CYCLE AFRICA 2012 : Across the line

Apocalyptic storms, head winds, hot days and a tropical ending

“Well, you see, there’s a catch….we all have bikes”……”hmmm” says Diana, our charming hostess organizing a small charter plane from Moshi to the tropical island of Zanzibar….turns out there was an option “D” to finish the trip after all! More of that later….

A full rest day in the small town of Nzega, somewhere in the middle of Western Tanzania seemed to be enough for Ben to regain some energy and transfer his mystery illness to me to carry for the following week (not happy!) and we were off again. Back out into the blazing sun, wide open plains and brutal headwinds of the moonscape that is Tanzania. Gareth’s motto from the beginning of the trip was “smiles, not miles”, but with the land as barren as it was and little to perk our interest, this turned on its head and became “miles and hopefully smiles”.

Resting - and sweating - somewhere in Western Tanz

Moshi, a small town at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro was our goal for this stint – 6 days and about 650km of pretty tough riding ahead, after which we would all make our decision on how to finish. No more grinding hills like Uganda, just plenty of flat road. However, we quickly realized that we’d been heading West and South the whole trip and subsequently were completely oblivious to the winds originating from the East of this great continent. So although the terrain was flat and the roads mostly sealed, this stretch of riding was punctuated with grueling headwinds. Cycling hard and sweating in the midday heat on flat roads, only to look down and realize you were clocking a measly 15km/hr, can be pretty demoralising. However we pushed on.

One particular day, as the afternoon rolled on, we were greeted with what we dubbed the “Apocalyptic storm”. Dark clouds rolling in from every direction whipping up dust storms and rain showers as they passed. With no shelter around, we had no option but to pedal on – on and on, until we got to some type of civilization where we could find a camp, some food, water and respite. Probably the longest afternoon of our trip as we all pedaled hard, head down to block to wind and dispelling thoughts of “why are we doing this again…”.

The storm awaits us

As seems to be the way with us however, there is always a silver lining. This one came in the form of meeting a few guys from Slovakia – in a dusty old town in no mans land. Being the only other white people we had spotted in days, we instinctively struck up a conversation over a cold drink. Turns out they were living in a converted house with a few other guys and gals and were working on projects involving building churches, setting up medical offices and teaching kindergarten students. An admirable effort by this small group of lovely people, who were really making a difference in the lives of the local townsfolk. After a hard day’s cycle, it was very rewarding to be invited in for dinner, a few cold beers and some good chat – as well as tea and breakfast the following morning – which really got our spirits up to start the following day.

Lovely and generous new friends

Next stop – Decision town! If you recall from the last post, this is where we needed to make a decision as to continue due East, head up north or a combination of both. After much deliberation, we all (for now), decided to stick together and head North towards Mt Kilimanjaro. Ben and Gareth would finish there, at the town of Moshi and continue to Zanzibar, a small island off the coast, via bus to complete their trip. At this stage, Tim and I were content with putting the extra kilometers in and joining the boys for the journey.

So off we went, into the barren lands towards Kili, riding well over 100km a day in fairly tough conditions. Suffice to say, that adrenaline alone got us through the last few days, particularly on te days where there were more than 70km between villages with food and water! Always a morale boost is having some entertaining and rewarding dealings with locals – like stopping at a roadside swimming hole to cool off one day, with Ben entertaining the kids by doing flying air guitars off the cliff. As we cooled off in the disturbingly dark and muddy water, we realized we had quite the crowd of locals gathering around, all interested and confused as to what a few Mzungus were doing out in the middle of nowhere, on bikes and then swimming in their local dam. I think the flashes of bare white skin and the occasional arse as we swam got quite a few giggles from them also!

Camp stop in the desert

Local swimming hole

Swimming hole

A few more days in and we rolled into the quaint, albeit touristy town of Moshi. Set at the base of the imposing Kilimanjaro, this would be the end point for Ben and Gareth and after a rest day, Tim and I would carry on…..or so we planned. As mentioned earlier, Diana, our lovely flight organizer, would change our plans somewhat. Sitting and drinking coffee, Ben and I noticed a “coastal aviation” sign next door. Stepping in to enquire about a flight to Zanzibar (rather than a 10 hour bus and 4 hour ferry), pretty soon we’d talked Diana down $100 and convinced her that our bikes would of course be small enough to fit into a 12 seater plane, with 4 other people and a bunch of luggage.

Gareth and "Kili"

So, as often happens when you’re on the road, plans changed again. One minute Gareth and Ben are on the bus and I’m riding and the next, all 3 of us have plane tickets for the following afternoon to go straight to Zanzibar, bikes and all. Tim, on the other hand, fancied the extra km’s and opted to continue to Dar Es Salaam under his own steam.

So after some crafty negotiating and shoehorning of bikes into the tiny luggage hold, we were airborne for a few hours of scenic flying over the Pare mountains, deserts and plains of Tanzania and onto Zanzibar, a beautiful archipelago sitting in the Indian ocean. While still part of Tanzania, the whole vibe changes dramatically once in Zanzibar. Being a Muslim area of Tanzania, customs, attitudes and indeed architecture changed dramatically the moment we disembarked. It was a lovely and refreshing change. Beans and rice gave way to street food markets of skewered fresh fish, falafel and other treats while the dusty towns that we had come to known were suddenly replaced with cobblestone, maze like streets in the main city of Stone town. The next few days were “full” of relaxing on a northern beach, reading, sleeping, writing, playing cards and of course drinking the occasional rum as we completely wound down from our East Africa cycling adventures.

Our flight to Zanzibar

In bound

How to fit 3 bikes in a small plane 101....

Ben enjoying the relaxing

Unfortunately however, all good things come to an end and we are currently back in Dar Es Salaam, packing up our bikes and getting ready for our 20 hour journey back to Melbourne for Christmas. Although we are definitely ready to be home, catching up with family, friends and some decent food, there is certainly a bitter sweet tone in the air. We have had an amazing few months cycling around a truly unique and beautiful part of the world and a big part of me wants to just turn South and keep going down to South Africa. However, that will have to wait for now.

The trip has been full of challenges and of course has paid us back handsomely with unique experiences we have been lucky enough to experience. Over 3,000km of pedaling which seemed so far, but went so quick!

All done!

I hope you enjoyed reading our stories as much as we enjoyed writing them. Safe and Merry Christmas to all.

Until next time…..

NB: for the nerds out there, below are some “trip statistics” from our journey;

Totals
Distance (km)	2,971.05
Time (hr:min)	164:45
Riding Days	36
Av Daily Km	82.53
Av Daily Time	4hr 34m
Av Daily km/hr	18.03
Rest Days	13
Nights in Tent	38
Nights in Bed	11
Flat tyres	8