Namanga - Malawi - 1260km 20 Days

Longido, Arusha, Makuyani, Babati, Kolo, Kondar, Dodoma, Mgazi, Iringa, Nyiolo, Chimala, Mbea, Malawi


It was tough to leave Kenya after having such a good time there but it was onto Tanzania which I thought would be similar to Kenya and it sort of was but it sort of wasn't.




I got to Longido after a bit of a wait at Customs. It was the Christmas rush of European  tourists trying to get into Tanzania from Kenya. They all fly into Nairobi then us down to the border and onto their destinations - usually Arousha or Moshi for Mt Killimanjaro.

My first meal in Tanzania. Rice, greens and some kind of offal meat with a cold beer.

 Local market at Longido.

There was a bit of a climb to get around the side of Mt Meru. I didn't get to see the top because of the clouds but it was very green and pretty. 

Mt Meru on a clear day.

Swahili is the language in Tanzania so it was back to picking random things off the menu again.
I made it to Arousha a few days before Christmas so I decided to visit the Ngorongoro Convsrvation Park and make it my Christmas present. Its the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic so some geology and animals for Christmas.

 

 Shopping and art near Ngorongoro Crater

The road to the crater with Anti-poaching signs.

I spent an evening at a campsite before going to the park the next day. During the evening I got talking to one of the locals and I asked about the trafficking in Ivory and where it all goes. After we established that no I didn't want to buy any ivory ($5000 US/kilo and I didn't want a lions foot or lions teeth either) he told me a story about where the Ivory goes and how it gets there. The story was that the Chinese presidents son visited Tanzania to purchase Ivory. He and his officials purchased all the ivory they could find which forced the price up to $11000 US/kilo. The ivory was loaded into diplomatic crates and put on a plane that was to go to China. The local customs officials usually receive bribes to allow the ivory to leave but because there was 10 tons loaded on the plane it was stopped from leaving.
This prompted a visit from the Chinese president to get his son and the ivory out of the country and a declaration of there being a special relationship between China and Tanzania.

The news reports pretty much confirm that something like this went on.

The reason that this kind of thing is allowed to happen is that China plays the major role in African development. If its a major infrastructure project happening in Africa its almost certain that a Chinese company or Chinese government corporation is involved. The Chinese are cheaper than everyone else, they will pay the bribes to get the contract and they will then provide the finance for the project.
Because of this more and more animal parts are being loaded onto planes bound for China. The people involved make a lot of money and the animals all over Africa continue to die at an alarming rate.

The visit to the Crater was great. I was more interested in the Crater itself than the wildlife having seen everything I wanted to see in Kenya. However it was good to see everything roaming free and it was a really special place to see.
 

 The view from the Crater lookout.

After the Christmas break it was back on the road South to Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania. Along the way I sneaked a photo of some Massai at a market.

Watching the football in Babati. Africans are obsessed with the English Premier League and they all support the axis of evil (Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City & United). Also on display is the hair style that I like to call "the African". Its basically a shaved head but everyone has it. Men, Women, boys and girls all proudly sport "The African"


I reached Babati I had a choice to make on the direction I would go. I could continue directly South and take what my GPS said was a bad road or I could follow the good road which was around 250km further. After talking with some of the locals I was assured that there was a section of bad road for 80km then it was good after that, so I took the bad road. It was a 250km stretch so I really hoped that the local were right.


 

 The first 50k was a little rough but not too bad really.

Over the next 160km it got a lot worse.

The scenery was great and once the road is finished it will be an incredible ride. Some hills, flats and lots to look at but its difficult to take in when you are concentrating on just staying on the bike

 
The campsite at Kolo.

Some friendly locals.

Everyone in Tanzania is incredibly polite. Each conversation starts with Hello, How are you?, I am fine, How are you, I am Fine. Only after this is done can you ask for something. 

Even the children were respectful. If I indicated for them not to approach me they stayed away until I had finished when I was doing then I would wave them over. 

 

Chips Myata (Chips & Egg). This was the main thing I ate in Tanzania. Cheap, tasty with carbs, protein and salt. The perfect bike food.

I spent New Year in Kondar. It was a nice town along the "bad road". I was hoping to update the blog there but there was no Internet so it was a few days eating chips, watching the football and relaxing.

 

I knew the Christmas/New Year period would be a difficult time. I was in a part of Tanzania where I was the only white guy in the village, I was very far from home and its the time of year when you meet with friends and family over the break and on top of that it didn't really feel like Christmas. I think I was a little homesick!

I have been though a similar kind of thing when doing triathlons - its a tough time of year to be training so I did expect that but you have to try and push through it. So after new year I set out to get to the end of the "bad road" and to Dodoma as fast as possible.

 

The first ride of the New Year was 160km to Dodoma. There was the final section of the bad road being 115km (8hours), then another 45k on sealed road into Dodoma. It was a 10 hour effort and a tough but good way to start the New Year. This is what I looked like afterwards - I arrived at 8pm and had to have several attempts at talking the picture because my hands were shaking so much.

  

There are many people on bikes in Tanzania. They all seem to enjoy a race so here is a local that has just past me very quickly. I passed him a sort time later. Their bikes only have 1 gear so its pretty easy to catch up.
 

I was biking up to a security check point like this and there was a group of monkeys on the side of the road. I slowed down and had a look and when I got to the checkpoint the security officer stopped me and asked if I would like to buy a monkey. I laughed and said i have no where to put a monkey and laughed. He was totally serious about selling me one.

 

Africans do carry things on their heads. Its everywhere and not easily done. Here a woman has a bag on the head and a baby on her back.

The 9000k mark.

So that's Tanzania done. It was not as tough as Ethiopia but more diff cult than Kenya. It was the little things like having to constantly ask for my change when buying something, attempts at over charging, and quite a bit more Muzungu (white person) harassment that lead to some confrontations. There was some stone throwing and a fair bit of dangerous driving that meant it wasn't great. Tanzania for me wasn't good, it wasn't bad it was OK. I did miss the very famous tourist parts of the country so maybe it was better there. I always had the feeling that they were not so welcoming and that you were just another tourist - true but not ideal. It a very beautiful place, incredibly green, lots of hills and plenty to see so well worth a visit.

Moyale - Longido 10 Days 705km

Moyale, Marsabit, Merille, Isiolo, Timau, Nanyuki, Sagana, Nairobi, Bissel & Longido

It was great to be out of Ethiopia but because of the recent attacks by Al Shabab (Mine & Bus killings) the Police in Moyale said that it would be best if I took a bus to Marsabit and set off from there. It was difficult to get a straight answer from them and I was a bit disappointed to be back on a bus again but I thought it best to follow their advice.

The ride was along a rough road and from what I saw out the window I didn't miss a lot by being on the bus. The most surprising thing was waking up after a nap to see a farmer sitting next to me with a G3 rifle.

Downtown Marsabit

The good news was that there was a football game on in Marsabit so I watched for a while then went for a cup of tea and to read a newspaper. After many months I was back in a country that spoke English and it was great. I could order from a menu, read signs, read a newspaper and communicate with the locals without any problems. The food was good, the tea excellent, the people friendly and I thought that I might really enjoy Kenya.

 

I had done some reading about the roads in Northern Kenya and it wasn't great. Up until recently the road from Moyale to Merille had been described by cyclists as the road from hell. Fortunately the Chinese are here building a new road and I had missed 250k of the road by taking the bus to Marsabit. There was however a 120k section that I had to negotiate and it wasn't great. Here the choice is the old road on the left, rutted and corrugated or the new road made with volcanic rocks, smoother but likely to shred the tyre's.

I chose the old road (the new road didn't always exist) which was a little bumpy. It made for a slow day - 8 hours to cover the 120k.

Along the way I was joined by one of the local children for lunch (Noodles and Banana) who was out with around 20 camels. It all went well until he started looking in my bags so I had to get him to move on.

Sections of the road were partially complete so at times it was great. Others not so.

Merille and the last section of the road from hell.

The journey from Marsabit to Merille was spectacular, not because of the road or the scenery but because of the Samburu people. The way they were dressed was incredible - it was like something of a national geographic show. I would see people on the roadside or in town in traditional dress and just be amazed at how they look. So there is the question of why there are no photos? I just didn't think it was right. These people are just going about their normal lives and are dressed like this because of who they are. I looked, starred even, but I never got the camera out. It however is something that I will never forget. 

There are plenty of photos of Samburu people on the internet.

There was one minor incident in the North where a youngster chased me down the road demanding money. After a hundred meters he got out his knife (maybe 40cm long) and started waving at me while running. I turned and chased him and he ran off. Kids, always causing trouble.

I was in a bit of a hurry to get to Timau to meet with a friend of my sisters. Flick and her husband Sam were going to give me a bed and a hot shower for a couple of nights and I had to get there before they left to go on holiday back to New Zealand. I was excited about a bed but mostly about the hot shower (it had been two weeks), so it was three big days from Marsabit and a long climb up the side of Mount Kenya to get to Timau.

I called Flick when I got to Timau and she said she would send someone to get me. I thought this was a bit odd as I though she would just come and pick me up. I had been waiting for a while and the locals I had been talking to seemed impressed when the Land Rover appeared. The bike was thrown in the back and I was on my way.

After a fifteen minute drive I was at a the gate to a park. I had no idea where I was, where I was going or what Borana was but it looked like I was going there.

Zebras on the drive to Borana

When I arrived I meet Flick and found out that Borana was a and eco-lodge and the area the park is in has some of Kenya's most prolific wildlife (second only to the world famous Masai Mara) as well as the highest populations of endangered species in the country.

My sister (Jenny) had told me nothing other that I would have a place to stay and a shower so this turned out to be the best Christmas present ever. I had a small cottage to sleep in and took a very long, very hot shower, sat on a couch and watched the cricket with a cold beer (NZ v Pakistan). It had been months since I had been able to do any of this so it really was Christmas!

The following morning I was woken by this tapping on the Window. I have no idea what it wanted. So it was an early start and horse riding while looking at Giraffe and various other animals.

In the afternoon there I was to meet Sam as he organised to drop off the park rangers to look after the Rhino. Along the way there were lions in the grass so I looked at them for a while then directly behind them a herd of Elephants appeared for a drink. Both times the animals were no more than 30m away. It was amazing.

Eventually I made it to Sam and we left to drop off the heavily armed and Park Rangers. The Rhino in the park are monitored/watched day and night by Park Rangers to ensure their safety. A rhino horn fetches U.S. $1 Million in China so there is a lot of work in ensuring that they are kept safe. Dropping the Rangers near the Rhino also meant I got to see a Rhino going about its business, in this case it was standing in some bushes.

I left Borana Lodge after an amazing day. I had seen 4 of the big 5 of African animals in an hour (no Leopard), slept in a bed, had a hot shower, eaten toast and NZ made Marmite, sorted a route through Southern Africa and had a great time with Flick and Sam. I cant thank Flick and Sam enough for their hospitality - it really was once in a life time stuff. Thanks to you too Jenny for organising it.

Food options in Nanyuki


So it was onto Nanyuki some minor repairs to my Chinese rear wheel. The barring was loose and getting worse and one of the staff at Borana had told me to get in touch with (cant find his name on the internet)

He represented Kenya the at the Glasgow Commonwealth games so I was sure he would do a good job. Here he is outside his workshop in Nanyuki having fixed the wheel and cleaned the bike. It looked brand new again!

The 8000k mark at the Equator, Naynuki. I nearly rode past the sign without noticing.

Vegetable stall at the Equator

Downtown Nairobi


From Nanyuki it it was a short ride to Nairobi. It was the cleanest and most organised African city I have been to and I enjoyed a couple of days off there. I got out and about during the day and did see The Hobbit at a iMax 3d cinema. It was however not that safe at night so I didn't venture out. Its sometimes referred to as is Nairobbery so I just stayed by the fire in the hostel and made use of their excellent internet.

As I made my way South the Maasai people became more prominent and again I was in awe of their dress. This is the town of Bissel where I stayed the evening. I went for a beer in the large green bar here and as I walked in and the place was full of Maasai. I sat down, wrote up my notes for the day then looked around the the people. It was a really great end to my time in Kenya.


The Lonley Planet guide book says that "Kenya is the Africa you have always dreamed of" and I think it absolutely was. The scenery, the hills, the roads, the people, the food and the traditions meant that it was a fantastic experience and easily my best time in Africa so far.