A CYCLE SAFARI

The landscape, the wildlife, my adventures and the living conditions on my grandfather’s estate where I grew up, not to mention our travels, the safaris we went on, and the different African countries my father’s work sent us to all left their mark on me. And there was also my grandmother, who played a pivotal role in my upbringing, her teachings influencing and shaping my personality. The bicycles I had in those early years gave me the chance to venture secretly into the wild, they took me to places I could never have visited otherwise, and carried me, protected only by my childish innocence, close to the potentially dangerous creatures that lived there. A bicycle was what brought me into contact with the indigenous people, though this was against all the codes of colonial rule. I lived in true freedom then, without any physical fetters, and with a mind unrestricted by prejudice.