DODOMA????????

Guys, here is a good quiz question, everybody knows of course that the capital city of Australia is Canberra and that Canada's is Ottawa, but who can name me the capital of Tanzania without hesitation?....


Well, no it is not Dar Es Salaam..... It is.... DODOMA..... and that's where from I am writing these lines tonight. This is probably one of the most inaccessible capital in the world. Only one paved road leads into Dodoma and that is the road going east/west between Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam. Since we came from Arusha in the north, we had to ride 450 km on a tiny dirt road to get here. Really cool actually. Dodoma is nothing spectacular in itself, it is a medium size town that has been chosen as capital simply because of its geographical situation it seems. It is exactly in the middle of Tanzania. But a few kilometers before entering the capital we were still struggling on thick sand and gravel.

What a ride! The last four days have been the most spectacular of the tour as far as I am concerned. It has been really hard, particularly yesterday. Even mountain bikers took a toll. It was the most technical ride we did up to now and I believe will do in the entire tour. Yesterday's 100 km ride was a "toughie". It had everything of a hard day, plenty of climbing, with steep, and difficult road surface. Some of the downhills were so technical, that many had to walk sections of them. When the dirt road was not made of rolling stones and deep holes, it was thick sand... It did not stop, every meter of that 100 K was a hard push. it took me 8 hours to ride this stage and many riders only made it to camp as the night was falling. We had started at 7h30 AM, so you can imagine... Even our trucks suffered, the dinner truck bike rack broke and it resulted in the truck only making it to camp very late. So we all tried to kill time hiding under trees waiting in our filthy cycling outfits for our luggage and tents to arrive.

The mood was nevertheless very good as everybody agreed that the efforts were definitely worth it. We all felt privileged to ride through such amazing countryside. The funny thing is, this is a national road leading straight to the capital, and yet there is hardly any traffic on it. It was so pleasant to ride on it, as I rode some of it on my own, I could hear all the sounds coming from the forest, so many birds, and the distant scream of the monkeys covered by the frogs calling for mates. At some point this road was so bad that it was easier to ride in the bush using the animal paths. But it was fun and I will sign for more any time!

Tanzania is actually the country where we cover the most distance on unpaved roads, about 600 km in total but it shrinking every year as more pavement is being laid. I have never seen so many baobab trees in my life, Tanzania is big time baobab country. They are amazing trees defying time. Some of them can live up to 3000 years...
They make the landscape of central Tanzania. Here you can see baobab trees in the middle of a sunflower field, something quite unique. I am so impressed by Tanzania, and by its people. They are so nice. We are getting so many "jumbo" everywhere we go. The kids have also been a pleasant surprise. In the remote areas we have traversed, it seems that all children are going to school. We saw them walking on the road dressed in clean uniforms on their way to school. Tanzanian children are a bit shy and wait for you to greed them with a loud "Jumbo" and then they immediately shout back "Jumbo Jumbo" and laugh. We also hear " Mzungu Mzungu" from the younger ones who are so exited to see some white persons on bicycles in this remote region.
Camp last night was really funny. It felt a bit like Ethiopia as we were invaded by kids. But it was very different. No need to put up defensive ropes around camp, these children were well behaved, fairly shy and seemed to be amazed by the Tour D'Afrique caravane... I would be too it TDA had to pull into my backyard one day...
We are on a 7 days non stop stage here, so 3 more to go before we reach Iringa. There we will be back on tar and will enjoy a rest day. We are definitely gonna need it. This long unpaved stretch is claiming its toll on old bodies like mine. I have pains in my back, in my arms and even my knees are sore. These long days on technical dirt roads are so demanding. You work plenty more than on a normal ride. I even have a small saddle sore, can you believe it, after 6000 km you can still get some from the hammering of the corrugated surface. I have organised for a DHL parcel to reach me in Iringa. It is coming from South Africa. I am getting extra tubes and a new pair of gloves. mine are so destroyed, they look like rags hanging on my forearms. I am also getting new padding for the inside of my helmet, same problem as my gloves.

Anyway after such a hard day, it was a perfect opportunity for the members of the locker 9 brotherhood to hold a special meeting.... Yes, on the initiative of Gabriele, we have created this brotherhood were some of the older riders who deserve a bit of luxury are stuffing locker 9 in the dinner truck with all kind of pleasurable goods. There is plenty of wine, spirit, chocolate and cigars in locker 9.... By the way, other TDA riders, if you are reading this, don't get any funny ideas... Locker 9 is well protected and the key holder is Josh... So you will have to kill him first... and given the fair size of Jos.. I would advise you to get your own locker.... Of course each rider only has one locker so I cannot go into details and tell you how we got locker 9... But this brotherhood has added a new dimension to this tour. Since we passed the equator, we have upgraded ourselves to business class. Last night, we enjoyed Cuban cigars, South African red wine and port with dark chocolate under a magnificent African sky... And this is just the beginning, more international supplies are on their way, thanks to wives and new sectional riders joining soon...

We had our first brotherhood evening in Kenya when Maria Pia, Gabriele's girl friend freshly arrived from Switzerland brought some magnificent Italian salami and two types of well aged Swiss cheeses. They went down like mother's milk with Chilean wine... Oh, and we also have a proper set of wine glass in locker 9, yeah there is no way we will drink wine out of coffee mugs!...

The road was so rough that our dinner truck broke down. So the TDA staff went for plan B, they got the cooking equipment from it and brought them to camp on the Landcruiser. Now, that's what I call an "open kitchen"...

The dirt road was so bad that we used some of the small paths in the bush going more or less in the same direction as the "road"... It was a lot of fun and a much smoother ride, excpet for the fact that Jos and I got lost.. but let's not talk about that....

The last two days have taken us through some of the most scenic places I have ever riden through and all that on a small quiet dirt national road going straight into the heart of Tanzania... Unbelievable.....

      Sunflowers and baobabs, side by side, these have been the scenes of the last two days of riding.

The dirts road has been very hard to ride on with plenty of thick sand or lose rocks for the last 350 km, but it has blessed us with such amazing landscapes that we did not mind the physical challenge.

The last time, I held my bike up in the air like that was in front of the pyramids in Cairo, today we are passing the 6000 kilometers mark and I therefore choose this baobab to mark the physical half way point in this crazy race.

                       Endless undisturbed Tanzanian bush. We are so privileged to ride through this....

                  Not the easiest road surface to ride through, but plenty of fun for the mountain bikers

Make no mistake, even if these guys are posing for my camera and are dressed in western clothes, these are real bow hunters on their way to kill some small antilope for their lunch.

       Caroline, the TDA nurse giving a hand at the open bush kitchen in front of the amused local kids.

                             Can you still see my tent, it is behind the 50 new friends, I have just made...

I made the mistake to give 3 candies to 3 little boys who sat next to me while I was putting up my tent... He he... within minutes the word was out that a "Mzungu" was handing out candies... and this is the result....

                                                  Sunhil greasing his chain after this dusty stage

                 Frans and Tim assesing the damage on their mean machines after this very tough day

At TDA, one thing you learn quickly is to wash yourself on one 750 ml water bottle, here Tony even seems to enjoy it....

In Africa, the number one method of communication still is radio, especially in such remote areas. As you can see, these radios are not the most modern, neither are they in best shape, but they do the job...

Lynn about to put her tent up with a ready crowd of local facinated children who have probably never seen so many Mzungus in one load...

These kids are so cute, they are well behaved and took turns in looking at their own picture on my camera instead of pushing each other and fighting for grabbing it like in Ethiopia.

          In Africa when you make a self portrait, you can be sure there are a few kids joining in as well.

                 The cattle looks good here, you can see that there is plenty of delicious grass available

TDA riders recovering under the shade of an umbrella tree after one of the toughest stage of the tour. The dinner truck has broken down on the road. All our luggage and tents are in it, so patience is the best medicene, even if you are tired, smelly and sweaty...

Since we have crossed the eqautor, we have started this "brotherhood of locker 9". We have upgraded ourselves to VIP level and are now enjoying cigars, red wine, port, chocolate and even biltong after dinner....

After 4 hard days of riding over 450 km on dirt roads, we finaly reached the capital city of Tanzania..... DODOMA

                                                       School boys in their uniform

                                                                      Charcoal seller

Charcaol is big business here. The locals produce it in their backyard and sell it along the road in these giant bags

             Tanzanians are very friendly, they always greet us as we pass them on the road and smile plenty

                                     Sun flower is widely planted here for producing cooking oil

                        TDA rider passing on the dirt road with a typical Tanzanian early morning skyline

                      This region has plenty of wetlands adding to the beauty of the landscapes.

                                      A very enjoyable flat section before some more climbing...

                                             Gisi, the female tour leader is also 4 th overall

I am not sure if such a sign would be allowed anywhere in Europe but here at least the message is loud and clear.... (picture is from the street in Dodoma)