The World Wide Web isn't

...world wide, that is!  We have been in the back of beyond a lot of the time but even when we are not Internet access is rare.  So it has been a while and there is LOTS to catch up on in the blog.  It seems like our stay at the fancy lodge at Ngorongoro was a very long time ago; since then, we had 8 days in a row of riding, 6 of them on unpaved "roads".  I will either attach or send separately the   photos of the big trucks and buses wallowing in the mud, which is what we were doing too!  Tough riding, but I actually kind of liked it!  Yes, pavement girl has a touch of mud girl, it seems!  Once you just realize you can't possibly get any wetter or muddier, it makes everything easier.  The rain poured down, the mud squelched up and my biggest worry was that either the lunch truck or the dinner truck would not be able to get through the mud or past the mired vehicles strewn all over and then what would I do with no lunch, no dinner and no tent??  But the amazing drivers are old hands at rainy season driving and all was well, I did not miss a meal and we had our tent to protect us from the downpour overnight.

I have never seen it rain like it does here!  The best part is, you don't get cold and it doesn't seem to ever be a lashing wind-driven kind of rain, then once it stops, you eventually dry because the sun is HOT.  But the humidity is a bit of an factor now, so instead of nice dry tents every morning like it was all the way from Egypt through Ethiopia, we now have to bundle up a soggy tent, fly and ground sheet every morning.  Dew magically appears at dusk, unless it is already raining.  All the moisture kind of adds to the aroma around camp, so I am glad we now have a couple of days off in Lilongwe, Malawi to properly wash some of our well used cycling clothes!

So far, my favorite country to cycle through has been Tanzania.  The land is gorgeous and so varied...nice rolling hills, fun climbs, great long downhills and lovely people.  Our last day in Tanzania was the best - a good climb out of town, then a 20 km downhill through a million banana plants and acres and acres of tea plantations.  Then it flattened out and we were at the Malawi border.  As soon as we crossed the border the temperature seemed to go up about 10 degrees and the humidity might have doubled, if that is possible.  Fortunately, our camp was on Lake Malawi, which just seemed cooler.  Fun fact:  ( although I have not verified this, the guy on the beach trying to sell us hand carved keychains wouldn't lie to me, would he?) Lake Malawi is known as the calendar lake...it is 365 kms long, 52 kms wide and has 12 rivers draining into it.

This was a very short section, we now have 2 rest days here in Lilongwe, then when we start riding on Wednesday, we cross into Zambia.  Today is Easter Sunday, and when we arrived at our hotel and were quaffing a well earned beer, one of our group indignantly noted "Easter here is all about RELIGION, not chocolate!"  But I had ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert so that filled the chocolate requirement for now.  Wayne and I are still diligently working on fattening up - we are a lean and sinewy pair, someone told me today I would have to see about putting some pleats in Wayne's bike shorts to take up the excess material.  We're still healthy and riding every kilometre though which we feel lucky about, quite a few riders are fighting persistent stomach bugs.  I hope that continues

Photo 1: St Patricks Day fun, the three of us on a local's bike, one requirement for the scavenger hunt

Photo 2:  a bit of mud, this was the very first day with mud and it was mild compared with what came later...

Photo 3:  traffic stuck on the muddy road, and this is a MAIN road!

Photo 4:  me in Tanzania, after a ridiculously long day of getting pounded to pieces on rough roads, but I made it.  Sandy and I thought the hard part was over here, hence the big smile, but there was still about 25 kms of smaller climbs left...

It's Greater in the Crater!

Photo 1 - Lazy Lions

Photo 2 - Hyena Chilling

Photo 3 - Rare sighting of Two Headed Rhino

Photo 3 - Zebra Family

Well today is the day Trish is trusting me with the blog. I will attempt to be as eloquent as she can be.

We last rode on Tuesday. It was a challenging day as we had a morning of head wind as we rode into what seemed to be an optical illusion all morning. All of the terrain looked flat but it was a gradual uphill to lunch at 70km. After lunch we went over the shoulder of     Mount Meru then down into the city of Arusha Tanzania. Arusha is at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro but we have yet to spot the monster as it is shrouded in clouds most of the time. We have had a three day break  here & have taken the opportunity to visit the Serena Resort Lodge at Ngorongoro crater. This is a sister property to the Serena Tent Camp near Nanyuki Kenya. We have enjoyed our stay here immensely, the rooms are first rate & all perch on the rim of the crater so this morning we watched the sunrise in bed through the wall to wall windows in our room. At 8:00 we ventured out on a safari into the crater. We enjoyed the entire day watching the wildlife our excellent guide found for us. We had a a box lunch at a hippo watering hole that even included hippos, though they are mostly under water it was neat to watch them surface for air as they went about their business in the pond. The crater itself is quite a sight. We are sitting about 600m above the floor but can easily see the entire 260 sq km area from the hotel. The crater is a micro ecosystem of sorts. It is the result of an eruption millions of years ago that levelled the mountain that was estimated to be over 6000m. At that height it would rival Kilimanjaro as the highest mountain in Africa. As a result the depression that remained attracted a variety of wildlife over the years. The animals are not trapped inside the crater but instead choose to live here as all of their needs, other than the small gene pool are accommodated within its confines. In about 1970 the government relocated the Masai people that herded in the area & limited access to the crater to protect the rhino population. It has been a challenge as poachers continue to take animals when they are able. As a result there are not many maybe only 20 left.  The diversity of other animals is staggering. We were treated to 14 lions, 5 rhinos (one two headed as the picture will attest to), hyenas, jackals, a lake full of flamingos, hundreds of cape buffalo & zebras. The list goes on with birds & even a small cat called a serval. All in all a fantastic experience we will treasure for years to come. 

Rainy season is just around the corner, we have had a few practice showers that are amazing to watch. Trish was pretty cold coming in last Monday as she managed to get caught by the deluge. I was in a bit earlier so I managed to get the tent up prior to our first blast. Sandy had a few flats so she came in a little later & somehow missed all of the action. We will be going out for eight days straight of off road so have changed to fatter tires. I imagine our next day off will be well deserved after such along stretch.

Yet another rest day

Okay, we HAVE been doing some cycling, yesterday was 112 km and the day before 157 km along with another border crossing, this time into Tanzania, but I want to clarify in case you may be thinking all we do is take rest days....that extra 5 days bussing and resting in Kenya due to the election makes this 3 days of rest seem especially decadent!  But we are making the best of it and this time we are pampering ourselves with a stay on the rim of Ngorongoro crater - it is absolutely amazing!  A vast expanse of green, 260 square kilometres of pristine Africa, except for the roads we will travel on tomorrow on our safari.  Every species of animal in East Africa can be found in the crater, so it is full of life! 

Tanzania is lovely, very much like the southern part of Kenya.  It looks like you could plant anything here and it would grow and flourish.  We are deep in the heart of Masai country, it is pretty cool to be cycling along and see them in their traditional dress along the side of the road then realizing some are talking on their cell phones!  Our guide/driver told us there are about 25000 Masai, and each man can own about 200 cattle so there are fat cattle everywhere too.

We are now past the halfway point on this journey, we figure about 5500 kilometres of cycling and it has been interesting to watch the sectional riders who joined us in Nairobi get into the groove.  The poor things started with the two days mentioned above, and our first late afternoon in camp we experienced our first rain.  Unfortunately, I ended up out in the worst of the monsoon and when I rode splashily into camp I was pretty sure I had could not have been more drenched.  Right when I got there, the wind picked up, ripped some branches out of the trees which landed on tents, luckily the tents were unoccupied and not damaged, just very wet.  Fortunately, my thoughtful camp valet was waiting for me with a dry-ish towel so I peeled off some of the wet layers then watched the rest of the storm from one of the camp shelters.  Oh that's another thing, these sectional riders may feel overwhelmed but at least they get actual campgrounds with toilets, showers which might even be warm and grass! to pitch tents on.  They will figure things out though,  just as we did in the beginning.

There's a crater for me to look out at, so more later!

Nairobi

We arrived in Nairobi today, but not on our bikes, unfortunately.  As of last night when we went to bed, the plan was to ride 50 km, have lunch, then put the bikes and us on trucks and drive into Nairobi.  However, at camp breakfast, our fearless leader Ciaran announced we would not be riding at all, due to the election results being announced at 11:00 am today.  That made for a potentially volatile situation in the TDAs eyes so they decided to err on the  side of caution and not let us ride.  Probably the right decision, but we will be happy to get back to "normal" riding schedule after tomorrow which is a scheduled rest day.

Things were very quiet as we drove in, lots and lots of businesses closed up tight, which can't be normal on a Saturday.  The vote results (all of a sudden I am interested in Kenya politics) were very close, the leader had a slim 50.07 % of the total...he needed 50% so no doubt the other guy will be asking for a recount or filing some kind of protest.  But all the red shirted supporters of Kenyatta are happily celebrating regardless.  I am celebrating with a hair appointment tomorrow morning!  And right now I am continuing in my weight gain endeavor, my dinner was a delicious blue cheeseburger with fries, and I am now finishing off a big slab of cheesecake at the cafe next door, using the good wi-if here at the very Western style mall conveniently located about a 10 minute walk from camp.

I left Wayne at camp, to deal with the contents of our two lockers in case it rains.  The rainy season is due to start next week ( I am amazed they can predict it so precisely but every day for the past week the clouds have been building up more and more) so we didn't want to both be at the mall, oblivious to the weather with everything we own strewn all over the grass.  Everyone with a locker on the right side of the bus had to empty lockers today so they can re-weld the frame holding the lockers.  Something about it coming loose on the corrugated roads!

I left Wayne at the camp

Heaven on earth!

I have lost quite a bit of weight in the last couple of months with all the pedalling we've done...but in the last 24 hours I have been making a concerted effort to put it all back on. Two days ago while we were shopping in Nanyuki, we passed a chemist's shop with a big scale out front, so Sandy and I decided to blow the five shillings each and see how much we weighed. I was down about 13 pounds to 127, which explains why I now look like a scrawny, bony 12 year old. With wrinkles, and I won't even go into what my hair looks like.

However, this lodge stay may transform me! Yesterday's lunch and dinner were sumptuous and breakfast this morning started with bananas in chocolate sauce and a mimosa to tide me over until the eggs and bacon and grilled tomato arrived. All of us TDAers made a serious dent in the cheese board, having been cheese deprived for much too long.

All this was after the best shower so far in Africa...in our tent! Hot AND cold running water, the abundant shower water disappeared quickly down a drain instead of going all over the floor, the toilet flushes and has a seat! And there are TWO rolls of toilet paper, fluffy white towels and even that rarest of amenities, facecloths!

Yesterday afternoon's game drive was beyond incredible. I was thrilled with what we saw...I don't think I can adequately describe what we saw - there was so much. Black rhinos, white rhinos, elephants, giraffes, lions, impalas, gazelles, jackals, baboons, Cape buffalo....the list goes on. Our South African friend Bridget tells us we don't know how lucky we are to have seen so much on one drive. Our guide was fantastic.

So all in all, I am a happy girl! Tomorrow, we get back on the bikes for 2 days ride to Nairobi, another rest day, 2 more days ride to Arusha in Tanzania, with 3 days off where we might just do this whole safari experience again!

Sent from my iPad

Photos from the watering hole

The giraffe having a drink, zebras at the watering hole and our palace of a tent.  And as a bonus, this is what Wayne looked like for the equator party last night...just visualize the broomstick he borrowed from the doorman in his hand for a "spear".

Living the good life at the Sweetwater Lodge

Bike ride? What bike ride? Just leave me here, with my luxury tent, busy watering hole just down the path and a gourmet lunch which has left me wondering how I will be able to waddle over to the jeep in a bit here to go for our late afternoon game drive. And I thought our Nanyuki hotel was luxurious!

The only thing our accommodations have in common with the little backpacking tent we set up every night on the road is the walls are fabric. The bathroom is tiled, there is hot and cold running water, power, robes and slippers, you get the idea...this is nicer than nearly every hotel room I have ever stayed in.

We've been here about 4 hours and have seen hundreds of animals....lots of deer family representatives - Thompsons gazelle, waterbuck, impala, loads of birds including a huge stork (no baby slung in its beak, so much for that myth), zebras including one baby one, lots of warthogs including a very comical little baby and, and, a GIRAFFE! Amazing, I am quite enchanted with all this and to top it off, there is Mt Kenya resplendent in the background.

Photos to follow...



Sent from my iPad

Photos

First photo - Wayne entertaining us in the breakfast line

Second photo - fixer upper special at a comfort stop on the bus ride

Third photo - election rally...all the orange t shirts supporting the same candidate

Fourth photo - the view from the bus, day 2

Fifth photo - whenever the bus stopped, the opportunities for shopping started!

Equator party tonight!

We are 3 km from the equator here in Nanyuki, so today we are thinking a trip to the actual spot is in order. We will retest our equator skills in egg balancing, arm strength and view the coreolis effect, just like in Ecuador. Tonight there is a TDA equator party, so I have to think of a suitable costume - Wayne says he has an idea in mind for himself, I have cautioned him it is NOT naked cycling day yet!

Tomorrow we are venturing out to a lodge for an indulgent overnight stay in a big fancy tent and some game viewing. One of our group is there right now and had to come back to this hotel to pick up something he had forgotten and raved about the wildlife he had seen already so we should be able to check off a few of the big 5!

The day before yesterday on the bus, I was thrilled when we spotted our first ELEPHANTS! They were magnificent, huge, healthy looking specimens, amazing tusks, and looking as happy as could be in their wilderness home. We also saw an ostrich, ground hornbills (both huge birds) and one zebra but it was dead so I am not counting it officially.

Results are coming in for the election, we went out last night into the town for some food and all was peaceful, although we hear that has not been the case everywhere in Kenya. We'll see what the next few days bring.

Sent from my iPad

Wayne has not lost his sense of humor!

In Kenya!

....and as someone said today, the UN may have left due to potential election unrest, but the TDA is here! I don't know if that is true about the UN, but the possibility of trouble meant we covered 500+ kilometres by bus (and this was NOT a Red Arrow coach, the AC was most of the windows opened, but then the dust came in, more than half the distance was on "roads" which were corrugated, deep sand, full of holes or all that together) but now we are in a very charming town called Nanyuki where we will chill for 5 days to catch up with the schedule, then, we hope, continue on our bikes. We were bussed through that northern Kenya section, with armed military guys on each vehicle for protection, to avoid issues which may have been made worse by the election, which is today. Our first bus day we saw some huge rallies in what seemed to be small towns, there is a real feeling of this election mattering very much to everyone so I think it is good we are out of the northern region.

I tried writing some draft posts but they never did get sent so I will catch up on what is new. First, a correction, we are done 2 of 8 sections, not 6. We are now doing "Meltdown Madness", so called due to 1. the unrelentingly bumpy lava rock which I am pretty happy we didn't have to ride through, 2. The heat with no chance of shade all day long, and 3. the fact that some riders have a meltdown due to the above. Even though we didn't have to ride it, I did manage to get ahead of myself and have a meltdown back on one our last days in Ethiopia. Yes, those infuriating children finally wore me down, and there I was, walking my bike along the road, a pathetic sight, sobbing pitifully - I had reached my breaking point. Just one too many stones hitting the target and yelling wasn't making me feel better any more. I had begun the day feeling tired and crabby and looking back I am sure I was dehydrated as it was one of those nights where we were lying in the tent, sweating buckets, hoping for any little bit of breeze which never did blow.

I managed to make it to lunch, but had no appetite so I wasn't too surprised when about an hour and a half into the afternoon ride I could feel myself starting to fade. I got slower and slower and finally told Sandy, that's it, I am done for today. I knew I just didn't have it in me to tackle the long hill or the unpaved section coming up. So we sat in the shade and waited for the lunch truck and that is it, no EFI for me, but the funny thing is, once I decided not to go on, EFI didn't matter any more. I was hyper aware of EFI while I still had it, but now that I don't I haven't given it a thought. About 5 minutes after we arrived at camp on the lunch truck, I puked up the large bottle of water I had just glugged down and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening horizontally. After all that, I gave myself the day off the next day and had the experience of riding the dinner truck to camp along with a few other invalids. I felt much better after my day off and have been perfectly fine ever since. I think it was dehydration and heat exhaustion...lots of days it gets into the 40's in the afternoon so oral rehydration salts have become my new essential.