Heather Ellis (2)

Heather Ellis is the author of two travel memoirs: Ubuntu: One Woman’s Motorcycle Odyssey Across Africa (Black Inc., 2016) and Timeless On The Silk Road: An Odyssey From London to Hanoi (Phonte Publishing, 2019)

Ubuntu details Heather's epic motorcycle journey from south to north Africa from 1993 to 1994 (endorsed by Cheryl Strayed. Named a best motorcycling book of all time by Book Authority). Timeless On The Silk Road details her solo motorcycle odyssey along the fabled Silk Roads of antiquity in 1997. Both memoirs are filled with 'survival-against-the-odds' adventures that unfold as deeply spiritual journeys of personal growth.

After Africa, when Heather reached London, she worked as a motorcycle courier and a year later in September 1995, was diagnosed with HIV. She was still healthy and only had a test as a requirement for a three-month Russian visa. It was before effective medications were discovered: a time when death from AIDS was inevitable. But she refused to relinquish her travel plans to ride through Central Asia. A year later, she arrived home near death with AIDS. But was saved as a new generation of medications had just been discovered.

Heather lives near Melbourne, Australia, with her three children, where she is writing her third book, a novel. And she still rides motorcycles. She is also the current Chair of Positive Women Victoria, Australia’s only fully funded support and advocacy group for women living with HIV.