Mitchell-Heggs reporting back to Malawi High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Thomas Bisika in London
* She flew to Kigali in Rwanda in May 2025 and cycled through to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and all the way to South Africa
* In Malawi, she attended NGO Day in Mzuzu where met “some amazing NGOs” like Tilitonse Foundation, Emerge Livelihoods and Plan International Malawi
By Duncan Mlanjira
Eleanor Mitchell-Heggs, who cycled 10,000km in nine Southern African countries in 10 months cherishes her interaction she had with interacted with Malawi’s NGOs, describing Tilitonse Foundation, Emerge Livelihoods and Plan International Malawi as “amazing”.
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Writing on her LinkedIn post, Mitchell-Heggs indicates that she reported back to Malawi High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Thomas Bisika in London where she shared stories from her cycle adventure.
The 25-year-old flew to Kigali in Rwanda in May 2025 and cycled through to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia — and all the way to South Africa road.
“It was a real full-circle moment to sit down in London and share stories from the road, from tsetse flies to sunrise views over Lake Malawi, reflecting on what it meant to cycle through the country,” she reports.
“Dr Bisika played a pivotal role in supporting the journey, particularly during the election period. He was quite literally just a WhatsApp message away, offering timely advice on safety and route planning.
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“He also kindly introduced me to Patrick Mwale, acting CEO of NGO Regulatory Authority, whose support was instrumental in connecting me with impactful, locally led organisations.
“This shaped much of my time in Malawi, including an invitation to attend an NGO day in Mzuzu where I met some amazing NGOs like Tilitonse Foundation, Emerge Livelihoods and of course, Plan International Malawi local team.
“We also spoke about potential partnerships and a number of ideas for upcoming activities. Still early stage, but an exciting space to explore how these insights can translate into something more structured and collaborative,” says Mitchell-Heggs.
On his part, Dr. Bisika told Maravi Express that on April 30, 2025, Mitchell-Heggs visited the Malawi High Commission to brief him about her cycling journey from Rwanda to South Africa through Malawi.
Their meeting in April last year
“She informed me that she would like to meet a number of NGOs while in Malawi,” Bisika said. “She reported that she attended the NGO Day organised by NGORA in Mzuzu. She was more interested in challenges NGOs face in the course of their work.”
The BBC News reported that during her trip, Mitchell-Heggs “was chased by tsetse flies and cycled through blistering hot desert during the dry season — but she also shared the joys of the ‘magical landscape of Namibia, and the iindescribable’ experience of canoeing the Zambezi River accompanied by the sounds of lions”.
Her experience in Namib Desert and canoeing on Zambezi River.(Pictures courtesy of the BBC)
The BBC further reports that Mitchell-Heggs found locals across Africa as “incredibly kind throughout her solo adventure” and that along the way, she wrote a report on the work of 80 NGOs she visited, focusing her research on education, youth empowerment and gender.
She reported to the BBC that she first started thinking about the trip in 2020, and after years of “over-planning” the trip, she decided to set off: “I thought it would be a good opportunity to have an adventure and highlight the work of the NGOs through meeting with them and seeing whether there was something I can do to address barriers they face,” she told the BBC.
Mitchell-Hegg reported back that she loved her trip and the main thing the adventure gave her was confidence in the kindness of the African people, saying she could go days without having to worry about accommodation because people would call ahead to a friend or relative in the next village for her to stay with.
“And when you’re on the road for so long, cycling across a continent, you start normalizing what you’re doing, and you forget that you’re living your best life essentially and living your dream,” she is quoted as saying by the BBC.
