Children in the Wilderness: Tour de Tuli – a double success

To journey from Limpopo Valley Airfield in Botswana to Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa is a 30-minute drive by vehicle. With the cooperation of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the Tour de Tuli has collectively turned the journey into a 310km, four-day mountain biking adventure that continues to grow in popularity whilst generating revenue to educate rural children on life skills and the merits of conservation. These rural children live on the peripheries of wildlife areas in seven SADC countries and in the future will be amongst those responsible for the sustainability of these wilderness areas.

This year the Medscheme Tour de Tuli 2010 – Mapungubwe Route attracted  420 cyclists, 54 cyclist leaders, 150 staff and volunteers to do all possible to create an adventure of a lifetime. The event was represented by many different nationalities including Australia, Botswana, Namibia, Seychelles, Slovakia, South Africa, USA, and the UK – and not forgetting Zimbabwe!

The increasing popularity of the tour in 2010 saw, for the first time, two consecutive starts and an increase by 54% of the number of cyclists that had participated in 2009.  Over four days, the cyclists covered over 300km of predominantly single track, travelled through four different National Parks and crossed through three ‘informal’ country border posts. Clearly not a ride that you could normally undertake….

The cyclists were exposed to some of the finest places that the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) has to offer, namely the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, the Tuli Safari area, Shashe and Maramani villages and the Sentinel paleontological sites. The tour ended at the Mapungubwe National Park, a World Heritage site.

The highlights of the tour included some excellent elephant sightings (including some close encounters that definitely got the cyclists’ attention!), hyaena sightings and even a lion kill. The warm welcome of the communities along the way will long live in the memories of many cyclists. At Fort Tuli, the cyclists enjoyed camping in the Shashe riverbed, a gorgeous setting after a difficult day of cycling. Many cyclists enjoyed wallowing in the Limpopo River, despite the crocodile warnings cautioning them not to do so….

It surprised and delighted us how so many people have embraced the Medscheme Tour de Tuli event and made it their own. The community spirit that has evolved has been overwhelming. An event such as this could not be possible without the commitment and contribution of many people. We would like thank Medscheme, all our partners, sponsors, suppliers, cyclists and volunteers for participating in this event and making it an overwhelming success that it was. All monies go to Children in the Wilderness, a worthwhile cause indeed.

(Photos thanks to Russel Friedman)