The police were aware that Jolandie was in town but didn’t expect to find her taped to a chair when they dropped by to welcome her. On the first night she spent in Ondjiva, her hosts were the target of an armed robbery.
But crossing into Angola, misfortune struck. The road up the West Coast was by now familiar territory.
She met up with a group of well-wishers and fellow bikers at Cape Agulhas on 7 April and launched her second attempt at becoming the first woman to circumnavigate Africa on her own. On 1 April 2012 Jolandie left Johannesburg and headed towards Cape Town once more. The BMW 650GS Dakar, was immediately christened Dax, meaning ‘the truth that will conquer the world’. Jolandie jumped at the opportunity and planning started in all earnest to set off again. Whilst the governor of the Angolan province where her bicycle was stolen had personally re-embursed her for her loss, the Angolan minister of Local Government reached out to her and offered to sponsor her to complete her journey by whatever means she chose. She made it to Northern Angola where a group of four knife-wielding thugs took her bicycle and all her gear from her.ĭejected, Jolandie was forced to return home. But determined to realise her dream, Jolandie left Camps Bay on 27 April 2011 to cycle around Africa on her own. Mainly through a few well-wishers and friends. This time she became the first woman to ride around South Africa on a bicycle. In 2009 she set off from Johannesburg again. Whilst awareness about Jolandie’s crazy dream was increasing, sponsorship wasn’t forthcoming. With little money and a bicycle as the only means of transport, Jolandie set off in 2008 to cycle from Johannesburg to Cape Town to raise awareness and attract sponsorship for her trip around Africa. “Get out of the pool of fear and swim in the ocean of possibility.” ~Jolandie Rust She could show them that all you needed was a dream, a desire to realize that dream and to take responsibility to fulfil that dream. She felt that by embarking on a journey no other woman has undertaken on her own, she could inspire people across the continent. She is passionate about Africa and her people. A dream to become the first woman to circumnavigate Africa on her own.Īfrica, the world’s second largest continent, but also one of the poorest, has always fascinated Jolandie. It was then that a dream began to take shape. It emphasised the importance to take control of her life and to shape and form her own happiness.
The untimely death of someone dear to her in 2007 made her painfully aware of how fragile and precious life is, of how short a life could be. The hum-drum of a 9 to 5 routine did just not resonate with the spirit of adventure that had been awakened. Experiencing the harshness of the semi-desert and the sweltering heat, negotiating their way through military posts and dealing with Arabs chasing them on donkeys gave Jolandie a taste of real adventure.īack in South Africa, she struggled to settle down. In 2004, taking time off from working on a kibbutz in Israel, Jolandie and a friend cycled through the Occupied Territories from Nazareth to Arad. Throughout her teens she could be seen criss-crossing the streets of her home town, Kempton Park, on her bicycle. For the young Jolandie this would be the key to exploring and achieving the seemingly impossible. Her first two-wheeler was a pink BMX she got as a Christmas present at the age of 4.
Her green eyes hide tales of pain and heartache, but they light up at the mention of the open road, of an adventure. This 29 year old, who calls Melville, Johannesburg home, has an easy smile and infectious laugh. Behind her stretched over 40,000 kilometers, the indelible memories of 26 African countries and the culmination of six long years that turned the dream of becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the African continent into a reality. For her this marker signifies a coming together. On Sunday,, she again stood at stone marker in Cape Agulhas indicating the dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
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