My name is Kyle Meenehan and this is my account of my journey around the perimeter of South Africa on foot.
As i write this on my mobile phone I am sitting in Kommetjie, a small town not far from Cape Town. I arrived here by train, which had me seated and reclined in alternation over a 26 hour period opposite a retired train driver of declining olifactory palatability. After degenerating from an entertaining, aged Karate/Judo expert (he had mastered these Japanese arts during a 6-month course in China and now did part-time work for the police, spin-kicking drug-lords out of Hillbrow... He also claimed to be quite musical, my ukelele begs to differ.) into a babbling alcoholic chimney, i decided to spend the last few hours of the journey in one of the smaller cabins that had emptied since entering the Western Cape. Through its window i watched the light soften and the valleys sprout vineyards and crazy hobos as we moved from the Karoo towards Cape Town. If there are two things after amazing rock climbing that i enjoy about Cape Town, they are the quality of light and the insanity of the homeless. The humidity from the ocean both softens the light and gives everything a gentle sheen, the two result in a range of colours and tones very rare in my home town of Johannesburg. Secondly, aside from Plastic Bag Man in Joburg, Cape Town has some of the most eccentric hobos i've ever seen. Crazy hobos make life interesting.
I arrived on Tuesday and have spent the last few days spending time with my family and making final preparations for my walk. On Saturday the 9th of May i will begin my walk around the perimeter of the country. The route is about 5800km and never strays more than 100 km from the nearest coastline or border. On the walk i will be pulling a cart (more on that tomorrow) in which i will carry all the necessaries as well as my camera, guitar and ukelele. Along the walk i will be taking photos with which i intend to create an exhibition afterwards. The guitar and ukelele i will use to earn some extra money along the way, gigging wherever anyone will hear the songs i write on the road. I say extra because this year I was fortunate enough to win the Supertramp Award, an annual cash prize awarded by the Mountain Club of South Africa to young people planning expeditions or trips of interest. The sponsorship has made the walk possible, covering the bulk of my food and accommodation costs and for this, i am incredibly grateful the MCSA, the committee members who determine the winner of the Supertramp Award, and the anonymous donor who funds it. In order to prevent me sacrificing that food and accommodation for film stock and guitar strings, as often is the choice dictated by mine and my friends' sense of priorities in times of financial crisis, i will be performing where i can find venues and selling various crafts from my cart on the South African roadside.
Well that's about all the details i can provide now as my tolerance for predictive text and small keys has been exeeded. More tomorrow!
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