The Listen to Africa Expedition

I wrote about this little adventure this morning on Gadling as well, but thought that it was such an interesting story, I wanted to share it here too. It's called the Listen to Africa Expedition, and it's an interesting mix of adventure travel, culture, and more.

A few months back, Huw WIlliams and Rebecca Sumner set out from the U.K. to ride their bikes through Africa. Over the course of the next two years, they'll be covering more than 15,000 miles as they explore amazing landscapes, rustic African villages, and other remote corners of the continent. All the while they'll be blogging about their journey and taking us along for the ride, so to speak.

Of course, we've seen other long distance cycling adventures before, including a number of them through Africa. But what sets this one apart, is their unique approach to capturing the very essence of the continent. The two British adventurers are taking some recording equipment along with them, and as they go, they are recording, quite literally, the sounds of Africa. This includes natural sounds, such as wildlife, the wind through the trees, and so on, as well as the voices of the people they meet along the way. They hope to preserve some of the culture as well, by recording local music, oral histories, and more. Some of the recordings are already in place on the expedition's website, and it is fascinating to listen to them, especially in context with the blog posts as well. Click here to see a list of the audio files available.

There is a rough plan in place as to how Huw and Rebecca will go about their journey, but they are being very flexible in their travels, and leaving their options open. After leaving the U.K., they rode their bikes across France where they hopped a ferry to Morocco. From there they peddled down the western coast of Africa, and are now currently in Mauritania, with many months, and miles ahead of them yet.

The expedition website obviously contains a lot more information about the journey, including a gallery of photos and a map to track the riders' progress. Gear heads will also appreciate the information on the equipment they are using, which is always fascinating to me.

Seems like a very cool project and I like their approach to capturing audio. It should be fun to follow along and listen to their progress.