Ann Jangle on her cycling journey from Botswana to Kenya [video]

Cape Town-born singer, songwriter, producer and composer Ann Jangle recently set out to cycle, on her own, from Botswana to Kenya to raise awareness for wildlife and uplift communities with her music.

From Botswana to Kenya

According to Texx and the City, Ann wanted to do something crazy enough for people to realise that she’s not just some chick with a guitar.

“I was living in Berlin and just feeling very tired,” Ann told the publication. “We’d done 30 gigs in 31 days across 11 countries, I was tour managing and just missing South Africa, so I decided to come back home. I thought about settling down, got a dog called Kevin who pretty much changed my life, and suddenly I realized, hell no I’m not settling down, I can’t do this.”

Ann then bought a van and toured 23 000km across South Africa. She later met Blanca Fernandes, or ‘Blanca on a Bike’, who at the age of 60 cycled from London to Cape Town and back. “I met her on tour,” says Ann, “and after having a couple of beers with her and seeing her insane sock tan, I knew then and there that I was going to cycle to Kenya.”

The journey saw her cycling alone for seven months through the African wilderness where she covered over 5000kms through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya. Totally unprepared for the expedition, with everything she owned on the back of a bicycle she set off from the South African border and headed into the unknown.

Ann used her phone to film bits of her journey along the way, from the vast beauty of Victoria Falls to malaria test-kits, to sleeping on the side of a highway and much, much more, all of which has been compiled into a 30-minute documentary feature called African Dream Parade. The documentary, which made it debut this November, follows on the release of her latest album with the same name.

It’s said that Ann’s music came to be such a big a part of the journey. She even met Dele Sosimi (a celebrated figure in the field of ’70s Afrobeat as Fela Kuti’s keyboard player) who she was lucky enough to perform with in Tanzania.

“I arrived in Zanzibar with no money and nowhere to sleep for the night,” says Ann. “I was just wondering around and suddenly heard this music coming from somewhere. I had remembered something someone had told me before I left – they said that if I ever felt stuck, I should just follow the music. So I did, and that’s what led me to Dele.”

Ann also went on to visit small schools and the local communities to help uplift the people there.

Gratitude generates more gratitude

“The media has these stereotypes of deepest darkest Africa,” says Ann, “but it’s just not like that. The people are kind and generous and I just wanted to help them in any way that I could.

“Gratitude generates more gratitude. To have nothing on this trip felt like I had everything. The fact that I was free to move, I had no bills to pay or work to worry about, the fact that every day I could just get on my bike and meet new, beautiful people – that was enough for me. That’s life man!

“I am so absolutely driven to collaborate with musicians from across the world. My plan is to move to Tanzania next year and just work with the local musicians and make music that really speaks to the soul. That’s what I wanted from this trip,” she says, “and I’ll take it with me forever into my music.”