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| David : 1 June 2007 : C&S current location - Iringa, Tanzania The parcel has finally arrived ! Craig sent an SMS this morning. Lesson learned is when sending via Parcel Force make sure the service is GUARANTEED delivery. The spare wheel and camera were sent with a service that had expected delivery. In the small print this is a significant difference. So everything in future will need to go INTERNATIONAL DATAPOST which is tracked all the way and guaranteed delivery within a certain number of days. This parcel also had an oli change kit, so Craig can flush the Rohloff with new lube. Craig has sent through numerous blog updates so read the Kenya blog and this one (Tanzania) further down for his entries. |
| Craig : 29 May 2007 : Iringa, Tanzania ps. Oh, and I have malaria (have probably had for the past 4/5 weeks, which explains the constant nausia & dizziness, and periods of vomitting, stomach-pains, sweating, etc...at least I have an excuse for feeling rotten!) Got pills and started course last night... |
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Simon : 29 May 2007 : Bananas and peace If you do not hear from again, then do not think me lost. I simply will have found peace growing bananas in Tanzania. Rolling grasslands trimmed short by Masai herds, fields of maize burnt dry by the sun and which rustle in the wind as we pass, vast green and empty plains cradled by mountains far off, detail lost in the haze. These images absorb us as we cycle and I find myself thinking of staying forever. The road out of Nairobi demands no official toll, but I paid one none-the-less. One eye on the enormous potholes that will wreck a wheel, the other on the trucks that dare us constantly to challenge their space, we rode out of this city and south towards the Tanzanian border crossing at Namanga. We made it just 30km before a truck driver short on patience and road space connected with my bicycle, crushing the little cooking pot that hangs off the side and folding my rear wheel (imagine the shape of a Pringle crisp). Unable to turn the wheel we removed the worst of the buckle by placing the rim on a rock, taking turns to stand on it and truing it as best we could. Riding with the flick-flick of a back wheel directions other than just forwards, I thought myself twice lucky when I soon passed a man sitting under a tree with a wheel truing stand and a make-shift workshop. Relieved I sat watching him work, but as he fumbled I realised he had no idea what he was doing. Seeing our horrified faces as we picked up a wheel stripped of nipples and more buckled than before, he had the good sense to run as a crowd gathered. Craig took his spot on the rock used as a seat and replacing five spokes trued the wheel until it was good enough to ride, and that night we arranged for a replacement to be sent to us in Tanzania. If the main roads of a country are said to be its arteries, then the people we pass are surely a reflection of its soul. Tanzanians are among the friendliest, warmest people we have met and the beautiful roads we travel are made all the more happy for the endless toothy smiles, double-handed waves and greetings we receive. This seems to be a country at ease with itself and people always remind us that "this is a peaceful nation". For once though we passed few people as we rode through the deep Ruaha gorge soon after Makumi in the south. Here, steep climbs roll upwards through papaya trees and forest, but we descended again quickly until reaching the wide river that flows at the bottom. Normally a dull, muddy brown, that day it shone silver, reflecting the sun we rode towards. There is something refreshing about being hearing a river and we set a quick tempo to the sound of water over rock, passing by the steep sides of the gorge thick with giant baobabs, the silvery-grey and funny looking boughs all twisted as if the trees were growing upside down. Exiting the gorge we passed a small village built around the thick baobab trunks, washing strung from one, hut walls supported by another. Red onions are grown here and we see them lined up for sale by the roadside in multi-coloured buckets. Each region has a peculiar crop and as we have ridden south we have passed (and eaten) bananas in Mazinde, oranges in Segera, pineapples in Chalinze, coconuts near Morogoro and papaya in Mikumi. Every day made richer by the different tastes, textures and smells. We stopped for a break in one small town where we were surrounded by the hustle and chatter of the Saturday market: plastic sandals and flip flops piled high, rat traps and poison popular, underwear spread out on the grass, aluminium cooking pots, kitchen knives and leather belts. It is not possible to over-estimate the importance of bicycles in Africa. Such a humble tool, people and communities are heavily dependent on them and we see their use everywhere: produce transported directly from fields to market, the water carriers to-ing and fro-ing from town to the river with 150 litres on the back, children on their way to school, the transport of wood and coal for fuel, or fifty bikes parked together as people attend a village meeting. Everyday we share the road with these people and the valuable work that the charities we support (Re-Cycle and the Bicycle Empowerment Network) is all the more obvious. Sometimes we will ride between villages with five or six cyclists in tow and benefiting from our slip-stream, our bus made up of school children, a policeman and the water carriers. In Arusha (the technical half-way point between Cairo to Cape Town) we met Dan Will, a private investigator from California and entertaining character who treated us to a much appreciated breakfast at his hotel. Apart from sharing a huge enthusiasm for our journey and wanting to know everything about it, Dan was motivated by that simple philosophy of perpetuating kindness by returning a favour further down the line. He told us how when he was younger he too went cycle touring and was helped by a complete stranger. No doubt we will do the same. In Ethiopia they called us faranji, but in Kenya and Tanzania we are the mzungu. Mzungu means “white person” and is derived from the Kiswahili verb kuzunguka, which means to "wander around aimlessly, like a mad person." Understandably it was coined in the days of the early European explorers and men like Livingstone, who might be celebrated for his exploits in discovering the source of the Nile, but got badly lost in the process. As it is everywhere, nationality and identity are confusing concepts in Africa, and we are constantly frustrated with having to justify our South African nationality by that of our European genealogy. It is not enough to be South African, people want to place you according to the colonising country your ancestors belonged to. Of course this is even more complex for someone with dual nationality and there would be many interesting discussions were it not for the language barrier. The Kiswahili-English phrasebook we bought in a little book store in Moshi isn't much help, but it it does include modern essentials like "I want to watch a native dance" and "it declared that the principal means of production should be nationalised". I am not making this up. Our spare parts have yet to arrive and we have been urged by the lethargic Tanzanian postal service to take it "pole, pole" (slowly, slowly). Waiting now in Iringa, bottle of Tusker in hand, I must raise the volume on my Ipod to drown out the noise of the manic preacher who salivates hoarsely over his microphone a full block away. He may be ear splitting but he is popular and the town hall overflows. It is winter here but we would not know it were it not for people wrapped in thick coats and scarves - one man even wears a fur hat - myself with sleeves cut off my cycling top to stay cool. Craig was finally able to see a doctor and tests show he has malaria, most likely caught in northern Kenya. I took a test as a precaution - the process quick and efficient, completed within an hour - and fortunately it was negative. There is a serious government drive to raise awareness and we see billboards urging common sense preventative measures everywhere. Tomorrow we leave Iringa, about 500km still to ride until Malawi and the promise of swimming in crystal waters. |
| David : 26 May 2007 : C&S current location - approaching Iringa, Tanzania Having been practised in the art of wheelbuilding Craig skills are now extended to Simon's back wheel which is needing daily care. A spare awaits them Post Restante in Iringa. I've also ordered 6 spare Continental tyres including 2 back ones of 37mm width instead of 32mm in the hope this will hold out better. The next box of goodies has arrived from Wiggle and is ready to be dispatched when the tyres get here. Included are 2 Blackburn mirrors to mount on the end of the handlebars, 4 Continental tubes, some Chaf Ease, tyres as needed, a presta-to-schraeder adaptor to allow pumping at garages, locktite for spoke nipples, toestraps (no not for sign sprinting ! but to hold down Simon's water bags). Also look in the Ethiopia blog for some more back-updates from Craig. There are also some photos up in the gallery from Tanzania, including an officious halfway picture in Arusha. |
| Craig : 24 May 2007 : Mkata What a way to start the day...A huge argument over there being no breakfast (unless we pay more money!), threats from the lady of calling the police, requests from us to go ahead and please call them, stones thrown in our direction and a bottle of juice thrown back...and clearly NO breakfast! I felt really dodgy this morning and took an anti-nausia pill...feeling a bit dizzy and disorientated too...though the lack of breakfast, combined with increasingly humid conditions couldn't really be helping?! I'm beginning to think that I should've seen a doctor in Moshi after all...perhaps I can see one in Aringa instead? |
| Craig : 23 May 2007 : DO NOT STAY at "The Green Hill Lodge"!! We'd run out of daylight hours, having tried to maximise our distance, but hindered by a fair headwind...and realised we could not make it to the next town of "Korogwe". So we begrudgingly opted for a pricey-looking lodge called "Green Hill". Greeted by two lazily-spoken women, and offered a room at an exhorbitant price, it was not looking good! Fresh out of options, and only able to haggle to a point, we "bit the bullet" and agreed to cough up the cash. The room actually looked quite promising, but as we're often finding on our trip, "plumbing" doesn't necessarily equal "running water". Despite taps, shower-head and a "mizungu-style" flush-toilet; our water was brought to us in buckits! Feeling fresher after a shower, we headed down to the huge restaurant area for some dinner....and ended up watching the rats run across the floor, up the walls and into the ceiling space! The food was okay, though a bit on the small side, and was followed by the next shock: the bill...coming to a total that would have fed 8-10 people in any of the normal towns along our route! We argued, haggled and in the end paid much less than they were happy with, but still over the odds as far as we were concerned...unfortunately with a knock-on effect the next morning! |
| Craig : 22 May 2007 : Back on the road...to "Same" We had a huge breakfast this morning (well at least I did!...fruit, three bowls of porridge, four pieces of toast, a few cups of tea...Mmmm!), partly because I was so hungry, and partly because no-one else was going to eat all that porridge (so it couldn't go to waste now, could it!?) After a few photos for William's records and a few errands in town we set off...back on the road again after a wonderful rest! The landscape was beautiful and only improved as we turned southwards at "Himo", heading towards some distant mountains, dropping down through lush green vegetation with towering baobab trees appearing more and more regularly...the first we'd seen since Sudan in fact...so very exciting! Nearing our evening stop we pulled alongside some water-carriers, heading towards their filling-up point. They each had seven large plastic containers (20-25litres a piece) strapped to the rack on the back of their single-speed "Phoenix" bicycles; meaning that on their return run into town, they'd be carrying a load of some 160kg!! (I wondered to myself if "Tortec" would warranty a rack for that kind of work in our part of the world!?!) The landscape was starting to open out to our right now, with the rolling plains of the "Masai Steppe" leading off to a distant escarpment...perhaps one we would have to climb later? |
| Craig : 21 May 2007 :Still resting up in Moshi...and eating well! Simon & I were just about to head off to the internet-cafÁé in town when Jamaica managd to get through on the phone..so I sent him off and settled down to talk to my beloved...how I miss her so! Hearing Jam's voice is good, but also frustratingly far away! It's so difficult to really connect over phone-lines, losing out on the subtleties of body-language and eye-contact that enrich normal communications...not to mention the crackling of a long-distance line! |
| Craig : 19 May 2007 : R&R in Moshi Ice-cream! AND chocolate sauce! Now we're talking! I've just topped off a relaxing day in Moshi with a lovely home-cooked meal and the creamy-bliss of dessert! No sitting in post-offices, no fixing wheels, no new "best friends" wanting to talk about how to get into South Africa illegally for work...just some real "rest & relaxation!" Our ride through was an easy, mostly downhill, 79kms this morning, giving us time to check out our surroundings and get some photos printed for postcards too. Simon's wheel is looking quite good (if I may say so myself!?) after I gave it another going-over this morning. At this rate it should happily get us through to Aringa, where the replacement wheel will be waiting for us! The day had actually started off with an unexpected twist...we were about to take a tripod-ed photo of ourselves in front of a clock-tower that marks the exact haly-way point between Cairo & Cape Town (tackily now sponsored by "Coca-Cola"!) when "Dan Wills", a Californian private investigator with a keen interest in bicycle touring spotted us, took our photos and then invited us back to his hotel to share breakfast with him! Turns out, this was his way of continuing the hospitality that a farmer had once offered him 34-years ago, as he cycled 200miles to Yosemite National Park with a friend. I wonder who I will be buying a meal for in the future, as I carry on this tradition..? |
| David : 19 May 2007 : Current location - Moshi, Tanzania Craig and Simon are currently at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. Last night they were in Arusha and are in Moshi tonight for a few days. The Clock Tower in Arusha is said to mark the halfway point (from the British Empire days) between Cairo and Cape Town. Here after they head south-west for Iringa and the general direction of Malawi. I've sent a spare wheel via Parcel Force (Poste Restante to Iringa) to replace Simon's back wheel, more spokes for Craig's troubled back wheel, a repaired Ricoh digital camera for Craig (which went from Addis Abiba to Germany to London and back to Tanzania !), some Finish Line Kry-tech lube and 2 cycling caps for warm heads. No blog update yet, but as Craig now has an infra-red keyboard for his PDA, I expect a quick update when they get to the next iCafe. This should include the blog entries for Kenya. The pics for Kenya are already in the gallery. |
| Craig : 18 May 2007 : Rolling through to Arusha To our left, steep mountains rose from the aloe-plantations; to our right, steep-sided hills rolled by; and in front of us the road rolled on towards green hills, the faint shape of Kilimanjaro vaguely visible behind the ever-present clouds! There were amazing "cactus-trees" dotted about, and every now and then a river-bed carved a deep red scar through an otherwise very green landscape...beautiful! Everywhere we went people greeted us heartily, something we would come to expect of the peoples of Tanzania as we fell for the charm of this wonderful country! We stopped to try to help a man who's bicycle chain had broken, but without an additonal length had no way of re-fitting the chain, so I pushed him for a while...until my weak little arm started to complain bitterly! (How much upper-body strength do you really get from riding a bicycle?! Judging by my skeletal-state...not much!) "Arusha" is reminiscent of "Aswan" or "Luxor", filled wish hustlers and new "best-friends", but knowing that this was the centre of the northern-Tanzanian tourist industry was I really surprised? And anyway, tomorrow we'd be in leafy "Moshi" at the foot of Kilimanjaro, resting up and re-energising thanks to our kind hosts William and Eunice! |
| Craig : 17 May 2007 : Namanga, Tanzania! We started off our day with breakfast, served with the smiles that we'd already become accustomed to, here at the "Lemuya Lodge". We had maize-meal porridge (made very liquid and served in a flask!) with sweet-potatoes and then topped it off with "ugali" with hot milk & syrup! Next? Simon's wheel! Determined to sort it out...I began jumping on the wheel! (With the rim bent in a very localised area, the only way to get it back into shape is more of the same level of force that created the trouble in the first place! Trying to straighten it by tensioning the spokes only would result in such taught spokes that they'd just start snapping as soon as Simon rode out of town!) We actually managed to get it looking quite acceptable, but knowing it would only be a temporary solution we still organised for Dave to post through the spare rear-wheel that I had back at my flat in London. After a sluggish start to the day (averaging about 22km/h), a large lunch and tasty coffee in "Ilbissel" pepped me up no-end, and we set off at a "blistering pace", keen to make the border early enough to avoid any problems with closed offices this time! No need to worry it would seem as the border-crossing at Namanga turned out to be open 24-7! So we were able to sort out changing of money and call our hosts in Moshi, warning them of our iminent arrival! |
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thanks | website hosted by www.sa-cycling.com |
| charities www.BENbikes.org.za & www.Re-Cycle-East.org | see also www.konabiketown.com | |
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