Episode 81: Wiebke Lühmann

Insights from Cycling Through West Africa

This is the second episode featuring guest Wiebke Lühmann, a German adventurer who is currently on a bicycle tour from Freiburg in Germany all the way to Capetown in South Africa. I first caught up with Wiebke earlier in 2024, when she had just arrived in Conakry, Guinea. Since then she has cycled through West Africa and so it was good to catch up with her and find out what it’s been like to cycle through this region.

Wiebke explains how she has now arrived at a new milestone on her journey, with the route ahead now taking her inland into Central Africa. This will mean she for the first time on this adventure will leave the familiarity of the Atlantic Coast behind. I spoke with her while she was in Benin, about to cross the border over into Nigeria.

Wiebke gave me an update on her travels through West Africa and I was able to find out from her first hand how her perceptions of this section of her ride, met with reality. We spoke about the challenges of cycling through the Wet Season – although from all accounts, Wiebke doesn’t mind cycling in rainy weather at all. She did spend 10 challenging days cycling through the rainforest in Liberia, where the constant rain and humidity turned the dirt roads into a mudfest. This proved to be quite intense and Wiebke says it’s certainly been the mosts challenging part of the journey so far.

Wiebke also spoke about how she had become accustomed to the West African way of life. She developed an understanding of how shops operate, the food on offer and gotten used to the routine of life traveling through this region. Now as she readies herself for the next part of this journey, how she is now about to once again venture into the unknown.

Another topic we spoke of was the starkness of the history which permeates through the West African region. In Ghana relics and museums displaying the horrors of the Slave Trade were prevalent, and providing Wiebke with deep insights into the past. I appreciated being able to talk more candidly with Wiebke on this topic and to hear about her experiences in relation to this.

During Wiebke’s journey she has been travelling with another bicycle Tourist – Frenchmen Julien. Despite a decision to leave partway through the West African leg, he has now returned to once again join Wiebke for the next part of the adventure and they will continue through Central Africa together. We spoke about the importance of flexibility when on a bicycle tour, and how being open to traveling with others has been an enriching experience. Often there is an extra emphasis placed on solo female travellers, yet Wiebke quite rightly pointed out, that you don’t need to be travelling solo in order to have an incredible adventure.

You can follow Wiebke’s journey via her instagram account – @wiebkelueh and also on her strava.

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