Across Africa Part 2: South from Nairobi
The initial plan was to set out from Nairobi several days after arriving - a sufficient amount of time to unbox the bike and get my head ready for a long ride across the continent. I’d already spent almost two months cycling in Kenya earlier in the year, so was keen this time to just ride south into Tanzania, a short distance of only a few hundred kilometres.
I had booked a return ticket from Luanda four months ahead. The date was purely arbitrary, but four months seemed long enough to cover what I calculated to be around 5000-6000km of cycling to reach the Angolan capital.
At the same time I didn’t want to be restricted to an end date, which would dictate the pace that I travelled and consciously be on my mind while cycling across the continent. Given the choice, I’d much rather travel with no fixed end date.
To that end I decided within a few days of arriving in Nairobi to forget about the return date on my flight ticket. I had paid a little extra for a flexible date change, so would just decide over the following months when I wanted to fly out of Angola.
With that decision easily made, it was two weeks later that I said goodbye to my friends in Nairobi and rode south towards the Tanzanian border. The photos here cover those first few weeks.
Route south into Tanzania. There are 5 international borders between Kenya and Tanzania. I crossed at Loitokitok, a small town overlooked by Africa’s highest and most famous mountain. This was the second time I crossed the border here - the first back in 2011. Click on the map to view in more detail.
Athens, and the logistics of taking a bicycle and box to the airport. A taxi would have been the easiest way, but I’d made it into Athens two months prior to this by unboxing my bicycle at the airport, then transporting it into the city by train, alongside the empty box I wanted to retain (easier than lifting a box carrying a bicycle!). A €30-40 saving, so here I was doing it in return, aided by someone who was staying at the same hostel as me and also headed to the airport. When he offered to help lift the empty box on and off the train, while I wheeled my loaded bicycle, I was quick to say yes! I gave myself plenty of time before check-in to then box the bicycle at the airport.
Qatar airways provide a generous 2x23kg weight allowance for flights to Africa, allowing the bicycle to be one piece of checked baggage with no extra cost. My bicycle in the box weighs around 20-22kg (depending on the weight of the box itself) and the bicycle luggage in a laundry bag another 15-20kg. I wish all airlines would be as simple and generous to fly with a bicycle.
Just under 16kg of checked baggage, so plenty of weight spare. Additionally I had another 5-7kg in hand luggage.
And relax! It’s always a relief to collect the box and baggage from the other end and arrive at your destination safely; on this occasion my friend’s home just outside Nairobi.
Unnecessary clothes for Africa. Having flown to Kenya from Greece in December, where I had just spent two months cycling, I didn’t need to be carrying this 1kg bundle of clothes anymore. I feel that anything that I carry on my bike that doesn’t get used in a month of cycling, probably isn’t a necessity, although I did carry a down jacket over the following 7 months, which only got worn once in Angola, and that’s not because the weather was too cold! I also carried a waterproof jacket, which had minimal use in Africa, but I felt necessary to take.
Dog sitting duty. My friends were on holiday when I arrived in Nairobi and had asked if I could look after their 2 dogs while away.
Their house was a bit too cosy for 2 adults, 5 kids, 2 dogs and me, so when they returned and invited me to stay around for Christmas Day, I found this nearby Airbnb and shifted.
A quiet, simple, secure and self contained little wood cabin for around £10 per night. Perfect.
Christmas Day. I’ve spent a number on the road alone, but when the invite came to stay for a festive meal with familiar faces, it was an easy decision to make.
The ideal gift. Functional and lightweight. A memorable Christmas.
First night out of Nairobi. After 2 weeks in the capital I rode south a few days after Christmas Day and checked into this simple and clean room for £6 a night. I rarely ever book accommodation online when travelling in Africa as most of the places I stay don’t have online booking systems, which are usually more expensive when they do exist anyway.
Post-ride rehydration, or rather calorie replacement. Kenya’s most popular beer. A 500ml bottle sells for around £1.50-£2.00, which is expensive as beer prices go in Africa.
Lunch stop. Most simple establishments calling themselves Hotels in Kenya are just places to eat.
With fresh food cooked over a charcoal brazier. A plate of beans, cabbage and chapati. Simple, nutritious and cheap (around £0.60-0.80).
First camp of the trip. I had planned to camp wild in what was a wildlife conservancy, but a local Maasai warned me about wild animals and invited me to pitch my tent within his family boma. It wasn’t just the cattle and their bells a few metres from my tent and the dogs barking that kept me awake, but arriving at dusk the previous evening, I hadn’t properly checked the ground beneath where I pitched my tent.
The air mattress deflated at some point in the night. I woke and then blew back into it to re-inflate it, only to wake an hour or so later and find it was flat again! When I turned on my head torch and felt underneath my tent I found the reason why. Goat-head, or devil thorns are found across many parts of Africa. And I had gone and punctured my thermarest sleeping mat in not just one place, but two! A repair job was needed.
Saying goodbye to the Maasai family that morning. While I wasn’t particularly worried about wild animals (I saw none until the next day) I was grateful for their concern and invitation to allow me to pitch my tent within their compound.
And those wild animals were ones I wouldn’t have feared even if I had seen them camping. There are a number of places in Kenya where wild animals exist outside of national parks.
For the previous few months while cycling through Greece I had camped beside a number of churches. Christianity is far older there than here in Kenya, where 19th Century missionaries first made contact with local tribes like the Maasai. Despite christianity growing throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, many ethnic groups, including Maasai, continue to practice and follow their own beliefs.
Last night in Kenya before crossing into Tanzania. Another simple and cheap room in the town of Loitokitok. It’s always a bonus when I can just wheel my bicycle inside the room.
Thermarest holes found and repaired with puncture repair patches, which was the best I had at the time. I later used duct tape, but despite the holes appearing sealed, the thermarest continued to semi-deflate overnight, leading me towards seeking a replacement later in the trip when I could. While these mats are very comfortable, I don’t find them the most durable, although it was my fault for not properly checking the ground for sharp objects when I camped.
Shower time. The beginning of the Teva sandal tan lines that I would keep for the remainder of the trip.
First night in Tanzania and I pitch my tent inside a village clinic. Other accommodation options were limited (a dirty and unwelcome looking guest house), so I asked permission from someone nearby for a safe place to pitch my tent, who pointed me towards a school and clinic. It was the 30th of December and I really hoped I could find somewhere a bit more scenic and fitting for the following day to see in the new year.
Smashed avocado on fresh chapati the next morning for breakfast. Simple, cheap and delicious. I could eat this daily.
Clear skies over Kilimanjaro, a short distance from where I’d crossed the border. Seeing Africa’s highest mountain is best done early in the morning or just before sunset, but there are many days when it is shrouded in clouds. On the last day of the year it was standing proud as I cycled around its northern base. The landscape and weather can change dramatically in a short distance because of the microclimate created by the mountain. Lush and green here, but I was headed west back into a much drier landscape on the same day.
I last cycled this same track back in 2011, but rode the opposite way. It was a different time of year and the landscape was dry and barren. Now it was lush and green, and the bush here too dense to camp.
Unmistakably Africa. This northern side of Kilimanjaro is very close to the border with Kenya, so it’s not uncommon for animals, notably elephants, to cross between the two countries.
Back to Masaai-inhabited land. There are a number of ethnic groups living around Mt Kilimanjaro. The Maasai are amongst one of the few of Tanzania’s 120 tribes that hold onto their cultural traditions in terms of how they dress.
Their footwear these days are made from recycled rubber from tyres. More durable than my teva sandals.
Entering Enduimet….or not. This part of the north western side of Kilimanjaro is part of a community wildlife management area, which in short means it requires an entrance fee to enter. I had read on their website that the fee was $10, but when I arrived at the gate the guard said it was $50 and that I should have reserved in advance, neither of which I completely believed. I didn’t even have $50 on me, so turned back a short distance from the entrance gate and was preparing to ride back the way I came.
But then stopped a short distance away and looked at google satellite. The bush was drier and lense dense here, and there were a number of visible tracks which circumvented the entrance gate.
So I made a short detour on an unmarked path and rejoined the main track a few kilometres beyond the gate. I had entered illegally without paying, which made me feel a bit smug, but also guilty. There were no other vehicles and I didn’t expect to see many people.
The landscape, green and lush only 20km away, was now much drier. Prospects for a good place to wild camp on the last day of the year seemed more likely now.
Plenty of these around, which made me think that their main predator, lions, are probably rare here, which I think they are.
I had seen a lone acacia tree perhaps 1km away from the track and decided to ride towards it. Two eagles perched on the upper branches gave flight. More or less out of sight from any passing traffic, with a clear view west to Mt Kilimanjaro and south to Mt Meru, it seemed like the perfect place to pitch a tent and end the year.
A few hours earlier I had ridden through a small village and surprisingly found bottled beer. It was warm, but I couldn’t care less. Far from the madding city crowds celebrating the end of the year and start of a new one, it was a memorable place to be. And I was fast asleep long before midnight.
Here’s a video reel from those first few days riding from Kenya into Tanzania.
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