Here’s the man hitchhiking from Southampton to South Africa
In what’s turning out to be a journey for the books, one man is hitchhiking all the way from Southampton in the UK to SOUTH AFRICA.
The hitchhiking guide to South Africa?
One man is on the trip of a lifetime, travelling from Southampton all the way to South Africa – by hitchhiking!
As reported by Daily Mail, Timo de Jong, is a 25-year-old traveller from Steenwijk in the Netherlands – who is currently hitchhiking from Southampton to South Africa.
According to de Jong, his decision to take the 16 000 km journey was quite random.
“I was in the UK visiting some friends and was looking for my next big adventure. I looked at the map, saw Southampton and thought to myself, “Hmm, that kind of sounds like South Africa.”” de Jong said as per Daily Mail.
“Next thing you know, I’m on the side of the road in Southampton, trying to get a ride out towards Dover.” the hitchhiker added.
The journey so far
The traveller has been documenting his hitchhiking journey on Instagram, where he has amassed over 130 000 followers already.
The hitchhiking trip began back in February, where he managed to hitch a ride to France from Dover, England with two Romanian men who were catching the ferry with their car. This leg didn’t cost him anything as the ferry charges per vehicle rather than per passenger.
From France, he made his way through Belgium and down to Algeciras in Spain. Once there, he hitched a ride on a truck bound for Morocco, allowing him to touch down in Africa.
He then hitchhiked through Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, where he then boarded a boat to Cameroon and hitchhiked to the Republic of the Congo.
So far, de Jong has spent just over 4 000 euros (almost R80 000) on the trip, 700 of which has been on visas.
“Rides are almost always free. I’ve accidentally gotten into a taxi twice before and had to pay for those, and the boat from Nigeria to Cameroon. But except from that, they’ve all been free.” de Jong said.
He is currently on Day 200 of his journey (at the time of writing) and is heading out of Congo.
Follow his hitchhiking journey here: