Vryheid warmly welcomed a very special young traveller on Thursday when a 28-year-old Moroccan girl travelled through town on her bicycle. Her name is Meryem Belkihel, but she goes by the moniker ‘Meghylost’ because she says she often feels lost in life as she tries to find her way in this world. Meryem lives in Casablanca with her family, where she travelled a lot with them from a young age. Since then, her travel style evolved when she noticed young people carrying backpacks. After reading a few travel blogs, Meryem decided she wanted to explore the world on her own. Her family preferred to go to non-touristy places, which saw Meryem developing an interest in backpacking. She says that backpacking allows her to see places from a different perspective and helps her to connect with locals in a more meaningful way.

Her primary mode of transportation is cycling, since she lives in a city where ‘traffic is havoc’. After her first bicycle was stolen, she bought a VTT, which allowed her to cycle through the forest around her hometown. This sparked her love for cycling and she realised that she wanted to combine her love for travel with her newfound passion for cycling. “As a mountain lover, I’ve always dreamed of hiking up the highest mountains in the world, including Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I wanted to experience Africa in a unique way and decided to cycle all the way to the mountain, exploring Africa along the way and then climbing the highest peak on the continent.

This adventure would allow me to push my limits and fulfill my dream of exploring new places while cycling through beautiful landscapes. As an African Moroccan girl with a heart full of adventure, I started my solo travels by hiking and hitchhiking around Morocco. Over the course of seven years, I climbed all the 4000m peaks in Morocco, covering 500km across the High Atlas Mountains with my friend,” Meryem explains.
She then embarked on her ‘dream journey’ where she is currently travelling through Africa… This landed her in Vryheid, where she spent a night at Jan and Carmen Combrinck’s backpackers. The Vryheid Herald had to communicate with Meryem via WhatsApp, since this active and vibrant young woman does not rest or sit still for a second! She was already on her way to Piet Retief early on Friday morning.

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The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Vryheid Herald, a sold newspaper distributed in the Vryheid area.