Neil's in

(I’m writing this from 2 countries later so need not take it as in the Present)

Our 3 day ride from Arusha to the boarder with Malawi took us firstly to Segera near the coast (not on the coast) of Tanzania on the first day (where we met 3 Irish overlanders in a Toyota on their way south), then a hefty old chunk from Segera to Iringa (580km). Which then gave us an easy enough day to the boarder the following day, ending us up in Tukuyu.

Internet availability was scarce at best, quality: painfully slow (at best); So with that in mind, I’m no longer in Tanzania writing this. However, with the distance left to cover and the things on our list to see, after the safari, Tanzania had very little else to offer except +1000km to Malawi.

Fortunately, our last day in Tanzania was quite good: Craig got to change his chain and sprockets, Cam and I did some meaningful tinkering on our bikes (not sure what though). Oh and I discovered that Daisy does not wish to be silenced. After replacing the baffle in Tiwi beach (a long time ago), I noticed that the whole unit has sheered off and shot out the back of the exhaust at some point since Kenya and the south of Tanzania. The good thing about this is that with the baffle out, I’m running ultra fuel efficient (3 liters/100km)!

Well, I have been eagerly trying to find an opportunity to get connected to the internet and upload these GREAT photos to share with you all, but frankly the odd chance I’ve had to get online has been nothing more than gut churningly painful.

Although, on the UP side, at least it does work to some extent and certainly beats Ethiopia. However, until I get to a more connected part of the world, these GREAT photos are going to just sit here waiting.

Tomorrow we’ll cross the border into Malawi, which means 5 more countries left to do… can you believe it??

Well hello! Since I last wrote anything, many things have happened. Firstly, we dashed from Moshi to Arusha, before we knew it we were already booked on a Safari for the next day and had a hotel to stay in, then we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening/night in a power-cut Arusha. Suffice to say, I didn’t get a chance to upload the pictures I promised.

Five days later, and we’re back in Arusha, and despite the continual power cut state of this town (and doubts of uploading this blog post this time either); I’m happy to say we’ve returned from doing Lake Manyara the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater unscathed. Having only seen:

• Baboons
• Elephants
• Giraffes
• Zebra
• Wilderbeast
• Hippopotamous
• Impallers
• Red Backs
• Heart Beast
• Chittah
• Leopard
• Hyeena
• Jackals
• Gazels (most types)
• Flamengos
• Warthogs
• Vervet Monkeys
• African Fish Eagles
• Buffalo
• Blue Monkey
• Antalope
• Bush Back
• Ostriches
• Cylinder Mongoose
• Lions
• Crocodile
• Tortoise
• Rhino (from a bloody long way off)

(promise to put some pictures up when I CAN)

Just a quick line from a cybercafe to say we’re now in Tanzania. Cam has a loose exhaust pipe and currently fixing the problem while Craig and I wait … (and wait and wait).. for him to fix it.

Had a great time in Kenya, last few days spent in Tiwi Beach, which was paradise. To make it all worth while, crossing from Kenya into Tanzania yesterday we saw two prides of Elephants, we certainly are in different places from back in England.

I hope to connect again soon and upload some photos!

Toodles!

I’ve now spent 5 nights in Nairobi, and aside from the 2 shopping centers I’ve been to (oh and the small market down the road), I’ve mostly spent the time in Jungle Junction waiting for Daisy to mend.

And obviously… the good news is that money can fix many (material) things, Daisy (probably wouldn’t like to consider herself that though), is now fixed… and despite thinking it was the clutch plates/springs, it was a simple case of the clutch cable on it’s last legs.  In MY defence, the cable was neither fraying at either end, and despite on closer inspection it was creaking a little it did however look healthy.

Today we’re off, to Arusha National Park (Tanzania), we will return to Kenya to head to Mombassa, but that ALL depends on our visass. I’m not sure when I will next get online, but I do have to say Jungle Junction is a great place to make yourself feel at home.

Last night we had a delicious barbecue (in the rain), eating some of the great meat that Kenya has to offer.

Daisy unfortunately isn’t feeling up to much today, even after all the loving attention I gave her yesterday evening. This morning, we set off to leave for the Hell’s Gate National Park and Daisy’s clutch was slipping, so I’ve turned round and back at Jungle Junction while the kiwis head off to the park.

Hopefully I’ll have some good news to report soon!

So here we are!

… this is Jungle Junction; an overlanding resting spot for people travelling up and down Africa, with a workshop for fixing bikes/4x4s.

So, today, Craig and I went to the KTM dealer to buy new rear tyres. YES, they were expensive, but, where else are you going to get tyres in Africa for enduro bikes?? Certainly cheaper than having them sent out here, and certainly less hassle than carrying them 8,000 km.

Oh, we met the Dylan again, and the Germans from back in Aswan and the internet is good and everything is peachy. Well it did rain… a lot to get here.

Anyhow, here are the photos from yesterday to today:

Oh look at that hand of mine… it feels like eczmar burns like acid.  Oh and I bought some workshop gloves while we went shopping today. I also managed to fix Daisy’s few teething problems today too.

Tomorrow we’re off to Hell’s Gate National Park.

So the roughest part of the journey is over. After the grueling 2 days of unmade road which only was about 350km we finally hit asphalt… which I might add is pristine and for the first 50km unmarked and still being finished (thank you Chinese road makers). A further 100 or so kilometers to Isiolo, a big-ish town, which has our hotel for the night. Still not my head around the currency but a room for the 3 of us is costing us 1000 Shillings. My guess is about $12 USD.

Anyhow, Daisy and I took a few tumbles (over the past couple of days in sympathy for Kim), I should add that I’m not the most competent loose surface bike rider, however, I don’t think too much damage was sustained, I’m still alright. Daisy is a little dry in the radiator department, but she probably drank up all the water because she was thirsty crossing the desert (and definitely not because she has holes in the left radiator owing to a few falls, no certainly not that).

Did I mention, my right glove and tripod went walkies in Ethiopia? Well, they did. So hopefully tomorrow, (when we hit Nairobi), I’ll replace the gloves, I may buy a small camera prop, but not a tripod… we’ll see. I’m getting really sunburnt on hands at the moment, especially my right hand, it’s red-raw and no amount of sunblock or aftersun is helping.

Oh bad news, I just was passing over the photos from my SD card to my hard drive, and I’m missing 4 days worth of photos (77 of them), from Gondar down to Mega. I’m rather angry/upset/appalled about that.

So I miraculously appeared in Kenya! I bet you didn’t see that one happening?! It’s not that I disliked Ethiopia, I just was ill, had a bad experience with the food. Internet is a bit s-l-o-w out there and not worth using.

So since Gondar, the kiwis and I have crossed Ethiopia, and now are near Nairobi in Kenya. Ed and I decided to finally seperate our ways as he had other things he wanted to do back there. Matt, Kim, Dave and Steph have stayed together somewhere while Kim’s wrist recovers from the break. So that leaves it down to us 3 (Cam, Craig and I).

I could try and give you a detailed account of everything that’s happened but you’d be bored to tears. So I’ll give you the bullet points:

• Blue Nile Falls – Waterfalls (not) discimilar to Victoria falls; except they turn the water on and off at the damn.
• Blue Nile Gorge – best bit of hazadous bending mountain roads ever, descending about a kilometer in altitude, roads are prone to landslides so huge warps are to be expected around any hairpin bend, once at the bottom, the ascent is similar to the descent. Ethiopia is worth a visit just to do that section of road.
• Addis Abeba – Cam had a contact of a contact of a contact: Paivi & Uha, who put us up for a night and fed us familiar food, and a good shower. This was my highlight of Ethiopia.
• Wild camping near Yavello – followed by breakfast in Mega … the breakfast wasn’t so mega.
• A Royal bar in Moyale, only chocolate I had in Ethiopia.
• 20 minutes to get out of Ethiopia and into Kenya… why was it bloody hard everywhere else??
• 10 HOURS riding from Moyale to Marsabit across the Chalbi Desert. The 250km stretch is a rocky washboard road, some sections you can get upto 60km/h most of it is about 30km/h. There is nowhere to stop/camp; and believe it or not, the road is the smoothest bit of land on the desert. It is also (rumour has it) prone to bandit attacks.

Enjoy the photos!

Before you think that I miraculously left Ethiopia and suddenly appeared in the world of Lord of the Rings, forget it; I am still in Ethiopia! A bigish city/town with an ancient monolithic church. Although, I’m yet to explore it.

So after my eager attempt to write something about Ethiopia the other night, I woke up at 4:30 not sure why but with little luck in returning to sleep. But the good news was that by 6:30 however, we were all ready packed, tyre changed and ready to go… well crowded by a flock of children made it fun, not naughty, or cheeky, just wanting to stare, it seems like they simple appear out of thin air.

Our little ride into Gondar (about 20 minutes of slow riding from where we stayed the night) and soon finding a place to stay put us in the place where the 3 Belgians we met in Luxor (and again all the way down here). Apparently, they had similar problems at the border as us, but had to stay the night in customs waiting. I’m glad ours worked out fairly simply. Also in the same place are a couple of South Africans on bikes heading north, good to pick their brains about the roads ahead.

The day seemed to pass fairly fast doing lots of talking exchanging of details and stories and small bits of tinkering of our bikes inside the compound of our hostel/pension.

Yesterday, the other 4 we left behind in Khartoum, arrived, with a yellow contraption towing Kim’s bike. After a few chores on Daisy (my bike’s appointed name) as in cleaning, refueling and oil changing, we (the 8 Brits) and the Nevil (one of the South Africans) went for a meal.

… I’ll spare you the details, I’m currently curled up in the pension feeling sorry for myself, having not slept all night from being ~somewhat~ ill last night. The others, this morning they’ve headed north to see the Simen Mountains; they should be back in a couple of days after a nice hike up there, I was really looking forward to going, alas it wasn’t to be. Meanwhile here in Gondar I’ll have time (I hope) to have recovered. Frankly, I’ve never been so ill in all my life. Today, I’ll just fast and wait for this thing to pass.