Purchasing a Bit of Fear

Well, I went and made the commitment
Today I bought a ticket to South Africa :)
I fly out of Vancouver in mid April and arrive about mid-day in Cape Town South Africa...
It would be better for buying a motorbike to land in Johanesburg but I gotta say I just didnt feel confident about showing up there with a big pile of luggage and not knowing my way around at all... I just dont get a good "vibe" about moving around in that city ... Though of course Ive never been there and Im probbably just being over cautious... But, I felt it would be better to to get the trip off to a slightly less challenging start by heading to the "less intense" city of Cape Town.... and its also the very bottom of Africa so its a good start point for my trip North :))

I was not nearly so sure about the return trip though... SA requires "proof of onward travel" before they will let me in though, and at this stage I just dont really know where Ill be flying back from... It could be that my "rough plan" works out and Ill make it to Israel and fly back from there... or maybe Ill have to move on to Turkey or even Western Europe before I can sell the bike (I hear Ireland is the place to do that without lots of beaurocratic hastles!)... Or it could be that I dont get past Ethiopia (Sudan may shut down completely with the violence in South Sudan starting to really flare up now), and in that case, I may have to just ride back South and fly back out of South Africa??
I just dont know what will happen, but I needed a flight booked from somewhere for the visa issue, so I decided to be optimistic and went ahead and booked a flight from Israel in late November.

That makes for 200 days of travel and I get back to Vancouver on Halloween :))

But I have to say, that even though Ive gone ahead and booked and paid for flights, I feel more than a little trepidation! I definitely feel considerable anxiety about this trip... Not about my "stuff"... I dont really care what happens to my equipment or my bike... And its not lions or elephants or snakes... or even bad drivers and other traffic hazzards that concern me... nor all the unpleasant parasites and diseases that lurk there in the "Dark Continent."... No, its the most dangerous thing on the planet that Im worried about
.... yep... People!!

There are lots and lots of very poor people all over Africa, and no matter how grubby and smelly or how "low key" I try to be, I will still, always be very clearly a "rich" foreigner traveling around on a motorbike.  And unfortunately there are a great many people who are willing to use force to take things that they want for them selves... Its a behavior that is "tried and true" and has been in opperation for litterally hundreds of thousands of years ... In fact its a main stay of Darwinian selection... the Law of the Jungle! (how apropos for a trip to Africa :) )... So, I cant really complain too hard about it I guess, but the fact is that it scares me a bit... all the moreso because here in the "civilized" West, most of what we hear in the media about Africa involves lots of people with lots of guns and not much discipline or apparent moral conscience... Again, its probably got a fair bit of "media sensationalism" in it but it still manages to play on my fears.

But, Ive gone ahead and done it anyway... Ive purchased my self a big slice of adventure with a heavy topping of spicy treppidation and perhaps just a sprinkle of guilt. (should I really be blowing this many thousands of dollars on a trip like this or should I be paying off mortgages and saving for my rapidly approaching old age?)

Guess I will now have to diligently set about getting enthusiastic and try to enjoy the anticipation :))