving force behind it being his passion for the cause and trekking like a pilgrim from Cairo to Cape Town.
Paige Cook, Keegan’s girlfriend and PRO for the Cape Trek, said that she had spoken with him on Monday, January 11.
“He did roughly 300km each on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, putting him in Khartoum which is in the middle of Sudan by Day 13,” she said.
In the previous Cape Trek, the third of its kind, Keegan cycled from eMalahleni to Cape Town, covering a distance of roughly 2 100km in 14 days.
“He has done 2 315km in just 12 days in the #Cairo2Capetown – that’s amazing!” she added.
Be sure to follow him by visiting his page or The Cape Trek Project on Facebook.
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