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| Image: IG |
Miguel Masaisai’s ambitious bicycle journey across Africa has come to a tragic end after the young Congolese cyclist died in a road crash in Congo-Brazzaville.
Masaisai, 23, was from Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo and had set himself a demanding challenge: travelling thousands of kilometres by bicycle from his hometown to Rabat, Morocco, while passing through 17 African countries.
He began the trip on May 1 under the name “Pedals for Peace”, hoping to use the journey to promote peace and unity across the continent.
By the time of the accident, he had already travelled more than 6,500 kilometres. His route had taken him from Goma to Kinshasa before he crossed into neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.
The journey came to a sudden stop on September 18 after Masaisai ran into trouble with his bicycle near Ouesso, an area close to the border between Congo-Brazzaville and Cameroon.
With the bicycle needing repairs, he reportedly got into a taxi to have the problem sorted out. What should have been a routine trip to a repair point instead turned into a fatal accident.
The taxi later collided with a truck. Masaisai died in the crash alongside the taxi driver and two other passengers.
His death has brought an abrupt end to a journey that was supposed to take him across much of the continent.
Masaisai was no stranger to long-distance cycling. Before beginning his “Pedals for Peace” expedition, he had already completed an extraordinary ride from Goma to Cape Town, South Africa, in 2025.
That earlier trip had taken him across a huge stretch of Africa and showed the level of endurance required for such a challenge. His latest expedition was even more ambitious, with Morocco as the final destination.
Rather than simply travelling from one country to another, Masaisai had attached a wider purpose to his ride. The “Pedals for Peace” project was intended to promote peace through cycling and connect communities along his route.
He had made considerable progress before the accident, covering almost half of the planned distance. But the journey ended far from his intended destination.
The crash also claimed the lives of the other people travelling in the taxi, turning what had started as an ordinary journey to get a bicycle repaired into a devastating loss of four lives.
Masaisai never reached Rabat, but his previous ride to Cape Town and the thousands of kilometres he had already covered on his final expedition remain part of his cycling journey.
At just 23, he had already taken on two remarkable cross-continental cycling challenges, travelling vast distances by road in pursuit of a message centred on peace.
His latest journey, however, was cut short before he could complete the route he had planned from Goma to Morocco.
#MiguelMasaisai
#Congo
#Cycling #Africa
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