"Look at Africa, see something of yourself, and smile."
Armed with a camera, a rucksack, burning ambition and a lot of nerve, 22 year old Michael Davie sets out on one of the most treacherous and difficult journey's on earth - the notorious trek 8500km from Cape Town to Cairo.Afrika - Cape Town to Cairo is a bold, uncompromising video diary style adventure film series. It is a personal exploration of the issues, landscapes and spirit of the African people. It's also a rite of passage into a confronting, sometimes hilarious, but often lonely and dangerous world.
A childhood refugee from Zimbabwe's war of independence, Michael returns to find out what Africa's future might hold.
Travelling overland for seven months, he scales thousand metre cliffs, canoes the great Okavango Delta, hikes isolated mountain borders, dodges forest fires and climbs Africa's highest mountain Mt Kilimanjaro.
He lives on the streets with Geraldine, a homeless prostitute, rides shotgun with the Johannesburg murder and robbery squad, and is arrested and interrogated for investigating the lives of sexually abused Zimbabwean street kids. In Mozambique he befriends a five year old land mine victim and watches her learn to walk again. In Tanzania he narrowly avoids gaol after uncovering government complicity in the heroin trade. He musters cattle with the Masai, parties with Kenya's teenage elite and sails the Nile to Cairo.
"I am, at heart, an optimist and had grown tired of seeing the negative portrayal of Africa. I decided to explore the issues confronting young Africans and search for the potential within those situations. The process was about finding, losing and re-finding hope."
Although his belief in Africa's boundless potential remains undaunted, the film is also a diary of Michael's own fear, frustration and joy on the road. His journey is an emotional and spiritual one - a young man's passage into a world where questions can have elusive answers and dire consequences.
