Africa the Ride

AN UNPLANNED ADVENTURE

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 05:33:51 -0700

Who are Soft Power Education

Soft Power Education (SPE) is a British registered charity and Ugandan NGO. Since 1999 we have been working with communities in Uganda with a mission of

improving quality of life through education. And a vision for an empowered and self-sustaining society that takes responsibility for its own development.

My Soft Power Story

Originally my plan was to briefly visit Jinja to see the source of the River Nile, maybe go white water rafting and then continue. My plans very quickly changed as I say down in the bat at the Nile campsite after a long day on the road.

That evening I got talking to Sophie and Chris who were both volunteering for an organisation called soft power education. After hearing about all the fun they have had so far and the incredible work they're doing they convinced me to join them the following morning to have a look around the headquarters in the local Village. So the next morning I was up early and ready to go. During the walk to the HQ we stopped at the house chris and sophie were staying. The homestay was run by an elderly couple called Felix and Gertrude. Very kindly invite me round for dinner that evening which I was really looking forward to as I hadn't got to experience local Ugandan food yet. Upon arrival at the headquarters in the village I was introduced to the Volunteer coordinator, a local man called Aggrey. Following a quick tour of the headquarters I was convinced just spend the whole day with the team. We spent the morning helping out one of the teachers in a preschool run by Soft power education, which was a great experience. Most of the lesson consisted of dancing, singing and a few spelling games. It was such a positive environment to be in and it was so heartwarming to see all the kids enjoying their time at school. A quick sandwich at the campsite was followed by a bumpy car journey on the infamous Ugandan dirt tracks to a school in the next village. The school...Read More

TALES OF AN ADVENTURE

Tue, 28 May 2019 01:32:48 -0700

Dodging baboons

As I pedalled towards the Ugandan border I was hit with a plethora of emotions, the strongest being a feeling of apprehension as I cycled through a very run down, dirty and unwelcoming border town on the Kenya-Uganda border. For me it was very strange. My experience of Kenya had been mostly positive up until now, meeting friendly people along the way, but here I was greeted with stern looks and intimidating stares. A shock in comparison to the smiley greetings I have recieved everywhere else. I am not sure why the residents of the border town didn't have the same positive attitude as the rest of the Kenyans I have met, but I can only assume its something to do with living on the border...

So despite the rather cold welcome, the border crossing was quick and easy and after 15 minutes I was officially stamped into Uganda.

Crossing into UgandaThe following 60km to my rest stop for the night was made up of some easy cycling through lush green agricultural land. Even though this road is the main trucking route between Nairobi and Kampala the roads were surprisingly quiet with the odd lorry driving past and leaving plenty of space (unlike Kenya). However the serene cycling was soon cut short... As I approached a junction near to the town were I was planning to sleep I noticed a lot of small moving dots ahead. As I cycled nearer I realised that the junction was crawling with a troop of baboons! Excited as I was to see so many magnificent primates in one spot, I was very keen to carry on cycling at a good pace because I have been told that baboons can be very aggressive and are even known to get inside vehicles, so I was not ready to stop for photos on a bicycle! (I also needed my bananas for breakfast...)Avoiding baboons... The proceeding days to Jinja (the source of the Nile) invloved similar cycling conditions (minus the baboons..). The traffic did pick up on the esy to Jinja but the roads also offered a nice hard shoulder for...Read More

A CLOSE CALL

Fri, 03 May 2019 23:39:12 -0700

Limestone farms and lake Victoria

Following the really tough day where I almost ran out of water and a nice rest day on a farm in the Kenyan Highlands, I had to tackle another massive ascent. The day of invloved a huge 700m ascent followed by 70km downhill. This day was my longest yet covering 110km and by the end I was shattered but I very was kindly hosted in a guesthouse on a limestone farm in the foothills of the mountains I had just descended. The guesthouse at Homa Lime also had a pool which I was very happy to take a dip in, before indulging in a tasty beef stew and cold beer!

Breaktaking descents after a very long climb. The guest house at Homa Lime Farm.

The next 4 days marked my last in Kenya as I cycled towards the Uganda border. A couple of nice flat days approaching Lake Victoria were a blessing for my legs, and despite being pushed off the road by an articulated lorry and twisting my knee, and nearly being robbed I was in rather high spirits when I reached the campsite on the shores of Lake Victoria.

I sat down with a local mango beer and enjoyed watching my first sunset over the lake. Unfortunately however, I was in a lot of pain from my crash that day and my knee was swollen so the best option was to take a day and see if it recovers. The day off involved running some chores in the town and then just sitting back and relaxing. That evening a met a couple of overlanders from the UK who kindly invited for me a delicious dinner!

Lake Victoria pictured in Kisumu, Kenya.

The final few days were spent cycling over rolling hills, meaning constantly going up and down. These rollercoaster hills and lush green landscapes were a taste of what was to come in the east of Uganda.

As I reflect on my time in Kenya I think unfortunately I didn't get to embrace Kenyan culture and its landscapes as much as i would have wanted to. I believe this is because I was so focused on the cycling...Read More

FINDING MY FEET

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 10:05:08 -0700

Nairobi Bound

First of all I would like to apologise for how late this blog is being posted. The trip is has been a big learning curve and trying to find time to sit and write my blog posts has been difficult. However, I am now well into the swing of things so I would like to try and post at least one blog post a week now. I hope you enjoy this piece about my travels and cycling in the country of Kenya.

I landed in Kenya late in the evening of the 3rd March and was driven to a friends house who where hosting me for the night. Thanks Emma and Simon! A good night's sleep was followed by a long journey to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy (OPC) in Nanyuki, the starting point of my trip. One of the charities I am cycling in aid of, The Real World Conservation Trust, helped provide a dog the anti poaching dog squad team in Ol Pejeta. Furthermore, Ol Pejeta conservancy is home to the last northern white rhino's in the world so it was the perfect place to start my cycle.

Entering Ol Pejeta from Nanyuki.

Whilst staying at OPC I was spoilt with lovely accomodation, great food and I was even taken on three game drives with the Ol Pejeta guides. The day before I left I spent the morning with the OPC marketing team taking photos with the dog squad, the rhino's and being interviewed for a short film. One of the dogs at OPC is a spaniel called Drum from Norfolk! This dog was funded by the Real World Conservation Trust explorers against extinction campaign in 2017.
That evening I was treated to a night game drive where I was lucky enough to spot 4 lions! I would just like to say a huge thank you to the team at Ol Pejeta Conservancy for such an incredible experience. I could not have had a better send off for my trip. The following day I woke early, had a very large breakfast and then hopped onto my...Read More

10,000KM APART?

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 06:36:35 -0700

As my time in Kenya draws to a close I look back to the incredible moments I have experienced whilst cycling through this country for the last week. I am writing from a little chilled out campsite on the shores of Lake Victoria, as I recover from a knee injury. This first blog post is not so much an account of what has happened so far, but more of a reflection on a couple of memorable experiences I have had. I will be publishing some articles about the day to day parts of the trip as well. I hope you enjoy this read. This blog post has been inspired by an audio book I have been listening to whilst riding, entitled 'Digital Minilinism'. "ey ey mzungu mzungu, how are you? How are you?"

These are the words that come out of every Kenyan child's mouth when you cycle past them. Mzungu translates as 'white man' and funnily enough you begin to respond to 'white man' as it almost replaces your own name. As a matter of fact I think I have even referred to myself as mzungu in various conversations with locals. However, being labelled as mzungu came as no surprise to me after passing through the first rural village during day 1 of cycling, where I was surrounded by a group of school kids who proceeded to try and rub my arms. I asked someone about what they were doing, and apparently they were trying to see if the pale skin is infact painted on or something! After the children's discovery that I was infact a genuine mzungu they began to laugh and joke in swahili and circle around me like I was some sort of alien. Reflecting on this moment, I cannot get my head around how surreal it felt. It was also very interesting to experience a society that obviously hasn't yet been enslaved by technology or swept up by the wrath of the Internet. These kids were probably between the ages of 5 and 12 and there was not a tablet or mobile device in sight. Compare them with 5-12 year old in your home country and most likely it's a different story....Read More

LAST MINUTE PREPARATIONS

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 11:57:26 -0800

3 weeks to go...

It has certainly been a long time since I last wrote a blog piece, and a lot has happened in the last 2 months. Firstly I am very happy to announce my main sponsors, Temple Cycles, Fill and Mountain Safety Research. Thanks to these three companies I am now completely kitted out with all the essentials for the trip. I am also excited to announce our partnership with Explorers Against Extinction (more information to come out soon).

What's been happening?

About 3 weeks ago I headed down to London on the train for two days to sort some stuff out for the trip. After navigating the streets of central London for hours on foot I stumbled across the Kenyan embassy. For me walking through the doors of the high commission was my first big milestone of the trip, I was suddenly aware of how real the whole thing felt now. I was there to drop off my application form for an East African Tourist Visa which essentially allows me to enter Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda all on the same Visa. After leaving my passport with a very serious embassy worker I made my way across London to Brick Lane which is where Temple Cycles London store is based. Having walked almost the entire length of Brick Lane I stumbled across the shop and met Tom and Ellie, and was also greeted by a rather spectacular looking touring bicycle. For any bike geeks out there I am riding a customised Temple Adventure Disc (more information can be found here). I would just like to say a big thank you Tom and the rest of the team at Temple for building such an awesome piece of kit and after riding it for several weeks now I am confident that it will be able to tackle the worst that Africa can throw at it. Over an hour later, after...Read More

T - 3 months

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 04:44:57 -0800

Website and initial route planning

With just 3 months to go until I begin my adventure across sub-Sarahan Africa I realised it is time to get organised! First things first, website! Trying to create a professional looking website is no easy task, and I have been very lucky to be able to work with Starboard Systems and Fill who have given me the tools and helped me to build and publish this website and blog. I look forward to working with them in the future and their customer service has been impeccable.

Please check out their latest venture into online form filling and signing fill.io

In a couple of hours and with some help from some African experts from the Real World Conservation Trust and Kitale School Uganda I had a rough idea of the countries, cities and towns I would be passing through.

Planning a route is a lot harder than one may imagine. Whilst looking at a map I have no idea whether the road I am looking at is a highway or a dirt track, and even questioning if that road exists at all! There is definitely lots of work to be done on the route, and I don't doubt for one minute that the route will change almost every day due to being inaccessible, not existing or being blocked by elephants.

Next step is to up the training and sort out visas, immunisations and kit preparation.

A big thank you to fill.io for making this blog post possible