"Isn’t that too dangerous?" That’s a question author and bike-packer Wiebke Lühmann is often asked. She cycled alone from Freiburg to the Cape of Good Hope: over 20,000 km in 14 months, always along the west coast of Africa. For her, bike travel is empowering. It has shown her which boundaries can be pushed when you make your own decisions, listen to your body, endure uncertainty, and trust others. On her earlier solo bike trips through South America, to the North Cape, and across the Caucasus, she learned how fears and prejudices shape our view of the world—and how quickly they can change once you’re on the road. That’s why she brings her adventures to life for others and shows, through her book and her film “Same Sun,” that it takes neither extraordinary feats nor heavy equipment, but rather courage, curiosity, and an open heart. And one very important realization: We all live under the same sun.
Wiebke Lühmann wants to divide the prize money as follows: 1/3 will go to the NGO Women for Women International, which supports and trains women in crisis-stricken areas; 1/3 will go to World Bicycle Relief, which provides bicycles in rural regions of Africa; and 1/3 will be invested in Wiebke Lühmann’s new film project about her planned bike trip from Cape Town to Kenya.
