RusticoRiders Cycle Africa

Sudan — The Desert Beckons

Upon departing Cairo, our mornings and evenings had been cool, sometimes very cool. Well, the mercury climbed; when we left Khartoum, the daily temperatures reached the 40s Celsius. When we arrived in camp, some of our fellow cyclists asked us how we got along in the heat. Bernie said, “Pretty slow; as a matter of fact, a dung beetle passed us – we started drafting him, but after a few meters he headed for the hills of sand – curses.”  

Ethiopia — Into the Hills

I often speak of living in the now, and I will try to describe just how I realized that I no longer found myself thinking about the past or future. As you have read, the first two months – riding through Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia – were the toughest days of the tour for most riders. Psychologically, it was great to get the toughest part of the tour over with, knowing that things would pick up as we made our way to the south of the continent. Each night while preparing for a night’s sleep, I was so at peace, with Bernie lying next to me. It seemed that I was in ‘heaven’ in the wilds of the deserts of Northern Africa enjoying the rest and the silence – no TV, no household or work duties or bills to attend to, no internet; just the beautiful sky filled with stars; you’ll not find too many clouds in the skies over the deserts.

Tanzania — Oh, the Greenery!

The next six days of cycling to the City of Iringa were days from hell, especially for me. The roads were just plain dirt – lots of rocks, mud, hills, and thorns. In the beginning, I was just too careful on these roads, moving along rather slowly, but soon realized that you must move along fairly fast, as it takes too much effort to control the bike when you hit rocks while riding slowly. I got the knack of it after awhile but when I got tired, it was easy to lose concentration and that became a set-up for a fall – which did not happen.

Botswana — Elephant Highway

We so looked forward to our first day in Botswana and opportunities to see wild elephants; the largest elephant population in the world is said to be in Botswana. Reportedly, there are 150,000 elephants in Northern Botswana, through which we were headed. The terrain was very flat, and having cycled through the mountains of Ethiopia, this terrain was rather boring. We peddled distances averaging 164km each day, so looking forward to seeing elephants lessened the boredom.

Namibia — Desert Landscapes

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