Windhoek, Namibia - 26 April

Monday 21 April to Friday 25 April - We're back on the bicycles for five riding days from Maun, Botswana, to Windhoek, Namibia - about 840 km. Wednesday was the longest - 207 km. Rae got a lift on the lunch truck for about 50 km that day, but Ursula was amazing, remained strong, and did the whole thing.

The route is along the north edge of the Kalahari Desert. It is flat, not many bends in the road. The soil is mostly sand, but there's enough moisture to support small trees and grass. There is some agriculture here and there and grazing for cattle. The scenery is beautiful, but it doesn't change very fast.

The biggest trees were on Monday.


The biggest cow on Tuesday.

A big curve on Wednesday.

No curve on Thursday.

At last, a feature on the horizon on Friday.



Little things broke the monotony... like this warning sign for warthogs (we didn't see any)...



...or these things that somebody said were armoured crickets. The body is about 2 inches long; we saw them on the road all week either engaged in combat with each other or - they must be cannibalistic - consuming the remains of their own.



Soaring raptors were far prettier.



There was only one turn all week and we didn't want to miss it... seems that some of our number have left messages for others.



Most days we were on the road at dawn which gave us some nice shadows and early morning light.



Long days, sparsely settled, few coke stops, so we rest at roadside.



Eventually, in the last 40 km entering Windhoek, we get into very attractive hillside scenery.

This blog has previously mentioned the physical exhaustion and mental fatigue that come with riding the bike for 6 to 8 hours day after day. There are other stresses including insect bites and ordinary cuts and scrapes that don't behave the way we'd expect in normal life in Canada. As early as in Ethiopia, several people had scrapes that didn't heal quickly and in some cases resulted in infection that didn't want to go away.

Coming out of the Okavango, both of us had bites - not sure what from - that got infected. Ursula's appeared to be several bites on her ankle, accompanied by swelling of the foot and pain in lymph nodes.

Rae's was on the hand. That tiny blister on Sunday evening grew to three times its size (in the inset) overnight and broke open. By evening, the hand was swollen.

Both of us have responded okay to antibiotic - we're probably lucky we're in the drier climate of Namibia as that seems to help the healing. We both had bites back in the middle of March in Tanzania that have only dried up after leaving the wet and humid conditions in Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia. We usually heal much faster than that.

One of our fellow riders has managed to get the larva of some worm that is usually resident in cats or dogs into her foot. It moves around beneath the skin and is excrutiating itchy. Apparently it will die off by itself when it discovers that it can't survive in humans, but she got medication to speed up the process.

There are many theories around the group about whether people's immune systems are low from the constant physical effort or whether the bugs and bites that we get in Africa are more severe, or a combination of factors. It's a good thing we have a doctor and nurse on the TdA staff - we have all been helped by them.

Weather can be another surprising factor for us. It may be hard to see in this photo, but that's frost on the tent. We woke up Wednesday morning to ice instead of condensation on the underside of the fly... and, yes, we're still in the tropics. Skies were completely clear all week - hot in the daytime sun, cold during the night.



The highlight of last week was surely Ursula's birthday on Thursday. Here she enjoys the warmth of a fire at the campsite with Basil on the left providing the musical interlude, Henk and Luisa and Eugene on the right.



We had enjoyed a little red wine with dinner, and we had some birthday cake. In fact, we got cake enough to feed everybody on the Tour - cake and sweets are not part of the normal menu. But it's hard to carry cakes on a bicycle, so it wouldn't have happened without the effort of Randy, the deputy Tour Director, who did the shopping for us. He scoured the little town between lunch and camp and bought all three cakes in the town. Thanks Randy.



As well as the nice campfire on a cool night, Thursday's campsite had some unique architecture in the facilities - such as this heart-shaped bathtub built of stone that was part of the outdoor washroom - a far cry from some of the... let's say 'basic'... loos earlier in this adventure.

Saturday and Sunday... rest days in Windhoek... culture shock... downtown has multi-story buildings, shops like we left behind when we left Canada almost four months ago... they take credit cards.

Windhoek is the capital of Namibia which gained its independence less than 20 years ago. The Tintenpalast built in 1913 houses the parliament.

Nearby is the Christus Kirche that dates back to 1910. Behind it is the 1892 Alte Fest that served colonial German troops until after World War I. The Alte Fest now serves as a national museum with a wing devoted to the resistance to the German colonial power and the later struggle for independence.



Beside the fort is a monument to German soldiers and sailors who lost their lives putting down resistance in the early 1900s. This colourful lizard is resident in the monument.



We had a more formal birthday dinner for Ursula, here with Louisa (Henk was taking the picture) and Rae - can you guess why we're in Windhoek... hint... t-shirts.

We finishing with some handmade Namibian chocolates and expressos, luxuries that we had almost forgotten existed.

Next week we head south. By Monday night, we'll be out of the tropics. Next Sunday will be our last rest day, immediately before crossing into South Africa and the final week of the Tour d'Afrique.

The Okavango Delta

Wednesday night we camped at the Delta Rain campsight from where we'd leave for the Delta.

Thought you like to see how the facilities work - the building in the background is the toilets and showers. Hot water around the clock from the wood-burning boiler in the foreground. Someone adds wood around the clock. The water tank is up at the top left. And the showers were wonderfully hot and clean.

An hour-and-a-half drive takes us to the mokoro launch point. The mokoro was traditionally a boat carved out of the trunk of a sausage tree - indeed ours was one of these. There are now fibreglass mokoros also.

All we had to do was to sit back and enjoy the ride while our guide, 'Shoes' (because he plays soccer), propels the boat with his pole.

We went for a bit over an hour with most of the scenery being grass...

...plus water lilies...

...and this little frog - it's about the size of your thumb.

We camped on a small island - got there before lunch and then relaxed during the heat of the day before going on a late afternoon walk on a nearby larger island.

The major sighting was a pair of spotted hyena.

A beautiful sunset - we've come to expect that every night...

...and we returned to the campsite.

Early morning we went out for a longer walk...

...seeing woodland cranes...

...and storks.

These giraffes are observing us as carefully as were are them. They tend not to want us too close.

Later, a number of Zebra and two Wildebeast galloped towards us...

...then galloped off in another direction.

On the way back to camp, we saw this brown snake eagle.

During the day, we had a swim in one of the channels, but generally relaxed again during the heat of the day. The evening excursion was work only for our guides who poled us around to a hippopotamus hole where again one keeps a respectful distance and so do they.

The next morning, before packing up, we had a short walk mainly in search of birds.

Then it was back to the landing point. As we departed the area on our overland vehicle, the local folk, all of whom had been out with one group or another, were walking back to their village.

Returning to Maun, we drove past a cemetary. Gravestones were shaded from the hot sun.

We'll be back on the bicycles with the Tour after the rest day in Maun on Sunday. Next week is five days of riding to Windhoek, Namibia.

Mack Air - a Gem of an Airline

Maun is the jumping-off spot for the Okavango Delta. Our flight was on a Cessna Caravan operated by Mack Air (the photo is from the company notice-board), a Maun-based carrier that operates about a dozen airplanes, the Caravan being the largest.



I have to comment on Mack Air. These days, there are all sorts of concerns for the safety record of African airlines, small air-taxi operators, and Cessna Caravans (icing problems). The fact is that on balance, no other mode of transport can match aviation for safety. In recent years, safety management has become the focus as we try to eliminate the hazards that continue to show up as causes of accidents. Company safety culture is looked at as part of the regular oversight by Transport Canada inspectors during audits, and it is examined in the event of an investigation into a mishap. The trick is to try to get everbody even remotely connected to aircraft operations in a company to embrace safety concepts in his or her everyday way of working. A good safety culture usually reflects well on management style, employee commitment and competence, and on overall operational efficiency and safety.

Enough of the lecture. Mack Air seemed to be a gleaming gem by all those standards. The airplane was pristine. The flight departed on time - early in fact. The three of us were the only passengers and the pilot gave us an informative safety briefing. During the flight, the pilot told us about their engine maintenance programme, including health and trend monitoring with regular consultation with the manufacturer and rigid adherence to their recommendations. He explained various measures they took to avoid unecessary engine cycles and stresses. With a fleet of single-engine airplanes, their programmes have resulted in the greatest single threat to airborne safety being vultures and storks.


When the flight was booked, we were told to go and pay at the airline's office when we got to Maun. On the ground, their ground staff took all the bags and carried them across the road to their office. The office staff told us that our pilot was the owner of the company and proceeded to tell us how wonderful a man he was, how great the company was, how much they enjoyed their co-workers. The office was clean and neat. They went out of their way to look after us, and one commented that that was just the way they did their business.


From our brief glimpse of Mack Air, their safety culture appeared pretty hard to beat. If I'm back in Botswana, I'll be looking to them to fly me around. If they read this, I hope they don't become complacent.


Before we got flying, we watched this pristine South-African-registered DC-4 depart. I had to put in the photo for aviation buffs.



During the flight to Maun, we flew across the Chobe Park. The road is a dirt road from Kasane to Maun, not always passable, and you need four-wheel drive.



From 8500 feet and a low-resolution picture on the web, it's hard to see the elephants, but they are at this watering hole.




This year is wetter than usual and we're seeing more watering holes than normal. You can see the animal tracks from miles around to this one.





This photo shows water in a river. Apparently is has been several years since the last time that happened.





Approaching Maun, we overflew part of the Okavango Delta. The Okavango flows from Angola into Botswana where the water basically empties into desert and dries up. More river flow (i.e., from rain in Angola) and the water is high. Ironically, high water means tall grass which means more to burn when the dry season comes, therefore a greater fire hazard.





The Okavango Delta has vast expanses of marsh land with islands here and there, accessible by the flat-bottom makoro boats that are poled through the grass. That's what we'll be doing for the next three days.

Botswana - Chobe National Park

Tuesday April 15 - We depart Victoria Falls for a short day - about 90 km - leaving Zambia and entering Botswana, the seventh country for the Tour. The destination was Kasane, at the northeast corner of Botswana near where Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe come together. That entailed a ferry trip and a lot of waiting to get across the Zambezi River.

The crossing is served by two ferries that can carry only one transport truck at a time plus one or two smaller vehicles which by my guess gives the border crossing a capacity of at most 8 transports an hour. And trucks are lined up for several kilometres on both sides of the border. You have to get your feet wet to get on.


Botswana has vast expanses of wilderness that are home to significant numbers of animals and birds. We were able to get on a sunset cruise on the Chobe River to observe wildlife along the edge of Chobe National Park, one of Botswana's wildlife reserves, greeted early on by this silhouette of an elephant on the shore.


Another elephant demonstrated its swimming skills with a hitchhiking egret on its back...


...but hippopotamus can't swim...


...yet they spend all day in the water!


A late afternoon shower was illuminated by the setting sun giving us a nice rainbow...


...while a cormorant was drying its wings on the other side of the boat.


Along with one of our fellow riders, Eugene Garver from Minneapolis, we took four days off from cycling to see some more of Botswana's wildlife starting on Wednesday morning with a three-hour excursion by land rover in Chobe National Park.

The highlight was these lion on the riverbank, drinking as if it's a long time between water stops.

Amongst other sightings was this impala...

...and this one with a hitchhiker on its back...


...and mongooses (or is it mesgeese) digging ants out of the sandy soil. We had dozens of them around the campsite last night too.


Young baboons often cling to mom under her belly. This one is piggy-backing on her back.


This Redbilled Hornbill was back at the campsite.


We were back at the campsite at 0900 and now had to figure out how to get to Maun. The last bus of the day is at 0800 and we didn't want to spend all day in Kasane. The people at Thebe River Safari (the operators of the campsite) were terrific, found us a flight leaving at 1230, and took us out to the airport at 1100.

Victoria Falls

Sunday-Monday April 13-14 - two rest days at Livingstone and Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls is on the Zambezi River on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

We viewed it from the Zambian side on Sunday. At the entry to the park is a monument to Dr. Livingstone.


It's a short walk to the edge of the gorge where we got our first look at part of the falls...


...and got evidence that we were there.


The mist from the falls brings entirely new meaning to the word 'mist' - it was a torrential downpour. We'd been warned that raincoats, which are available for rent, wouldn't keep us or especially our cameras dry so we rented a dry pack and put cameras and everything else in it. That was good advice - we got absolutely soaked but our stuff stayed dry.

If Ursula looks like she's soaked in this photo, it's because she is. The Zambia to Zimbabwe bridge in the background.


This photo tries to show the intensity of the mist falling and obscuring the Falls directly behind.


Getting a look at the entire falls was impossible - the mist made it impossible to see the complete falls, only bits at a time and perhaps for only a few fleeting seconds.


Afterwards, we walked up a short trail beside the river. The river was high and the current strong from recent rains. About 200 metres above the Falls was this calmer bay in which people enjoyed a swim. Can you imagine Parks Canada allowing people into the water that close to Niagara Falls?


We then went to the Zambesi Sun Hotel for lunch and found zebra wandering the grounds keeping the grass short.


They have a large baboon population to the point of being a menace, this one wondering how to climb a tree.


There was an immature albino that reminded us of the wormy guy in Lord of the Rings.


At sunset, we walked down to the bridge that connects Zambia and Zimbabwe. An entry visa for Canadians is 60 USD (anybody else is 20 USD - we don't know what Canada has done deserve that) so we didn't consider crossing; rather we satisfied ourselves with views of the Falls on the one side...


...and the gorge...


...and sunset on the other.


We splurged on Monday and took a helicopter trip into the gorge and over the Falls. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Look at the shear volume of water going over the Falls - the largest volume in the world. The bends in the gorge indicate previous locations of the Falls as the softer rock has been eroded over the eons.

Lusaka to Livingstone

Thursday April 10 to Saturday April 12 - Three riding days from Lusaka to Livingstone - they say that the total of 495 km makes this the longest three-day distance of the Tour d'Afrique although my arithmetic says it is about the same as the first three days last week out of Lilongwe.

Either way, it's a lot of time in the saddle, even with a favourable wind and relatively flat terrain. The best we did on Saturday's 160-km stretch was 6:45 'in-motion' and a total time (including lunch, a coke stop, and very few photos) of 8 hours. That's about as fast as we've been. Other days may have shorter distances but more hills, so slower and just as long and fatiguing.

Day after day like that is what has become really exhausting. One rest day in six (that is about the average) just isn't enough for our old bodies to fully recover, so occasionally we'll ride only half the day and hitch a ride on the lunch truck - that's what we did on Friday.

Thursday we had a 12-km convoy through Lusaka and its rush-hour traffic, here seen approaching a rather striking pedestrian bridge arrangement.

There is a very energetic film crew accompanying the Tour this year. Benny and Brian clambered up the pedestrian overpass to get a vantage point for filming the convoy.

Benny is the leader of the crew, here on one of the support vehicles photographing me photographing him.

The third member of the film crew is Christian, here riding a rather unique bicycle that the crew built to give them a better perspective for filming - it is rather illustrative of the creative and innovative talent that they have, not to mention energy and athletic ability to ride it and move along far faster then we'll ever do. This bike elicits lots of attention and oohs and aahs from the local population when these guys ride through town.

Back to the departure from Lusaka - we mentioned before that it is more modern than most of where we've been - here we pass a shopping mall that could easily be found anywhere in the west.

AIDS is a major problem in many of the places through which we have passed. This sign was at the side of the main road as we approached the centre of Lusaka - we'll let it speak for itself. Maybe we could erect something similar on the subject of panhandlers and homeless street people in Toronto.

We headed south out of Lusaka, passing modern car dealerships, and then into the country.

About 50 km south was the town of Kafue which had a mix of industry and agriculture.

The Kafue river flows towards the Zambesi river. Although we are now in the dry season, we know that there has been flooding in the north of the Zambia, and the river here appears to be quite swollen.

We came across a national monument as we climbed westward out of the Kafue valley.

We were in the Munali Pass where Livingstone, travelling east from Angola to Mozambique, reportedly first saw the Kafue River.

His view must have been similar to this, looking back at where we'd been.

No road back then, and probably more difficult travelling than avoiding the washed out part of the road in the picture. The road was much worse than this nearer Livingstone. We saw them filling potholes with earth from the side of the road. Truck traffic in places had resorted to driving on the unpaved shoulder (either side of the road) for extended distances the road itself was so bad. On our bicycles, we could often pick our way through and avoid holes.

After going through the Munali Pass, we were on a plateau with a mix of farm land...

and forest...

We saw signs saying that there was also a nickel project. Zambia also has copper resources in the north.

This was the typical scenery for the three days... pleasant if nondescript and not much to disgtinguish it from many places in Canada or Europe.

Weather was sunny and we had colourful sunsets.

I was taking the sunset photo, this lady asked wtheir picture, so I did. The kids seemed rather in awe of the group of us pitching tents in a now-abandoned campground about a kilometer off the highway. I wasn't sure if they recognized themselves when I showed them the picture.

Sunrise the next morning was equally colourful and we had an audience to watch us pack up and ride off.

Our route paralleled a still-active railway track although I wouldn't count on the warning lights or guardsman to tell me if a train was coming.

We have both a doctor and a nurse on the support staff for this trip. Irmy Bush, the mother of Doctor Luke, participated as a rider in the Tour d'Afrique a couple of years ago but had to abandon when she contracted malaria. She has since become active in the fight against malaria and has personally raised money for mosquito netting. She rode on this segment of this year's Tour and brought 1500 mosquito nets for donation to specific aid organizations, here delivering 500 nets to World Vision in Choma.

North of Livingstone, we passed three Morris Oxfords driving north from South Africa or a charitable mission.

We finally got into Livingstone on Saturday afternoon. The main road curved and went over a hill in the middle of town and suddenly we had this view of mist rising from Victoria Falls, about 15 km away.

Two rest days here in Livingstone. As this is being written, we haven't yet visited the Falls, so this will be in the next blog.

to Lusaka, Zambia

April 3rd - rest day in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, which as usual means a day of doing laundry and cleaning bikes, etc. But it was a nice campsite with a swimming pool which we took advantage of. And a walk into the city where the central area was full of people selling locally-made wood carvings with a modern mall in the background.


"Give me hockey give me life" says a banner across the main street - surprising to us to see that in tropical Africa.


Friday April 4th to Tuesday April 8th - five days to ride 725 km to Lusaka. we leave Malawi and enter Zambia and Terrain was initally a gently rolling mix of farmland.


In Zambia, it changed to forest that was much less populated than Malawi.


And it got hilly - lots of climbing. The scenery is beautiful but hard to photograph with trees and high grass encroaching at roadside.


Approaching Lusaka, the hills were more gentle and we were back into more farmland and even palm trees.


Here, the rainy season had ended and the skies were clear, the sun was hot, the humidity high - we sweat enough to get just as wet as when it was raining. We were typically on the road between 0630 and 0700 in the morning.

Bicycles are well-used for transportation here. Usually women are passengers on the back seats of bicycles or they walk and carry things on their heads. This photo shows one of the few women cyclists we have seen - look carefully and you can see her child on her back.


Men normally do the bicycling, carrying passengers or goods.


Yes... that is a live goat that is tied down to the luggage rack.


With some long distances during this segment, we rode in a small peleton with Henk and Louisa, a Dutch couple, to make it easier.


Before leaving Malawi, a stop for tea attracted lots of local attention. We still haven't figured out what is so interesting about msungu (white people) drinking tea.


Here, the rainy season had ended and the skies were clear, the sun was hot, the humidity high - we sweat enough to get just as wet as when it was raining. We were typically on the road between 0630 and 0700 in the morning. We'd have 40 km behind us by 0830 and the sun would already be extremely hot. Lunch at 60 km might be at 0930. Back home, we'd be lucky to have eaten breakfast and walked the dog, let alone gone somewhere to even start riding the bikes by that time of day.

The stage length for the second day was 195 km - the longest we'd ever done in a day, and there were hills and not much help from the wind. We finished after 1700 after over 9 hours in the saddle - a very long and tiring day, but we did it.

The next day, we took a rest in the morning, rode on the lunch truck to the half-way point, then rode in the afternoon. The day after, we started as per normal. By lunch, Rae was still feeling the effects of the long day. Ursula hung in and rode the full day, again joining Henk and Louisa.




One of our overnight stops was at the Luangwa River, a major river that flows out of Zambia into the Zambesi River...


...and is crossed on this substantial suspension bridge.


The campsite was a few kilometres down the river. Mozambique is on the other side of the river here.


As we travel the highway, as in Malawi, one sees evidence that villages may have had a grander past than present. What appear to have been thriving businesses are now shuttered, buildings that were probably built during colonial days now falling into disuse.


That may reflect the cultural divide between the colonial powers and the indigenous population. Who's to say European style buildings are the best way to build things when the local expertise is in the construction of their traditional style of dwelling? Here the well is the gathering point for village people. Typically, there is no indication of electrical power supply to these villages although satellite dishes are often visible indicating either battery or generator power.


Houses are typically clean and tidy. The ground around the houses is baked hard and we often see people sweeping it to keep it clean.


School buildings along the way, although very basic by western standards, also appear to be well kept with clean outhouses, good playing fields, and mostly with electrical power. Elsewhere, we have seen schools that look run down and have no electrical supply.


A major product here is charcoal, bags of which are in the background here. Our understanding is that it is put out for pickup for further distribution.


Roadside stands also sell directly local production - potato, corn, peanuts, horseradish, tomatoes, bananas, squash, etc. We wonder if the volume of traffic along the road can really justify the quantity of produce for sale.


And then there are the flies that come with the heat and humidity. There are just so many of them, here seen trying to get at an insect bite that is healing on Rae's leg. The bite itself is dry - the only reason to cover it is to keep the flies off, but they obviously smell something.


Wednesday 9 April - A much needed rest day in Lusaka along with the usual bike cleaning, laundry, and this blog.

The last week has produced a couple of milestones:

• The longest distance we have ever cycled - 195 km and over 9 hours in the saddle
• Total distance on the bikes is now over 6000 km during this great adventure

Other impressions of Zambia - it is more expensive than prvious countries. Petrol is about $2 a litre compared to $1.30 in Malawi and Tanzania. Soft drinks are about 50 cents versus about 25 cents. It's about 3500 Zambian Kwatcha to the dollar, and paper money is denominated down to 100 Kwatcha (3 cents) so we always have wads of money, we spend thousands even for a coke, and every trip to the ATM makes us millionaires for a few fleeting moments.

Rural areas in Zambia do not seem much different than Malawi or Tanzania except for being less densely populated. Considerable contrast between town and country - Lusaka is the most westernized city yet - two shopping centres are relatively close to our camping facility and they even have a cinema. We found our first familiar grocery chain store name - SPAR - with products that we know. Their house brands are produced in South Africa so presumably we'll see more of this style of shop as we continue south.

The next segment is three riding days to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. At about 500 km, they say this is the longest three-day stretch of the Tour. Fatigue is going to be a factor especially for Rae - Ursula is amazing how well she is performing. A lot of folk on the Tour are showing some sort of symptom of depletion from the constant level of effort - you simply can't put in six to nine hours of effort in the saddle every day for a week and then expect to fully recover while doing the laundry and cleaning the bike on the day off. Okay, the younger faster folk aren't putting in that much time, but they're still putting in the daily effort, and they aren't immune from its effects - they may be younger and more resilient when it comes to recovering, but they still have their challenges to manage all that. Several folk have minor ailments that they're having trouble shaking off - nothing life-threatening, but it's hard to put out six hours of heavy effort if the body is fighting even a mild cold.

Despite all that, the only way I can think of not to be exhausted is build in shorter riding segments and/or more days for recuperation. That would mean a much longer Tour and doesn't quite seem consistent with the overall philosophy of doing something like this since the physical (and mental) challenge is all part of the territory. So tomorrow it's back at it - we'll give what we have and take the lunch bus when there's nothing left - after all, the idea isn't to kill ourselves. We'll have two non-riding days days at Victoria Falls and hope to take full advantage of the attractions of the area and with any sort of luck, we'll post the next blog from there.

Malawi

March 27 - we leave Tanzania and enter Malawi.

A short distance that evening to a campsite not far from Lake Malawi and an instant crowd of on-lookers. Malawi is one of Africa's poorer countries and over-population is a problem. Again children have their hands out demanding money. In general, though, the people seem gentle and friendly.

Along the shore of Lake Malawi the agriculture changed again, now to rice. The fields are worked by hand or with plows pulled by oxen.

Some interesting birds along the way...

...this one I'd call a black-winged redbird - it's appearance, behaviour and habitat, apart from the red body and black wings, was just like our red-winged blackbirds in Canada.

...and this poor bird has an enormously long tail - it can almost hover and presents a unique sight in flight as in the inset.

The lake is also a source of fish, as attested by this fishing village...

...with its fleet of hand-crafted fishing canoes.

Here, we are approaching Chitimba Beach at the bay in the background.

The rest day at Chitimba Beach truly was rest. No internet. No electricity except for a few hours in the afternoon when they turned on the generator. We camped on the beach - seen here in the morning just before a three-hour heavy rain...

But then it cleared to a beautiful day... nice sand beach, clean water in the lake, comfortable temperature.

Better than a cold shower any day.

Onward to Lilongwe - pouring rain in the morning - and we climbed away from the lake and into the hills. Steep hills - eight hours in the saddle with many steep climbs and descents. Amazing where you find cattle - this was a steep road with even steeper wooded and rock slopes on either side.

This took us through forest that was rather reminiscent of northern Ontario. It is being cut at least partly for pulp and being reforested in part with pine which we understand not to be native to this region.

Monday morning was mist, then Scotch mist, then drizzle and riding in cloud until we climbed and finally started to see glimpses of sunlight and this rainbow effect. Late morning and afternoon were dry, but it was another eight hours in the saddle.

Tuesday and Wednesday were easier rides, more open countryside, and shallower climbs and descents. Tuesday we arrived in Kasungu early afternoon which was very welcome as it was early enough to dry the wet stuff. Previous days, the sun was already down too far to dry anything by the time we got into camp.

As we continue south, we are into corn and tobacco production

One of our lunch stops was beside these poinsetta bushes.

By appearance, Malawi has seen better days. Settlements along the road are lined with buildings that have obviously seen better days - many appear abandoned and in general there is an appearance of decline. At curves in the road, there are posts on which there once were guard rails. But where are the guard rails? It is as if they have been deliberately removed perhaps for the value of the metal. Houses are basic, mostly one or two room and they aren't hooked up to electricity.

The roadside is also kept trim by hand.

Monday night campsite was on a school playing field where we had an enthusiastic group of local people with this masked character dancing and stirring up the kids...

...while the children chant and clap hands.

Bicycles are used as taxis and in this case, it looks like husband, wife, child and several chickens (wife is holding them in her right hand) on their way to market.

April 2nd, we arrived in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, a modern looking city judging from what we cycled past on our way to the camp site. April 3rd is a rest day, then we leave Malawi and enter Zambia, headed for Lusaka.

Iringa to Malawi

Monday 24 March to Friday 28 March - five riding days - to a rest day at Chitimba Beach, Malawi.

Leaving Iringa, swollen rivers indicated how much rain had fallen.



On the second day, we reached the halfway point between Cairo and Cape Town (taking into account the gap in Kenya). Rain in the afternoon and/or overnight was the norm for our last four days in Tanzania.


The first overnight out of Iringa was a bush camp on logging roads - looks okay here, but heavy rain overnight made it a quagmire for some people - we were lucky and stayed fairly dry.




We spent Wednesday night at Mbeya, our last overnight in Tanzania. The nearby road junction was a hive of activityand the busses were swarmed by local merchants selling fruits and nuts and biscuits.

We continue to be amazed at the number of young who look after their younger siblings.

Thursday 27 March and start our last day in Tanzania by taking a long steep climb into the hills south of Mbeya, passing corn, cabbage, and potato fields.

It's all hand labour, typically by women.

Usually, though, it is men who transport the goods to market, again mostly by non-mechanized means - a lot of bicycles - we've seen three cases of beer on the back carrier.

The top of the ascent is the town of Tukuyu. The popularity of football was apparent from the Barcelona umbrella in the background.

Leaving Tukuyu was a total change of scenery - now much more tropical in appearance.

We had a long descent and truly spectacular scenery. Lots on banana production...

... and tea plantations...

...where again it was women who worked in the fields...

We continued the descent towards the Malawi border with views of steep hillsides and the north end of Lake Malawi.

Then there was the border crossing into Malawi where the main feature seemed to be the crooks who wanted to change money, and in the absence of any visible bureau de change, were used by many of us to change our remaining Tanzanian shillings, which were about 1200 to the dollar, into Malawi Kwatcha which are about 150 to the dollar. With numbers like that, it's not hard to see the potential for them to shift decimal points as well as all their other sleight-of-hand scams. They're a bunch of crooks and a number of our group were cheated. Fortunately we were not, though they tried.