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Being born and raised in Africa, this most beautiful continent has its own very special place close to my heart.
Having already taken up the privilege to sip its wines, dive its oceans, raft its mighty rivers and scan the African savannah from its highest peak, I felt it appropriate to get on a mountain bike, and cycle its length.
I reckoned that this was going to be the best thing to do ever, and it definitely is on the list as the most memorable event of my life.
It was awesome, and I felt like I was the luckiest person in the world to have had the opportunity to do just that.
The Tour ran from the 13th of January till the 12th of May 2007.
Click here to view the Official Tour D'Afrique tour website
...or Read my Journal below. |
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| [3 November 2006] The e-Mail I sent to my Family |
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Howzit
Everyone keeps asking me what I am going to be doing next year, but I've been sly and not ever said anything. I have however been slowly sorting my plans out, and now that everything is fixed up, I can now say what I am going to do.
I have decided that I am going to ride in a bicycle race on the 13th of January. That's all, just a bicycle race. It should be quite a nice race though, and it's not much longer than the Argus. The start is next to a pyramid there by Cairo so I might take a photo, and then pedal along the Nile River for a bit. Four months and 12000 km later, we cross the finish line at the Waterfront in Cape Town. I hope there are not too many hills inbetween.
Ellen, can you please meet me at the finish line at the Waterfront on the 12th of May. I should arrive some time in the afternoon, there might be a little bit of a commotion but just look out for me, I will be wearing my blue helmet. Please remember to bring the bicycle rack, as I don't really want to have to ride my bicycle all the way from the Waterfront to Stellenbosch. Maybe bring the dog too. William, can you please suggest some cream that I can use just in-case my legs get stiff, and Michael, can you please update my website for me. Old Man, you might want to cancel your bowls for that day. Thanks a lot.
O ja, another thing. Has anyone got a spare water bottle that I can borrow? I think that the one that I have might not be enough.
Anyway, more info on this bike race is on http://www.tourdafrique.com/.
Otherwise all is ok this side, nothing too exciting going on.
Cheers for now
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| [3 November 2006] The e-Mail I sent to My Bosses |
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Hey Guys
Regarding future plans, I just thought to share my intentions for next year. I have mentioned this already, but I just thought to finally get this out, and in writing.
The whole time that I have lived in Switzerland, I have been extremely happy with the way that my career has progressed, and I am very thankful for that. But, unfortunately, my own personal life has been compromised. Life is all about having a good balance, and this career vs personal life balance seriously needs resurrecting, and I have decided to make a moderately huge decision.
The idea is to take part in the Tour d'Afrique. This annual event has been running for a few years and, at 11,900 km (7,438 miles), is the longest organised bicycle tour in the world. For me this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I would really like to do this. See http://www.tourdafrique.com/ .
The tour starts in Cairo on the 13th of January 2007, and ends in Cape Town on the 12th of May (also 2007). I am under the assumption that I will only be living once, this is a fantastic opportunity and I seriously want to go for it. I've already started my preparations, my passport is upto date and have now recently been given medical clearance by a doctor.
Obviously this is going to, ever so slightly, interfere with my work over here, and I know that this doesn't quite fit into your plans with me. I have been thinking of delaying this by another year, but my gut feeling tells me that the situation in a year's time will probably be even more difficult.
In addition to the above, I hope that you share my feeling that me giving approximately two and a half months notice is reasonable, and I hope that I have your support for this.
I know this is a big announcement and it's not easy for me to step back from a job & working environment I enjoy so much. With this all in mind, I think it would probably be good if we could sit down to talk and make plans for 2007. Perhaps over a beer or two.
Thanks a lot & cheers for now
David
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| [13 January 2007] 1 day to go!!! |
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Howzit Everyone
Egypt, hosts of the 2006 African Nations Cup (where the mighty Bafana Bafana turned up, but didn’t bother to score a goal.) is 94% desert. This nation has been fought over by several other proud nations, with its trade links being the focus of attention. After the Pharonic days when Tutankhamun and his buddies ran the show, the Romans kindof took an interest with Cesar, Alexander, Anthony & Cleopatra featuring. We all know what happened to Cesar & his cronies, and then in 640AD, the Arabs came charging in. They chased the Romans out, introduced Islam and hung around for about 900 years. Then the Turks took their turn to dip their finger in the pie. Like the Romans, they didn’t do too much for the country, but were quite happy to ship trading revenues & taxes back home to Istanbul.
Then Napoleon had a smart plan. Whilst fighting with Tony Blair’s pompous ancestors, he thought he could annoy his enemy by taking over Egypt and thereby disrupting their curry supply lines from colonised India. The French actually did some good for Egypt, but the tormented British were always going to try their best to spoil the party. This is when the Turks saw the gap, sneaked in and took the reins again. In 1806, Mohammed Ali stepped forward and, like his namesake, beat people up to work his way to the top. Once there, he continued to fight and did very well to bring Egypt towards industrialisation. His money spinning projects were continued by his successors and this eventually led to the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869. Once all the hard work was done, the British manipulated their way into the scene, and proudly ruled the roost. The Germans came close to taking over in the 1940’s, but their mistake was to annoy far too many people at the same time.
As history tends to repeat itself, Britannica’s rule over Egypt was never going to last. In 1952, the locals went on the rampage, the Brits thought it was best just to move on out and Egypt was returned to Egyptians for the first time since the Pharaoh days.
On the evening of Tuesday the 8th of January 2007, I boarded a plane, and used this modern means of transport to complete a simple journey from Cape Town to Cairo. It took less than half a day. Tomorrow, myself and 33 interesting individuals from 11 countries, will mount bicycles and head in the direction from where the aeroplane had just come. The ultimate goal is to get to our sore butt’s to Cape Town’s Waterfront on the 12th of May, the finish line of the 5th annual Tour d’Afrique. This is destined to be a journey of a lifetime, and is the type of thing that Ernest Shackleton & Christopher Columbus would’ve enjoyed.
I cannot even begin to describe what lies ahead. The next four months will be filled with discovery, camaraderie and excitement, all of which will be accompanied by profanities, blood, loads of sweat and buckets of tears. We will be journeying the length of the continent that I call home, with our eyes on the lookout for the amazing sites that make this place so beautiful, listening out for the sounds that make it so mysterious and meeting it’s colourful* people. We will be passing through 10 countries, hundreds of cultures and a spectrum of landscapes varying from parched deserts to tropical rainforests. This is going to be amazing.
Cheers for now & go well
PS. I won’t be sending too many emails, but you can follow my progress on the net, I will be adding interesting stories whenever I get chance. Bandwidth permitting, I’ll try to stick in a few photos aswell.
* To the Swiss readers, you won’t be familiar with the concept of describing a person as colourful. It’s difficult to explain, so I won’t get into it now. Only thing is that it has got nothing to do with the actual skin colour.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [22 January 2007] Last Message from Egypt |
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Howzit Everyone
Today, we are in Aswan, some 1000 km from the start-line, and all is going well. As I clutch onto a massive piece of wood, my EFI status is still in-tact, the windmakers have been very helpful, my arse is holding out well and my puncture count is still on zero. Everything else has been going great, I could not have asked for a greater bunch of people to be travelling with, and the organisers have been equally awesome.
From leaving Cairo’s pyramids and scrambled traffic last weekend, we headed over the hills, into the desert, straight towards the Red Sea, and then followed the coast until Safaga. From here we pointed our noses inland, and made our merry way towards Luxor for our first rest day (after six days & 800 km’s, it was well deserved). Luxor is a tourist hub and is famous for Kings’ & Queens’ tombs and other plundered archaeological sites, and has become the hassle capital of Egypt. The locals have been making a living from hassling tourists for ages, and I can see why Carter felt nothing for raiding their tombs.
Since arriving in Luxor the other day, we’ve been cycling along the Nile. This artery is the longest river in the world, and provides life for the 97% of Egypt’s population that live in its valley. It’s been a real privilege.
Tomorrow morning we will be heading down towards Lake Nasser (still part of the Nile), and this will mark our exit from Egypt. We will be taking a 24 hour boat ride which will take us across the border and into Sudan, where things we really start to get interesting.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [05 February 2007] Last message from Sudan |
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Howzit Everyone
People have been asking me about my racing times, and have wondered why I am many hours back, some think that I have broken a leg or lost my bicycle or something. But don’t worry, I’m ok. I’m officially entered as a racer, but have been riding as if I were an expedition rider. Us expedition riders are having an absolute blast riding in our own time, enjoying each other’s company, meeting locals at coke stops and taking loads of photos. Those racing are taking things very seriously, are not riding to appreciate the scenery and get bored at the campsites. Anyway, time trials tend to tell the truth in road racing, so maybe check the results for Feb 3. Sudan is a lekker place, especially if you like sand and don’t like booze. This is a dry country, so beer, brandy & wine are illegal. Sudan is home to 19 different ethnic groups, speaking over a hundred languages, predominantly black Africans in the south and Muslims in the north. Official languages are Arabic and English. Books depicting this country’s history speak of wars, exploitation, slavery & disaster. Although we have only touched a small fraction of Africa’s largest country, the locals we’ve come across seem very happy and we have seen neither dire poverty nor begging. We’ve been stunned by the sincerity and friendliness of the locals, those that we have met so far are a great bunch of people wanting nothing more than a chat and good laugh. This is in stark contrast to the Egyptians who shout ‘hello’ in your face and learn at an early age to treat anything that is a tourist as an opportunity to make a bit of extra cash.
We started our Sudanese adventure after an overnight boat ride on Lake Nasser from Aswan in Egypt over the border to the tiny desert town of Wadi Halfa. Thousands of locals had crammed themselves & their goods onto the decks and all over the boat in dirty conditions. The boat was so overloaded, that even it’s totally retracted anchors were dragging in the water. We were very fortunate to have had refuge in the private first class cabins.
In terms of cycling, the 1000 or so km’s through Egypt was a bit of a honeymoon. As soon as we hit Sudan, we were headed for five days of lovely soft dirt roads with endless corrugations, loose stones and sand traps. This is where Africa really starts to happen, and the excitement began to circulate through our blood. The dirt roads were nothing like Swiss hiking trails, but rather like sandy beaches, and yet we still had to do 80-90 km’s a day, sometimes struggling to keep up an average of 10km/h. Further, because I am a fairly well nourished young lad, my wheels sank even deeper into the sand. It felt like I was dragging a plough through the desert, and that wasn’t fun. In the desert heat, it was difficult to keep ourselves well hydrated, to keep our appetites going and to keep sand out of the system. At lunch on the forth day in Sudan, the glucose went on strike, my legs said ‘eiisch’ and refused to push my pedals round any further. Being forced to concede and to settle for a bit of a ride on the back of a support truck, I was very disappointed but well happy to have had an extra break.
Our second rest stop was at Dongola, where we had just crossed the Nile by ferry from the Nubian to the Sahara desert. We spent the rest day cleaning & servicing bikes, washing clothes & relaxing a lot. Once rested, we exited the town and aimed our handlebars southwards down the road ahead, euphoria erupted as we witnessed the sight of a long length of tarmac stretching off into the distant horizon. I so enjoyed riding on roads which were able to support the weight of me & my bicycle. That 120 km’s was the most enjoyable 120 km’s of my life, I had this massive big grin on my face and I was the happiest bloke on Earth.
Since then, this last five days we’ve found ourselves pedaling from one desert camp to the next. This has been a memorable stint of cycling. We’ve been away from the Nile and covered 535km’s through some of the most stunning desert scenery I have ever come across. Full moon simply made things even more stunning. I can’t even begin to describe how it feels out there. Some areas were completely flat, some impressive sand dunes and some interesting mountains. There is already a collection of photo’s on the Tour d’Afrique website, and will be adding some to my website shortly.
Yesterday, we arrived at Sudan’s capital. Khartoum is home to three million people and this is where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile before it continues as the Nile onwards and northwards towards the Mediterranean. The Blue Nile has its sources in the Ethiopian highlands and is rich in alluvial silt, necessary for agriculture further downstream. The White Nile drains Lake Victoria which is fed by rains falling over the Mountains of the Moon in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Historically, Khartoum has also played part of a very lucrative slave trade. Slavery has actually played a big part of the country’s history and was once the most significant money spinner in the area. The industry seems to go hand in hand with civil war, and neither of which appear to be coming to and end anytime soon.
As I sit here at the Blue Nile sailing club, I can see the confluence of the Blue & White Niles to my left. This used to be a top cotton producing area. ‘Pharaoh’s Delight’, Tour d’Afrique 2007’s first section is now complete. Nearly 2000 km’s have been covered and we’re enjoying a rest day as we contemplate ‘The Gorge’. With only five days left in Sudan, this has been a very interesting chapter in my book of travels. Sudan is a lovely country, and I’ll be back to experience more. Let’s just hope they can keep mass tourism out, and that someone can get that nonsense in Darfour sorted out soon.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [22 February 2007] Ups & Downs in Ethiopia |
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Howzit Everyone
Firstly, a message to the Ethiopian roads department: You clearly do not understand that there are a few fundamental ethics that you apply when building roads through your country. First and foremost, if you are building a road along a stretch of land between two towns and you encounter a mountain, you either deviate around the mountain or you make like the Swiss and drill a hole through it, simple. What you should not be doing, is be aiming the road directly over the summit of that mountain, because that is just plain stupid. You must remember that sometimes people are going to be riding their bicycles on these roads, and that these people do not like cycling up mountains all day. We do not share your sense of humour.
Other than that, it’s so amazing how things changed the second we crossed the border from Sudan into the only country in Africa that has managed to resist colonisation. Shells of old armoured vehicles still line the roads and remind us of the wars that this country has been through. The Ethiopian landscape is equally as beautiful as that of Sudan, yet completely different. The roads are different, the vegetation is different, the people are different, the language is different, the calendar is different, the birdlife is different, the climate is different, the hills are numerous and the beer is legal. Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar, which has 12 months of 30 days, and a 13th month of 5 or 6 days. Today is the 14th of June 1999.
83 different languages are spoken in Ethiopia, and then there are around 200 dialects. The population has grown from 15 to 65 million in the last 75 years. Half of those are under 16 years old, and most of these kids like to throw stones at cyclists visiting their beautiful country. Christianity dominates religion here, and has done so for many centuries. There is also a strong Muslim influence. The official language is Amharic, which is similar to Arabic. English is regarded as important and spoken by many. In 1936, after already getting their hands on Somalia and Eritrea, Italy was bent on getting Ethiopia too. Ethiopians didn’t take to this very well, the wars were very nasty and 280,000 people were killed. The Brits & Italians had a fallout during WW2, so the Brits used this as an excuse to kick Italy out and, in 1941, Ethiopia was returned to the locals.
We’ve found the Ethiopian adults to be a lot more respectable and friendly than their children, always willing to be of assistance and have a good sense of humour. Unlike the Sudan, the women are around to be seen and work in shops & restaurants. They’re always well dressed, glamorous and self-respecting. I’m not sure what the Sudanese did with their women, because they were simply nowhere to be seen.
Thanks to western generosity, Ethiopian kids have become disrespectful whilst in search of more handouts. Pretty much expecting to be given something from every traveller they see, they make a point of hassling and stealing from cyclists who don’t like riding up the sides of mountains. I hope they can shake this bad behaviour off, as I worry that when this generation grows up, this could potentially become a social and economic problem for the country. I wonder if any of these knighted rock stars or UN bigshots have ever got on their bicycles and gone for a ride through Ethiopia and seen exactly what has become of these people.
Riding through Ethiopia has been a lot of hard work. The first few days were pretty tough, especially as we climbed to a decent elevation on dusty dirt roads in 45 degree heat. But since our two day break at the former capital of Gondor, where most of the cyclists recovered from stomach issues, the roads have been tarred and the uphill / downhill ratio has evened out. I’m slowly getting used to these hills, and the riding is certainly a lot more interesting than the endless flat roads of Egypt and Sudan. The hills have been tough, but green spotted doves have sung encouragement as we slogged upwards. We would then enjoy the views from the top and then fly down the other side. If it wasn’t for the kids, travelling by bicycle through Ethiopia would be one of the most treasured experiences of any one of our lives.
And then three days ago, there was the Nile Gorge, probably one of the major highlights of the whole tour. 1300m down, this gorge is deeper than what Table Mountain is high. It is continuously being eroded deeper by the Blue Nile. The views from all around were amazing, very difficult to describe and photos simply don’t do it justice. You just have to come & see it for yourself. We were lucky that it had just rained, so there wasn’t too much dust. The ride itself was quite something. It took me less than half an hour to get down the one side and then five hours to pedal the 22km’s back up the other. There was a cold beer was waiting at the top.
Right now, we are in Addis Ababa. Meaning ‘New Flower’, this city is only about 120 years old and 2500m above sea level. With a population of about 5 million, Addis is by far the biggest city in Ethiopia and the third biggest in Africa. It rivals La Paz & Cairo in cleanliness and goats & donkeys roam the streets. We are now at the end of the second section of Tour d’Afrique. So far we have covered 3700 km’s, but due to bits of minor illness and the odd additional rest day, I have only done about 3200 of those. The Merkato market is the biggest market in Africa. I usually despise going to markets, but this afternoon I’ll have a look anyway, apparently you can get Kalashnikov machine guns there.
The next section of the tour is the “Meltdown Madness”, and will take us to Nairobi. Tomorrow, we will be descending out of Addis, and in just over a week we will be leaving the Ethiopian kids behind and crossing over the border into Kenya.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [13 March 2007] Karibu Kenya |
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Howzit Everyone
Firstly, thanks for all the emails. Unfortunately, we haven’t exactly been overwhelmed with fast internet access lately, so it has been pretty much impossible to reply to everyone. I still really enjoy reading all the emails, and its great hearing what everyone has to say, so please keep them coming.
As we cycled southwards along the Great Rift Valley, the Ethiopian vegetation continued to change repeatedly. We have been through grasslands dotted with acacia trees, and then round the next corner we would once again find ourselves in banana plantations again. I guess this has a lot to do with continuous altitude variations which we have kind of become accustomed to. Birdlife has been magnificent, Ethiopia has the second highest bird count in the world and this includes many endemic species. I was very excited when I heard the shriek of a Fish Eagle from a tree right next to the road as I came swiftly past. There is always something special about the first spotting of a Fish Eagle whilst on an African trip. Some of the Canadians couldn’t quite understand why I was so excited when I arrived at camp that afternoon, but I was happy. Otherwise, with a growing human population squeezing more from the already burdened land, Ethiopia’s wildlife has suffered. Our only mentionable wild mammal encounters have been the early morning hyena calls as they argue with domestic dogs.
In South Africa, you drive on the left hand side of the road and in Egypt, you have to drive on the right. This means that somewhere in between these two countries, there has to be an abrupt change where traffic has to move from the one side of the road to the other, and I have always wondered where this would happen. We eventually found this on the Ethiopian / Kenyan border, so on the first of March just after I got my first Kenyan stamp in my passport, I walked out of the passport control office, got on my bike and rode legally on the left hand side of the road for the first time in nearly two months. Its much better, I quite like riding on the left hand side of the road, it makes me feel like I am getting closer to home.
Kenya is pretty much East Africa’s most famous country, and home to two of my fellow riders. Swahili is one of the most famous African languages, and phrases such as ‘poa kachize kamandize’ and ‘hakuna matata’ are well known throughout the world. Kenya is also home to many talented long distance runners, there is also the Masai Mara Park and it’s tribes of high jumping people. At 5200m, Mount Kenya is Africa’s second highest mountain. In the 1960’s, Kenya’s elephant population was being obliterated and came precariously close to extinction. The government eventually stepped forward and implemented an effective ‘shoot-on-sight’ approach towards poachers. This direct approach encouraged poachers to find something else to do and Kenya now sits very happily with a healthy population of elephants. Ethiopia & Sudan never applied such measures to nature conservation, and their wildlife populations are now effectively null and void. I wonder if Bob Geldoff knows about this.
We have now weaned ourselves off the Ethiopian hills, and have worked our way through yet another of the tour’s toughest challenges. Northern Kenyan desert roads are now a completely different kettle of fish. These roads are made of sand, gravel and rocks. The roads have been tough and it has been hot, but the scenery was awesome. It’s a lovely part of the world that we have been riding through and the people have been friendly. Unfortunately, I had to view some of this from the truck as my stomach wasn’t really playing along.
A week ago, we stopped at Marsabit for a rest day. We stayed at a lovely campsite just off the local National Park. A troop of baboons hung around the campsite most of the time. They didn’t really bother us during the day, but waited till the middle of the night when they decided to entertain themselves by climbing up the trees and urinating on everyone’s tents. I’m glad I wasn’t one of those that hadn’t put up a flysheet. We also braaied the one night, so some of the others wondered off the local butchery to pick out some chickens. Once they had chosen the chickens that they wanted, the guy at the butchery took them round the back where he promptly killed and slaughtered them. We called our chicken Pete. Pete must’ve been a good runner, because he had really tough legs.
Marsabit is famous for a volcano that blew quite some time ago, it sent rocks and larva flying in all directions and left a few decent craters. Although Marsabit is fairly lush, the volcanic rock covering the surrounding low-lying areas isn’t very fertile, so not too much grows there. Not much rain falls there either, so we’ve been in the desert once again. It’s quite interesting coming across a desert stocked with camels this close to the equator.
And then we crossed the equator. It’s the first time that I have ever crossed over the equator without cruising over it at around 900 km/h. This is where GPS’s read 0-0-0, where Orion lies on his chest, the North Star dips, the South Celestial pole comes into sight and you don’t stand a chance of seeing the aurora borealis. When the earth was created, this is where they fused the two hemispheres together. We are now in the Southern hemisphere, this is the only hemisphere in the world where you get penguins. From now on, we should be expecting more sun on the backs of our necks, and less on our knees as we pedal further south.
We are now taking a rest in Nairobi, the cleanest big African city that we have been through so far. We are very happy to have been back on tarred roads for these last three days, even though we once had to climb 1250m up the side of a Rift Valley before lunch. After two more days of riding, we will be in Tanzania’s Arusha for an unprecedented and very well deserved three day rest. From here we will have an opportunity to visit Ngorogoro & Serenghetti, two of the world’s most famous wildlife enclaves, in full view of Mount Kilimanjaro. A few major milestones have been crossed and the third stage of Tour d’Afriqe 2007 is complete. Next is the relatively easy ‘Snows of Kilimanjaro’ stage which is a leisurely 982 km to Iringa. We hope that it doesn’t get too muddy as we skirt round the worlds biggest free standing mountain and enjoy its stunning views.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [25 March 2007] Tired in Tanzania |
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Howzit Everyone
Unbeknown to many people, including myself before this trip, the capital city of Tanzania is not Dar es Salaam, but Dodoma, and has been so since 1973. Tanzania is credited as being the cradle of mankind, home to our earliest known ancestors who used to wonder around here approximately 3 million years ago. During the first millennium, Arabic traders found their way to East Africa, and their mixing with the locals eventually gave rise to Swahili. Tanzania’s other official language is English.120 tribal groups exist in Tanzania, and unlike just about everywhere else in Africa, there is very little inter-tribal conflict. The same can also be said about the Christian / Muslim mix. A lot of Tanzania’s growth, peace and well-being is accredited to Julius Nyerere. He was president from 1962 till 1985, and a very influential leader at that. He helped with the capture of Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, has written several books and even translated some of Shakespear’s work into Swahili. He introduced the concept of familyhood for the country’s social structure, and also introduced some socialist ideas. Some of which were controversial, but I think it will be worth digging up a few more books and reading up more about this leader and his governing ideas.
It was great to have had a three day rest at Arusha and be presented with a nice little opportunity to forget about our bikes and other daily routine. It was even better to make a quick excursion to Serengeti & the Ngorongoro Crater. About 2.5 million years ago, the volcano which left Ngorongoro crater stood higher than Kilimanjaro. When it erupted, the prevailing winds scattered fertile ash westwards. This filled and levelled out the nearby countryside to create the vast plains of the 14763 sq km Serengeti national park where Wildebeest charge up & down every year. What remains of the mountain are several craters, with the most significant being Ngorongoro itself. At around 20 km in diameter, it’s one of the largest calderas in the world and has an unparalleled concentration of wildlife.
After this slightly longer than normal rest break, it was hard work getting back on our bikes again. We had been battering our bodies for two months, and everyone was rundown and tired. So much so that one of our top riders, in deciding to become the second retiree, decided that enough was enough. His body had taken far too much of a beating, so he packed his bicycle into a box and headed off home. It had been a long hard trip.
As we sit at yet another rest day here in the Southern Tanzanian town of Iringa, we recently crossed the 6000km mark and yet another stage is completed. My bike is caked in mud, and needs a new chain & brake pads. Views of Mount Kilimanjaro were supposed to be the highlight of this section. It was quite exciting as we approached the Tanzanian border and we could make out the base of the mountain which I had first come to visit some 18 months ago. Unfortunately, the base was all we were going to see as low cloud pretty much prevented any decent views. The same applied as we approached Mount Meru near Arusha. Yet another volcano and standing at 4566m, Meru is Tanzania’s second highest mountain. But there are many more highlights to Tanzania. The countryside is simply awesome, this is a beautiful country. There are endless plains, river beds, mountains and valleys. There is so much more to this country than its famous northern reserves, and it definitely deserves a more thorough visit. Riding on dirt roads through this pristine countryside watching out for thorns, weaving between baobab trees and dodging dung beetles has been an experience that will be added high up on my collection of favourite memories. Malawi Gin, the next section, is next. We have 9 cycling days to cover the 1104km’s to Lilongwe. Further, five more countries, 5760km, 39 riding days and 9 rest days lie between us and our destination in Cape Town. It feels like we are going through a mentally tough and testing portion, but I am sure we will get through it alright. Smooth roads from here to the end, more stunning countryside and a lot more excitement ahead are among the things keeping us going each time we push down on our pedals.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [11 April 2007] Cruising in Southern Africa |
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Howzit Everyone
The 1224km Malawi Gin section ended in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. This is where many of the riders started to find their feet again. After getting fairly tired and despondent in Tanzania, things just simply started to fall into place as we approached and entered Malawi, this is a stunning country and I definitely want to be visiting here again. The cycling was just fantastic, it felt like everything just suddenly clicked into place. It’s a great feeling when you get on your bike, push the pedals, and your bike just flies. As we rode out there in the countryside, the hills just flattened out under our wheels and we swallowed up the tarmac at good speed. I now look forward to every single morning’s ride, and have even wondered if someone maybe spiked my drink with steroids, things are going that well. Recently, a friend shared a Winston Churchill quote with me. “When you’re going through hell, just keep on going”. That is so true and I don’t think it could be any more appropriate for this tour. That is exactly what everyone has learned to do and doing it very well. Thanks for that.
In the colonial days, Malawi was called Nyasaland. This all changed after a certain Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda won his fight against colonialism and got himself the presidency spot in 1966, he wanted to be president for life but only managed to hang on till 1994. Under his dictatorship, he ruined the country’s fortunes but did very nicely for himself as he gained personal control of the country’s economy. I am beginning to wonder what his motives actually were when he went about his task of liberating his country from the colonials.
After Banda was eventually forced out, President Bakili Muluzi took the reigns, he sommer freed a whole lot of political prisoners and introduced things like freedom of speech etc. Unfortunately, his reforms left even more people hungry, and everyone was beginning to wonder what freedom of speech actually meant to them while they went to sleep hungry every night. He blamed the previous regime for his stuff-ups and nothing got better. Sound familiar? Others even started to suggest that Banda’s dictatorship wasn’t so bad after all. Anyway, as things stand now, a lot is going on, but the Malawian economy isn’t exactly in great shape. The people seem happy but are despondent with democracy. No matter who they vote for, they still get ripped off and the government ministers still drive round in expensive 4x4’s. The only hope the locals seem to have is expressed as they shout “give me money” at Tour d’Afrique cyclists who whiz by on expensive bicycles marvelling at the beautiful scenery.
In Malawi, we had one of our most lovely rest days of the entire trip. At Chitmemba beach on the shores of Lake Malawi, under the watchful eyes of Fish Eagles we camped in absolute bliss eating rump steaks. Lake Malawi is Africa’s 5th largest lake and covers about 20% of the country’s surface area. Mozambique & Tanzania also take up part of Lake Malawi. After rushing through our chores of laundry and cleaning & servicing bikes, we spent the bulk of our time lounging about watching fishing boats or just plunging in for a good swim. There can’t be many more things in life better than watching the sun rise up over the opposite side of the lake lighting up surrounding clouds through various shades of orange and red during an early morning swim. Not to mention the Whitebrowed Coucal calling from the background, simply magic. What also made things interesting were these massive swarms of flies that rose up out of the water far in the distance. There must’ve been millions of flies in each swarm as they formed these spectacular cloudlike columns pushing up over a hundred meters into the air. The theory is that these flies mate as they reach the top of their respective columns, and then fall back into the water to lay their eggs. Very interesting, and I’m looking forward to reading more about this lot. After Chitemba beach, we headed inland up into the Malawian highlands. Lots of climbing, so we climbed. Also lots of forests, and lots of spectacular granite hills formed by ancient volcanic intrusions sticking up through the forests. This made the scenery even more stunning, I quite like this part of the world.
After deciding to drop the colonial name of Northern Rhodesia, they named Zambia after the mighty Zambezi when Kenneth Kaunda took over. The country really suffered under Kaunda’s dictatorship, probably not too different to that of Banda. Copper mining was also big in this part of the world, and when the world price slumped several years ago, these guys took a serious knock. Cashing-in from Zimbabwe’s demise and other factors, Zambia is now starting to do really well. Lusaka is booming, and there is a lot happening for this country. I certainly hope they can keep it up.
Although this section is not yet complete, it’s been pretty rough cycling again. After we all felt so great in Malawi, they challenged us with several tough days at us here in Zambia. Lot’s of kilometres covered, lots and lots of hills climbed whilst the anticipated tail winds kind of didn’t materialise. The longest day was 195km, and this was riddled with hills and winds blowing from all directions. At one stage we covered 500km in three days. After one particular rough day, we were fortunate enough to camp alongside the Luangwa river, a stunning river in a stunning area not far from where the borders of Mozambique, Zambia & Zimbabwe meet. I looked out for crocodiles and hippos from the campsite’s swimming pool, but didn’t see any.
We are currently in Lusaka for a rest day. Yesterday’s stage was a doddle, only 105km, a walk in the park so I was in camp by half past ten in the morning. Later yesterday afternoon some of us had an intense discussion with the likes of Captain Morgan & Charles Glass. A bottle of KWV 3yr made a welcome appearance, but soon that was gone. A bottle of Blackbeard’s Rum also came to the party. Many more bottles of interesting substances arrived and disappeared, and I don’t even know what they were. Later on people were randomly practising Rugby tackles on innocent bystanders. The truck had also had an oil change in the afternoon, so we fine-tuned our placekicking skills by kicking empty 5l oil cans against the wall. The tour nurse got very annoyed because we were kicking the cans barefoot, and didn’t want to have to deal with broken toes from non-cycling accidents. I tried to explain to her that you can kick the can further and more accurately without shoes on, but she didn’t get it. I don’t know how it worked out, but we eventually stumbled across the mayor of Lusaka, he’s an entomology Professor and specialises in termites. He was so intrigued by our journey that he took us to town and paid for drinks till about 2am or something silly. The sun lit up my tent and woke me at six o’clock this morning, I found some headache tablets and an empty water bottle next to my mattress. I dug myself out of my tent and staggered over to the kitchen area to find the kettle boiling ready for a good strong cup of coffee. Before long, several more intrepid cyclists were gathered around the coffee table rubbing their heads and wondering why they had pains in their ribs & shoulders. It also took us a while to figure out why there were dented oil cans lying all over the place. After several cups of coffee, we were all so hungry that we went to visit the restaurant at the fancy hotel next door for a breakfast buffet. We demolished fried eggs, bacon, toast, greasy sausages, fruit, pastries, yoghurt and coffee as we slowly pieced together the events of last night. A lot of gaps still remain.
Tonight we will not be drinking and tomorrow we ride again. In the next three days we will cover another 500km before arriving at Victoria Falls. A two day break and my third visit to the most spectacular waterfall in the world will mark the end of the 1264km Zambezi Zone, yet another section of the 2007 Tour d’Afrique complete, finished and klaar.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [30 April 2007] Home Straight |
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Howzit Everyone
As we approached Victoria Falls, we could see its characteristic spray reaching high into the air way in the distance. After a good rainy season, the Zambezi was full of water and pumping. The high water put an end to our ideas of white water rafting and it also disrupted the bungee jumping. The local name for Victoria Falls is Mosi oa Tunya, which means “The Smoke that Thunders”. My bicycle has been so loyal throughout this trip, has done a really fantastic job whilst becoming faster and faster and we’ve bonded really well as the tour has progressed. I decided to give it a name and thought nothing better than to name it after this equally amazing waterfall. Mosi oa Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders.
This is the first time I’ve come to visit my favourite waterfall from the Zambian side. Our two day break here has definitely been a highlight of the trip. With the high water, the falls were absolutely spectacular but often the views were impeded by the heavy spray which soaked us from over a hundred meters up. Something like half a million cubic metres of water flow over this 2 km wide waterfall every minute and if that were cans of coke, it would be enough to give every Ethiopian kid 60,000 cans of coke a day. I wouldn’t even give them one can of coke to share.
Up from the falls, the mighty Zambezi is dotted with densely vegetated islands, clean and flowing fast. Tiger fish, crocodiles, hippos & elephants patrol this area. To my left is a beautiful country completely destroyed by the wrath of Mugabe, and to my right is one which has saved itself from the jaws of poverty and currently booming. Whilst we were sailing along sipping G&T’s, the setting sun collaborated with the mighty Zambezi and surrounding clouds to put together an amazing display of colour and light presenting us with yet another special African sunset. As the sun approached the horizon, the sky and clouds in all directions began to transform from blue & white through shades of yellow, orange and eventually a deep red. I was halfway through my third gin and had a big smile on my face as the sun itself finally dipped out of sight. The water was a fiery red, as the glow persisted in the distance. A large cumulonimbus cloud to our left added to the spectacle by sending lightning flashes in all directions. Venus appeared brightly midway up the sky, and was our evening star. Orion’s Belt and then the rest of him appeared upside-down in the darkness directly above us. Once critical for early explorers, the Southern Cross stood proudly with its two prominent pointers. Soon, millions of stars decorated the sky, most of these concentrated in the milky-way which arched over our heads. Not far from the south celestial pole, we can see the two disk shaped clouds of Magellan. These two galaxies are approximately 160,000 light years away. Our nearest stellar neighbour is Proxima Centuari and is 4.3 light-years away. Then there is Andromeda Nebula, this is a spiral galaxy similar to our own and, at 2.2 million light-years, is the most distant visible object. This distance is equivalent to every single Ethiopian kid each cycling a full 12,000km Tour d’Afrique every day for the next 130,000 years with no coke.
On the second of our rest days, I took some time to myself, got on my bike and rode the eight or so kilometres from camp through to the border post and over the famous Victoria Falls bridge into Zimbabwe. With the falls on one side, and the mighty Zambezi gushing down the gorge on the other, this is one of the most spectacular international border crossings in the world. It was hot, so I was nicely refreshed by the heavy spray blowing off the falls as I revisited my country of birth. I skipped the usual viewpoints, and rode up the side of the Zambezi towards a massive baobab tree. This tree is huge, probably over 5,000 years old and is highlighted in David Livingstone’s journals. As I cycled up the road looking for this tree, I came across a herd of elephants blocking my path. They didn’t care too much about me and my bicycle and decided to just stand around. As it turned out, they were more patient than I was. I conceded the waiting game, turned around and made my way up to the Vic Falls Hotel for tea & cream scones. When they built this magnificent hotel in the pre-Mugabe days, they positioned it and its gardens to have an awesome view of the gorge, bridge and a section of the falls itself. I sat there the whole afternoon enjoying tea, soaking up the view and entertaining waiters with stories of our journey. After four scones and about eight cups of tea, I got going and headed down the pathway back towards to the bridge. On my way out, I startled a large buffalo who was minding his own business under a tree. He jumped around, so I kindof had to ride quite fast. Also went past some warthog & their young before wondering back over the bridge through the cooling spray to conclude my shortest ever visit to Zimbabwe.
Once back in Zambia, I rode past some zebra and did a left turn at the posh Royal Livingstone Hotel. The security guards wearing old fashioned Livingstone style explorer hats gave me funny looks as I wheeled my bike along the red carpet through the marble floored reception. I sat undisturbed at the edge of the Zambezi sipping on a few more G&T’s enjoying yet another amazing African sunset.
The next day, after a 40km time trial, we took the ferry over the Zambezi from Zambia to Botswana and rode on to Kasane. This is not very far from where the Chobe river joins the Zambezi, and where Namibia, Botswana, Zambia & Zimbabwe all meet at one point. That afternoon, another sunset cruise was on offer. Being a sunset addict, I joined the ride without hesitation. This time we cruised along the Chobe river, with the Chobe national park on our left and Namibia’s Caprivi on our right. We spotted Fish eagles, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and we once again sat in awe enjoying the daily sunset spectacle.
We had a rest day in Maun. This town is the largest in northern Botswana, has grown a lot lately, and is a good base for visits to Moremi, Chobe and & Savuti national parks. More importantly, there is the unique, stunning and special Okavango delta. This is where the Okavango river, fed by annual rains in Angola, spills water out into the perfectly flat desert flooding the 15,000 square kilometre delta. This whole area is so flat, that the water only arrives months after the conclusion of the actual rainy season. The water gradually drains into the water-table or evaporates later on during the scorching summer, leaving lakes scattered all over the countryside before the whole cycle of annual flooding is repeated. Birdlife is amazing, and animals migrate with the flooding as appropriate. We treated ourselves to a flip over the delta in a six-seater Cessna, enjoyed some good wildlife views and got an impressive overview of this whole ecosystem.
We are now in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital and the Elephant Highway section is now complete. We are all very happy to have been given two rest days, we are completely stuffed and can certainly do with the time off. We’ve covered 1576km and crossed two international borders in the ten cycling days since leaving Livingstone, 830 of these kilometres were in the last five days. We’ve been riding on long flat roads this last two weeks, and our longest day was 208km. Tail winds didn’t exactly live up to expectation and some strong headwinds decided to surprise us from time to time. At least we got some decent elephant sightings.
1690km, one more border crossing, one rest day, twelve riding days and probably no more emails remain between us and the end in Cape Town. We have five riding days till our last rest day at Ais-Ais, and then seven more from there till Cape Town. Our last night is at Yzerfontein and we arrive at the Waterfront at around lunch-time on Saturday the 12th of May.
If you are in the area and up for a beer or two on the afternoon of May 12 or want to see the finish, come down to the Waterfront. I’ll have my cell phone with me. The following day will be a very relaxing day for me at home in Stellenbosch. If you want to pop round to say howzit, and maybe have some tea & cream scones or a beer, pop round anytime you want. If the weather is good, I’ll get the braai going in the afternoon.
I’ve also put together some more photos, and they should be on my website shortly.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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| [18 May 2007: TDA 2007 - Complete |
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Howzit Everyone
Saturday, the 12th of May 2007 marked the end of the best trip I've ever been on. Its two weeks since the last section of the tour kicked off in Windhoek. Windhoek is perched at around 1600m, and is the capital of the country that was once called South West Africa before obtaining its independence from South Africa in 1990.
We detoured via the Fish River canyon. At 550m deep, 160km long and 27km wide, this is the second biggest canyon in the world, being outdone by another somewhere in some insignificant country out west. For three days we were on dirt roads again. These were smooth, well maintained dirt roads, nothing like those horrible stretches in Sudan and Northern Kenya. Namibian desert scenery and cool late autumn days made for some awesome cycling. This is also where a feisty little cape cobra reared his head before aiming his fangs at my ankle as I rode by. Luckily I was fit from riding a bicycle for nearly four months, so was way too fast for him.
Seven riding days before the end, we spent our last rest day at Ai-Ais at the bottom end of the canyon. Ai-Ais also marks the end of the gruelling five day 85km hike through the canyon and is famous for its hot springs. Here we got do our usual maintenance tasks, watched the last round of Rugby's Super 14 and I also found time to climb up a mountain.
Once back on our bikes, we quickly found our way to the Orange River, the border between Namibia and South Africa. It was great to be back on South African soil, but first we had to tackle a nasty 10 km dirt road against a howling head wind before arriving at Fiddler's Creek. This is a fantastic overland camping ground with a well stocked bar positioned nicely over the Orange River affording perfect views of yet another wonderful African sunset.
We climbed up a long gorge to leave the Orange River valley. This was a bit of hard work but a beautiful introduction to South Africa, another treat and a few final tastes of Africa's beauty. At Vanrhynsdorp, we did a right turn to make one last detour as we headed over one last section of dirt towards Elandsbaai. Being the first time we've seen the sea since stopping at Safaga on the Red Sea, it feels like we've also traversed Africa from east to west.
We spent our last night on tour at Yzerfontein. We weren't too concerned about the sea, but the beer was flowing. I had only been asleep for about two hours before rolling out of my dew soaked tent at 530. Despite the cold, the crew treated us to greasy bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs to set us on our way for the final 80 or so km's to Cape Town. As the sun stuck its neck out above the horizon, warmth circulated through our blood on a very non-typical Cape winter's day. We were very pleased that Cape Town's welcoming committee had organised us a beautiful, warm and cloudless day with Table Mountain standing very clear in the distance. This famous landmark got bigger and bigger as we approached in pretty much the same way Jan van Riebeck did in 1652.
We were welcomed to the Waterfront by drummers, Zulu dancers, Cape Town's mayor, champagne, beer, balloons, friends and family. We were treated to dinner at Ferrimans and a good breakfast at the Breakwater Lodge on Sunday gave me chance to say some final goodbyes before packing my bicycle and heading off home to Stellenbosch.
Having worked through an accumulation of laundry, I no longer have to rummage through a red box for my toothbrush and use a water bottle to brush my teeth. I no longer have to oil my chain and smear anti-chaffing cream on my back-side every morning. It's a Sharks / Bulls Super 14 final tomorrow. I've claimed myself an Iringa to Cape Town EFI and one fifth of me is gone. I am now lounging very comfortably on a couch as I contemplate my return to the world, returning to work and back to the life I live where I earn money to pay for these amazing trips around our beautiful planet.
Thanks for joining the ride.
Cheers for now & go well
David
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