By Adnaan Mohamed
Gustavo Vuela Tercott doesn’t travel through the world, he pedals into it. Two years after leaving Mexico on a bicycle, Africa has become his road, his classroom and his proving ground.
Like a rider chasing the horizon with no finish line in sight, Gustavo has turned endurance into a way of life.
The Mexican adventurer is currently cycling around the African continent as part of his Vagabundo del Mundo project. It’s a journey driven by curiosity rather than speed. Already, his wheels have traced the entire West African coastline from Morocco to Namibia, stitching together cultures and climates one relentless pedal stroke at a time.
Cape Town became his latest milestone on Monday, 26 January 2026, and not just any day. Gustavo rolled into the Mother City on his birthday, after leaving Langebaan and sleeping over in Melkbosstrand, the final kilometres ticking over like the closing metres of a long stage.
He was welcomed not with fanfare, but with something far more meaningful, a homemade birthday cake, presented by Eugene Dryding, one of the many strangers-turned-friends his journey has gifted him.
Gustavo is currently staying with Eugene in Heathfield, in the Southern Suburbs, giving both rider and bike a brief recovery window.
That moment of celebration had its roots far north, deep in Namibia.
On Sunday, 28 September 2025, Cape Town couples Keith and Bridget Linderoth and Eugene and Audrey Dryding were midway through a six-week road trip through Namibia. Having departed from Khowarib Lodge in the Kunene Region, they were heading towards Palmwag Lodge when they noticed a lone cyclist moving steadily against the vastness of the landscape.
They stopped.
Water, cold drinks and food were offered, simple gestures that often mean everything on a long ride. Eugene took down Gustavo’s details, and what began as a roadside pause turned into an ongoing connection via Instagram and WhatsApp, a digital lifeline stretching across borders and months.
That thread finally led to Cape Town, and a birthday welcome that symbolised the quiet kindness Gustavo says defines his journey.
The ride itself began two years ago when he fulfilled a childhood dream that demanded movement rather than comfort. Since then, Gustavo has crossed more than 20 countries, discovering that the road is both unforgiving and generous.
It has tested him severely.
Five bouts of malaria forced him off the saddle. Typhoid fever threatened to end everything. Each illness was a brutal climb, but none proved steep enough to stop him.
Along the way, he has seen empty spaces of luxury, glossy but hollow, and places of deep poverty overflowing with happiness. More than once, he admits, he lost himself — only to rediscover who he was further down the road, often with help from people he never expected to meet.
Asked when he felt the most fear, his answer surprises.
It was not sickness, danger or isolation.
It was the moment he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar.
That narrow stretch of water, as he approached the Moroccan shore, marked the true beginning. It was the point where the comfort zone disappeared and the unknown opened up like an unmarked descent.
Since then, every turn of the pedals has been an act of faith. Gustavo rides not to escape the world, but to understand it, slowly, honestly, and entirely under his own power.
