Mark Sickle grew up surfing the two oceans of Cape Town’s peninsula, from Sea Point to Muizenberg to Milnerton, he’s a local everywhere; and when the waves were flat he and his friends explored the Table Mountain paths, swimming in rivers, finding caves and more often than not camping out under the stars, unbeknown to this unsuspecting young adventurer his journey to joining AWOL Tours and becoming the next AWOL hiking and cycling guide started here.
Mark knows Cape Town better than most; his humble beginnings as a cab driver and as the saying goes “ask a cabby anything…” It was not long before a 5 star hotel offered Mark a permanent position as a private chauffeur and guests really appreciated their driver’s knowledge about restaurants, vibrant community markets and who was playing at the Kirstenbosch sunset concerts.
Mark qualified as tour guide and he found himself once again at home being outdoors specialising in adventure guiding. From white river rafting, to trail hiking, sand boarding and surfing trips there no Cape Town adventure that Mark has not guided however when asked what his favourite tour to guide is at the moment he says it’s the AWOL Township cycling tour as this is a real cultural adventure unique to this part of the world with an authentic exchange between people from so many countries and back grounds, every tour is different and guests come away from the tour genuinely touched and the food served at the local restaurant on this tour is his now his favourite. What do AWOL guests say about Mark? “Mark’s enthusiasm for his city was infectious” “Ask for Mark “ and Mark was both interesting and interested.”
When he is not guiding AWOL hiking and cycling tours around Cape Town and Table Mountain, Mark relaxes with his family around Sunday braais and very occasionally in-between restoring motorbikes and playing cricket he bakes perfect birthday cakes. Mark’s five year old son is already an enthusiastic cyclist and often joins his Dad for the Cape Town moonlight mass cycle maybe one day this young Cape Town adventurer will also guide AWOL guests.