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Raising funds for WaterCan on the Tour d'Afrique - Updates
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Total raised so far: $6,548.00.
Michael rides through the Nubian Desert
Michael surveying the desert horizon
Michael at Makina District School in Nairobi
May 2006
The 2006 Tour D'Afrique has finally reached Cape Town , the end of our magical mystery ride. And what a ride it has been! It is difficult to assimilate all the experiences, sights, sounds, and memories at the finish. We began the last part of the tour in Lilongwe , the capital of Malawi . The Zambezi Zone section would see the cyclists cover 1,264 kms in just nine days. At the end of the first day's ride we entered our seventh country, Zambia .
Due to some exchange rate fluctuations, this impoverished country would actually prove to be more expensive than almost all the others! Although there were some hills, the riding conditions now began to lean towards longer distances. From the border we traveled along the Great East Road for five days until we reached the capital city of Lusaka . The pavement was either under construction or full of potholes, lined with tall dry grass, and very curvy and narrow. One morning a pick-up truck carrying people in the back failed to negotiate a turn and flipped over right in front of our campsite. Fortunately, nobody was hurt!
Lusaka proved to be a fairly modern city but what really excited the riders was the presence of a modern shopping mall just minutes away from our camping site....with movie theatres! At home, I usually avoid malls like the plague but, oh, how Africa changes things! Most of the riders spent their entire day off there using the internet, eating at some great restaurants, buying books and, of course, watching first-run movies. I, myself, suffered through ‘V for Vendetta' and ‘The Pink Panther' just to sit in the dark and eat popcorn! The city also proved to be the point where we could start using credit cards to pay for just about anything. Oh, dangerous!
The beautiful road from Lusaka to Victoria Falls was paved for Zambia, courtesy of the European Union, so that, as far as I could see, Mzungus (whites, especially foreign whites) and rich Zambians (especially those working for NGOs and aid agencies) could drive their new 4WD SUVs, pulling power boats and BBQs, down to the Zambezi river for the weekend! From the endless parade of vehicles that passed us while we rode, it would appear that the vast majority of car owners in this poor, poor country drive nicer cars than we do in North America . Still, we did pass road crews clearing out potholes with brooms and filling them by hand.
Although Victoria Falls itself was spectacular (and very, very wet!), the nearby tourist town of Livingston was dumpy. Many of the tour participants occupied their day off by taking boat rides on or air flights over the river and the falls. I did discover one possible explanation for some of the nice cars on the road. Apparently, in order for a business to conduct helicopter or biplane flights over Victoria Falls , a monthly retainer of about $5,000 must be given to the local air force general. Then there is the border security, or should I say, the lack thereof. One of the best views of the area is from the bridge over the river, a no-man's land between the Zambian and Zimbabwean border posts. We rode up on our bikes and when the AK-47 attired guard demanded that we go to immigration, we just shrugged and biked past! On our return we again just rode confidently past the gate for people entering the country. No one said a thing, just watched us glide by.
When we left Victoria Falls we began the penultimate leg of our journey, the 11 day, 1,576 km stretch ending in the Namibian capital of Windhoek . On our first day out of the Falls we crossed by ferry into the sparsely populated country of Botswana . The boat could only take one truck at a time and on the Botswana side it meant that some truckers were going to have to wait almost three days to get across! It was only a few days later that I learned that one of the other ferries working that crossing had sunk a few weeks previously, leaving about 50 people drowned or, worse, eaten by the numerous crocodiles that populate the Zambezi !
The road was now almost completely flat and straight and there was absolutely nothing to see. Well, almost nothing! This section of the tour was titled ‘The Elephant Highway” and it didn't disappoint! We spent four days biking in the area and just about every rider saw at least a couple of elephants right by the side of the road. Some had to swerve to avoid running into them!! It is just a very strange experience to come face to face with an elephant...with nothing, no fence, no moat, in between you! While we enjoyed the animals, we hated the headwind that seemed to plague us from the south. It made the long distances seem much, much worse! Added to that was the almost complete lack of gas stations or towns, spots that in other countries had offered a much appreciated place to rest and recuperate.
While Botswana was much more ‘western' than the previous countries, it was still Africa . At our next day off in Maun, a tourist town in the centre of the country, we were camped on the grounds of a five star hotel. When we went to the restaurant we discovered that the pizzas and steaks were unavailable because the oven was broken. It was broken when we checked the next day as well. The staff didn't seem disturbed or surprised by this at all, or apologetic for that matter. So the oven is broken. Do you want something else or not!? Can you imagine that happening in Canada ?
Leaving Maun, we traveled along the border of the fabled Kalahari desert , the home of the famous Bushmen ( I mean, who hasn't seen ‘The Gods Must be Crazy'?). It turned out to be a disappointment, a flat, scrubby endless empty vista that took us into Namibia .
It was a bit of culture shock to bike into the capital of Windhoek . Set in some rolling hills, dotted with colourful pastel stucco houses, palm trees and BMWs, it appeared that we had been transported somehow to California ! It suddenly seemed appropriate that Brad and Angelina were here in this area! The downtown reinforced this feeling: spotless, crowded with beautiful, well-dressed people shopping in designer shops and strolling past wine bars and coffee shops. The riders looked at each other and asked “Is this really Africa , the one with the Sudan and Ethiopia in it?”. On our day off, a group of us rented a car (see what I mean?!), heading out four hours southwest to see the famous red sand dunes that tower up to 300 metres. We had to camp at the entrance to the park and arise at 5:00 a.m. in order to drive to, and climb dune 45 to watch the sunrise. It was worth the effort. The colours and shadows were awesome, magically changing every few seconds. On the way back to the city we passed road signs warning us of ostrich crossings!
Finally, we began the last stage, the Diamond Coast , a 13 day, 1,690 km ride into South Africa and Cape Town . A lot of the riders were anxious to finish and the official title received an unofficial subheading...'Let's just get this s— over with'! There were a number of milestones on this section. One night we had frost as the temperature dipped to 3 E C! We also passed the Tropic of Capricorn, adding it to the previously crossed Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. One day a number of the men biked naked for a few kilometres, nearly causing some traffic accidents! We enjoyed our last ‘bush camp', a term for stopping and tenting in the middle of nowhere. On a short ride over dirt and loose rocks out to the famous Fish River Canyon we were forcibly reminded of our experiences in the Sudan . How did we ever do that, day after day!!!??? It seems impossible...At one campsite I missed the turn and headed off into the middle of nowhere before finally being rounded up after a 10 km pursuit by another rider who just happened to see me speed by out of the corner of his eye. Otherwise, I might still be out there! At a small beach side town of Eland 's Bay we all raced fully clothed into the Atlantic to celebrate having also crossed Africa from East ( Red Sea ) to West.
And then, before we knew it, we were riding into Cape Town , escorted by about a hundred local cyclists. Standing at the final celebrations in an amphitheatre at the city's waterfront, the whole experience seemed like a dream. Later that night at the official farewell dinner we looked at each other seemingly lost and/or shocked. It wasn't until an unofficial gathering the next night at the home of one of the South African riders that the reality began to set in and some serious emotions were shown. And then over the next few days people, people you had spent the last four months in extremely close contact with, began to head to the airport, flying out of your life but not out of your memories, memories that will last forever.
April 21, 2006
The 2006 Tour D'Afrique has now arrived in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, having just completed two more sections of this epic trip: The Snows of Kilimanjero, 12 days and 1,012 kms, and Malawi Gin, 10 days and 1,124 kms. During this time we have passed through Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi.
The tour departed Nairobi on March 14th and immediately headed south towards the Tanzanian border. Many of the riders were very excited as the Tour had planned a three day rest break in the Tanzanian city of Arusha so that people could go out and visit the Serengeti plains and the Ngorongoro crater, two areas filled with wildlife. We were not disappointed! On our three-day/two-night safari, we saw every animal that we could have hoped to: elephants, giraffes, rhinos, leopards, lions, cheetahs, and many, many more. When we left Arusha in our open- topped landcruiser we had hardly gone 20 kms when we got a flat tire. Our 'driver', of course, had no idea how to change it and we had to wait for the other cars to help us out.
Then we climbed up the side of the crater and peered in. We were shocked! The view just didn't appear real. It looked more like something out of Jurassic Park. It was just too perfect! The animals, more specifically the elephants, looked like ants as they wandered across the crater floor. As we watched, a huge rainstorm slowly crept over the crater walls and moved slowly across the plain. We got back into the landcruisers and headed out to the Serengeti. The herds of animals that we passed again looked almost fake, like a Disney production of the Lion King. There were endless wildebeest, zebra, impala, giraffe, hyena and much, much more filling the plains as far as you could see.
At camp that night there was a sign that claimed "Do not leave tent site or you may be eaten by animals". After our day, watching a cheetah take down an impala, I could really believe it! Indeed, the next night at a new campsite I was awoken in the middle of the night by a weird yelling from the tent next to mine. It turned out that a 'bush pig', a tusked animal about the size of a collie, had tried to break into a woman's tent, ripping the fabric and breaking a tent pole. She actually had to punch it in the nose a couple of times to make it go away. For some reason, all of us who had gotten up to see what was going on broke into uncontrollable giggles, including the victim herself!
As soon as we left Arusha after the completion of the safari, we were reminded that it was the rainy season in this part of Africa. For the next three weeks it rained every day. It rained hard. It was like having a bucket of water poured continuously over your head! For days, our tents and clothes never dried out properly and we began to smell distinctly musty. I got up one wet morning and found one of my tires was flat. I changed it in the downpour and then looked around to discover that the field I was in had turned into a swamp. I trudged out to the road, well, what had been the road. At the time it was doing a very convincing impression of a river in flood mode! I hopped on my bike and splashed away, hoping to avoid being swept away into the jungle.
There is a positive side to the moisture, however. The countryside is incredibly green, a thousand subtly different shades of that colour. The word 'green' just does not do the colour justice. Most of the flowers, shrubs, and trees are in bloom. Butterflies and birds of incredible variety fill the air. We passed immense cornfields filled with bright yellow sunflowers. Mist covered the gentle hills. The red African earth glistened. The rain also meant stopping to wait out downpours in small, friendly villages where we passed the time snacking on freshly made chapattis and spicy chai tea while the entire village sat and watched our every move, spellbound. On March 24th, during a rare sunny break, we stopped for lunch and were told that we were exactly half way through the tour, having covered 5,780 kms from Cairo. Wow!
Tanzania has become my favourite country! The scenery was fantastic. The people are incredibly reserved and polite. Things actually seem like they were happening. There appears to be some promise for the future, something sadly lacking in many of the other countries we had traveled through. After Kenya, Tanzania seemed much more egalitarian and much less corrupt. This is not to say it is perfect. The planned capital of Dodoma is a small town dropped into the middle of nowhere, connected to the north and south of the country by rutted dirt tracks. When we were there, the power was off for the whole day, a common occurrence apparently!
We left Tanzania, cycling from the bustling southern city of Mbeya into the next country, Malawi. The ride was spectacular, one of my favourites of the entire trip. We began the day by climbing up about 1,000 m above the town into chilly clouds and then began a steep 25 km long downhill, speeding past trucks on blind curves and screaming through crowded villages. The ride then leveled out and we rode along a gently descending ridge with incredible views to either side, over valleys of cornfields and tea plantations. Suddenly, too quickly, we were back at another crowded, chaotic African border crossing!
The next country, Malawi, is one of the poorest in Africa. One third of the population is HIV+ and a huge portion is also under the age of 15! The towns were filled with coffin makers, many offering '24 hr service'! On the tour, we often forget about the lives of the people who live here and their daily struggle to survive. One day at lunch, we were eating, surrounded by the usual 50 or 60 kids, when one of the support staff decided to give the kids some leftover stale white bread. We watched him walk away from the trucks and then, as soon as the kids realized what was happening, he was swarmed by people and literally disappeared into a mass of flailing arms and legs. Kids grabbed dirty bread off the ground and shoved it into their mouths. Older kids beat smaller children for crusty old loaves. It was quite a shock!
Within the cycling group there has developed an interesting 'culture of sharing'. No matter what you might need, someone in the group will give it to you - spokes, tubes, tires, seatposts, whatever! If someone has a package of cookies or crackers, they will always offer them around to all the people in the area. People buy pops and beers for each other constantly. It has been strange and wonderful to watch how this 'culture' has developed amongst people from very different backgrounds and age groups. Quite amazing!
Next up, the last third of the trip – 4,500 kms in just 30 days through Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Should be quite a challenge!
March 15, 2006
The 2006 Tour D'Afrique has just completed its third stage, the aptly named Meltdown Madness; a 17 day, 1700 km ride from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya. The ride started in Ethiopia's capital, a city that features both internet cafes and livestock wandering aimlessly in the streets. It is wonderfully situated among some striking mountains but those natural wonders also tend to keep the horrible exhaust fumes stuck over the city for days at a time. Leaving the city early one February morning we were almost overcome in the toxic air. Once we were clear of the city and heading south to the Kenyan border it was beautiful, with the environment shifting along the way from rolling hills to shimmering lakes to rich tropical jungle. By the time we reached the end of our time in Ethiopia the landscape had become a dry African savannah, rich red earth, acacia trees and towering 10 metre termite mounds.
Entering Kenya at the wild west border town of Moyale, we treated ourselves to a cold Tusker beer at a cute bar called "The Prison Bar" which featured cages and barbed wire around the tables. The next morning we were biking past the area on our way out of town and noticed black and white striped prisoners and armed guards emerging from the building attached to the bar. Apparently, "The Prison Bar" was the real McCoy!
That day we descended down into a hot and rocky desert, featureless except for huge dust devils that reached hundreds of metres into the blue sky and swept across the landscape. This really was the beginning of Meltdown Madness. The next five days were spent struggling along this road, grandly listed on my map as the Trans East African Highway. It was unpaved with huge rocks, loose gravel, deep drifting sand and corrugation. It was absolutely the worst road I have ever seen. The area was also in the throes of an awful drought, no rain for three years, so the roadside was littered with dead livestock. To add to the fun, this area is considered dangerous and trucks and buses travelled in armed convoys to deter the many bandits that plagued the journey. Our tour, however, did not. In fact, one evening at 1:30 am, some incredibly drunk and heavily armed soldiers/police stopped by our campsite to politely inquire if we were interested in making some cash 'donations'! Later on the same road, we were somehow allowed to bike through an actual Kenyan military exercise. The soldiers proved that they were only using blanks by pointing their guns at some riders and pulling the triggers.
We have also had some interesting encounters with other cyclists. In Ethiopia we met two French bikers carrying 50 kg panniers and heading to India. They had already covered 12,000 km, the entire distance of our tour. At the border we ran into a solo Danish guy biking from Zambia to Denmark. He was having problems with his route as the Sudan had refused him a visa due to the European publication of cartoons insulting to Islam. Finally, in the middle of the Kenyan desert, we ran into an Austrian gentleman on a recumbent bicycle who, when asked where he was headed, vaguely replied "North, and by the way do you have any water?".
Our campsites have also been hospitable. We had elephants wandering through two of them. Baboons are fairly common and in the evening hyenas bark and laugh just outside the perimeter. On the night the soldiers stopped by for a chat, some elephants also wandered through followed shortly thereafter by something that made a hair-raising growling sound. Yes, we had almost met our first lion! One morning, as I left a campsite, I looked up from my bike and saw a large feline loping across the highway about 100 metres in front of me. My heart just about stopped but, fortunately, the animal did not. Later that evening I discovered that it was a Caracal, a 20 kg cat that eats small and medium sized mammals. I guess I am a large sized one!
After a few more days we climbed up out of the desert and into a very lush area along the slopes of Mount Kenya. We crossed the Equator, which was marked only by a faded sign and a huge billboard promoting a large pharmaceutical company. From there we biked down into modern Nairobi, filled with internet cafes but absolutely no livestock along the roads.
My time in the city was spent visiting the project for which I am raising funds on the tour; a WaterCan financed attempt to bring improved water access and sanitation to the inhabitants of Africa's largest slum, Kibera. The day I spent there was very intense. Kibera has about one million people jammed into 135 square kms with absolutely NO government services; no water, no electricity, no waste disposal, nothing. It is very hard to believe! The WaterCan project tries to give the people some access to water at a reasonable price and also give them the responsibility of managing its distribution. The problem that I saw was that during times of rationing, like the present, the city cuts off the supply to the WaterCan financed tap but never manages to cut off the private vendors who have illegally tapped into the same system. When I visited, the people had been without water from their tap for two weeks and were forced to look elsewhere or pay incredible prices to the private water vendors! Still, the local people involved were very proud of their access to water and were incredibly optimistic in the face of some daunting conditions. They were also working hard to improve sanitation, without which access to clean water is of limited value. I learned that if you take water, put it in a plastic bottle and leave it in the sun for six hours the pathogens will be eliminated. It is a better solution than boiling or purifying as it is cheap and not labour intensive. When I left Kibera I felt very aware of just how lucky I am to live in Canada.
Nairobi also marks the half way point in our journey across Africa. Suddenly, although still two months and 6,000 km away, the end is very much in sight! It seems to make me more aware of how much I miss my home and my kids and my girlfriend Monika. I don't think that I am alone in this. Most of the riders seem much more introspective and distant these days and I am sure that they are also reflecting on why they came on this incredible trip and on whom and what they have left behind. Still, there are five more fascinating countries to pass through and many more experiences to enjoy and endure. So saddle up and off we go!
February 22, 2006
The 2006 Tour D'Afrique has just finished its second stage, a 1600km 16-day journey from Khartoum to Addis Ababa. The riders are seasoned now but the day's riding can still be quite exhausting. There is now a split in the cyclists between the serious riders who get on their bikes every morning no matter how bad they feel and those of us on what we call the 'dark side' who take the occasional day off, ride the support truck or hitchhike using local transportation which is, in my mind, a much better way to travel!
Our last night in Khartoum was influenced by the publication of the cartoons about Islam in Europe. That day there had been demonstrations in the streets and we had been warned to be extra vigilant. In the evening we were treated to dinner by the Sudanese Cycling Federation and outside the restaurant sat two truckloads of fully equipped riot police. We were not sure if they were for us or for the General who is the president of the Cycling Federation and was joining us that evening! In any case, the night ended peacefully as we sped back to the campsite clinging to the back of a Toyota pick-up.
As we travelled east towards Ethiopia the environment changed. It was no longer the desert but huge fields of sorghum wheat that stretched to the horizon in every direction. There were also sign of some UN attempts at re-forestation but it still remained hot and dry. There were some odd sights; the gas stations advertised that a mosque was available in addition to a snack bar and car wash and one day I passed two fields that were filled with ancient bi-planes, the ones that the Red Baron might have flown! Despite the changing environment, the kindness of the people has never faltered. In the small town of El Hasaheisa, the local authorities brought a bag of fruit and drinks for each rider. In the slightly larger city of Gedaref, they provided a full dinner. One night while camping in the middle of nowhere we walked over to a collection of huts set in obvious drought conditions, filled with people who had, in the real sense of the word, nothing. Even then the people sat us down and served us coffee and bread!
Once we crossed the Ethiopian border there were many changes, the most obvious and most welcomed by me was the availability of beer! It had been a long, hot and thirsty three weeks in the Sudan! The Islamic influence also quickly diminished despite the fact that 35% of the population here is Muslim. Mosques became harder to see, most people wore crosses prominently on their necks (or even tattooed on their faces) and women began to appear in 'western' dress. The flora and fauna also changed as we climbed steeply away from the Sudanese border. Birds and trees reappeared, the soil turned rich, fertile red and round thatched huts replaced the stick and tin ones found in the Sudan. In fact, the Ethiopian border post was one such hut although, in keeping with the country's new modern aspirations, the officials handed out customer satisfaction forms for us to fill out!
Ethiopia is nothing like I expected! It appears much greener and more prosperous than I had been led to believe from repeated famine coverage. It is still a place, however, where you can travel from the Stone Age (ancient plows pulled by oxen) to the modern (internet cafes and homemade pasta) in a couple of hours. During our time here we have showered in local brothels for 25 cents, had beer in local bars for.45 cents, enjoyed creamed and layered fruit juices (a combo of guava, papaya, mango, pineapple, and avacado), snacked on passion fruit growing beside campsite shower stalls, and hitched rides (bikes and all!) on local trucks. We have dodged goats, donkeys, cows, bulls, chickens, mean dogs, mangy cats, women shaded under colourful umbrellas and hordes of people heading to nearby market towns. We have visited 1000-year-old monasteries where ancient priests guard 600-year-old solid silver and gold crowns and crosses with AK-47s hidden in the simple bunks. We have discovered that the real Ark of the Covenant is located in the Church of St Mary's in Axum in Northern Ethiopia.
We have also suffered! Kids here (43% of the population is under 14!!) are mostly friendly but a fair share like to pelt the cyclists with rocks, sticks and anything else they can get their hands on. At night we put up a green rope around the campsite. The local population will not cross it but will stay right up against it, 2 or 3 deep, just staring at you. It is a weird feeling, let me tell you! One day at our lunch stop one of the riders displayed some anger towards the 200 or so kids present and so when we left the mob began to stone the truck with rocks, sticks and cow dung! The older people are incredibly respectful and kind. The kids can also be hilarious! At camp one night one of the riders walked out into a field and stripped naked in order to wash off. Suddenly, one of the kids who was surrounding the site noticed and, yelling, screaming and laughing, the kids raced off towards him as a single entity. The rider noticed them in time but everyone, Ethiopian and Western, was beside themselves with the giggles!
Tomorrow we head south on the next leg, Meltdown Madness, south through the hills of Ethiopia and on towards the bandit-ridden desert of Northern Kenya!
February 9, 2006
The 2006 Tour D'Afrique has completed the first section or the trip.
After over 2200 kms we have finally reached the historic city of
Khartoum, situated where the Blue and White Nile rivers join to
continue on towards Egypt. After our time cycling through the desert
the city is quite a change. There are wide tree-lined streets,
internet cafes and 5 star hotels. We were, however,reminded that
this is the Sudan when we approached the city yesterday. The
distictive sounds of semi-automatic gunfire echoed across the empty
sky just before we entered the city yesterday.
We left Egypt over 10 days ago, boarding an old battered ship to
cross Lake Nasser into the Sudan. The crew managed to load an
unbelievable amount of stuff into the hold, leaving us listing to
the left at about 20 degrees! Overnight we drifted silently past the
incredible carvings at Abu Simmel and slipped into our next country
at the run down port of Wadi Halfa. After the usual border delays,
we were allowed to hop on our bikes and head over to the football
stadium to set up our tents.
What did we expect from the Sudan, the largest and least visited
country in Africa? I can't speak for everyone but the biggest,and
most pleasant, surprise was the hospitality and manners of the
Sudanese people; people who have virtually nothing and must survive
in an incredible harsh climate. The very first night we headed out
from our site in Wadi Halfa to find some cold drinks. The night was
pitch black and we couldn't find each other, much less the centre of
town. We found an isolated house and 2 women came out and escorted
us to the nearest market stall and then stayed to make sure that we
could find our way back to the campsite.
Another day the lead racers got way out ahead of the support trucks
and decided to stop in a village to wait. As soon as they stopped,
some people emerged from the surrounding buildings and offered them
shelter in a courtyard, mats to sit on, cool drinks and a selection
of snacks. By the time the rest of the group showed up, a small
gathering was in process. The most amazing thing, however, was that
it turned out that all these people were attending a funeral at the
time and had decided to show such kindness to us instead. The next
day a couple of cyclists stopped at another small village to look
for some water. The local community again found them a cool place to
sit, managed to rig up a shower for them, braided the woman's hair
and massaged their legs. A couple of days later we were waiting to
cross the Nile by local ferry and a man jumped into the support
truck, introduced himself and insisted that we come and stay the
night at his house. Informed that there were about 50 or more bikers
and support crew, he responded that he had a large house and that he
would be honoured by our visit.We felt awful that we were unable to
accept his offer.
While the people are warm and friendly, the environment is harsh and
hostile! When we left Wafdi Halfa, we entered the Nubian desert, a
vast wasteland of drfting sands and sharp, black rocks. The 'road '
was barely a track and the ride was slow torture. The temperatures
steadily rose through the days; by 1pm it was well over 45C! After a
couple of days we saw a green strip across the bleak landscape, the
Nile! We were able to camp alongside for just a single night,
risking the crocodiles for a quick and refreshing dip. A few days
later we exchanged the Nubian desert for the Sahara desert. The
latter had a little more vegetation and fewer, if any, rocks. It did
display its power the day before we got to Khartoum.
The wind had died the previous night but that morning the sun was an
ominous colour and sand had begun to swirl around. By the time we
had cycled for a few hours we were in a full-blown sandstorm. You
could see almost nothing in any direction and instead concentrated
on staying on the road and watching for trucks coming up behind you!
The whirling sand felt like sleet on any exposed skin and the wind
was an intense dry blast of heat, drying out your lips and eyes.
There were small dunes of sand in the lenses of your sunglasses. It
was hard to breathe, to get any air without a mouthful of sand. The
only redeeeming feature was that the wind was going in our direction
and by 2pm, the worst was over and we had reached our campsite.
We received the royal treatment upon our arrival here in Kartoum. We
had a police escort for the 20 km ride into the city centre and then
last night we were the honoured guests at a banquet given by the
Sudanese Cycling Federation, a small but influential group here. We
were even driven to the restaurant in traditional Sudanese style,
sitting in the back of a Toyota pick-up! There were many (non-
alcholic!) toasts and gestures of goodwill on both sides. There was
some concern over demonstrations that had occured that afternoon in
Khartoum against an anti-Islamic cartoon published in some European
paper but another guest at our dinner was the local security chief
and he brought with him a truck stuffed with fully-equiped riot
police to ensure that we would not be harassed.
We now begin the next stage and head out back into the desert and
the heat for 5 days, cycling for the border with Ethiopia!