Category Archives: Africa

2013 – a lot more biking than the previous year

After reading last year’s Christmas letter, I can see just how different 2013 has ended up being.  The main driver for that is that my shoulder is completely normal after last year’s surgery & rehab (so much so that when people occasionally ask after it, I’m always slightly taken aback).  That has meant that excessive travelling fell by the wayside as I spent much time biking.  Before much biking, there was last winter to get through – I escaped to Egypt for sun at Christmas last; Christmas morning at the pyramids was certainly unusual. A country still in a state of upheaval & flux, it was a fascinating trip.

I moved into a new role at work about a year ago, which meant quite a few months of learning plenty while still trying to tidy up things in my previous position.  Along with my car comprehensively failing its annual inspection & many problems with the replacement, what turned out to be some of the best concentrated biking I’ve had was a welcome change.

After a couple of days having a look around Chicago, I met Megan, Alex & their son, Finn, in Utah.  We went to mountain-bike mecca Moab and did little except camp, ride bikes (a lot) and eat. As on my last visit, the scenery was stunning and the riding exceptional. STOP PRESS – Megan has just made a rather fun video that makes me yearn for sun, rocky trails, & great riding – much more interesting than me prattling on about Moab.

The summer was bookended by two big trips biking – Moab being the first.  That meant that I travelled very little during the summer – but that worked out well as we actually had a cracking summer of weather in the UK & the riding was plentiful.  Preparing for a three-day stage race in September I entered a number of longer-distance events around the south-west UK & Wales.  This being about the only photo of I have me “racing” – on a strangely scorching Shropshire day:

The other bookend event for the summer was the three-day Rift Valley Odyssey in Kenya.  Partly an excuse to get back to Africa & visit Adrian and partly a nice big riding adventure to train for & achieve, I was pleased to return to Africa – it’s a fascinating place after all.  The summer of preparation did me well & the only real difficulty in the 5500 metres of climbing over three days and 260 kilometres was a bit of digestive trouble at the top of a huge, hot & humid climb halfway through Day Two – not sure if it was the heat, too much food or the anti-malarial tablets; anyway, I survived the remainder of the day on next to no food and recovered enough that the last day (eighty-odd kilometres) was easy.

I was too busy riding to get many photos, but I quite like these two taken while riding along:

The second week of the trip was spent in Tanzania with Adrian, Carmen & their two children.  As they’d only just moved there, it was a relaxed week as they settled in a bit more and I recovered from the big bike ride.  Adrian & I did grab the chance for an overnight trip to a relatively close national park – there were many more elephants around than I saw on my last safari four years ago; an excellent end to another fantastic trip visiting Adrian & Carm.

Many months before, it seemed a good idea to book a trip to New England in the fall – after a particularly busy return to work, it wasn’t seeming so smart.  Nonetheless, I was pretty sure that I’d enjoy a short road trip around the north-east of North America.  With little biking, beautiful autumnal colours, nice cities (Montreal & Boston particular favourites) and absolutely fabulous food it turned out to be a very relaxing trip which was well worth it.  Although the photos don’t really compare to Utah and Africa – here’s one of Ottawa:

Shortly after my return from Canada, all medium-term plans got thrown to the wind as it was revealed that the plant where I work would close next year.  It was a sudden, but not altogether surprising announcement; things are becoming clearer now & I’m looking forward to a 2014 that will be very different to what I was expecting.  As far as I can tell, I’ll have work for about half the year – during which I will frantically save & prepare for extensive time biking in places yet to be decided.  Mum, & probably Adele, plan on visiting for a cousin’s wedding in May – so I’m well looking forward to that.

Merry Christmas & may the new year be a great one for you.

Tarangire NP camping

AD was determined that my entire week in Tanzania was not to be spent relaxing around the house – & when someone is willing to take me camping and on a big game drive in an Africa national park I am hardly going to offer a dissenting voice.  Tarangire National Park was one I had never heard of & AD had not been too – so that was chosen as our destination.  A relatively easy (especially for me in the passenger seat) two-hour drive south-east later we were at the park gates around noon on Friday.  Camp was quickly set up in the public campground and we set off for a game drive for the afternoon.  The previously much-derided Range Rover came in to its own off road – very capable & very comfortable.  As AD was driving, I became chief photographer – it sure was nice to have a proper big camera, even if my photography skills are rudimentary at best.

We couldn’t believe how many elephants there were – hundreds!  All the other usual suspects were present: giraffe (much darker than those I saw on my last trip), zebra, ostriches, big vultures, buffalo, water buck, various antelope, mongoose, monkeys, baboons.  We finally saw a couple of lions nearing the end of the afternoon.  It was more than fun to be two guys from NZ just driving abound a huge national park in an ageing 4WD in amongst so many animals & tourists on proper expensive safari trips. Enough talking, the photos are better (more and better versions are here).

Apparently a large herd of elephants came to pay our tent a lot of attention after we drove off.

AD tried to take promotional photos, I minded the barbecue – sort of

Thankfully more large steaks didn’t attract the lion(s) we heard a little distance from camp

So many large baobab trees

Up & decamped early, there was enough time to marvel at plenty more elephants before returning to Arusha. I hastily packed, said my goodbyes and started what turned out to be a thirty hour trip home (that’s almost as bad as returning from NZ). It turns out carrying a Thermarest Neoair in your hand luggage is great for napping on boring airport (Nairobi) floors. Arriving home Sunday afternoon to the order of England, not too tired considering, it was hard to believe just the morning before I was out camping in a fantastic African park and seeing so much extraordinary wildlife.  Thanks AD & Carm for an excellent African break.

A restful week in Arusha

I’d previously vetoed the idea of returning to the Mara or even climbing Kilimanjaro (not enough time & $2000 seems a bit much for a big walk) after the rather tiring RVO.  The proposed Mara trip was originally to have been if Adele had joined me on this Africa trip, but as I have such great memories I didn’t really feel the need to go back this time without her – especially as AD & Carm had only just moved to Tanzania the week before returning to Kenya for the RVO it seemed a little unfair to drag them all the way to the Mara when they should be settling into their new adventure.

So the thirty year old Range Rover (it sort of came with the business that AD & Carm have taken over) was loaded and we left for what was a six hour trip over the border to Arusha.  Everyone was pretty sick of the Range Rover & all it’s various quirks (the polite term) by the time we even set off, but it got us there OK.  Unfortunately, being Mum to an almost two year old (Ethan/Bug – who it turns out really likes to dance to Lady Gaga) and a two month old (the very well behaved Chloe/Plum – who is already sleeping through until six am each night!), Carm got stuck in the back seat all the way – I tried, albeit not that hard, to get her to swap: to no avail.

African land border crossings are always so much more chaotic & fun (sort of) than just strolling right through as one does in most of Europe.  The one at Namanga was no different.  AD went through the drama of getting a private vehicle across the border (this seemed more difficult than getting a person across), while Carm & I tried to stop Bug running out into the melee of oversized trucks.  I think I somehow got cast in the role of father to the kids as AD was off sorting out the vehicle – with the bonus that the border agent seemed to think I was a returning resident & therefore didn’t charge me the $50 fee for a tourist visa.

It wasn’t long down the road before discovering that while most of the Tanzanian highway was very good – although with that strange propensity for speed bumps in the middle of an otherwise fast open road (I think it must be the only way they have of slowing traffic down). If any work was needed on the road, a diversion would be put in place.  I’m used to a diversion being routed down existing roads, but out in the country in Tanzania there are so few roads and so much land – they simply close stretches of highway miles long and build a temporary road (gravelled, potholed & bumpy to the extreme) parallel to the real road.  It does tend to slow progress a fair bit.

Eventually we made it to the new home.  AD & Carm have taken over a small business that runs safaris (there’s a small fleet of safari vehicles, of various ages & conditions) and does bike tours in the wilderness (also a sizeable fleet of mountain-bikes).  With two young kids in the craziness that is Africa it all looks very adventurous to me, but I’m sure they’ll settle in and make a good go of it.  I’m already starting to think about what escapade I can persuade AD to organise for us for a future visit.

After those four days of strenuous riding & the slow trip down, much of the week was relatively inactive and relaxing.  But when you’re somewhere like Arusha, just driving into town is an adventure in itself.  The week quickly passed with AD working but still around (the office being a minute’s walk away), Carm juggling being a Mum & learning some of the administration of the business while I was/we were reading, entertaining children (the trampoline is a favourite already for Bug),  holding screaming baby, playing games, quoting too much of The Castle & classic Big Bang, baking, eating (National Braai [South African for barbecue] Day was duly commemorated), making a slow start on the varied liquor collection that was left with the house, sleeping and just generally spending time in the company of good friends.

All I have to show for it is some rather average phone snaps:

Keeping Bug occupied in the behemoth of a Land Rover (below) while Mum & Dad work

This behemoth – used as a safari support vehicle

It’s much easier to be a millionaire in Tanzania

Celebrating National Braai Day – an occasion I was previously unfamiliar with, but considering the massive piece of steak consumed, one I’m in favour of

Rift Valley Odyssey – Day Three

Huzzah – I slept reasonably well & managed to have the appetite for a reasonable, but not too large, breakfast before another seven o’clock start.  With those things combining & a relatively short stage (only 77 kilometres, but with half the climbing of each of the other two days) it was a bit of a cruise for me.  We started out on the road going west in the same way as Day Two – but kept going west instead of turning south into the big hills.  The gentle climbing started at about the ten kilometre mark & it was only a shade under four hundred metres up over twenty-five kilometres – very civilized compared with the previous two days.

Sporting a new Combe Raiders shirt at camp

Stage starts weren’t the most formal of affairs

There was a great little descent before the first feed station and then the long gradual climb through a large wheat farm started in earnest through an awful lot of mud.  Cloudy again, the views afar weren’t fantastic – but the acacia trees in the wheat fields were pretty nice against the dark sky.  With the fast descent off the hills of wheat done, there was a cool bit through a canyon where we had been told the night before to not necessarily follow the trail on our GPS (the whole race was navigated by GPS – there were no signs or so on), but just make it to the bottom in whichever way we thought best.  This was great fun as I cleared some nice technical drops and then bashed through some trees before it opened up & got fast.

The last part of the day before the road ride back to camp was through another conservancy – the usual suspects were all out: zebra, various antelope, monkeys, giraffes.  Also we managed to startle a herd of wild buffalo – I wasn’t quick enough to get a photos of these huge guys, & we were rather glad they didn’t hang around.  The day’s ride was over much too soon at 12.30 – I felt I could go around again, but some of the team weren’t so keen as we all suffered some degree of soreness from saddles.  With a welcome back by the rest of the team’s wives & children we settled in for some well earned pizzas.

Not too shabby considering I was riding when I took this

Pretty happy to have that finisher’s medal around my neck

So that was my RVO experience – a great time (vomiting aside) and one which I was adequately prepared for as my legs didn’t exactly suffer.  My knees ached a little at the end of the first day and the beginning of the second, but considering all the climbing were pretty well behaved.  The weather was mostly great for riding (the exception being the downpour at the end of Day Two) – pretty cloudy, not too hot, no huge winds to battle; unfortunately this meant that the panoramic photos are not great – but as I’ve already been to Kenya & seen plenty of wildlife, taking photos wasn’t really a priority of the trip.  Well pleased with the event & how I survived it.