Jul 8 2011

Day 11

posted in 5. Tanzania
Day 11 Arusha – Nairobi 300km
 

Giraffe migrating ever so slowly from one oasis of trees to another, as we speed ever so quickly from one country to the other…

 

“This is how I’ve always pictured Africa” I said to myself as we sped across endless plains of draught, dirt, and dust. No matter what my eyes touched, the clouds of dust trailing cattle herds were the object of focus. Their Masai shepherds slowly urging them on toward their grazing grounds in the distance. All the herd watchers wore their distinct red or purple attire which consisted of a cloak wrapped around their body in sharp contrast to the arid landscape. The wind ran it’s fingers through their robes as they patiently walked behind their animals as if in a trance, slowly moving toward a more fertile future- their tradition and culture seemed to be alive.
  

The border crossing was hectic, as I expected, tourists from all over flooded the gates on their way to their next safari destination. We were on our way to Nairobi for what was supposed to be a very easy day turned traffic. The border was filled with these old Kenyan “Mama’s” who insisted on giving away free beaded jewelry with no apparent intent on exchanging money for it. “A gift from your Mama” the old lady would say with her grey eyes and sun dried skin as I stood and waited for all formal procedure to finish at customs. They had beautiful things and were dressed just the same and I felt almost sad that these old women were out here at a border post trying to make a living like that. I could tell that in their youth they were quite beautiful with their thin figures and beautiful smiles but time has taken it’s toll as with everyone. Their trick was quite deceptive, they’d give you something for free and then walk away-to guilt trip you. I already feel bad for these woman, so when I was given something for free I refused and refused until the woman forced it on my wrist. She came back a little while later to ask for money, so I just gave back her bracelet which I had not wanted in the first place. Such is life, nothings for free anymore.

As we approached Nairobi the scene got dramatically more developed and started to look more like South Africa than what I pictured Kenya to look like. We had traveled relatively well during the day so to my standards we had gotten to the city early but that was before we experienced what REAL African traffic was like, a nightmare.

One of the biggest problems what you’d face on a Trans-African Expedition is that many of the road conditions are horrendous. The quality infrastructure or just its perpetual use causes road conditions to deteriorate incredibly fast which causes a big problem to travelers in a sense of safety. Potholes the size of bath tubs, narrow roads from erosion, and water washed dirt roads all cause a hazard. The issue at times in the big cities is not necessarily the state of the roads themselves but the congestion on the road. Nairobi serves as a hub to central Africa and driving through the city which is the last place any body would want to be if they were trying to get anywhere fast.

The radio was screaming as we got into the city as we tried to gather information to get across city and to the hotel. The radio was skipping beats and seemed to be crackling every time something important was said. To start it all off, we had very vague instructions to “go around to the last round about and take a right” (how would we know when it’s the last?) and to “find the guy on the side of the road who’s going to take you to the hotel” (what does he look like?)- and these were just some of many. As we turned the round about I see a man frantically pulling at the handle of Ig and Archie’s vehicle and my first thought was “does this man think it’s a taxi or something?”. What the two of these sly foxes did was recruit a random stranger (who coincidentally was a security escort for the Kenyan president) to take us all to the hotel for a fee. The guy hopped in and proved valuable to getting us where we needed to go.

As we got further and further into the city the roads and the flow of traffic got worse where the typical one lane of traffic space was converted into three. There was no time in the city center that we weren’t clearing other vehicles by more than 8 cm and finally as expected a taxi’s clipped our front end in a bottle neck and pinned us between a construction vehicle and it’s self. Immediately 5 guys jumped out of th car and started shouting at us saying it was our fault and then proceeded by pulling their vehicle across the bottle neck and blocked us (and everyone else) from going anywhere. After a few minutes of arguing they finally pulled away which was when all the other angry drivers started just pulling around us pushing us even closer to the construction vehicle which was now rocking the vehicle from side to side and scraping the side of the truck as we pushed in for a spot. Everything goes in the streets of Nairobi, and about 20 minutes later we were driving up the flow of traffic in the wrong direction because it was the quickest way to the hotel. After what ended up being at least and hour and a half in traffic we made it to the Safari Lodge which was quite an impressive sight.

We spent the rest of the day fixing and cleaning bikes. Les and Rob were replacing a broken shock from the dirt road earlier that morning on their 650′s while Ray and Alain finally got around to fixing his shock that he had engineered with some rubber pipe. We pulled out an entire workshop in the parking lot with the generator running and at once point even pulling out the cutting torch and welding machine. If bikes need fixing, they are going to be fixed no matter what the setting.

The family riders were ecstatic to see their loved ones and it was definitely a good change of face. The next day we were off to Uganda and then Rwanda to see the famous highland Gorillas. Keith Jones flew back to South Africa for a week to be with his pregnant wife and Vince decided to stay in the area and to travel with his bike while we were gone and then to meet up with us again. Everyone is excited visit Rwanda, but I think that everyone especially the VIP’s are in for a treat on what its like on a Tours For Africa tour.

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Jul 7 2011

Day 10

posted in 5. Tanzania
day 10 Mikumi- Arusha

Looking down at me was Mt. Kilimanjaro with it’s white tip painted into the sky exactly how I could ever have imagined. I sat forward on the edge of my seat and anxiously awaited each new turn in the road through Arusha, the sun was setting and my time was limited. Every other corner meant another opportunity spot it’s prestige and with my camera calibrated and raised close to my face, I was ready to capture it in my memory forever. Then, I slowed myself down for a moment, I didn’t want my expectations to dilute the taste of excitement, but then as the clouds broke there it was. I was sitting right on the foothills of it.
  

Morning view

We left Tan Swiss Hotel just as the sun rose. The hotel sat clear on the border of Mikumi National park. It looked like rain for the day with clouds blowing in from all directions, blocking all but a few highlights with its grey attire. As we cruised through the park one of the guys spotted 2 full grown elephant and a little baby in the brush. Not even five minutes later we spotted a few Giraffe eating from the top of a tree not even 20 meters from the side of the road. In countries like South Africa national parks feel so regulated and at times not even like the wilderness anymore. There are fences everywhere, rangers everywhere, and roads the criss cross through the parks natural habitat. What are the chances that you’d get to experience such big wild animals with only a couple of people at a time and not the hordes of safari trucks full of squealing tourists that you’d typically expect to find. There was something that felt just so real about this park, similar to the feeling of driving through the Caprivi- it seemed real. Now that might be because Tanzania is the stereotypical representation of Africa that everyone pictures, but maybe not. Africa is special because it’s untamed and uncontrolled in many senses. “Sorry sir, we can’t afford 3000 km of electric fences, so you’re just going to have to tell your kids to keep the elephants out of the gardens when you’re not around”- As it should be.
 

Keiths flat

 It was gonna be another incredibly long trek. The things that make these difficult is the fact that about every 5km there’s a small village that seems to take pride in how outrageously complicated they can get when designing “speed humps”. Sometimes they’re more like speed ledges or walls than humps. There were several times when we achieved weightlessness because one of the humps somehow ninja’d it’s way underneath our wheels and sent us flying. i think sometimes it’s more embarrassing than anything because usually when this happens the car seems to stall in front of the whole village and you can trust that EVERYONE is takes notice of these two IVECO trucks with their Zebra trim like it’s their favorite episode of “white men can’t drive”. The trailer on the the “Head Hunter” vehicle likes to at times bounce half a meter in the air! As for a consistent pace, all these things are factors in slowing us down. As fast as you can imagine outside villages, 50 kmph near villages, and a speedy 30 kmph in them.

Ryan who stopped for a quick shot

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We were headed to a Tanzanite mine near Arusha Kenya because we were invited there by a group of fun loving South African guys who also loved riding motorcycles. It’s also the only place in the world where you find Tanzanite They told us they’d have us a place to eat, sleep, and shower but I think the braai and good company is what really won every bodies hearts. As we neared Arusha traffic started getting very slow which after not very long became very redundant. I think that the only thing that was driving us on was a good meal and the fact that we were right on the doorstep of Mt. Kilimanjaro, tallest mountain in Africa. At 19,000 ft tall it was definitely the biggest mountain that I’ve ever seen and was it a massive sight.

Giant rock: 1, Bruce: 0

As the sun fell over the horizon as did the opportunity to spot the mountain, one of only two chances that anybody would be able to get to see this African icon. By the time the map read that we were near the mountain, I started searching the horizon through the blanket of smoke that had began to set in from the houses in Moshi and the suburbs of Arusha. I kept staring at the map trying to not get my hopes to have the opportunity to get to have a peek of the mountain because according to the map, the mountain was supposedly right next to us. As the search continued it became clear that I didn’t know what 19,000 ft looked like, but in an instant I almost broke my neck trying to look up to the top of of its snow capped peak. It certainly was right next to us, and it’s base seemed to span for tens of kilometers. Unfortunately the only thing that was visible was its cap, but it was better than nothing to me, and it’s shear size was just incredible to witness. I used to chuckle to myself when people told me they were going to “climb” Kilimanjaro because I knew it was more of a hike than anything. But on this day that I realized my mistake in assuming that getting to the top was peanuts, it was a pretty BIG deal.

Kilimanjaro is one of the very few that stand true to the “cliche things to see when touring the African continent” checklist. Amongst the few that I can think of are: Table mountain, Red dunes of the Kalahari, Victoria falls, the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, the Nile river, the Ethiopian highlands, and the Great Pyramids. I feel like not seeing these things would be like going to Rome and not seeing the Colosseum, or to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower. They might not be true traveling wonders like “raw experiences” but it’s sure nice to say that you’ve seen them (not to mention that they make great facebook profile pictures).

After stopping for some photos we headed to the mine which had one minor obstacle before arriving. Communication via the radio has been a problem throughout the trip especially when it came to directions. We had another 30 or so km to do on a dirt road that ended up taking a lifetime. Shaking our insides to pieces Doc remarked that “we could be churning cream into butter right now” and it made me dread the northern roads of Kenya even more. The Moyale road isn’t just 30 km of bumps, sand, and suspension trauma, it was more around 500 km of it. We were bouncing around the truck like two bobble heads and I couldn’t imagine how Ray felt on his bike with no suspension. With an already messed up back from his make shift shock fix that he had constructed to keep the group moving with nothing more than a spare hose, zip ties, and some duct tape back in the Caprivi. I was sure that he was in a bad state.

As we drove up to the host’s mine constructed homes everyone was taking photos and waiting for everyone to unload their gear. The view from their Lapa was a sight that people pay big bucks for but which they get to see on an everyday basis was amazing. It was a flat plain which lead right into the base of Mt Kilimanjaro in the distance and they got to over look this sight like an eagle in its roost. They allowed the guys to camp in the nicely kept yard with it’s green grass highly contrasting the very dry region we were in. Our hosts offered us probably what was to be the best meal of the trip so far- the traditional South African braai with pap, tomato and onion stew, boere wors, and some chops. After everyone stuffed their face, we all sat in the Lapa sharing a bit of information about who were were, what we did, and our experience on the trip. We also got to learn a lot of interesting things about the guys who worked in the mine most who were thousands of kilometers away from their friends and families for months or sometimes even years at a time. These were definitely a bunch of tough men who worked hard and celebrated their South African heritage with pride.

From the road to the mine

A very interesting man who worked as the head of security by the name of Colin (if i remember right) had a lot of good things to say about the group but most of all about motorcycling. He told everybody about a product that he had developed called “The Biker Bib” which he had thought of as a way for motorcyclists to be identified if they ever find themselves in an accident. It was a simple pitch which he sold me on 100 % and quite possibly the rest of the group too. His creation was a leather bib which would have all of the motorcyclists important information laser etched into it. With a big difference in 1st world and 3rd world treatment such inforrmation could be vital to your well being.You’d wear it around your neck like a bib underneath your jacket with the point being that at one point and EMT responder is going to have to unzip your jacket which they would find all your personal information. Unlike keeping a wallet in your pocket in your pocket which might get stolen or having dog tags which might get ripped off I thought that this was a very logical and useful product. His goal besides wanting to make some money from it was to save lives with it. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we’ll see his product on the web or on shelves in motorcycle shops and hopefully it does one day save some lives.

Tomorrow we head out to Nairobi to the Safari Lodge. Rays daughter, Kerry, Rolf and Jacci’s sons, and Ryan’s fiance, Tess flew in from South Africa to join us on our trip to Rwanda to see the Gorillas in the VIP bus.

Andre D KTM story
Andre rides his 990 KTM like a champion and almost every time I’ve seen him ride it has been on dirt roads ripping sand to dust as he tears over the terrain. For a while now his gear box has been giving him troubles and after having it fixed on multiple occasions the problem once again sparked up on this trip not too long ago. While we were all going around with introductions he got off the phone and shared with us his experience with KTM’s dedication to helping him with his problematic bike on this trip. As the story went KTM told him that they would send him up a new bike with only 5000km on it and then after he got back to South Africa after the trip, they were going to organize a brand new one for him. Talk about service and I feel that kind of customer care is something rare to see today but it’s certainly nice to hear that good things still happen to good people. Let’s hope once we get to picking it up this promise holds true. 
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Jul 7 2011

Day 9

posted in 5. Tanzania
Day 9 Koronga – Mikumi, Tanzania
 
We left the hotel in search of Diesel for the trucks since we were running low on spare fuel. After 3 failed attempts at the only 3 stations in town, we decided to call it quits and headed for the border. We all congregated in the customs lobby where half the guys were getting their Carnets stamped and the others their passports. A lot of sketchy things happen at the border especially when it comes to all kinds of “road tolls” and “taxes” that a visitor has to pay when coming into a country. So what the crew members have started resorting to is always asking for a reciept to show the transfer of money. Sometimes if an official wants to give you a ticket for a bogus infrindgement asking for paper work asking for a reciept is the easiest way to cop out the police man.
 
The other day we were probably stopped 5 or 6 times by police who either were doing a license check or making sure we insurance. One of them was a speeding violation which in some miraculous way was brushed aside when we once again used the “we’re racing behind the motorcycles” excuse. I’ve realized how much the bikes actually help our situation because sometimes it seems like we’re stopped just because the police men or women are curious. We had an officer stop us (for no good reason) and then try to give us a ticket because he noticed that Doc wasn’t wearing his saftey belt. When we finally proved to him that he didn’t have it on because it didn’t fit (which it does) he started waking around the car. He came back saying that we had no reflective tape on the front while letting himself look over the window and around the inside of the truck from my side and then also from Doc’s side. After what I thought was him not being able to find something he wanted he said to me in a low voice- “I know you have money, I know you have dollars give me some of it” to which I responded “I got nothing, my boss keeps all the money” in a thick South African accent which got him to stop asking and us moving on.

The border posts are the same way. In Zambia we got charged 80 US dollars for a road tax but the reciept only said 40. I guess you can get upset abbout it or just come to terms with it, I think trying to call out a corrupt official that you caught him red handed is just asking for trouble. You can’t have a temper on this trip, that will get you no where fast. After paying a 5 dollar fee we moved onto getting our 3rd party insurance. For 100 dollars we could get “insurance” that would cover us all the way through the rest of Africa. I don’t think anyone knows if this insurance will even cover a thing if we did end up in a collision but at the very least it would keep the police off your back because it’s something they always ask for.

Rolf Roaring- Extra curricular activities after the border

Everyone was in high spirits while waiting for everyone to finish their customs. Rolf instantaneously took off running with a runner up the road to have a little chat and Bruce borrowed on of the locals’ bike to take it for the spin. He chugged up the hill and then flew down the hill without realizing that the brakes were almost non existent. We left the border as one group but arrived seperately as usual to the hotel which lay just outside the Mzuzi Game Reserve. Before ariving there at night we had spent the last remaining of the daylight driving this a baobab forest that had tens of thousands of these massive trees. The Baobab tree is an iconic symbol of Africa. At Walt Disney’s “Animal Kingdom” theme park in Orlando, Fl sits a gigantic Baobab tree known as “the tree of life” as the parks center peice. Some of the trees that we drove by were so massive that you could have easily driven a car through their trunk but still the most interesting part of the tree to me is that it looks like it was put in the ground upside down- with its roots reaching into the air.

Bruce's new wheels- gave up the gs 800 and for good reason

That night we were supposed to bush camp with the baobabs but it turned out that Swiss friend Alain had a better idea. Upon arriving at Mikumi they passed by a hotel named “Tan Swiss” which promted Alain to further drive home his point home that the Swiss are “everywhere”. If there’s anything that you’d need to know about Alain is that he’s damn proud to be a Swiss and he’s always looking for a reason to tell you why being Swiss is better than being anything else. He even likes to refer to himself as “The Swiss” or as he pronounces it (in his thick accent) “Da Sweese”. But with his good sense of humor his joke ended up being the reason we stayed in this hotel which was a much cozier stay than the night before. It had wonderful facilities and the meals were magnificent. Their arrangement of food and drinks covered all the bases to the point where you wouldnt have known you were even in the middle of Africa. They had a bar and an outdoor dining room decorted with Swiss themes AND a mixture of German speaking staff which of course made Alain a very happy Swiss indeed.

A 3 person capacity petrol shop

The rooms were clean and comfortable which is all you could want after a long days drive. The next morning at 5 am sharp there was a full breakfast buffet simmering in the dining room. As usual we at breakfast so fast that it might as well have been funneled town our throats with a pipe but the early morning start ended up being a blessing is disguise.

Bruce Jones’ “Faith in Humanity”

My faith in humanity has been restored! After yesterday’s story with my 3rd party insurance, I decided to try and get some nearby. I looked on the insurance I had received in Zambia and phoned the company in Zambia that had issued it to find out if they had representatives in Malawi. They didn’t, but the guy gave me the name of a company in Malawi that did, so I called them. These guys didn’t have representatives close to Senga Bay, so they gave me the name of their competitors who do. I eventually contacted a guy 20km away in Salima, and arranged to meet him. When I couldn’t find his place, I called him and asked him to meet me at a convenient spot. After a few minutes, he arrived as a passenger on the back of a bicycle! I then followed the bicycle to his office and arranged the insurance. The cost for the insurance? K1,000 which is about R50! Now how’s that for service!

When I arrived back, a bunch of us hired a boat and we went to the island about a km off-shore, and snorkled and generally messed about. There were all sorts of little blue, and other coloured fish. On the way back, the guide tossed a fish into the water, and one of the local fish eagles swooped down and deftly plucked it out of the water. Of course I missed everything trying to photograph it! I didn’t see it properly with my eyes, couldn’t see it through the view-finder, but I have a beautiful picture of the water!

The rest of the day was dedicated to a bit of bike maintenance and relaxation, in preparation for another week’s worth of riding.

 

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