TANZANIA HERE WE COME

Tanzania is a beautiful country. It doesn't take long to understand the magic of African bush complimented by two giant volcanoes facing each other. I am referring to Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru. These two mountains give Northern Tanzania an extra dimension to the beauty of its nature. The roads we took today to reach Arusha took us through perfect African scenery's, the ones you have seen in the famous "Out of Africa" movie. It was intense, the trees were perfectly shaped, the bush looked healthy and green, hundreds of colourful butterflies kept on crossing the road in front of us and plenty of birds were calling exotic songs as we scrolled down heading south. I was so enchanted by this that I decided to slow down and ride alone for a while, just listening at the sounds of Africa and enjoying the scents of the bush.


At kilometer 40, I rejoined with Jos and Peter from South Africa and it was a lucky move. I had my first big problem on the bike. My back tyre got a flat, so I stopped to fix it. As Jobs offered to pump extra air in my front tyre while I was replacing the back one, the front tyre tube valve broke. The tube inside my back tyre was also completely out of order and I realised that it had the same problem, the valve was busy braking. The 5500 km had beaten the tubes so badly that they both needed to be replaced.. I always carry two spare tubes with me, unfortunately one of them proved to be also destroyed by the vibrations inside the saddle bag. It had holes all over it. So now I was standing with 1 tube and 2 wheels to be fixed. Jos is using different size valves, which meant that his spare tube could not help. So Peter was the one who made my day since he is riding the same size wheel and valve as me. We were not out of the woods yet as my pump suddenly decided that it would not cooperate and Peter"s pump only puffed sand... At that point, Jen one of our female riders passed by and lent me her pump so we could get going...

The incident had taken almost an hour to sort out and now we were suddenly right at the back of the race. Chriss, our bike mechanic was doing the sweep today and appeared just as I was putting back the second wheel on the bike. We pushed hard all the way to lunch catching the last few riders that had passed us while we were fixing the tyres. There was a nice climb after lunch as we had to scroll along Mount Meru foothills to get to Arusha. This took us back to an altitude of 1800 meters before we plunged back into the savanna surrounding Arusha.

It was a long straight downhill where we almost lost Jos again.... At one point the dirt road split into two and Jos made the wrong call, he choose the right hand road which had an enormous hole filled with fine clay dust. As he hit this he flew over his handle bar and went straight into this giant hole, head first. I was right behind Jos when that happened and had managed somehow to anticipate the situation, so all I saw was Jos going over his handle bar and disappearing into a big cloud of dust, before he reappeared standing up, completely black. It was a miracle as he stood up unhurt and covered with this fine clay dust. A group of local girls passed by walking along the road and exploded in laughter when they saw Jos face, so did Peter and I.

Arusha is a relatively well developed town and you can immediately see the benefit of income from tourism here. It is a major hub for safaris and for climbing Kilimanjaro.The town has a modern feeling to it especially when you arrive from the dirt road like we did. Traffic lights, some nice looking vitrines and hotels do contrast with the African style shops made of corrugated sheets. At night, it is not very safe apparently and we were advised to use taxis to move around. Our camp is the Masai camp, a well known spot here in Arusha, but I joined Jos to the New Arusha hotel since a bit of luxury will do us good. We have the longest brake of the tour, 3 days, so I am going to visit the world famous Ngorongoro crater situated 160 km from here.
The first thing we did in our dirty cycling shorts on arrival at the very stylish New Arusha hotel was to order a huge hamburger with extra chips. At least we have our priorities right here, first the stomach, then the shower...

                                                    Jos after his fall head first into the dust

                                                             Home made wheelbarrow

                                      Coke stop during the climb of the foothills of Mt Meru

                                   Here too, road constructions going on to pave this section.
                                   For us it means dust and heavy vehicles.
                           
                          This section was supposed to be dirt but it has been paved since last year.

                                                                   Meeting the locals

                                  This guy on his single speed bicycle was hard to follow uphill....

                                   Beautiful Tanzania.What a privilege to ride in such countryside

                                        TDA crossing the border between Kenya and Tanzania.

                                Ruben enjoying the Italian salami, Swiss cheese and Chilean wine

                              The luxury Swiss Italian dinner organised by Maria Pia and Gabriele

BYE BYE KENYA...

Another green dash on the board, and that is next to "Kenya" this time. The 160 km long stage today took us right to the Tanzanian border. Departing Nairobi on Sunday morning early was good idea. It spared us the danger of riding in the mad Nairobi traffic and within an hour we were out of the city boundaries on a small "tarred" road heading south towards the Tanzanian border. Tarred, is a bit of a over statement as the surface of the pot holes was definitely beating the surface of what was left of tar... Anyway after km 50, we turned into another road and things got better for while until we hit the section they were rebuilding. That is where the day's unexpected challenge hit us. There was a choice to go right onto a dirt road that browsed along the road work or to keep on straight and make our way between the heavy machines. Being Sunday, the roadworks looked almost stopped, so most riders went straight through and did not use the side road. Mistake... Many paid a heavy price for this... They had just poured fresh liquid tar on that section and within seconds the riders who had chosen this way got splashed with warm liquid tar, all over their bikes and themselves. Some even fell in it.... At camp later, it took them hours to wipe that tar of their bikes.

Kenya gets the full marks as far as I am concerned. I enjoyed this country and was impressed by the level of education everywhere. I was also impressed by the way they have embraced Internet and cell phones. Both are available everywhere with different operator competing and at very reasonable prices. A healthy sign for the future. I have never seen as many schools as here in Kenya. They seem to have bet on the future generation through education and I can tell you that the difference between here and Ethiopia or Sudan is obvious. Kenyans I have met were mostly friendly and educated, they were all interested about our journey and I felt a lot closer to them than any of the other nations we have met so far.

I am now looking forward to discover Tanzania where we are going to spend 15 days crossing it diagonally. Tomorrow we will reach Arusha where the TDA takes its official mid way break, a full 3 days off the bikes! Yeah!!!

                                                         Dan cleaning his bike full of tar

                                                                          Termite nest

                                          Amazing indigenous trees fashion the landscape

                                                                The bark of that tree

                              The landscape we crossed today were magnificent. Untamed Africa....

                                                       Church in the middle of the bush

                                           Dana was also one of the riders who got "tarred"

                         Josh, Gabriel, Jim and myself on a dirt portion of today's 160 km long stage.

                                      Eric did not only liter his bike with tar, he also fell in it...

FIRST DONATION OF THE BIKES

Nairobi started with a surprise, a big surprise, a great surprise. One of those that cheers you, big time.... As I was pushing through the last hundred meters of the final day of stage 3 and was entering camp, I saw a guy standing on the road holding a video camera. He looked familiar and when I got closer, I could not believe it! Gerard, my uncle was here waiting for me at the finish line.... What a great surprise! He had flown all the way from Paris to surprise me in Nairobi! Now that's what I call dedication! Gerard had also organised a nice guest house for us in a quiet suburb of Nairobi where I could rest properly and enjoy some quiet moments. We had so much to talk about that we didn't even know where to start. Gerard had been in Nairobi for a few days already and had used Jana to find out where the TDA camp was. Now I understood better this mysterious French man who wanted to meet me and had asked for the arrival details... Gerard also brought from France a full bag of chocolate and energy bars, some energy drink powder and a cycling shirt signed by family and friends with support messages written all over... 2 months into this trip you can imagine that having a family member surprising you in such a way is more than a joy, it felt so nice.


Up to now, I have been focussing on the day when I will see Jaana, my wife, next and that is at the end of month 3 at the Victoria falls, so this is a nice emotional bridge to April 15 when Jaana and I will rejoin. We have been happily married for 23 years soon and this is our longest ever time apart. I am very proud of the way Jaana has not only supported me in this trip but also participated every day in doing the blogs updates. I just send her the emails with the text and pictures, she does the blog updates and layout. It is a perfect team work, it has allowed us to be so efficient since it would be very difficult to update the blog directly from Africa with slow connections, but by proceeding this way, Jaana can benefit from our home super fast Internet once she has received the emails. So don't forget to compliment her as well, she has played a crucial role in keeping this blog interesting and updated regularly.

So today was our first bike donation day, and what a day it was! We gave out 60 bicycles to organizations scattered all around Kenya. The bikes are going to be delivered to these people by various means of transport, small trucks and even bush taxis. Some representatives of the organisations benefiting from the donations were present and it was very moving to hear them telling us in simple words what an impact these bicycles have had on their communities. These donations have become an integrated part of TDA and by now, they have achieved amazing results already.

One woman stood up in front of the TDA group and with a very shy voice told us how the 3 bikes they got last year had helped her community of HIV infected women to raise money. They use these 3 bikes to carry milk and vegetables that they grow to the nearest city where they sell their products. With this small income, they are able to look after themselves and their children. These women are rejected from society as is unfortunately often the case in Africa once their HIV status is made public and have no source of income or support from nowhere. They have decided to get together and fight back by becoming a small independent farming unit. But for that you need transport... and that is where our bike donation is so efficient. Last year 3 bikes have helped these women to survive and to look forward for another day. This year they will be getting 3 more bikes and will be able to grow their deliveries and maybe start improving their living conditions further. So guys, as I have repeatedly said before, this is the most efficient way to help, each one of you who have contributed to my fund raising initiative can be proud tonight. We really hit it on the spot with these bicycles.

A group of Masai women and children was also there to thank us and to entertain us as well. Many Masai people are also in need of assistance and in the southern parts of Kenya, these tribes are sometimes living in so remote areas that the only way to deliver any kind of medical support is with a bicycle. So the lady representative of the Masai explained how the TDA bikes had helped delivering health care and HIV information to such areas. She also thanked us the TDA participants to cross Kenya on our own bicycles and by doing so, changing the mentalities of people who tend to see bikes as the "vehicle of the poor".

The children sung and danced for us. I am always amazed at the natural ability of African people to dance in the most gracious way. It just flows and when you look at them, it feels so natural, so beautiful. Africa might be the poorest continent, but watching these beautiful children confirmed that it is definitely the richest in talent...

                                                 Gerard and me with the Masai women

                                 The Masais pierce their ears at an early age and enlarge the hole
                                 to fit all these decorations , men do it as well.

                             Gerard showing the pictures he just took to the delighted Masai woman.

                               Me symbolically handing one bike to the representatives of this
                               Masai tribe. The bikes will actually be delivered by truck in remote
                               areas of Southern Kenya to them later that afternoon.

                             This Masai woman leader came all the way from a remote area
                             of southern Kenya with 5 others to explain the impact that our
                             bike donations have had within their communities and to thank us
                             personally for that.

                     This lady brought some pictures to show us how her small community of HIV
                     affected women (herself included) were benefiting from the bicycles and how
                     they are using them to raise cash and fund schooling for their children.
                                                

                                                   Masai children performing a dance for us

                       We are giving away 60 bicycles here in Nairobi today. There will be a total of
                       over 350 bicycles given away this year as we make opur way to Cape Town.
                       I contributed to almost a third of that thanks to your support dear friends and
                       family! We can all be proud of that!

                        There are different models of bikes depending on the usage they are meant for.
                        Some bikes have a frame in front for inserting a rack, this will be for the
                        purpose of delivering medecines in remote areas for example, whilst others are
                        meant to transport people and have a strong rack at the back.

                                 This girl was the cutest of the group and very photogenic as well

                                             Young girls singing a Masai song while dancing.

                            The Masai children performing a dance in front of the TDA participants.

WHAT A SUPPRISE!!!!

Tonight the text will be sweet and short, very sweet. Gerald got a huge supprise this afternoon at the arrival of they camping site, his uncle Gerard from France game to visit him. Sacré Tonton!!! I knew about it and I had to find out where they will arrive this afternoon, so thanks to TDA organizers, I got the address from them and then I told Gerald that somebody from Alliance Francais Nairobi would like to come and meet him, so that's how I got the arrival time to the camp. He is so happy tonight to see a family face and on the t-Shirt that he is wearing are messages for him. His sister wrote all our messages on it. Thank you Nadège for that...

They have been enjoying a nice meal together and few beers. Tomorrow will be a rest day, but the first bike donation will be in the morning at the camping area. I think we all are looking forward for that.

CROSSING THE EQUATOR

Welcome to the southern hemisphere part of this trip! As planed, we crossed the equator at 7h45 this morning. The small rusted sign that marks the place is a bit disappointing, but so what, we crossed the equator riding our bikes since Cairo and that is legendary. This sign has been there for quite a few years and would probably need an upgrade at some stage... Just a little hint to the Kenyan government, especially when you see that every single tourist that passes by stops there for a photo... Many of us are equipped with GPS and we all could see on our maps that the sign is actually on the wrong place, it is a few hundred meters too much south... Our GPS are by far much more accurate than the the one they used when placing that sign... So, here is another hint to the Kenyan government...

The 105 km stage would have been a nice one if it wasn't for my prostate troubles. I unfortunately had to ride this whole stage standing on by bicycle as I could not really sit on my saddle. Riding a bicycle in such a way is highly inefficient and much slower. I made it last to camp tonight, but at least I made it and preserved my EFI. Not a nice day. Everything you do differently on the bike has its consequences. Riding such a long distance standing hurts the knees and I can feel it tonight. Having 6500 km left to ride, it is not a good idea to damage the knees.

We crossed very fertile lands today. It was beautiful, hilly, green, lush and just about every kind of fruit or vegetable grows here. We passed mango trees, avocado trees, paw paw plantation, banana plantations, rice plantations, maize, coffee, beans, roses, you name it, they grow it here. The soil seems very fertile, the temperature here is just perfect and there is no shortage of water. The traffic on the road also picked up tremendously as we approach Nairobi. It made some part of the riding unpleasant as some minibuses kept on flying by us without making any effort of leaving an extra space between us and them. At one stage, one of those minibuses almost hit me, so close he was, just because he wanted to pick up a passenger 50 meters ahead of me. I got so upset that I stopped next to him as he was busy boarding that passenger. I told him in very rude English what I thought of his driving skills. Mistake.... Big mistake... Mini bus drivers are notoriously aggressive and stupid, so imagine now, me a white guy tuning one of them in his own country... As I finished telling him what an ars hole he was, he pulled a big metal pipe out of his door and screamed at me "I kill you!"... This was the end of my 30 seconds of glory... I came back to some sense of survival as fast as I had lost it by going after this guy, jumped on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could. He chased me with his taxi and tried to hit me, but I was expecting that so I jumped into the ditch next to the road as he came at full speed from behind me. Another great reason to have a mountain bike. The incident raised my adrenaline levels to such a point that I picked up speed for the next 20 kilometers. I still made it to camp last as my technique of riding standing gave me no chance to keep up even with the slower riders. Actually the real slow riders are not even riding today..Some have gone straight to Nairobi. Using private transports while others got some lifts to camp from local people.

Camp tonight is a proper camp site, the best we have had so far, it even has a swimming pool and is standing next to a river where you can practise white river rafting.
Tomorrow is the long ride to Nairobi, long because it is complicated. There is a convoy half way through the ride and we also avoid the city by going around it to get to the Indaba camp site which is situated in the Karen area. This means we will ride 135 km to get there, despite the fact that Nairobi is only 95 km away...

                        Our best and most beautiful camp so far along a river, 100 km north of Nairobi.
                          
                                                      Signage along the road for ball pens

                                      I had to take a picture of this signage for our Finnish friends.
                                     Abloy is a Finnish company producing some of the best locks
                                     in the world known as far as remote villages in Kenya as you can see...

                                Everything grows here in these warm climate blessed with rich soils.
                                Here are some mango trees as well as avocado trees in the back.

                                                                         Paw paw tree

                               Cane chairs manufacturers along the road. The guy on the bicycle is
                               busy delivering the raw material, freshly cut cane.

                               7h45 a.m. on March 11, a great moment as I step into the southern
                                hemisphere. Cape Town is all downhill from here...

                            The entire TDA group stands together at the equator for the group photo.