Milestone Alert!

I am now leaving another country, Malawi and entering Zambia!

So far...  Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and now Malawi in the rear view mirror!!!

This week we have a 95 mile day followed by a 110 mile, 107 mile, 87 mile and then thank god a short 77 mile day.  What a week ahead!

Here is where I am now:

March 28

An action packed day for Tour d'Afrique. And a special day of experience with children as well.

The Tour experienced a couple of extenuating instances today.  The first was a car instance...  Another rider was involved with car today.  In other words hit by.  A car came too close and it's side view mirror hit the riders handlebar.  This sent the bike careening off the road and into a ditch.  It also sent the rider flying.  Luckily the rider ended up with bruised ribs and minor cuts and contusions.  He was stunned but for all intent and purposes not seriously injured.  Very fortunate!!!  The bike did not sustain serious injury either.  It was a good steel bike so a bend here and a hammer there and back in service it goes!  Good end to a potentially tragic instance....  :)

The second instance is not having as good an outcome, at least so far.  The President of Malawi was being taken to the airport in a motorcade.  The motorcade was a collection of cars; first a cruiser with blue lights aflashing, then 3 black Mercedes, then a couple of land cruisers with soldiers.  There were 3 other motorcades as well with dignataries.  They were all moving at high rates of speed.  One of our riders did not get off the road as the motorcade came by.  (I did not either but was not hassled) When he was pulled over by police an incident ensued...  meaning he did not give the police due deference.  He was arrested by the Malawi Police and is spending the weekend in prison.  He supposedly has a hearing sometime on Monday.  He is being held in a cell with no bed, chairs or any other type of convenience.  He is getting no food as meals are not provided in Malawi jails.  TDA has brought him his sleeping bag and some sandwiches and water.  They are allowing him water in the cell but food only at certain times.  We are leaving first thing tomorrow to head out of Malawi but he will still be in jail.  It is a bad situation that must be extremely difficult and frightening for him.  Imagine being in jail in a third world country where you do not understand the language and what is happening.  It has to be scary beyond belief...

Now on to something a little more positive...    We were riding along today and passing by a small village of about 4 huts.  The kids from the village had come out and were lining the road.  As we began to pass they broke out in song.  A song more of tribal nature.  It was a beautiful song sun by all the children.  There were about 20 or so kids.  A couple of the kids started dancing and it was amazing.  They were doing a dance that I have never seen and it was obviously a tribal type dance.  The one girl about 10 or 12 was unbelievable as to how she moved and danced.  It was a moment that was so phenomenal.  One that is an experience of a lifetime.  There song was magical without any instruments, their dance was so energized and passionate that it was moving.  The only thing I could think of was...  Priceless!!!

March 27

Great day!  We cycled for 67 miles today with 590 meters of climbing.  It seemed like a short easy day.  Before going on this trip if someone told me ... let's go for a 67 mile ride with 2,000 feet of climbing; I would have told them they were crazy!  Now it seems like an easy day.  Go figure...  :)

It was a beautiful day.  The start was a bit chilly as most people had jackets on.  It was seriously overcast at first.  I put my rain jacket back in my pack, not going to make that mistake twice.  :)   But once we started riding at 6:15 am (that's right 6:15 on the bike and riding, crazy huh!?) the sun broke through the clouds and it started warming up.  The scenery was to die for (for sure, for sure).  The area we are going through is now opening up to vast valleys and fewer forests. 

You could see for miles with a mountain or two stuck here and there.  The landscape was dotted with some forest but mostly cultivated fields.  One of the big crops is tobacco.  The tobacco leaves colors of yellows and greens made for interesting color pallets for the land.  It seemed like such an easy ride that you could take your time a really look out at the scenery.  Loved it!

An interesting thing...  we are in the rainy season but other than yesterday have been very lucky.  But you can feel the moisture in the air in that it is so humid.  When I got up this morning the tent fly (it is the cover over the tent itself that is to keep the rain out) was completely soaked on the inside.  All of the humidity had condensed on the inside of the fly due to the temp being warmer inside than outside.  I had drops of water on the tent floor from the condensation.  Very bizarre.

As someone commented, Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa.  I got to see the impact of it this morning.  We camped on a soccer field of a school.  The tour put up ropes to keep the kids out of the camp and tents.  When they dropped the ropes in the process of packing up this morning, the kids rushed in and grabbed the plastic bags of trash and ran off with them.  They were fighting over them, bags of plastic pop bottles and castaway food from breakfast and dinner.  There were over 50 kids pushing and shoving to get their share.  Kind of sad....

This was the road... it was relatively flat and we had a glancing tailwind in the morning!

This was a sign out in front of a school.  

March 26

Today was a climbing day, a big climbing day.  As the tour people said: it was the third hardest day of the tour.  

I am not sure that was true.  The climbing wasn't really all that bad but today's conditions certainly were.  The one part of the climb was on the 13+ percent grade that they added an extra element of difficulty.  They put speed bumps on the uphill grade!  There were 12 sets of speed bumps in each group and there were 4 groups of these.  You would be spinning as best as you could at about 7-8 mph then you hit the first set of speed bumps.  You would be almost 4-5 mph by the end of the 12 bumps.  Yes, you are right... you can barely stay upright at that speed.  Then another group of speed bumps and another and another!  Really, why speed bumps on an uphill???

Oh well, on to more of the exciting conditions for the day.  The climbing took us up in altitude rapidly as we set out for the day.  We climbed up into the clouds.  We rode in the clouds for about two hours.  The cloud was misty and dense.  It was so dense that you could not see 100 feet in front of your bike.  The riders in front of you kept disappearing into the mist and then reappearing.  Kind of like ghostly figures.  The mist was cold and soaking.  At one point we descended down a bit out of the cloud on a downhill.  That is when it poured down rain.  That morning I had taken my rain jacket out of my pack since I hadn't used it yet.  Wrong decision!  Once I was completely soaked to the bone the winds really started whipping up.  They were serious cross winds and were biting cold.  They were so strong that they would move your bike over about 2-3 feet while you were riding it.  I got so cold I was shivering.  When I got to the lunch stop I gave up for the day.  I just sat in the truck trying to get warm.  :(

The trip is about 40 some odd days left to go.  But by no means is it lessening.  Of those 40 some odd days there are 11 rides that are century (100 miles) and greater.  As a matter of fact one of them is 129 mile day!  I think since they haven't broken us yet they are planning on running us or should I say riding us into the ground....

Here is a picture of how low the clouds were.  That is a mountain that we climbed.  More than half of it is in the clouds.

March 25

Another fabulous day of cycling... or at least the morning was.  After I describe the day you will probably think I am crazy for thinking it was a fabulous day, but it was.  We did 84 miles with 1,630 meters of climbing.  It started out by cycling along Lake Malawi and the beautiful scenery.  Last night Mother Nature showed off her awesome power.  The night was still, hot and extremely humid.  The air was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.  This humidity fueled a perfect thunderstorm.  About 10:30 all hell broke loose.  The wind went from dead calm to gale force in a matter of minutes.  Lightening lit up the camp like it was mid day.  Thunder rattled the windows like a cannon firing.  Then the rain came...  it rained so hard that it came down in buckets.  The storm came and went within a half hour.  A very impressive showing for Mother Nature.  I mentioned this because all that rain caused swollen rivers and huge waterfalls to be seen from the valley floor where we were riding.  It added an excellent element to an already unbelievable scenery.  

The country of Malawi has added a new version from the countries we have traveled so far.  Now the forests have taken on a more tropical feel.  They are now transitioning into a jungle look.  The humidity of the air makes it feel more  tropical.  

After traveling along the lake, the climbing began.  For 10 kilometers we climbed grades of 13+.  Then we rode 100+ kilometers with a constant 2-3 percent grade. There were a couple of short descents to break up the climbing but it was mostly climb the whole way.  

With about 20 miles left to go, Mother Nature again wanted to show off.  She found the on switch to her headwind machine.  And boy did she turn it on...  So we had constant climbing and headwinds.

I was just glad that I had been riding hard to get a good portion of the day behind me.  I coasted into camp with that fully used feeling.  Used up but a good day!  :) 

Sun rise scene over Lake Malawi.

Monkey watching my progress up a 13 percent grade.  I think he was very intrigued as to why someone would want to do that to themselves.

Another storm picture

Here is another fantastic storm sunset picture over Lake Malawi... Awesome!

March 23

Today was supposed to be an easier day after the long century ride.  We were only going to be riding 91 kilometers (56 miles) and only 490 meters of climb.  Doesn't sound like a tough day, right?!  Should be a walk in the park, right?!

Nooooooooo

There was a storm that blew through over night that had horrendous winds.  The hope was it would be gone by the morning ride.  At first, all appearances were that it had dissipated.  But once out on the road, I found out how wrong I was.  The sustained winds were upwards of 30 mph and the gusts... well let's just say it was borderline unbikable.  Think West Texas winds on steroids.  :(

So this easy 91 kilometer day turned into a hard way to knock out 91k.  That and I tried to perform tow truck duty some of the time.  :)

The wind blew hard from straight on for most of the day.  Mother Nature and her humor, what a trickster she is.  Once we were used to the headwind, then she threw in some hills just for laughs.  HaHa I would say...  what a day for cycling.  :)

In the what does that mean category...

here is a doozy of a project name:

 Can you tell me what "CARLA" is???  Goodness knows that a government project will always make people resilient to any changes that Mother Nature has, right?!

And lastly, as I was coming into a town there was a huge sign that read:

OPEN DEFACATION FREE ZONE

 

It had a picture of someone squatting and little droplets coming from their derrière and a big red circle with a line through it.  Can you imagine the social situation that exists to require a community to put that billboard together?!  

Only in Africa...

Sunset over Lake Malawi

Here is a picture of the sunset with a thunderstorm and the rainbow it generated over Lake Malawi.  I know the picture doesn't do it justice.  You should have seen it live....  Wow

March 22

Well I have put another country in my rear view mirror.  Today I left Tanzania and just entered Malawi!  We will only be in Malawi for a little over a week as it is a small country.  It seems to be a poor country.  Once we crossed the border the look and feel of the place was very different.  There are very few cars, the people get around on bicycles.  Rickety old bicycles that seem to have seen their day already.  That and the clothes they wear are rather tattered.  The children come running when they see a bike rider and start shouting...  money, money, give me money.  It is a bit reminiscent of Ethiopia, unfortunately.

We rode another century today.  We had a 102 mile day with 1,130 meters of climbing!  I was on the bike for 10 hours! It was not only a 102 mile climbing 1,130 meters kind of day.  It was also a strong headwind day.  Sustained winds were above 20 mph with gusts of over 35 mph.  You gotta love those kind of days!!!  (that was sarcasm in case you were wondering :)

Actually, I really did love today.  The scenery was breathetaking!  We started off with an awesome view of rugged mountains with variations of the ridges and valleys being accentuated by the angle of the rising sun's rays.  That and the top of the mountains had a beautiful white blanket of billowy clouds resting on their crown.  The only thought that kind of tainted the picture was that we had to go up and over those mountains.  :(

The climbs were tough but each twist and turn of the road offered up a new and ever more beautiful perspective of the scenery.  As I said ...  what a day!

And there was more!  Once we gained the altitude towards the mountain crest, we actually entered the clouds that engulfs it.  There was a misty rain that wasn't really rain but the moisture in the cloud itself.  And it was cold.  The temperature had dropped very significantly.  So much so that I had goose bumps, or as the Dutch riders say ...  chicken skin (has something to do with the translation of it).  

I have learned that I have earned a nickname in the group.  It is:  the tow truck.  That is because if I come upon someone who is struggling or wants to quit...  I pull up and tell them to hop on my tail and I'll pull them.  I didn't realize that I do it that often.  But I guess I do.

All in all a tough day but a good one.

This picture doesn't begin to show what I saw as the ride began this morning.  But you can get a feel for it.

The valleys up in the mountains have banana trees everywhere.

Huge stacks of bananas are at road side stands waiting to be sold or picked up and taken to market.  In the towns you see women walking with whole stalks of these on their heads.

This was one of those things that just stands out when you see it.  A large escarpment just stood in the middle of a valley.  It had to rise at least 100 meters above the valley floor.  Anything that lived on top of it had to be totally isolated.  Very unusual...

One last thought...  there was a large road sign at the bottom of one of the downhills.  It read:  Leaving Dangerous Zone!   A little voice in my head said...  well finally!!!  :)

But then again, I am still in Africa and this isn't my little neighborhood that I'm used to.  It's Africa!

Maasai Village

When I went on safari to the Serengeti the guide stopped in a Maasai Village.  One of the elders gave us a tour of the village and talked about the life of the Maasai.  It was very interesting and certainly eye opening.

The first thing that he said was the elders are comprised of men 45 years and older.  With that in mind I could have been an elder quite some time ago.  :)

They live a simple subsistence life.  The Serengeti park service allows the Maasai to live and graze their cattle, lambs and goats in the park.  This is because the Maasai exist within the environment which they live and leave very little impact environmentally as well as ecologically.  They do not hunt the game that is in the park.  The only time they hunt and kill an animal is when it has attacked a cow, sheep or goat.  Then the warriors will hunt the lion, leopard or cheetah.  Other than that they leave the animal population alone.  

The elder had the Maasai men first greet us with a traditional welcome dance.  Then the women sang and danced to bring us into the village.  It was a sight to see.  

The village is enclosed with a circular fence made of brush and stakes from the area.  It has thorns to help keep their animals within and keep them from wandering out.  Then the huts are built around in form around the circle of the village.  The center is reserved for ceremonial purposes.

The Maasai home/hut is a simple building built of sticks and mud with cow dung used as well.  A hut takes 3 weeks to build and it is built solely by the women.  It takes one week to gather all the material and two weeks to put it up.  They spend very little time inside the hut. The only times they are in the hut is for sleeping, cooking and eating.  All else is done out side.  The hut is one large room with a "bed" area.  The bed area has two sleeping platforms/beds.  One is for the parents and the other for the children.  The children stay with the parents in the hut until they are 10.  Once they reach that age they move to a seperate hut with other older children.  

Maasai boys become men at 16 years old.  That is when they have the circumcision ceremony.  It is a public event in the village.  It shows the courage of the boy if he does not cry out or wince during the process.  If he does, he disgraces his family and especially his father.  

The marrying age starts at between 16 and 18.  It is an arranged process with the parents running it.  The kids can have some say but limited.  In order to get a bride the males family must give the girls family 8 to 10 cows.  The Maasai judge their "wealth" or success by how many cows  or goats or sheeps that you have.  

The diet of the Maasai is meat from their animals; cattle, sheep, goats; milk from their animals and blood from their animals.  Yes, I said blood!  They mix the fresh blood with the milk and make a milk shake kind of thing.  Sounds delicious doesn't it?!  They do not eat any vegetables (I could fit in with that) and no fruit.  You can tell there is some dietary issues in that their teeth are in terrible shape.  

Maasai men doing their dance to welcome us.

The women singing their song to bring us into the village.

The typical hut has an entrance that shields the living quarters from the wind and dust.

Day 72 - March 21

Well somehow I have been miscalculating the days.  I have 49 days left of the tour.

And during the week I surpassed 4,000 miles!  Less than 3,500 miles left to go...

Here is where I am at this point.  From here we head west across the African continent thru Malawi then Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and then proceed down the western side to Capetown.  Wish me luck!

Day 69 - March 19

Well today was extremely tough.  It was all sand and loose gravel for the first 12 miles.  Then it deteriorated into a rutted mess of washed away stone and rocks.  It was a day to forget.  I cannot think of a positive spin on it ... so I will only say:

Tomorrow will be a better day.  

Day 68 - March 18

Today was another tough day.  Well actually it was a tougher day than the last 4 at the start.  

At the first I was pounding down on the pedals trying to eat up the distance.  The mileage for the day was 80 miles with 850 meters of climbing.  On hill 2 I felt it in the legs.  I thought...  I just can't do this.  I don't have it in me.  I had just fought and accumulated over 370 miles in 4 days.  Each one of those days was a fight to book those miles.  Each one of those days I battled and won in the end.  But today, this morning, in the first 8-10K I just didn't have the fight in me.  There did not seem to be anything in the tank.

But a funny thing happened then.  I resigned myself to not fight the road but to give in to it.  I dropped it down a couple of gears to an easier level.  I let the conditions of the road wash over me and determine the pace.  I sat up and looked around me and realized...  I am cycling in Africa!!!  It doesn't get any better than this.  Look at what is all around me.  Not a road to be conquered but a scenery to be taken in.  Wow...

With that new found perspective nature began to reveal itself to me.  A bit up the road I saw a collection of baboons.  These were unlike many of the other baboons that I have seen.  These were not used to seeing humans.  They took off quickly upon seeing me.  Then further down the road a jackal crossed in front of me not even 30 meters.  The locals say that means really good luck.  My future will be blessed with good luck! :)

Then I saw a colony of ants crossing the road:

These were army ants.  The guide said that they eat just about anything in their path.  He also said their bite is very painful.

And even a bit later in the day I saw more baboons and monkeys.  See what a day

One thing that nature had in store for me that I wish it hadn't was TseTse flies.  These little aerobatic nightmares were incessant beasts.  They would constantly buzz you, land on you and bite.  The bite... Holy S#*% did they hurt.  They would land on your backside on your bike shorts and bite you right through them.  It would stand you up straight.  I learned that if you traveled in excess of 28-30 kph they had a hard time keeping up with you.  The problem is getting to that speed and maintaining it on the loose dirt and sand road.  But try as I did, I kept a pretty good pace for the last 20 miles.  If you slowed down or god forbid stopped, you would have a half dozen to a dozen of these biting machines circling you.  No fun whatsoever.

Here I am at the afternoon coke stop.  We have been traveling in the outback and have been challenged to find a Baridi Coke.  (Baridi is Swahili for cold). These were so exquisitely cold that I had three.  My mouth is watering right now thinking of how good they tasted.

 

Here is the poster they had on the wall at the coke stop.  A good motto for this trip!

Day 67 - March 17

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

May the road rise up to meet you, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the good lord hold you in the hollow of your hand...

I hope you all have had a wonderful St. Patty's day!

Today we continued on the B141, a major road heading south through Tanzania.  Here is a picture of the major route through Tanzania...

It is hard to see in the picture the dirt, the sand, the rocks and the ruts.  But they are all there.  As you ride you have to pay close attention to the road because all of a sudden there will be a deep hole or there will be troughs of sand 6 to 8 inches deep.  The best way to do the road is as fast as you can.  They say if you go fast enough you will simply bounce off the high points of the ruts and not go down into the valleys.  Well that's what "they" say.  It still was a bone jarring experience.

I hit a rthym early on in the day and started flying down the road.  It felt really good so I kept pounding down on the pedals.  I kept it up and was passing person after person.  I felt like the engine was in sync with the bike and that is always a good thing.

We did come across an unusual site along the way.  On the side of the road in a ditch was a large snake.  It was dead as something had hit it.  But what was unusual was what type of snake.  It was a black Mamba, the most deadly snake in the world.  The snake was very large, over six feet long.  It brought back the thought that this is a very formidable continent fraught with danger.  The locals say if they see one they kill it.  They do this because a Black Mamba can kill one of their cows or sheep with one bite in 30 seconds.  

Day 66 - March 16

Today was a bit much...  After two century days in a row, comes the beginning of a multitude of off road days. I made it and pedaled through the day but boy it took everything I had.  And I mean everything.  I came into camp on empty. 

The cumulative fatigue of the past days really compounded to make it tough.  Also, I have come to my wits end with the food.  I can barely get it down.  I fill the plate, then take a couple of bites and literally can't eat it.  I can't wait to tear into a steak or a real hamburger or anything!  With the lack of intake it is making the riding even tougher.  I just don't have the fuel to keep going.  I do keep going but ...

This was the highlight of the day!  It was spectacular!

Day 65 - March 15

Day 2 of the back to back centuries!  Yesterday was a 52-11 day, meaning I felt strong and ready to take on the day.  Today, not so much!  Today was a 30-32 day, meaning I needed all that the bike had in gears and more to get through the day.  It was a tough one...  the mileage was just at 100 miles but the climbing was 1,630 meters, which is a helluva lot of feet (over 5,300... more than a mile of climbing).  At mile 83 I ran out of water, at mile 86 I hit the wall, at mile 89 I put on some tunes to help me get over the wall and at mile 96 I got a luke warm 7-up and then I drank a whole two liter of ice cold water.  I was so thirsty and dehydrated, I could have drank another.

They have these speed bumps on the road when you are coming near a town or village.  They consist of 4 lines of asphalt about 4 inches wide and 4 inches high.  They do not stop or slow down cars or buses or trucks or even motorcycles.  But they do play havoc with cyclists.  They put 4 or 5 sets of these as you go into town and 4 or 5 as you leave town.  And when I say town, sometimes it is only two buildings.  I blew out a tire when I hit one at a pretty good clip.  I had a collection of locals helping me change the tire.  That added to the fun.  :)

The scenery of the day was great.  It was somewhat overcast with broken clouds through most of the day.  This was good because it would have been oppressive had the sun been out in full force.  The clouds and the sun breaking through made for some awesome effects.  At one point in one of the very steep climbs I looked back on the valley from where we came.  It was almost magical, rays of the sun had broken through and highlighted portions of the fields.  It was as if they had been painted with several different hues of green.  It looked like a patchwork quilt had been laid out on the valley floor. Breathtaking!

Another beautiful aspect of the day came at the summit of one of the afternoon climbs.  At the top there were unique rock formations.  Huge boulders had been left stacked upon one another by glaciers in the area thousands of years ago.  

This is a picture of what I saw.  

In between the rock formations was a dip.  Through that dip you could see the great Rift Valley.  It appeared as if the valley stretched on forever.  I felt like I could see for a hundred miles.

This is a water hole that we came across.  The Maasai brought their cattle and sheep to drink.  They also took the time to get their monthly bath.  There were several young boys who had been partaking of the water to cool themselves off.  They also availed themselves of the opportunity to run around in the birthday suit nature had provided.  So there were a number of young boys running up to the road buck naked.  No, I didn't take a picture of that!   :)

Oh yes, one more thing....  today marked the halfway point in terms of kilometers!

Day 64 - March 14

What a day...  We rode for 108 miles and did a total of 1,300 meters of climbing.  That combined with the temperature reaching 102 degrees F made it a pretty tough day.

But I must say that I actually enjoyed the day.  The morning started out with us maneuvering our way out of Arusha through market day traffic, quite the experience!  Motorcycles in Arusha do not recognize stop lights as a requirement.  So even if it is a green light for you, lookout!  Additionally, buses do not feel that cyclists should be on their roads, so lookout!  That and Tuk Tuks feel that they are smaller and more nimble than they really are and therefore weave in and out, so lookout!  In other words cyclist need to be fully engulfed in bubble wrap or Kevlar in order to survive the experience....  :)

Once out of Arusha the climbing began.  It was steady and not really that strenuous.  Once my legs recognized the fact that they were back on the bike and requires to perform, it was not too bad.  After a short warm up period I found my climbing legs and my coasting cadence.  Everything else just fell into place.  :)

With that said, I just are up the miles and moved through the day.  Many of the later hills were more rolling. That allowed me to get up a good head of speed on the downhill that gave me the momentum to take most of the next uphill in stride with nary a pedal stroke.  Doesn't get much better than that.

In the afternoon Mother Nature turned up the heat.  It felt like you were in one of those wood fired brick pizza ovens.  Just sitting there on the bike seat on high heat.  The pavement was also radiating heat up at you to really leverage the experience.

There was a little boy at one of the coke stops who tried to catch this praying mantice.  He was about 3 years old.  He would follow it about and when it would turn towards him, he would jump and scream.  It was adorable and hilarious. 

The road wound through the hills and countryside and presented a beautiful flow of varying sights.  We went from fairly green and lush to arid and barren.  

We saw some unique sites as well such as this African upside down tree.

 

Supposedly god was upset with the tree so he pulled it from the ground flipped it over and stuck it back in the ground.  It is very unusual looking when you see it live.

The afternoon heat made the last 13 kilometer climb a good challenge.  I had been consciously trying to stay more hydrated but misjudged how much longer it would take to get into camp.  I therefore ran out of water.  When I finally got into camp I was dying of thirst and gulped a whole bottle and still needed more.

Oh well, tomorrow is another challenging day.  We have another century day, 100+ miles.  We also have 1,630 meters of climb.  Yay, back to back century days!!!  By the end of tomorrow we will have cycled over 210 miles and climbed just short of 4,000 meters!  Try that one on for size!  :)

Day 63 - March 13

Well it is back on the bike tomorrow.  We have a 7 day stretch of riding before we get a break.  The first two days of the section are 109 miles and 98 miles!  Tomorrow the 109 mile day has 1,300 meters of climb to it.  Good lord do they think we are made of steel???  Oh well, no hill for a climber... right!?

The third day and the rest of the seven days are going to be all on rough off road. Yes, bring it on!  At this point what else is there, I've taken them all and put them in my rear view.  So to speak...   :)

Wish me luck, and keep me in your thoughts.  I'm going to need it!

I am having real trouble staying connected.  I haven't even told you about my visit to a Maasai village.  I got a first hand tour of the village and how they live.  Will tell you more later....  when I can connect.

Hello, I'm still out here... :)

To all

I am Stijl here!   :)

I have been traveling in the remote reaches of Tanzania.  There has been little means of communication and I have been out of touch.  No cell coverage and no wifi locations.  I have been writing updates just about every day.  You will see these as entries that follow.

I hope you are still out there as I will need your support to get through the days ahead.  It has been a very tough off road section that will lead to some very long on road stuff.  So wish me the best and send your support, it is greatly appreciated....

Safari photos Day 2

Here are some of the exciting moments from Day 2.  So many it was hard to choose...

Male lion that was laying in the grass with another male in the mid day heat.  They were both panting because they were so hot.

This was one of the lions from the pride that had made a kill of a Cape buffalo.  This one gorged himself so much his stomach is bloated.  He just laid down and went to sleep.

Here is another from the pride that was waiting her turn to feed.

The pride eating the fresh zebra kill.  You can see the young one playing with the head.

The cheetah family...  Mother and two children.

These are but a sampling of the wonderful pictures from the fantastic day.  :)

Day 62 - March 12

I started the day with a worry that Day 2 of the safari would be anticlimactic given how phenomenal day 1 was.  So it was with great trepidation that I went into the second day of the safari.  And I can whole heartedly say that my fears were totally unwarranted.  

Day 2 was unbelievable!!!  We started off just before sunrise and headed out.  You could hear noises in the brush but could not see what was making the sounds.  It was kind of eary.  But then the sun began to rise and the animals started to appear.  And the sun rise...  WOW!  The sunrise over the Serengeti was something that I will never forget.  I kept hearing the sound track from the Lion King in my head as it rose.  It began by just silhouetting the trees and sending beautiful rays of reds, yellows and oranges out across the plain.  Then as it was fully floating in the sky, the colors of the Serengeti took over.  The tones of browns grays and tans of the rocks and dirt as well as the reds of the sand mixed with the colors of its inhabitants, the animals, and began to pop.   It was awesome.

Then the animal encounters....  

We saw a pride of lions who had made a kill of a Cape Buffalo just the night before.  There were 14 lions in the pride.  They had pulled the kill up under a tree and were tearing into it.  It was apparent that there was a pecking order of feeding.  One of the larger lions moved away from the kill and laid down in the sun.  His belly was so swollen with his feeding he could hardly move.  Many of the others had red faces and paws from working the carcass.  It was as if we were watching a Big Cats special and we were only about 50 feet away (in the safety of our vehicle of course).

A bit later we saw a set of three cheetahs running through the bush.  One appeared to be the mother and the other two were almost full grown children of hers.  They were very skittish and tried to stay out of the way of us humans.  They were beautiful in how sleek they were.  You could see that they were built for speed, long and thin.

Then we came upon another pride of lions who were working a fresh zebra kill.  This pride was made up of 10 lions.  The biggest were working the chest and tearing meat from it.  The little cubs were relegated to the head.  One of the cubs kept tugging on the ears and jumping back when the head would move.  Then he would leap up and land on the head again as if he was attacking.  There were 4 zebras a short distance from the pride staring intently as if trying to determine which one of their friends was not going to return to the herd.  It was interesting to see the Wilde Beasts and Zebra herds as they had seemed to relax now that the pride had made a kill.  They were not the cautious on high alert types that we had been seeing.  And overhead the vultures were circling waiting for their turn.

This fantastic scene was then followed by a scene right out of National Geographic...  the Wilde Beast and Zebra herds going down to the watering hole to get a drink.  And in the watering hole was a ... crocodile.  We could see the eyes of the croc slightly above the water.  The Wilde Beasts and Zebras were jockeying for position to get down to the water to get a drink.  There were hundreds if not thousands of them. They would drink with an eye upon the water, waiting to see if danger would appear from under.  Once they had a drink, they would try to leap and get back for the water as fast as they could.  Some very brave ones (or maybe they were not experienced and fool-hearty) would wade out into the water and drink.  The croc submerged a couple of times but did not press an attack.  Quite possibly he, like the lion prides had just made a kill and was full.  It was such an exciting treat to see this.  

We definitely were in the Serengeti at the time of the great migration.  The herds of Wilde Beast and Zebras strung on for a great distance.   The numbers of them were too great to count or even try to estimate.  The timing of our safari seems to have been perfect.

I will post photos when I can...  I am having SIM card issues again.  :(

Photos from safari

Here are just a couple of the photos from day 1 of the safari....

This was a juvenile male.  His mane was not fully developed.

Here is a mother cheetah.  She had 3 Cubs with her.

She was cleaning her cub.  Precious....

This was a good shot of one of her cub.  They were adorable!

We were less than 50 feet from this huge male.  I could have stood underneath him and had clearance to spare.  He was the biggest giraffe I have ever seen!

A herd of zebras and if you can see in the background, you can see in the background there is a herd of Wilde beasts.

Day 1 was fantastic and if you can believe it, day 2 was better.  More on that later.....

Day 61 - March 10

Day 1 of Safari....

All I can say is wow!  No, let me rephrase that to put it more in perspective of how the day went... WOW!!!

It was an absolutely amazing day.  Here is a list of the animals that we saw in the wild today:

Golden jackal

Zebra

Giraffes 

Elephant

Rhino

Wilde beast

Leopard

Cape buffalo

Baboon

Grants Gazelle

Thompson gazelle

Lion - young male & large female

Eland

Secretary bird

Ostrich

Rupert's vulture

Crocodile

Hippos

Monkey - black faced vervet 

Duiker - very small deer like 

Cheetah & 3 cubs

Coke Harte beeste

Topi

Warthog

Ringed mongoose

And that was the first day!

We saw the Big 5:  Lion, Rhino, Elephant, Cape Buffalo & Leopard!  The leopard is the hardest of the group to see.  A large one crossed the road less than 30 feet in front of our safari vehicle.  The guide said,  that just never happens.  And a cheetah with her 3 cubs!  It was unbelievably amazing.  The Wilde beast, zebra and gazelle herds were far too numerous to count.  The day far exceeded my wildest expectation.

I will have pictures to come soon.  I just wanted to let you know how well the day went.  I have to get some sleep because we are starting out at 6 am for day 2.  I can't think how day 2 can ever be better than today but here's hoping!

Day 60 - March 9

Today is the chronological halfway point of the trip.  Calendar wise we have done 60 days of the ride down Africa and we have 60 more to go.

Mileage wise we are not quite halfway.  We have a couple of hundred more kilometers to go until we are halfway.  So stay tuned for another Milestone Alert....

Tomorrow I am taking a day off cycling and going on safari.  We are heading out of Arusha Tanzania and going to the Serengeti plain.  There we will do the safari.  The guide we met with said the great migration is in full swing so we are very lucky.  He said the Wilde Beast and Zebras are on the move.  He said the two move together because they rely on each other's strengths.  The zebra has excellent eye sight and can spot danger far off.  The Wilde Beast has a keen sense of smell so they can smell prey at a distance.  Also, the Wilde Beast can smell water and grasses to help ensure their survival.  And lastly, the two do not compete for food since the Wilde Beast feed off the low growth such as grasses and the Zebras feed off the higher growth of bushes and trees.  Seems as if they have this pretty well worked out.

The guide said they saw many lions on the last trip out.  He said leopards and cheetahs might be more difficult to see.

This trip out on safari is so exciting.  I am over the top with anticipation!  We get picked up at 6 so I have got to go to sleep.  More when I finish the safari...

Milestone Alert

Another country down, good bye to Kenya.  Just crossed into Tanzania!!!

Day 59 - March 8

Today was a rest day in Nairobi.  There was a mall, a real mall, near where we stayed.  It was populated by ex pats.  The mall on our standards was pretty small but on the standards I was used to in Africa, it was palatial!

They even had a food court!  A food court!  You can't believe how exciting that can be after two months in the bush. :)   Oh well,  it is those simple things that excite nowadays.  I had KFC, can you believe it...  Kentucky Fried Chicken.  

They had a large full service supermarket in the mall.  Had to stock up on ...  Potatoe chips (crisps in the local vernacular), sun screen, Mars bars, Coke and Baby Wipes.  Baby wipes are the shower alternative when you are camping in the bush.  It is amazing how good you feel taking a baby wipe "shower" after several days of no real shower facilities.  I think I am now becoming familiar with the early pioneers ability to only take a shower once a week (or once a month) and being ok with that.  Showers are highly overrated. ;)

A really neat thing was we, the tour company, had a donation ceremony.  Part of the cost of the tour goes to providing a bike to local charities that are in need.  The tour company donated 52 bikes to two charities.  One of the charities was a group working with the youth in the slums of Nairobi.  The one slum has over 600,000 people living in it. We saw it as we rode in.  It was a huge area of ramshackle small huts collected together.  It looked rather depressing.  The youth group had one of the kids who received a bike last year speak as to how it changed his life.  It was moving...  He said having the bike enabled him to get to school and hold down a job.  It made him feel special, feel rich, feel successful and gave him hope.  Isn't it strange to think that something as simple as a bike can deliver something so powerful?

It also opens up career opportunities for bike repair machanics and even shops.

The other group that received bikes was a doctors group.  They modify the bikes to allow them to carry supplies such as IVs and medicine for shots.  The bikes allow the doctors access to areas that are difficult to get to due to roads not there or in conditions which are difficult.  It also allows the doctors quicker movement through the city due to grid lock of traffic.  Again, something as simple as a bike is delivering something so powerful.  

We are very lucky in all that we have.

:)

Day 58 - March 7

Today we traveled into Nairobi.  What an adventure that was.  We started out on two lane roads that were fairly busy.  We rode for a little less than 70 miles.  It felt like a great deal more due to the traffic.  The route was on A2 the major road into the capital.  The two lane portion was particularly interesting because of the no shoulder condition of the road and the Kenyan drivers constant need to pass.  The road was barely wide enough for two cars and there we were riding bikes on it.  We would be riding along and a car would come up on us and go by with inches to spare, sometimes less.  Then there were the oncoming cars who decided to pass the slower trucks.  They would swerve out into our lanes and accelerate.  They would be coming at us and not move until the last minute giving us less than a foot of pavement.  The edge of the road was a sharp drop off...  so if you went off the side you were going to go down and potentially end up in the road anyway.  

The beginning part was hellish and a bit nerve wracking.  But wait it only got better...  Once we got closer to Nairobi the road opened up into separated highway with two lanes in each direction.  Sounds better doesn't it?!  Not so much. The shoulder of the road was unnavitigatable due to glass, potholes and speed bumps.  Therefore, we had to ride on the pavement lane.  That would be like riding your bike on a major US Highway.  You would not like it if you were in a car and they did not either.  They would come up on you fast and then swerve around you.  Really got you're juices flowing.  I was flying along in the 40's kph (which took one helluva effort) and I was still pissing them off.  :(

Oh well, you can only do what you can do, right!

Needless to say, it was an awesome adventure.  

Once inside the city proper we had to form up to a convoy led by a vehicle in front and one in the rear.  Many of the riders chose to ride in the trucks for today due to the difficulty factors.  I delusional as I must have been decided to ride as there were limited space.  All kidding aside, it actually wasn't all that bad.  It made you move faster than you normally ride which was fun in a way.  :)

It is interesting to enter a major city after having been in the middle of nowhere for so long.  It is also great to see a city from the seat of a bike...  you see it in a whole different way.

Milestone Alert!!!

I have just crossed over the equator and now am in the Southern Hemisphere.  No, wait, hold on a minute...  I just leaned back and now am in the northern hemisphere.  Ok, there, I just leaned forward and am now in the Southern Hemisphere again.  :)

Wait, I have to get my bike which is in the northern hemisphere and bring it to the Southern Hemisphere.  I wonder if I should bring it clockwise or counterclockwise across the equator.  You know these things matter when crossing the equator.  Afterall, water drains counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.  Therefore, it goes to question which way should I bring my bike across???  Should I have the wheels spinning clockwise or counterclockwise? Oh the dilemma of it....

Yes, I know what you are thinking.  He has spent way too much time on a bike or the alternate concept, he has spent way to much time in Africa.  Or there is also the new postulate that since I just crossed the equator I am beginning to think clockwise instead of counterclockwise.  

Well regardless of your point of view...  I decided to just grab the bike and start riding... in the Southern Hemisphere.  Dilemma resolved!  :)

Day 56 - March 5

Today was once again a fabulous day of cycling.  We discovered that Kenya is not all flat or rolling hills.  There are some steep parts to this country.  We climbed 1,450 meters today, roughly 4,700 feet.  The first part out of camp was deceiving because it was a constant 2 to 3 percent grade for over 18 miles.  There were times when you would swear that you were on a flat or even downhill section of road but the difficulty and bike computer were telling you, no you were on a 2 to 3% grade!  These false flats were rough to get up and over.  Then there was a 10 kilometer section of steep climbs.  This was pretty tough as well but actually easier than the previous 18 miles of long slow climbs.  Yet the scenery made it all worthwhile.  There were beautiful trees of all different kinds and golden fields of wheat dotted in the landscape to give off stunning contrast.  Really something to see!  Oh and lest I forget... what happens when you have climbing???  Yes, you guessed it... downhills!  After lunch there were continual fantastic downhills.  I hit 77.5 kph (just about 49 mph) on one section.  Wow what a ride!!!

This is one of the unique trees that stand out in landscape.  It is a Euphorbia candleabra tree.  The guide told us black rhinos like the milk from the tree.  It makes them quite drunk and then sleepy.  The milk would kill a human if drunk.  Also, if the tree is cut into it gives off a noxious odor that burns the nostrils.

The wheat fields with their amber tones.  

A thick stand of trees that resembled pine trees run the ridge to the top of this mountain.

We rode within sight of Mount Kenya.  It is the second highest mountain, second only to Kilimanjaro.  You could see the snow still on top of its peaks.  There were forest fires burning down at the base of the mountain.  A local told us that these were very unusual and had been burning for a week.

At a coke stop there was a little 3 year old girl who was sick.  She was sitting in the lap of her father.  Even though it was fairly hot out, she had on a winter type jacket and hood over her head.  She slept mostly but when she did awaken she began to cry as something was really hurting in her mouth.  There was nothing we could do.  Her father would give her drinks of Orange Fanta to help ease her pain.  It was very touching....

Day 55 - March 4

Today was the travel day that we were bussed 177 kilometers through the potential risk area of Kenya.  The route did not appear to be of any danger that was apparent.  We saw gazelles, baboons, monkeys and an ostrich in the wild as we traveled the road. 

We stopped twice for cokes and bathroom breaks.  At these stops we saw a number of local tribes people.  I managed to get some photos in a surreptitious manner.  :)   Here are some of them:

An old Masai woman who turned quickly away when she saw the camera.  I got this just before she turned.

A couple of young boys.  Notice the necklace collar of beads.

Looked like a family of a tribe.  The women are wearing very elaborate beaded collars as well.

The one in the middle is dressed in a warrior garb.  The one on the right has a stick with the metal end for clubbing (like the one I mentioned in yesterday's blog).

And lastly, as we were riding along we saw a tribal event taking place in a village.  It could have been a wedding or funeral.  All the people were dressed in colorful tribal garb and many had white plumes probably ostrich feathers in their headdress.  They were dancing and chanting.  Also, there were warriors in full garb with large shields and spears who were dancing and jumping in a line around the others.  It was something to see.

Day 54 - March 3

What an excellent ride today...  very hot and very tough but an excellent ride.  We rode 66 miles on unroads.  Unroads can be described as... at one point there was a road and at a later time there will be a road but at the present time there is not a road.  So therefore it is an unroad.  Ok, ok, you spend the time I have spent in the saddle of a bike in Africa then you can start making up words too.  :)

Anyway, it was rough going with rocks and loose gravel and at times red dust about 10 inches deep.  Those were the toughest times because you would come upon it with some speed and it would rob you of your momentum.  Then you would try to power through it.  If you were lucky you would make it.  If not, you would spin out and potentially end up dropping into a big poof of red dust with rocks hidden within or walking.

I know what you are asking yourself... so where is the excellent part that made the day so good???  Well, it wasn't just one thing it was a collection of moments that happened through the day.  Since we were on the unroads there was a steady stream of people walking.  We spoke with a group of boys who were walking to school.  What a delight!  If this were Ethiopia they would have been throwing rocks.  Instead, they were very engaging, nice and polite.  They were amazed that we were making the journey that we are. The boys were part of the Masai tribe.  I asked where their school was, they pointed.  I looked, there was no buildings of any kind in sight for miles.  I asked them if it was a far walk and they replied it was.  They do it every day to and from. That is dedication.

We came across a group of women later in the day.  Several were dressed in colorful tribal attire with an intricate designed headdress and multiple necklesses of beads.  But others were in more traditional attire.  One was an 18 year old school girl who spoke English.  She was articulate and engaging.  It was great to hear about them and their ways. One of the women had a baby and was breast feeding her baby.  It was so natural and beautiful.

Several other tribal women that we came upon later in the day wore tribal garb with multiple beaded necklaces and no tops.  It was like something out of National Geographic.

At the last coke stop of the day we saw several Masai men who I would categorize as warriors.  A couple were quite intense looking and when we greeted them with a wave and Hello were only returned with a very grimacing stare.  Most carried a couple of sticks and had a sheath for their knife.  One had a stick that had a metal piece on the end with holes drilled in it.  Thinking it was a flute or some type of a pipe we asked him what it was used for.  After a bit of time to understand what we were asking, he motioned that it was to hit people over the head.  The other hard wood stick was to do the same.  Then he pointed at the knife and made a motion across his throat meaning it was to kill.  When I say knife I mean more of a 2 foot long oblong blade with a large handle.  Not your ordinary 4 inch blade type knife.  A very serious one...  One of our staff who is from the area says the Masai train the boys by having them walk on thorns.  This teaches them to walk softly and to endure pain.  He says it also teaches them to be aggressive.  

At another time a boy started running with us as we were riding.  He kept up with us at about 25 kph for a good distance, impressive!  And lastly, there was one Masai herder who started running with us as we rode.  He was carrying a steel spear that was about a meter long with a formidable oblong and sharp head.  Needless to say,  the pace of cycling increased rapidly... 

See now you can see why it was an excellent day.  So many varied experiences for the day...

Here was one who was herding cattle along the road.  He was so excited to show us his "western" style shirt that he had on under his cloak.

Here is another cattle herder we came upon.  It is hard to see in the picture but he has pieces of ear with beads that stick from his ear and extend a couple of inches from the top.

I feel we really saw a true picture of Africa that was unfiltered today.  :)

Day 53 - March 2

Well we are crossing our third desert of Africa.  This is the Chulbi desert.  It is a vast desolate landscape that is strewn with lava rocks as it was formed by a volcano long ago.  It is as flat and barren as the eye can see.  It is totally uninhabitable yet every now and then you come upon people in the middle of nowhere.  You wonder where they have come from as there are no huts to be seen.  The wind whips across this flat land as there is nothing to deter it.  As the sun climbs in the sky so does the temperature.  And as the temperature rises so do the winds.  The wind turned into a headwind that was a constant 25+ mph with gusts significantly stronger.  It was a day to recon with.  There were workers that were out sweeping the shoulders of the road.  They had a simple hand made broom that was used to move leftover sand and gravel off the road.  It looked like a tough hot job, one that made no sense that they were doing.  A good rain or wind or just the traveling of trucks would accomplish the same thing in due time.  But it obviously employed a number of men that typically would not be working... so it was good.

We are in Marsebit the regional capital for the area.  Our visit to the town was an experience.  The people as I mentioned before are more tribal than we have seen so far in our travels.  Here are some photos of the women in their dress and beads:

Notice the beaded head piece.

The colorful dress and the baby wrap up to her side.

We were chastised for taking pictures of these women.  People quickly turn away when they see a camera.  

 This is in an open market where they sell their wares.  But as said, they do not like their picture taken.

We have stayed at a convent here in Marsebit.  The nuns are really accommodating.  They have made meals for us, for a price of course.  And I got a room that has a well worn bed.  The room of course since they are catholic nuns has a crucifix on the wall.  The nice thing is that during the day it absorbs light and at night I have a light up jesus.  

The for dinner they made real mashed potatoes and beef bits with gravy!  Can you imagine that...  mashed potatoes and gravy!  I thought I had died and gone to heaven (pun intended)!  And the beef you could actually chew unlike the meat we have been getting from the tour company.  Whenever we have meat from the tour company I want to suggest that they have a refresher course in the hymlick maneuver at the rider meeting prior to people trying to eat it.  :)

Oh well, the trials and tribulations of Africa by bike I guess.