Africa by bicycle

May 10 - CAPETOWN

2008-05-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 10th - end of the journey

0530 - wake up and crawl out of the tent in the dark for the last time. Luckily there was a dry breeze overnight so the inside of the fly is dry and we can roll up the tent and not open it until we get it back to Canada.

Breakfast in the dark and as soon as it's light, start the final leg. 65 km to Kleeft Bay where we assemble for photos and then a police-escorted 25-km convoy along the coast to Cape Town, through the town centre, finally arriving at the waterfront for the arrival ceremonies.

We rode with Henk and Louisa...

...and had one last tea/coffee/coke stop about 5 km short of lunch in a cafe that is worlds different from the roadside stops at the beginning of the journey.

Then the photos... the entire group...

...Canadians...

...Tour d'Afrique and African Routes staff.

Hero shot of the two of us...

...Ursula...

...Rae...

...then a bit of a cold wait - it was cool and windy - for the convoy into town. Nice tailwind when we got going, and soon we passed beneath the finish banner at the waterfront.

A bit later the closing ceremony took place at the amphitheatre.

Dinner that night seemed rather anti-climactic. We all knew the adventure itself was over. We all had thoughts that were beginning to return to whatever 'real' world was relevant to us. I suspect that many of us had barely begun what will likely be an extended process of consolidating and digesting all that we'd experienced in the last four months. Some goodbyes were said that night, others the following morning at the hotel.

So, faithful blog-watchers, this amazing journey is over. Thanks for sharing our adventure with us. You can still support Rae's fundraising for the Canadian Arthritis Society at www.arthritis.ca/joints/ontario/raesimpson

or Ursula's - the Tour d'Afrique foundation: http://www.tourdafrique.com/foundation/ .

We will spend almost two weeks in Cape Town being tourists before returning to Canada, but his is the end of the blog story except that when we get back to Canada, we will add some more reflections, 'lessons-learned' and thoughts that might be useful for someone contemplating taking part in a future Tour d'Afrique. If that is you, then check back periodically and see if we've posted something new. Alternatively, leave a comment with your email address and we'll get back to you when we're back in Canada in June.

The Final Week

2008-05-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Monday May 4 to Friday May 9 - The final week.

Sunrise over the Orange River on Monday May 4th, South Africa on the other side.

We load the 'permanent bags' onto the support trucks for the last time - these are the bags to which we do not have access on a daily basis.

Ten kilometres down the road and we see signs for the first time to our destination of Cape Town.

Across the Orange River...

...and into South Africa.

Here Rae rides with Tony who earlier single-handedly defied the Kenyan political situation by riding through on his own without any of the normal support provided by Tour d'Afrique.

Monday morning was beautiful weather but steadily uphill and against the wind, so slow discouraging progress.

A wind shift and a change to down hill made the afternoon a lot more fun than the morning.

The next day was miserable, scotch mist, wind, cold, and a lot of uphill. Wednesday was a return to better weather...

...and more downhill to help us along.

This was the final week for us to face the dangers of the African continent - a scorpion found by somebody's tent...

...the wind, especially when it was on the nose as it so often was...

...bicycles!... my goodness... they found us out... the enemy is us!

...and this one must have been made just for me.

With only three days to go, my rear tire decided to come apart on the sidewall, but it held on for the balance of the day and I changed it before we went back on dirt roads.

Thursday we headed for the coast, passing some very European-looking scenery...

...before getting onto our final bout of dirt roads.

The shore was shrouded in fog, so we didn't get to see the Atlantic until we were there.

Second last night - campsite is at the shore - ideal for getting sand in all the zippers of the tent for one last time...

...and an ocean sunset.

Friday the shoreline remains misty...

...and the first few kilometres were again on dirt.

The final night dinner was a good one - the last we'd eat from the travelling kitchen, and in fact the last one that African Routes would serve to anyone as this trip is the company's final one before closing its doors - not a business failure, but a conscious decision by the owner that it was time to retire rather than refurbish the fleet.

Tomorrow is the end of the journey. It's fair to say the mood tonight is different.

One Week to go

2008-05-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

Monday April 28 to Saturday May 3 - Windhoek Namibia south to the border with the Republic of South Africa - second last week of the journey to Cape Town.

Departing Windhoek on Monday, just outside town, we pass near "Heroes Acre", a memorial to those who gave their lives in the struggle for independence. I wish I'd taken the time to detour to the memorial although when you ride near the back of the pack like I do, you run the risk of getting detached from the organized group unless the sweep rider knows what you're doing, and we have 155 km to ride today.

We continue south, after lunch crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. The Kenyan political situation robbed us of the chance for photos crossing the equator, so this is the next best thing.

Despite now no longer being in the tropics, the sky remains clear and the day hot. Another colourful sunset, then we eat in the dark and crawl into our tents and are asleep by 8 p.m.

Tuesday night sees us camped by the Gibeon railway station after a 175-km day. The train still runs and it even stops there, but the station is now abandoned.

Across the tracks is a cemetary, a section of which is a well-kept Commonwealth War Graves section from a 1916 battle.

German soldiers who died in the same battle are buried right beside them, but sadly this section seems not to be maintained.

Wednesday is another 150 km to just north of Keetmanshoop to a very pretty campsite with the distinctive Quiver trees...

...and another glorious sunset...

...and equally rich early morning hues just after dawn.

Thursday was 'only' 120 km. When it's that short, it's because you're on rough dirt roads or have steep climbs. Today was both. I was 7 hours and 58 minutes in the saddle - and that doesn't count stops for lunch or picture taking. That's a long shadow and still 20 minutes from camp.

Sun set just before I got in.

Friday was even shorter - 85 km - it was mostly dirt road, few hills, the toughest thing being a headwind for the last 40 km. Along the way was this enormous nest belonging to 'sociable weaver birds'.

Mid-morning we were treated to dark skies and thunder and lightning but no more than a few drops of rain on us as a front went by.

The reason for the short day was to allow us to overnight near the Fish River Canyon.

They bussed us down to a lookout over the canyon and brought part of our mobile kitchen with them and fed us dinner there.

Saturday we paid for the short day on Friday - 180 km to the camp on the Orange River near Noordoewer on the Namibian side of the border with South Africa. We started with a fairly steep climb out of the camp and away from the canyon.

Then through some lovely desert scenery on dirt roads.

Ursula once again was strong and rode the entire distance. Rae rode the lunch truck from lunch at 60 km to a refreshment stop at 120 km. Not a wise choice. The last 40 km was paved road but against a strong headwind. Eventually we descended into the Orange River Valley, passing this school on the way...

...and eventually reaching the Felix Unite campsite where we got one of these nice cabanas for our two nights and rest day. The Orange River and South Africa are in the background.

This is the last rest day of the journey. Next week we ride six days, arriving in Cape Town on Saturday.

Windhoek, Namibia - 26 April

2008-04-27T02:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-14T06:45:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Iringa, Tanzania

2008-03-23T07:28:00.001-07:00

23 March - Easter Sunday and we have a rest day in Iringa after seven days of cycling before a rest day

Sunday 16 March - after our two-week break to avoid cycling through Kenya, today it's back in the saddle in Arusha on the first of seven consecutive cycling days before our next rest day in Iringa.

We pass by the clock tower in Arusha - supposedly the centre of Africa - and head south into the country. Leaving Arusha there was light drizzle, the road was wet, and it looked like it might be a wet day.

Sun by lunch...

and a very pleasant first-day-back ride into a nice campsite that had facilities.

They worked hard so we could all have showers... it takes one person to haul water to the shower room and pour it into a bucket, and a second person on the roof to pull the bucket up by rope and empty it into the water tank. With temperatures in the high 30s, the 'cold' water from the tank makes for a pleasant shower.

Sunrise the second day.

Another hot sunny day. We're just a few degrees south of the equator, and that's about where the sun is too. Check out the size of the shadow beneath Rae.

We are into beautiful lush green countryside, rolling hills, and what looks like productive agriculture.

We have lost our hard-surfaced road and are now on dirt, which can mean anything from large rocks to mud after a rain - and we're getting afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms in this part of the world.

The surface made for some VERY tough riding.

...and tough driving for the trucks.

The local busses go by fast and often very close, and they kick up lots of dust.

Sometimes we take advantage of trails through the fields to get smoother rides.

The day 4 stop was in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania. Dar Es Salaam with its port is the commercial hub for Tanzania and is home to most government offices. Parliament is in Dodoma...

But apart from a paved road to Dar Es Salaam, the other trunk roads from Dodoma are dirt. Hard to believe that this is a main trunk road.

Along the way, women can almost always be seen carrying their wares on their heads...

...but how about a 55-gallon drum!

And as we saw earlier in other countries, the very young are almost always in the care of siblings not much older than themselves.

Further south, we found lots of sunflowers.

Stops for coke were always welcome in 30-40 degree heat and very high humidity.

This area has many of these Baobab trees that have massively wide trunks. We thought it reminded us of the trees in the stage production of Lord of the Rings.

Every evening there were thundershowers so we sometimes got wet.

And we also got some spectacular sunsets.

The afternoon riding into Iringa we got VERY wet with about two hours of heavy rain. It continued to rain off and on for the rest of the night and into rest day morning. As I finish writing this, there is some sunshine. Hopefully that's what we'll have when we get back on the bikes tomorrow.

Iringa is a big enough town of ~150,000 people, but we found it funny in that there are only about three restaurants in town and with this being Easter Sunday, it is a holiday and many shops are not open or they close early, and all but one of the restaurants closed before 6 pm last night.

Rest stops can be frustrating in other ways. We put our dirty clothes in for laundering. They got mixed up with other people's, some stuff was wet but not clean, we had to search for it ourselves. First try to do this blog and the internet cafe computer had a virus that wiped out the memory stick and resulted in us getting a few km more walking to go back to clean it up and reload it. And now I realize that I failed to bring along the additional pictures to upload to the Serengeti blog. Oh well....

Tomorrow is Monday 24 March, the first of five riding days to our next stop at Chitimba Beach in Malawi. Early intelligence says it is a lovely spot with a really nice beach so we can just enjoy swimming in the lake. There may not be any internet there, so we make no promises as to when we can do the next update.

Thank you for the encouragement that many of you have sent us either directly by email or through comments on this site. Time is limited in these cafes so forgive us if we don't respond personally to everyone. If that means we have failed to reply to a question or something that you really need and answer to, then please drop another email and remind us.

So long for now... we're well and still enjoying the adventure.

Ursi and Rae

More Serengeti Photos

2008-03-15T07:24:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more photos - the cheetah is at the end of them.

Serengeti

2008-03-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

March 11 - we flew from Zanzibar to Arusha - two hour flight in a single-engine Cessma Caravan flown by an expatriate Canadian who was veryhappy with the work and the professionalism of the outfit compared with his experiences in the bush in Canada. Rae got to sit in the right-hand seat. The flight took us close enough to Mount Kilimanjaro to take a picture.

March 12-14 - three day safari to Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater. Travel was by this Toyota four-wheel drive.

The first animal sighting was some giraffes crossing the road well before we got to the National Park.

En route we passed this Masai village.

Ngorongoro crater was the third morning of the trip.

The descent was an adventure of its own.

Overnight accommodation was our own tents. The second night we camped on the rim of Ngorongoro crater. An elephant wandering through the campsite provided some excitement especially when it charged Rae when he wandered across the road with camera in hand. He stopped as soon as Rae was back across the road, which was very quick.

The animals and birds - abundant and pretty unfussed by people provided we stayed in the vehicles. As shown in the last photo, the cheetah kept its distance - we thought it was stalking a gazelle - and we failed to see a leopard. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Some Rambling Reflections

2008-03-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

At this juncture, forced time away from the bicycles and all, it seemed fitting to reflect on everything we've learned so far on this trip. The regular posts show the pretty pictures and give the daily blow-by-blow, but they don't tell:

is Tour d'Afrique what we expected?

would we do it again?

What have we learned about where we've been?

how are we?

About Tour d'Afrique...

What we were not prepared was just how exhausting it would be.

The physical effort of a daily routine of six to seven hours sitting on the saddle and pedaling the bike, up hills, into the wind, and in incredible heat, and that does NOT count stops to take pictures, eat lunch, etc. No amount of weekend rides or rides to work prepare you for doing that day after day. Trust us, it's a whole lot more exhausting than we'd thought. We are amongst the slowest of riders in this excursion - a lot of the younger fitter folk are doing the daily ride in only half the time we are.

The daily routine is tiring in its own right - up before dawn every day, pack up the tent and the gear, eat breakfast, get on the bike, eat lunch, ride the bike again, get into camp, set up tent, clean bike, clean self if you can, eat, go to sleep. Seems like there is no real free time.

The mental exhaustion from dodging crowds of people and kids, the constant demand for money, the threat of sticks and stones.

Minor intestinal ailments have affected everybody including us and they tend to sap you of whatever energy you had - to some degree, we are all run down from seven weeks of constant physical, mental, and psychological demand on our bodies. Most of Ethiopia was close to 10,000 feet altitude and like runners after a marathon, immune systems are low.

The camping format - the problem (if there is one) is not the remote camps where there are no facilities, it is the places where the facilities are worse than basic. Rest days and hotels on those days - we have mixed feelings about that - TdA advertises camping, not hotels - it's just too bad that the room facilities at some of those locations have been of such poor quality. But this is a personal mind-over-matter issue. We have abandoned earlier expectations about the quality of hotel rooms - we'll take one for convenience when available and we'll be pleasantly surprised if the quality is good. If you are reading our blog wondering if you want to do this excursion, the key is to manage your expectations and not to expect too much in places where it simply doesn't exist.

The countries:

Egypt - disappointing for air quality, garbage especially plastic bags everywhere. There was no such thing as a simple financial transaction. Even in grocery stores in the city, you had to bargain or get ripped off. After agreeing on a price, it wasn't unusual for them to demand more. The local folk shouted at each other all the time - you really thought they were having an all out argument although they probably were not. There's lots of traffic and it is chaotic in cities. That said, truck drivers were usually extremely courteous to us and gave us lots of room on the road. Kids in Egypt were also present at roadside, usually asking for money, sometimes throwing stones or trying to put a stick in your spokes, but since they were fewer in number than in Ethiopia, one didn't feel under siege the same.

Sudan

We were immediately taken by how laid back the people were in Wadi Halfa when we got off the ferry. They were polite and friendly; you could say hello without being pestered; you seldom got ripped off and you didn't have to bargain for everything.

The desert between Wadi Halfa and Dongola was a highlight in terms of scenic beauty - exhausting riding, but worth it.

The 50-60-year old gentleman who did our laundry in Dongola stands out as an amazing guy - diligent in his work, gentle and polite in his manner. He worked in one of those small one-room sheds that serve sometimes as stores, other times as workshops, too small to be a garage. He sat on the floor and handwashed everything in a wide, shallow metal bowl (like an inverted coulee hat with some washboard corrugations). And even the articles that we took on this trip because they were expendable because they were so dilapidated after years of abuse - even these came back cleaner and brighter than when they were new.

Kids in Sudan like everywhere wanted to run to the roadside and wave at us, but there wasn't much in the way of sticks and stones.

Ethiopia.

We spent almost a month there, so not surprising that it left a significant impression. We were warned in advance that everything needed to be locked up or it would be pilfered, be that at the campsite or out of our backpacks or handlebar bags, and we were warned that kids would throw stones and try to poke sticks into your spokes. All that came true, and were overwhelmed by the constant presence of hundreds kids at the side of the road shouting 'money money money' and trying to grab you or your things, or hit you with hands and sticks and even whips, or throw stones.

We had the opportunity to speak with people from an NGO operating north of Addis Ababa and also to a former World Bank official who now volunteers for four months of the year to assist Ethiopia. We were forewarned that the country was the poorest of all of Africa, and it has been and continues to be the recipient of a large amount of international aid. Is it doing the job? And if not, what is needed?

Of course the answer is a mix of yes and no. There are obvious health problems. Diarrhea apparently is the greatest killer, linked to water quality and sanitation. Medical aid has done much to alleviate the death rate, and much is being done to address the water issues. But the underlying problem is over-population. The lives that are saved have little future where there is little food for the existing population and little employment. Family planning and birth control is unpopular in today's western political climate where the religious right and right-to-life movements have an overwhelming influence.

Education reportedly is improving - literacy rate is now 25% compared to 5% when Haille Selassie lost power, but obviously there is a long way to go. There are great new infrastructure projects in the country, but it suffers from lack of maintenance largely because there is a lack of education as to both the need for it and how to do it.

That probably is not a simple issue - the NGO said that they had installed many water pumps that no longer function. People had been trained to maintain and repair them but then because they have that education, they find better jobs elsewhere and so they leave without passing on the skill. The NGO is philosophical in that the skill usually stays in Ethiopia - that still leaves the NGO dependent on continued external funding to keep past infrastructure improvements functioning, but NGOs typically don't have a constant source of income.

We got one view that outside aid tended to address symptoms but not underlying problems, that they sometimes compounded the underlying problem (as with adding to the population) - that what was needed was something that could generate something self-sustaining. Economically, two principal sources of income for Ethiopia are agriculture and tourism.

In Canada, the US, and all of the EU, there are farm and agricultural subsidies and various other schemes that serve (intentionally or otherwise) to block the likes of Ethiopia out of our domestic markets for their products, the result being that it is impossible for Ethiopia to derive significant foreign income from their major product. One NGO said that if we really wanted to do something, we should write to our member of parliament or government representative and lobby for an abandonment of all such subsidies.

I think another way would be to buy an airline ticket to Addis Ababa and find a local agent who could arrange some travel in the country. Spend money in Ethiopia where it goes to Ethiopians. Somehow demand tourist infrastructure that is better than some of what we've seen. That would be incentive to maintain and improve and generate foreign income.

Back to the kids and their ever-presence - they are a symptom, not the problem.

Are we enjoying this experience and if we knew then what we know now, would we have signed up for it.

Yes to both.

Zanzibar

2008-03-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 4 March - Flight from Addis Ababa to Zanzibar with a stop in Dar es Salaam. We crossed the equator, both of us for the first time, without any fanfare. Arriving in Zanzibar, we found our way to downtown Stonetown, the old part of Zanzibar city, where we spent the next two nights. Major breakthrough - we find an ATM that recognizes our bank cards and gives us some cash.

The town has several elegant buildings and facades.

Our hotel was just off this narrow street in the old part of Stonetown...

...only three minutes walk to the beach - here Ursula is this Bernie and Beryl Doiron from PEI who are also doing Tour d'Afrique.

We had a couple of drinks watching the dhows going by in the harbour and then watching the sun set.

After two nights in Stonetown, we moved to Nungwi at the north tip of the island and took a bungalow behind the buildings shown here.

There are nice beaches, especially when the tide is in. When the tide is out, it is a long walk and the bottom is rockier and there are hazards like sea urchins, several spines of which are in Rae's hand - quite painful when they go in.

The highlight of Zanzibar was the day of snorkeling.

They took us around to the east side of the island to near this small island. Lots of dolphins en route. The water was clear and the coral attracted hundreds of colourful fish. And of course we all were baked in the sun.

Tuesday 11 March will be early start to get to the airport for a 0930 flight to Arusha where we should rejoin the Tour d'Afrique trucks at the campsite and start to get reorganized first for a three-day safari to the Serengetti and Ngorongoro crater March 12-14 and then to start cycling again on Sunday 16th.

Lalibela and its Monolithic Churches

2008-03-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday 2 March - Lalibela and its monolithic churches.

The flight to Lalibela was at 0700, check-in at 0500 - it would have been a short night and an early lot rise no matter what, but our minibus got us to the airport at about 0230 and we snoozed a bit and had some breakfast before checking in. The flight had whistle stops at Bahir Dar and Gonder, so we got to see from the air a lot of the terrain that we rode through. Got into Lalibela and to our hotel before noon, had a relaxed lunch, then three hours with a guide at one of the main complexes.

Lalibela itself is located in beautiful rugged country. This aerial photo shows a village on the edge of a canyon a few miles out on the approach to Lalibela.

The little round houses in the foreground are traditional construction for this area and are preserved as heritage structures.

With tourism on the rise in recent years, new hotels have been built that try to take on the traditional appearance.

The monolithic churches were hewn out of solid rock under the direction of King Lalibela in the 11th century. The existing ground-level rock surface becomes the roof and they carve down around the church, then carve into it to form the interior structure which in some cases is a three-story affair with stairs carved out of the rock.

This is the first of several churches - it was completed in 23 years - quite a feat considering the complexity of the task and the tools available to do it.

The photo also shows a protective roof over the church. There is an EU-sponsored project to protect them from damage from the elements - controversial in that many believe that the structure as designed is too intrusive and unnecessarily detracts from the attractiveness of the sites.

The churches had various styles of crucifixes. This is the Lalibela cross, and below that a fresco on display in this church.

King Lalibela's tomb is in another church that is part of this complex.

And a short distance away is this three-story structure.

Other complexes featured tunnels, passageways, and bridges connecting the churches to each other, all carved out of the rock.

Monday 3 March - We had to catch the noon flight back to Addis Ababa and overnight there before flying on to Zanzibar on Tuesday 4 March. We dined at the Yod Abyssinia where we were entertained with traditional Ethiopian music and dance - a rather nice way to spend our last night in Ethiopia.

Onward to Moyale

2008-03-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

February 26-29 - four days of riding from Arba Minch to Moyale

Tuesday 26 Feb was 100 km from Arba Minch to south of Konso, more than half on very rough dirt road. We left Arba Minch with a nice downhill coast... of course we'd pay for that with climbs in the heat of the day.

Through a National Park where baboons and monkeys sat at roadside and watched us go by.

The land is rugged...

South of the park, the land was not as cultivated as farther north.

Farming was on small plots...

...and not as densely populated. That didn't prevent a very pushy crowd forming around the lunch truck. These two women carry their load in home-crafted backpacks of goat skin.

It is a dry area. Most of the rivers are dry or very shallow most of the time. They are crossed by driving (or riding you bike) through the riverbed. A new route has to be found after washouts when it rains - you'd want a four-wheel drive. Any water is magnet for the livestock. So river crossings entailed more than one kind of hazard to TdA riders

Here Rae goes through one...

...followed closely by Ursula.

Water also draws the townfolk where they wash their clothes and dishes and themselves and replenish water jugs to take back to their homes. Most of Ethiopia has no idea what it's like to turn on a tap and have running potable water.

Closer to camp today, the road got even narrower and rougher. Ursula here is going through another riverbed.

The hills here were terraced, but look how narrow the workable areas are.

Camp tonight is in a dry riverbed in a sort of out-of-the-way area. Further down the riverbed, we found a stream with a few centimeters of water - enough for many of us to sponge off the dust that is caked onto us.

But out-of-the-way doesn't mean unpopulated and nearby is a little cinder-block factory - all done with no electricity or powered equipment.

Wednesday is 100 km to Yabello. We got up earlier than usual hoping for an earlier start when the day is cool. Less than a kilometer underway and we had to turn back for a mechanical problem on Ursula's bike - it didn't take long to get it fixed, but we were now a bit later than our normal start - so much for beating the heat - Sod's Law! The road is terrible - this picture fails to show how rough it was.

We are latitude 5 degrees north, and it's scorching by 10 in the morning. Between the temperature and the road, Rae found the going really tough and ran out of willpower when he took a minor fall at about 40 km. Ursula continued to the lunch truck - 60 km in over six hours. We're camped beside a hotel that has showers - good thing because we're again caked with dust.

The country is not surprsingly very dry and we found several herds of camels along the road - the first camels we'd seen since Sudan.

The land suffers badly from erosion. There were big cracks in the ground all over the place.

A new feature to the scenery was these vulgar-looking protrusions from the ground - termite hills - some of them very substantial in height or girth or both. We passed through local areas of very red earth as well as some of whiter earth, and that is reflected in the colour of the termite hills.

Thursday was 130 km from Yabello to south of Mega - a hard surfaced road, but rough with potholes that ofter dwarf what Toronto has to offer.

And lots of hills including a long one after lunch - there is no flat land in Ethiopia. In Mega, we looked forward to a cold soft but nowhere in town can you find a cold drink. They're all room temperature which means 40 degrees. Camp is another 30 km away in almost desert conditions. We heard a couple of days ago that cattle will to start dying if it doesn't rain by tomorrow and it doesn't look like it will. Fields everywhere are dry and are ready to be planted for the smaller crops of their season. Rain usually comes before the end of February, but they're saying it looks like a drought this year.

The tree on the left has bee hives in it; the one on the right has weaver bird nests.

Friday is a fairly short day - 90 km to Moyale - but by 0900, it is again very hot - we're directly into sun and a fairly stiff headwind.

So we come to the end of the trip through Ethiopia. The last four days have given us some more memories... the colourful birds along the road...

...people on the go...

...sharing the road with the cattle. By the way, that is a spear that this guy has over his shoulder - we saw several of those in this area.

...the popular fussball table...

...curious local folk at the edge of camp at days end...

...and the kids along the way. This last four days, the kids have been fewer and so has the stone-throwing and other nasty incidents - that's good, because at least the most recent memories are of nice little kids waving at us and only wanting a wave back.

We get into camp at about 1300 and are quickly greeted by this colourful grasshopper.

This of course is the beginning of the forced two-week break due to the political situation in Kenya. Latest info from there says that things are improving, but it is way too late to change plans again. So we have to repack bags and prepare bikes to go on the trucks. Everything we don't need in the next two weeks will go on the trucks which will drive through Kenya and rejoin us in Arusha, Tanzania.

Camp is at a hotel. For less than $10, we get a room with toilet and shower. The allows us to leave the camping gear packed up. Only thing is that there is a water shortage so the water is off - they give us a bucket of water that can be used to flush the toilet or sponge bath or wash the dirty clothes. We do all three. This is a camping holiday... even in a hotel room.

And here we get a look at the country we can't ride through as the sun sets across the border over Kenya.

Saturday 1 March - Bus transport takes us back to Addis Ababa. Ten hours or driving and three hours of rest and meal breaks before we get to the overnight stop at Lake Langano, about 250 km short of Addis Ababa. For all sorts of reasons, the roads are not conducive to fast driving - rough surfaces, steep hills, livestock on the road everywhere, many villages with throngs of people, police check points, construction, unlit vehicles and hazards at night.

We (along with five others) arranged a mini-van to take us from Lake Langano to Addis Ababa tonight in order to catch a 0700 flight to Lalibela tomorrow morning. We didn't get to Addis Ababa until nearly 0200, and failing to find a hotel right away, and with a 0500 check-in time for the flight, we just went to the airport and snoozed there.

Our plans for the next two weeks - Lalibela, Zanzibar, and a 3-day safari out of Arusha into the Serengetti and Ngorongoro crater. We're back on the bicycles departing Arusha on March 16th.

Arba Minch - Rest Day

2008-03-08T05:17:00.000-08:00

Arba Minch - Monday 25 Feb - rest day.

Birds and wildlife were the highlight here.

These baboons entertained us at breakfast, playing on the roof of the next-door shed and some of them coming onto the patio before hotel staff shooed them away.

We took the opportunity to visit Nechisar National Park on Lake Chamo and take a boat ride to view a variety of marsh birds as well as crocodiles and hippopotamus.

These other birds we spotted in the vicinity of the hotel/campground.

Addis Ababa to Arba Minch

2008-03-08T04:22:00.000-08:00

21-24 February - Addis Ababa to Arba Minch - four riding days before a rest day in Arba Minch as we continue to press south in Ethiopia. The route is new to Tour d'Afrique - it takes us on less travelled roads rather than the main road to Moyale on the Kenyan border. It also takes a day longer than the original schedule, possible this year because of the decision not to ride through Kenya.

Convoy out of Addis Ababa on Thursday 21st.

The route is lined with these tiny stores. This is the way business is done here.

Small shops with lots of fresh fruit.

And here some fresh meat

Four days of hilly countryside - there is no flat land in Ethiopia.

Some really long hills, some that need the granny gear. Some steep descents - dangerous too.

A few stretches of dirt road and water hazards for the trucks.

.... and Ursula and other riders...

Dirt roads mean dust. Good that the dust is the same colour as our tans or we'd look absolutely filthy dirty. We finally get a shower at Arba Minch. Afternoons are hot and the sun really intense. Leaving Addis, the land seems even drier than before.

Less grain-growing as we go south.

Cattle are used to trample the grain and separate the grain from the stalk. There's a word for that but it escapes me.

More trees and scrub land. Then some banana-growing and cotton.

Along the way, the young look after the younger.

They ham it up for the camera in Hosaina.

Watching us eat lunch is this youngster sporting a Basel Football Club jersey - who would expect to find a Swiss football fan in the middle of the Ethiopian countryside.

Village streets are always full of people.

Most walk long distances every day to bring things to market. For heavy or bulky stuff, they make their own wheelbarrows.

And there is always some kind of productive activity along the main street as people prepare things for market.

Addis Ababa - Rest Days

2008-03-08T04:21:00.001-08:00

Tuesday-Wednesday 19-20 Feb - Addis Ababa - rest days

We opted to take a room at the hotel. Interesting - the grounds here are beautiful with well-kept lawns that we can camp on. There are good clay tennis courts. But the rooms... extremely basic, and the WCs and showers (which we could use if camping) leave quite a lot to be desired - I'm sure city health inspectors would close the place down if it was in Canada. One wonders how it is that one part of a facility can be of such good quality while another is at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum.

Reality check - to put it in perspective, remember that the TdA is a camping excursion. The sites are chosen to facilitate camping and this location meets that objective. Some people chose to take cabs to more comfortable hotels in town. For us, for all its limitations, the room here gives us a chance to plug in the computer and work on the pictures and blog, and it is convenient for tomorrow's departure. We're not in Canada, so don't expect Canadian standards. The shower - yes it's cold, but we haven't had a hot shower since the middle of January, so why worry about that now.

We got into town after cleaning bikes Tuesday morning. The only ATMs that take foreign bank cards are in the Sheraton and Hilton hotels, so we go there - we need some cash both for everyday stuff and to pay for planned activities during the time that we can't go through Kenya. Neither machine will accept our bank cards, but Ursula managed to get a cash advance on her Visa card, so we're still solvent. We took the opportunity to enjoy a coffee and ice cream sundae - first ice cream in almost two months - at the Sheraton. It was great but more perspective - it cost three times as much as our pizza with a bottle of wine and a bottle of water for dinner near the hotel.

Addis Ababa has the largest souk in Africa. We went there with some of our fellow cyclists on Wednesday morning. We found lots of narrow alleys, lots of shops full of merchandise - and lots of people going every which way. There is probably lots of charm and interesting stuff, but we didn't find it and concluded that you have to spend a lot more than two hours to get properly oriented in a market that size.

Arrival in Addis Ababa

2008-03-08T04:05:00.000-08:00

Monday 18 Feb - Debre Libanos to Addis Ababa - 100 km with a 10 km convoy into Addis Ababa at the finish.

Immediately up-hill from the start. Ursula's turn to pick up some sort of bug and she opted to ride the truck after starting out in the morning - we're discovering that this is the smart thing to do. Amongst the group, many are suffering various ailments - to some degree, we are all run down from five weeks of continual physical, mental, and psychological demand. We're close to 10,000 feet altitude and like runners after a marathon, immune systems are low. Rae rides to lunch, then also rides the truck to the Hotel Guenet where we will have two rest days in Addis Ababa. It is the end of a stage of the Tour, so we bid farewell to a couple of Toronto riders, Mike and Eric.

Haystacks in the shape of pyramids - completely different from any other haystack we've seen in Ethiopia.

The countryside is reminiscent of southern Alberta.

A modern hotel about 50 km outside Addis Ababa - the proprietor formerly an aeronautical engineer with Boeing - so many of the facilities we have seen have been allowed to run down - hopefully there can be more of this to attract foreign tourism and elevate the standard of living here.

Another surprise - there are public fussball and ping-pong tables in every town.

Addis Ababa must be nearby....

We assemble for the convoy into Addis Ababa

Convoy into Addis Ababa

The Jema River Gorge

2008-03-08T03:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday 17 Feb - 90 kilometres today from atop the Blue Nile Gorge to Debre Libanos - again with lots of hills. The destination had views into another gorge, the Jema river, which feeds into the Blue Nile. But the hills mercifully did not include a descent and climb of the Jema Gorge

Ever-present children - most of them just want to wave and say hello.

The Jema river gorge.

Portuguese bridge dating back to ?? with the Jema river gorge behind.

A black kite soared in the updrafts at the gorge edge while we enjoyed a beer on the patio of a hotel about half a kilometer from the camp.

The Nile Gorge

2008-03-08T02:05:00.001-08:00

Saturday 16 Feb - The Blue Nile Gorge.

A 60 km ride to Dejen on the north side of the Gorge, then an 18 km descent followed by a 22 km climb (over 1600 metres / 5000 feet vertical) to Gohatsion on the south side. Camp is on the rim at the top on the site of a Canadian NGO aid site that TdA supports.

The morning ride has enough hills to be challenging.

There is major grain production in this area, worked by hand along the road.

Cattle are used to beat the grain - nothing is mechanized.

The wind blows away the chaff.

All this wheat has been stacked by hand and will be carried by hand probably to the roadside.

Approaching the Blue Nile Gorge - over 5000 feet deep - the photo hardly does justice to the perspective.

The descent is steep and dangerous. Heavy trucks climb at about 10 km/hr. Much of the road is dirt. In Ethiopia that means very very rough, huge rocks and loose gravel, not at all forgiving. We have seen many wrecked trucks and busses, probable victims of brake failure on the descent.

The scenery is spectacular with a lot of similarity to the Grand Canyon although not the narrow vertical-walled part. Probably the most attractive scene is the Blue Nile from the bridge, and we can't take photos - the bridge is considered critical infrastructure. A new bridge is under construction. Temperature at the bottom was in the 40s, but low teens at night at the top (about 10,000 feet).

The truck is climbing on a paved surface. In the background is the dirt and rock that makes up most of the descent.

Cliffs on the north side of the Gorge.

Rae and Ursula part way down the descent - that's why we're still smiling - we sure weren't on the way up the other side.

This bird and its partner entertained us with some impromptu aerobatics before landing in a field as we descended into the Gorge.

The Blue Nile Gorge - The bridge is hidden from view. The road on the other side winds all the way up to the plateau in the centre - one tough afternoon climb.

The cows know to get into the shade as afternoon temperatures reach the 40s in the gorge.

The descent toward the new bridge under construction.

The Blue Nile - looking east up the river. We weren't allowed to take photos while crossing the bridge for security reasons. One of our group was even ushered off the bridge when he stopped to wait for his wife. So don't let the word out about there being a bridge across the Blue Nile.

The Blue Nile Gorge - we came down from the very top of this photo and eventually through the narrower valley where you can see a small section of the road.

The Blue Nile Gorge - last look at the Nile.

The Blue Nile Gorge - steep climb on very rough road.

The Blue Nile Gorge - the ascent just never ends.

The Blue Nile Gorge - Bike mechanic Bucky is riding sweep today. As far as we are concerned, he's entitled to his king of the mountain jersey today.

The climb was mostly paved but there were a few kilometres of rocky dirt. It took us over four hours. Five weeks ago we crossed the Nile for the first time. Now we bid it farewell.

Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa - part 2

2008-03-08T01:37:00.000-08:00

Friday 15 Feb - Bure to another bush camp past Debre Markos.

More hills. We sure appreciate granny for inventing that little wheel on the crank. Without those low gears, it would be impossible. Camp is at the top of a long steep ascent through a village. The kids remain persistent - "gimme your money" - "where are you go" (they seldom understand the reply) - "money money money money money" - "gimme your clothes" - "pen, pen" (the kid has a pen in his hand). The demand for handouts is onerous - it is constant and repeated and forceful - demands, not requests. There is stone-throwing (stones the size of baseballs) and stick-swinging (they all carry sticks). Some of our fellow riders sport significant bruises as a result. Nobody yet has any broken bones - last year someone's jaw was broken. We've seen some kids standing, stones in hand, premeditated and waiting to throw them at riders. Kindness has been repaid by stone-throwing. Our Ethiopian riders tell us that we don't want to know what some of the kids (teens mainly) are saying. Of course we know that most of these kids are looking forward to tough lives. Food, health, education, and opportunity are all lacking in this over-populated country.

Water is still carried long distances by young and old, most often by the females.

There are lots of cattle. Beef is reportedly exported to Saudi Arabia.

When it's 30+ degrees and the sun is directly overhead, the destination may be Addis Ababa, but the short-term is a coke, hopefully cold.

The staff all work on our meals, even Tour d'Afrique founder Henry Gold.

Melvin drives one of the trucks and prepares meals when he gets into camp.

Miles is the chef and mastermind behind the menus, nutrition, and how to purchase it all locally as the trucks leapfrog ahead of us.

Bike mechanic Luke also pitches in with the food preparation.

Jeff is our other Zimbabwean driver who also prepares dinner.

Here we find Luke fixing someone's bike - he and Buckie keep us on the road.

Interesting trees nearby the campsite.

Ursula and Liz (trainee leader) with kids who appeared out of the woods and followed us on the walk.

Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa - Part 1

2008-03-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

Thursday 14 Feb - The first of five riding days from Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa. Today is to a bush camp near Bure.

First riding day after a really nice and needed rest. 160 km with lots of hills, so it was a tough enough day. Rae felt better refreshed than he'd been since the start, but it turned out to be the day for him to bonk and come into camp totally drained, stomach not at all good that night. Imodium to the rescue.

People are on the move constantly all along the road.

Cow dung is collected as fuel.

Sheep wander the road too... when and where they want.

These rather large geese feed in the fields.

Colourful bird on the roadside wires.

Left-overs from the 1980s-90s civil strife are not infrequent along the road. Whenever you stop to take pictures, kids materialize instantly out of nowhere.

Stop for a coke or a coffee and there is an instant audience that literally has to be pushed away. It's difficult for us to adjust to how little space they give you.

Infants are frequently carried by youngsters that are only a few years older, such is the heirarchy of family responsibility... and unfortunately a symptom of Ethiopia's over-population.

Sunset at camp near Bure.

Khartoum to Gonder, Ethiopia

2008-03-05T06:54:00.001-08:00

Khartoum to Gonder, Ethiopia - six riding days - Monday 4 Feb to Saturday 9 Feb. Hard surface roads for four days in Sudan, then two days of really tough dirt and rock roads in Ethiopia.

Monday - 140 km with a 12 km police-escort out of Khartoum - and apolice escort is done here with sirens wailing the whole time.

Not an encouraging day - a lot of headwind - garbage and plastic bags everywhere so not at all scenic. And we're hitting the heat - close to 40 today and mid-forties for the next four days.

We finished okay today and had a very pleasant surprise to find sand and relatively clean water on the banks of the Nile about 500 metres from the campsite. Here we are modeling our galabayas after a swim in the Nile and getting cleaned up.

Camp itself was an area that is wandered by cows and goats. You know what they leave behind so careful where you step. And thorns!

Tuesday - to another desert camp. We made 145 km in 45 degree heat helped by some soft drink breaks. This is typical of these rest places.

The type of construction for the local population changed and the villages looked a bit nearer. The scenery benefitted from the appearance of some hills. Other than that it could have been a very flat very dry place anywhere.

We got into camp and found Melvin getting the afternoon soup and snack ready.

Wednesday - another 140 km with tough headwinds. Landscape was essentially plains with lots of trees around but not much sign of where they get there water from. There must be a wetter season sometime.

And the villages really looked nice with their thatch construction.

Ursula had a couple of flat tires. That delayed us enough that we stopped at lunch and rode to camp on the lunch truck. The second flat was really the first flat for the second time, problem being that the glueless patches that work really well in Canada don't like the heat. The glue melts. Temperature was over 45 in the sun.

Tour leader Duncan just smiles and says nobody said it was going to be easy and went on to brief about how tomorrow wouldn't be easier.

Thursday - our last day in Sudan. 150 km today and still over 40 in the shade, and lots of headwind. Mercifully we were able to stay with a peleton for a bit of that.

Then the retaining nut backed off Rae's cassette. Got it back on and tightened it by hand but avoided the two small gears to be safe (not that Rae could generate the necessary speed to use them anyway).

We had a friendly escort from the Sudanese military who followed us for a while with this jeep with a forward firing machine gun in the back. I guess they didn't want us to turn around and stay in Sudan.

We crossed the border - formalities signing out first with the Sudanese police then with immigration. Then getting through Ethiopian immigration - some waited a couple of hours to get their passports processed. We also got our first beer in over two weeks - Sudan is dry in more ways than one. The border is at a river - nice new bridge leads from the paved Sudan road to the dust and dirt and rock Ethiopian road into the village of Matema which like all these villages is teeming with people and donkeys and cattle, trucks and carts parked anywhere and everywhere. Friendly people, but you have to watch the kids - they'll steal anything that isn't bolted down.

Friday - 100 km on dirt and rock and dust all day. When we say dust, we mean unbelievable amounts of dust. The road was so rough that anything over about 12 km/hour was impossible for us.

And the heat was again 45 degrees. We got slowed down by another flat for Ursula, then later the heat was too much so we called it a day at the lunch truck.

The day had its merits. The scenery in Ethiopia is quite lovely.

Starting to get into to hills somewhat like parts of the US southwest.

Many homes looking much like those in southern Sudan.

Villages typically have all sorts of buildings with corrugated steel roofs and either stick and thatch or mud-brick sides. And dust everywhere.

People and donkeys everywhere. Dust doesn't bother them.

We were glad we didn't try to finish. Not only the road conditions and heat, but we're now into hills and gradients as much as 13 percent. Camp was again a field shared with the animals.

It was near a village that doesn't have any electricity although projects are in work to change that.

Saturday - Riding conditions pretty much same as yesterday but more hills. We opted to ride the lunch bus to the lunch stop - took them two and a half hours to cover 60 km - and ride to camp from there.

Early morning, a look into the valley to where we were going and all you see is dust.

All along the route, people were making their way to a village, perhaps 6 or 8 km away. Most on foot, perhaps carrying a single rooster that they will presumably barter in the market for something else.

Others with donkeys laden with some sort of goods.

Villages as usual are busy. Shops everywhere. Always lots of inventory on display. How to they eke out an existence?

And if there are taxis, albeit pulled by donkeys, there must be customers.

And relatively rugged beauty to the area.

Lots of agriculture and there must be water sources because there are rivers which provide for irrigation as well as being places to wash clothes, people, and cars.

End of the day - we ride into Gonder on a paved road and do an Alp d'Huez-like climb to a hotel to either camp or get a room.

We're lucky. We get a room. We get a shower, first one in three weeks. The run-off looks like our bathtub at home after we've washing the dog after the dog.

Sunday is a rest day. Rest doesn't mean rest. Rest means you don't ride. Instead you clean and service bicycles, do laundry (we're letting the hotel do that), and all the other housekeeping.

Two riding days to Bahir Dar for a rest day, then four riding days to Addis Ababa.

Khartoum, Sudan

2008-02-03T06:44:00.001-08:00

Jan 28 - A rest day in Dongola - an opportunity to clean ourselves. Our daily use gear, sleeping bags, tent, etc, goes in a red plastic box. The red box has other uses - here as a bathtub.

Dongola is probably not on many tourist routes. It has lots of commerce, as do all the other little places. I am always amazed at the quantity of stock that is on display in street after street. They must sell it or they wouldn't be in business.

The local people were all pleasant. We are a novelty to them and they loved having their picture taken - they just wanted to see their photo.

I mentioned before that the campsite is the former zoo. Here is the tortoise, reportedly the last survivor from days of the zoo.

By sunset, we were pretty well packed up and ready for the 0545 wakeup call from the local mosque.

Yet another interesting question, why nice places got built and then fell into disuse. We saw it all through Egypt - buildings and facilities that seemed to have been reasonably built, but when things break, nothing seems to get repaired.

January 29 - February 1

Four days across the desert on hard surface road to Khartoum. 140-160 km per day except a bit shorter going into Khartoum since we had to convoy through.

Camps were on the desert. We actually prefer going out into the clean sand and digging our own toilet rather than using dirty broken down facilities.

Why did the chicken cross the road? How about why a herd of donkeys crossed the road in the middle of nowhere.

Jan 29 camp was beside an irrigation canal where Ursula is modelling the galabaya she purchased in Dongola. The canal was a bit muddy, but it's water so most of us had a sponge bath. Cold water.

A constant feature was the wind. Cold and strong, all the time. Hard to put up tents. Sand blowing all the time.

The sand gets into everything. I mean everything. Everybody with a camera like our little Sony or Canon where the lenses telescope in and out of the body, we're all having problems with them getting stuck with sand in the works. A few of them have bitten the dust... no pun intended... maybe this is where the expression came from. Luckily, ours still work. The tent zippers all had to be cleaned and lubed in Khartoum.

Every time a truck goes by, it feels like you are hit by a bunch of needles. Mornings are very cold, down in single digits. Afternoons, the sun is hot and the wind is still cold.

The day before Khartoum, we camped near some sort of assembly point for camels and other animals, possibly before they get shipped off to market somewhere.

First of February was the ride through Khartoum. We assembled on the outskirts of Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, and were escorted through 35 km of what would otherwise have been chaotic traffic.

It was quite the experience. The police stopped all the traffic for us. Sirens howling from the front and back the whole time. And the local folk just seemed to take it as if we were the Tour de France going through.

February 2-3 - two days rest in Khartoum.

The highlight was cruising on the Nile to the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. They both rather appear to be the same colour of brown but apparently there is a difference in mineral content because of the different geological structures they come through..

Khartoum itself doesn't have quite as organized a downtown as most cities. There are a few modern buildings like this egg-shaped building that we think is a hotel. In between are tumble-down old single story shacks.

The campsite is south of town in the National Camping Residence that also houses other people including a couple of athletes in training for the Beijing Olympics. The facility is fairly clean.

Tomorrow - February 4 - is the start of six days of riding about 140 km a day, four days on hard surface to the Ethiopian border, then two days of gravel to Gonder.

We'll be in Ethiopia till Febraury 20 after which everything is a bit of an unknown since the political situation in Kenya has resulted in a decision not to ride through; rather we will have to fly over to Tanzania while the trucks (with the bicycles) will drive through.

Photos - Wadi Halfa to Dongola

2008-02-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

A few km of hard surface and then some really rough road. 120 km a day on this stuff was work.

Not much traffic except the local busses. There always seems to be somewhere for people to sit. The roof is either stacked with luggage or with the overflow crowd or both.

We camped on the desert

but the landscape sometimes looked more appropriate for the moon.

We were almost always greeted with friendly waves. The women were colourfully dressed and clean.

But it was four hard days of desert and sand

Rae models the latest galabaya style while cleaning the bikes

And we are always up and ready to go at sunrise.

Photos - Ferry to Wadi Halfa

2008-02-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

Loading the ferry is all by hand. Trucks carry unbelievable loads, and ferries apparently carry an unbelievable number of truckloads.

Accommodation on board is the first class deck, shared with the freight and the bicycles.

Thanks to a late departure, the sun was up going past Abu Simbel

11 ABU SIMBEL

After all the formalities of immigration and customs clearance, we convoy through Wadi Halfa to camp beside the football field and get treated to the full moon rising.

We had an impromptu day off becuae the support trucks were delayed. A local Nubian (a chemical engineer, trained in Germany and Toronto) gave us a talk about Nubian history and showed us his home.

Photos - Luxor - Idfu - Aswan

2008-02-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Rest Day in Luxor: Temple of Hapshepsut

The scale of the statues is evident from the size of Ursula

Luxor Temple

Sunset on the Nile in Luxor

On the road to an overnight at Idfu

Action in the town centre of Idfu, en route from Luxor to Aswan

and camped at Aswan

Dongola, Sudan

2008-01-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

We're starting to lose track of days.

Day 10 - 21 Jan - It rained overnight - a very rare occurrence here. Today is the Ferry from Aswan - we convoyed across the low dam, then back across the high dam, to get to the ferry terminal. Boarding for us was as unchaotic as could reasnably be hoped. After we were on (about 1230), there was truck after truck, loaded three times higher then the cab top, all unloaded by hand and every box hand-carried onto the ferry, that plus all the local travellers. Departure was four hours late, at 2000. That was a good thing because had we been on time, we would not have gone past Abu Simbal in daylight the next day.

Day 11 - 22 Jan - arrive Wadi Halfa at 1400 after a fairly relaxed ferry ride. Immigration and Customs formalities took a while. The building was bright and clean, people friendly, pace a whole lot more subdued than Egypt. Convoyed about 3 km to camp, getting there with about an hour till sunset. The support trucks have not made it - they were on a different barge - the ferry doesn't take vehicles. One vehicle was there - one that had come up from South Africa and they had arranged for a meal of beans and goat cheese to be brought in locally - it was quite tasty and we all got to bed in good time. Sunset is now about 1830 since there was another hour time change - we're now GMT/UTC +3.

Day 12 - 23 Jan - still no trucks - Lake Nasser was rough during our crossing and apparently when it's like that, the barges just pull in and stop. We get an extra day of rest. The atmosphere in town was just so very relaxed compared to Egypt. We once again had clear skies. We are told that the rain of two days ago is a matter of significant concern here since it damages the sundried brick. A local Nubian - chemical engineer by profession - he has studied in Germany and in Toronto - came to camp and gave us some Nubian history, then showed us his home. Back to camp - vehicles have arrived - the full moon rises, and we have an early start tomorrow - we have to make up the lost day.

Day 13 - 24 Jan - Mornings are about 10 deg. Afternoons mid-to-high twenties. Easy 70 km on good roads this morning. That all changed after lunch. The road was rock and sand and our speed dropped to barely double-digit. But we made it. We hardly saw anyone all day - lots of barren but beautiful desert scenery.

Day 14 - 25 Jan - The plan was 110 km. It took us almost 5 hours to cover the 60 km to the lunch stop. Deep sand in many places meant we did a lot of walking, even though our tire pressures are now quite low - Ursula was still pretty strong at lunch - Rae was dragging, but we decided to keep going, see how far we could get - we were sharing tail-end with another couple. Well Rae's bicycle made the decision. His front tire was flat after lunch - the last of the desert tires - failed at the base of the valve stem just like the other three. We took that as a sign and hopped on the truck for the rest of the trip to camp. Very slow travelling because the roads continued to be very bad. Camp was beside the Nile so we got a sponge bath.

Day 15 - 26 Jan - Another 110 km in even worse roads with lots more sand to push through. But the afternoon rest yesterday was a good thing and we did well till lunch. Afternoon was a bit of a struggle but we got in okay, not even the last ones. A lot of people are having difficulty with the rough roads and heat.

Day 16 - Today - 27 Jan - 86 km today to Dongola. The idea was to stick together as a loose group but that idea fell apart within the first few km. Ursula and Rae got separated so Ursula reported Rae missing. Rae in the meantime had gone back part way to look for Ursula and when he couldn't see anybody at all, he continued down the road where four other riders had gone and which most closely matched last night's instructions. Rae rode totally alone, in sight of no one, for about an hour before catching up on the four ahead. The police eventually 'found' Rae and the other four who were not officially missing, and they had them wait until the rest of the group caught up. Somehow, the main group was off on some much sandier road than the one intended, so Ursula had a few falls and less fun than Rae in the morning. The last 20 km was paved surface, really quite marvellous after the last four days. Caught a ferry across to Dongola and 3 more kilometres to camp in the town zoo. Looks like at one time it was a very nice place with playground for kids and a nice cafe-restaurant. It was all fallen pretty much into disuse. The only remaining zoo resident is a big tortoise that wanders the place at will - it's his. There is water so we all had baths in the red boxes and then got hosed down (warm water) so we're a bit cleaner. Okay - none of you know what a red box is - it is a plastic box that each rider uses on a daily basis to store camping equipment and clothing that is used on riding days - everything else stays in a 'permanent bag' which is on top of the truck under canvas until rest days. Tomorrow is a rest day.

No facility for working photos, so you'll have to wait till Khartoum for that.

Day 9 - Aswan, Egypt

2008-01-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

Day 8 - Luxor to Idfu where we camped in the football stadium. No real grass. Lots of real dust. Shower and bathroom facilities. Neither of us ventured into the shower because we had the choice to stay with the dirt we knew. We had no choice about the WC, but if we had, we would have dug our own hole out back.

120 km ride today. More kids lining the street. More stones, spitting, sugar cane swings, etc. Don't get us wrong, there are a lot of very nice Egyptians along the route who encourage us and smile and greet us. But the experience is spoiled by the others. We are fed up with hearing money money money and with kids that essentially crowd us over into the oncoming lane of traffic. Traffic of course is utter chaos. One never has any idea of which side of the street the donkey carts will be on. The good thing is that drivers are very good and seem to keep out of our way.

Day 9 - Idfu to Aswan - another 120 km. We're well into the routine of crawling into the sleeping bag at 1930 in the evening and rising at 0500 or thereabouts when the calls for prayer are blasted over loudspeakers from the local mosque. The support vehicles left last night to catch the truck barge to Sudan so breakfast was served by a locally-hired entrepreneur - how do you serve 60 people from one hot-dog (or Egyptian equivalent) cart? It was a good breakfast but slow in coming.

Same complaints as yesterday about kids - but today is the last riding day in Egypt, so it will be Sudanese kids in a couple of days. We convoy to the ferry tomorrow morning for what will probably be another unique experience - it is overnight and we're told that the facilities will be almost as good as the Idfu Stadium.

We just had a nice dinner, complete with a bottle of Egyptian red wine, on the Corniche overlooking the Nile. No more alcohol until Ethiopia - Sudan is dry.

Also, reportedly no more internet until Khartoum in about two weeks.

Day 6 - Arrived in Luxor

2008-01-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

Day 5 - 140 km to a desert camp approaching Qena. First 40 km is all climbing. Wind is cold, fortunately only occasionally a headwind. A few more climbs before lunch at 60 km. Then a pleasant relaxed 40 km to a refreshment point, flat, generally okay wind. 40 km to camp - pice of cake - no such luck - last 40 km uphill and into a strong wind. Another rather barren desert campsite beside the road. Tonight would be the coldest yet. We're weary. Our bums are suffering.

Day 6 - 95 km past Qena and into Luxor. Should be easy. From Qena most of the way to Luxor there are kids everywhere, all yelling and waving, some right beside the road wanting high-fives. Most are kids. Some are mean. Not just heavy-hitting high-fives but a couple of riders were grabbed and nearly pulled off the bike. Somebody swung a stick at one rider, maybe trying to get it into the spokes. Meantime traffic is going by in its usual chaotic fashion. Truck frivers seem to give us good space though. Then the convoys of tourist bussed, police escort, very fast. Arrive in Luxor at noon and get hotel room and a hot shower.

Along the way... the kids

And high-fives....

An elderly Egyptian chasing Ursula on his bike.

Notice the satellite dish on the roof behind the kids.

Evening excitement - a sail on a felucca on the Nile at sunset - about twenty of us - got started a bit late, felucca essentially becalmed so they got a tow from a powered sightseeing boat. Left the sail up. Control a bit didgy. Eventually we run into another boat. All very frantic but no damage and lots of fun.

Friday was a day of rest in Luxor - did the ancient sites - all wonderful stuff done 3000 years ago without modern technology. Rather impressive how wll organized the ancient folk were although I doubt that the builders on temples in ancient Thebes were considered comfortable and affluent. No pictures from the sites yet, but here are some from the first four days:

Let the expedition begin - up on a hill behind the pyramids.

The first flat of the entire tour, ten km from the pyramids.

day two - somewhere in the desert....

Day 4 - near Hurghada

Day 4 - Safaga Egypt

2008-01-15T05:16:00.000-08:00

We've made it through the first four days. 544 total kilometers so far.

Day 1 - departure from Cairo - ten km from the hotel to the pyramids, then about twenty-five km back through Giza and around Cairo on the ring road. Air quality terrible. Noise too - everybody honks horns. Rae was the first in the entire Tour to have a flat tire... now that's a great start - didn't even get to the east side of the Nile. Ursula had her flat at km 40. Both were the fancy new desert tires - they failed at the base of the valve, so a tire change both times.

After that, there was a long steady climb eastward, general direction of Suez, but we skirted Suez the following day. Somebody sent us an email with the Cairo forecast for Saturday and said temperature 15, wind southwest at 25. Let us tell you, it seemed like a hundred and twenty five. Last year, the lady's top racer did it in under 3-1/2 hours. She is on the tour again this year and it took her over 6 hours - and that was just the time after lraving the pyramids. The total length for the day was about 140 km. Unfortunately by sunset we still had ten km to go so we had to get picked up and we lost the EFI (Every F---ing inch) status - takes some pressure off for the rest of the tour.

Then pitching the tent in the dark was another great challenge. We even missed dinner.

Day 2 - it has to get better - up at 0600, and by the time we got organized we were about the last out of camp. Just 168 km today. JUST... yesterday was the first time we'd been over about 105. The wind was still strong and cold, but fortunately after the first 25 km, it was a tail wind. Then another flat for Ursula - the third of our desert tires, same thing as before. After lunch, we didn't think there was much hope for finishing, but to out surprise, we were able to generate a cruise speed of 30-40 km/hr for the entire afternoon so we finished just after 1600 - the last ones to go the distance and arrive in camp - quite a few abandoned voluntarily en route.

We got dinner and we were better organized. Pitching the tent was challenging in the gale. Sort of woke us up at regular intervals. In bedby about 2000 - it was a definite improvement on day 1.

Day 3 - 'Only' 138 km today. Up at 0530, out of camp before 0730. We're not the last to leave. Another strong cold wind, but it was a tail wind. Into camp shortly after 1300. The tent really nearly blew away today with only softish ground to anchor it. Got down to the Red Sea for a sponge bath. Water too cold to swim. Got supper. Food tends to be some sort of stew, very tasty, rice or potato, and some veggie. Served with fine red wine... sorry about that... served with water coffee or tea. Temperature not bad until sunset, then it was freezing - that's been the way it is every day so far. In bed at 1930. Hard to sleep with the wind and the trucks on the highway.

Day 4 - Up at 0530 and on the road before 0730. We skirt by Hurghada this morning and continue to Safaga for the night. Today is only 110 km and we're finished just after 1200. We thought about it last night, thinking how absolutely wonderful it would be to do only 110 km - piece of cake - how quickly we change - just three days ago we hadn't gone that far in our lives

Safaga is a town. Burgeoning resort developments along the Red Sea to the North. Nice thing about town is there are hotels and we decided to part with $30 for a room with a bathroom that we don't have to dig in the desert and also a hot shower.

And a chance to get to an internet cafe and send this email.

How are we? Sore bums. Sore I-T bands. Ursula's knees are sore but pain manageable with Advil. Rae's hips are doing just great Ursula has a cold. We've both picked up quite a bit of sun (not a cloud in the sky). Spirits excellent.

Coming up - tomorrow we leave the Red Sea and have to go up into the hills and head to Qena. It promises to be tough - uphill and probably mostly into wind. Thursday into Luxor for a rest day on Friday.

Arrival in Cairo

2008-01-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

Monday 7 January - The flight arrived Cairo on time, no problem getting visa and through immigration, then best of all, our bicycles were already in the baggage area followed within minutes by the rest of the bags and we were on our way to the hotel within 40 minutes of landing.

Tuesday - A bit of a nostalgia walk around Cairo for Rae. Spent half-an-hour trying to find Ramses II statue. Rae pleaded that it was supposed to be in front of the train station and how could we miss something that's 200 feet tall. Turns out they removed it last year due to vibration and pollution damage. It will find a new home when a new museum is completed somewhere between Cairo and Alexandria.

Wednesday - Giza and the pyramids. The picture speaks for itself. Then it rained, believe it or not, this evening - not very warm either.

Bags are Packed, We're Ready to Go....

2008-01-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

A couple of anxious moments that were beyond our control:

the Ethiopian visas did not come through as quickly as expected. In fact, if our good friend Hermann in Ottawa had not gone personally to the embassy to retrieve our passports, we would not have had them in time to travel to Switzerland for Christmas and for Ursula's Dad's birthday.

Our flight back to Toronto from Switzerland was cancelled and we were stuck in Frankfurt for almost a day and a half, finally arriving back in Toronto near midnight the night before leaving for Cairo.

Final packing was a bit rushed and we certainly didn't do all the housekeeping that we intended before getting on the flight in Toronto on the 6th of January. By the way, anybody contemplating taking an extra bag on a flight from Toronto to Cairo should count on $225 per back for the excess baggage.

Packing the Bikes

2008-01-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

End of November - time to pack up the bikes. We have to give a lot of credit to our bicycle shop - Dukes on Queen Street West in Toronto - and in particular to Derek - for helping get the bike packed up. Here he is doing the work while Rae stood by taking pictures.

We're a little late posting this, so by now we know that the bikes arrived unblemished so the packing must have been well done - thanks Derek. And they have been reassembled and are ready to go on the road in Cairo.

Autumn - bikes and training

2007-11-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well.... not very much training. The first days out of Cairo will have to be the final training runs.

Here are the bikes - Specialized Stumpjumper hardtails.

And they've been out for a bit of training, but winter is now with us and time is short.

In keeping with the Tour d'Afrique's philosophy of giving something back to our world, Rae is hoping to contribute something for arthritis programs. He's lucky - two replacement hip joints have totally eliminated the pain and restored functional ability. If you'd like to encourage Rae on his ride, please help him raise a dollar a kilometer for arthritis research. You can do this on-line here....

www.arthritis.ca/joints/ontario/raesimpson

Ursula's focus is the continent we're exploring. The Tour d'Afrique Foundation donates bikes to health care professionals in Africa, and promotes projects that protect the environment and encourages sustainable development in the countries and locales that we ride through. Check out the website and you can support Ursula with an on-line donation....

http://www.tourdafrique.com/foundation/

Getting Started

2007-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

September already. In four months, we ought to be in Cairo getting ready for four months of bicycling the length of the African continent.

Progress to date:

Well, we've signed up and paid for the expedition
We got new bicycles that ought to be up to the task
New passports
sleeping bags and equipment
tried out the tent

And we've made the first entry to the blog.

STAY POSTED.....

.....Ursi and Rae