#013 Jo Rust | How motorcycling around Africa changes you

Jo Rust, guest · [06:26]And then there was an event in my, in my life, in 2007, a very tragic event that really affected me in a massive way, and that made me decide to actually embark on this trip around Africa. I struggled with depression since a very young age, and it actually got to a point where with this tragic event, I ended up, contemplating committing suicide. And I remember this day, you know, I was sitting in a swing underneath a tree and crying my eyes out. And then, something happened. Something shifted in my mind, and it happened in an instant where I realized I don't want to do this. And as afraid as I was and as scared as I was, you know, something was telling me, well, okay, if I'm not going to take my own life, then I'm going to go the exact opposite way and do the biggest, scariest thing, take on the biggest, scariest thing that I could think of. And right in that moment, it was, well, I want to become the first woman to travel around Africa on my own.

Jo Rust, guest · [09:11]As fate would have it, it was one Saturday, I think it was, and in northern Angola, I was on my way to the Congo, and I got up the morning and packed up my camp, so I would sleep like kind of in the bushes, you know, in my tent. And I got on the road, and as I started pedaling, this black Ford Bucky pulled over in front of me, and four guys got out of it, which at the time, I didn't really think anything of it, because a lot of people stopped to find out, you know, who I was and what I was doing. I would kind of stick out like a sore thumb wherever I went, and it wasn't until they pulled out, knives and machetes that I realized that they weren't here for a chat. And so, long story short, they stole my bicycle and all my kit, and, I got away, so I ran away. Made a run for it with my, I still had my camelback on my back, and in it I had my phone and my passport and my card. So I was able to phone a friend in Luanda, a friend who is very well connected within the Angolan government. And within minutes, he, had phoned the local chief of police, had phoned the governor in the area, and it was absolute chaos. You know, within minutes, the nearest Police station, they deployed a car with police officers to come and find me and make sure that I'm safe, bring me back to the town. The governor of that province in the north, the Zaire province, flew in to come and make sure that I was safe, and they deployed two helicopters from the capital. I just thought to myself, this is, this is like something out of a Hollywood movie. You know, this is insane. And all for a bicycle. I mean, this is, this is absolutely insane. And, but that day changed my life because I returned back home eventually, and the Angolan government got in touch with me, wanting to apologize for what had happened. And I took a chance because they, one of their ministers contacted me, and he said to me, you know, if there's anything we can do to help you, let me know. And I was like, well, I can think of something, and I took a chance and said to him, look, I actually want to start over. And I had decided that I want to start over on a motorcycle, pretty much the moment that I saw my bicycle disappear over the horizon with these guys. And I thought, in that moment, standing in the middle of nowhere in northern Angola, I just thought to myself, there's got to be an easier way. And so he said to me, okay, well, send us a proposal and a budget, which I did. And I think it was two weeks later, he came back and he said, yes, the Angolan government will sponsor your entire trip. And that's how I started over on a motorcycle.

Jo Rust, guest · [21:29]so what I discovered was this, Tool that I use in the sense of it's a practical thing that I did whenever I had a difficult day. Like, I knew border crossing days were always, were always quite hectic. So before I embarked on this journey, I still suffered from really bad social phobia. So it was difficult for me to be around people, and especially in strange places. And now I was in strange places every single day, around strange people every single day. And what I ended up doing is, if it was a border crossing day, I would prep myself in the morning, make sure that I had everything, all my paperwork in order, so I didn't have to worry about that. I would make sure that, you know, I'd strap everything on my bike as tight as I possibly could, because the other challenge was, of course, being on my own, there was no one to look after my stuff whilst I was sorting out my paperwork and having my passport stamps and all of that. So what I would do is when I got to the border town or just before a border, like five kilometers before it, I would stop and then I would allow myself to feel scared for ten seconds or ten counts, and the rule was once I get to ten, then go. Just do it. You know, don't think, because that's the problem is when we think too much, you know, just don't think, just do it. And it's become something that I use up until this day now. So it's changed a bit, it's evolved a bit. there's actually a woman, her name is Mel Robbins, and she came up with what she calls the five-second rule. And basically, it worked on a lot of stuff that if you're afraid of something or if you're procrastinating or whether it be having to get out of bed in the morning or going to the gym, will never feel like doing the things that we actually need to do. You'll never feel like it. You have to force yourself to, to do stuff. And so the five-second rule, what it is, is let's say your alarm goes off in the morning, you count back from five to one, five or three to one, and then you just do it. Because once you take action, you're not thinking about it anymore. So, it, so it, it works on the same premise and it's something that I use daily in my life now.

Jo Rust, guest · [27:27]And like you mentioned Nigeria earlier, and that was one of the countries that I went like, oof, in the heart of Western Africa, and we all know about Nigeria. But we built up these biases because that's all you hear without really experiencing what a place really is about. And I had absolutely zero issues in Nigeria. People were so friendly, so helpful, and in places that you wouldn't expect, like in Libya, one of my favorite stories is in Libya, I went through Libya in a time where it was, well, it's still difficult to get through there, but it was just by pure fluke that I was allowed to get into the country, and it was only because the Minister of Tourism, who is a woman, she invited me personally into Libya, and that's the only way I could get in. And it was via, I had a friend who had a friend who has a friend who has a friend, that kind of thing. That's the only way I could get in, and it was, it was scary as hell, whilst in Tripoli, I mean, it was literally having bombs going off around you at night, and it was a war, it was in the middle of a war zone, and I remember One day, getting into a town, the town's name was Ashdaria, and I went to a little shop. I needed to get some, some stuff, cold drinks and whatever, snacks and food. And as I got to the counter, the shop owner started packing just more stuff into my bag, and I didn't really understand what was going on, but I was like, okay, I'll just allow this, because I don't quite know what to do. And after he'd filled my bag with goodies, he handed it over to me and just said, "Welcome to Libya." And I was like, this is so amazing. I had so many of those type heartwarming things that happen, moments that happen all the way around Africa.

Petro du Pisani, host · [33:24]So how do you balance courage against stupidity when looking for new challenges? Because a lot of people, like a lot of adventurers will just head off, okay, and, and not necessarily try and anticipate the risk that they're gonna face. So obviously you don't wanna take unreasonable risk, so how do you decide what's acceptable risk and what isn't?

Jo Rust, guest · [33:47]Yeah, it's, I think it's a, it's a tough one. For me, it came down to, trusting my gut. So that's another thing I learned on this trip is to absolutely trust my instincts and my gut. Because it's a risk, but, you know, every risk I took was a calculated risk. So I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. But at the same time, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go into areas where on the news, they, when I was in Senegal, they had kidnapped a South African actually in Mali, in Timbuktu. So I didn't go to Timbuktu because that would be stupid.

Petro du Pisani, host · [34:28]So. cause, yeah. It's quite an interesting theme for me, and I've, I've discussed this with somebody else before as well, is that people will say to me, how can you ride a motorcycle in urban traffic? And I'm like, if I leave at seven o'clock in the morning, everybody else is standing still, firstly. So, and everybody's on their phone. If you go past the cars, every single person's on their phone. The people who actually see you and may give you a gap are the people who are not on their phones, and those are the taxi drivers. So the people who are perceived to be the most riskiest people on the road are the guys who are actually seeing me, okay, coming through the traffic. The guys who are not seeing me are the guys who are on their phones in the car and not looking around very much. Yeah. And my theory is that people who are willing to take calculated risks Like bikers in the traffic or paragliding or whatever you're going to be doing, is you're actually much more risk averse than most people. That you actually have looked at the risks, you've weighed them up, you've made a decision, and you're just going to go with it, okay? Whereas other people sort of go blindly through life without even thinking about the risk that they're exposing you to at that point in time. That's a theory that I've got, is that people who do stuff like motorcycling and paragliding are actually better with handling risk. Yeah.

Jo Rust, guest · [35:46]Yes, definitely. There's this interesting, thing that I read and heard recently is when you study the top successful people in the world, you'll find that all of them take risks. They are for risk. And the one percenters, the top one percent of humanity are all adventurous people. Who take risks. And because that's how you get anywhere. Everything is a risk, isn't it? Getting out of bed in the morning is a risk.

Jo Rust, guest · [40:04]It does. So it's, it's taken me, yeah, it's taken me thirty-five years. But, when I finished the trip around Africa, that's when I started struggling with it because I was like this dog that had been chasing about For seven years, because from the moment I decided I wanted to go around Africa until the moment I finished, it was seven years. The actual going around Africa physically took me a year, but I mean, a lot of it, the run-up to it, you know, cycling through South Africa, round South Africa, but it's a long time to have one singular focus. And it was great whilst I had that focus, but the moment I finished, it was like, okay, now what? I've caught the bus. Now what do I do? And I struggled with it for a long time. I really struggled with it. And I, I remember the first six months back home, I was completely depressed because I didn't know what to do. Every day I had this routine of getting up, packing my bike, getting on my bike and moving on to the next place. And all of a sudden I had nowhere to go. And, it's until now that I have learned In the last year or two that I've realized what I want to do, now I'm in a much happier place because, you know, happiness equals fulfillment. If we're not fulfilled, we'll never be happy.