11 - 12 March - Zanzibarians!

11 March

Arusha – Dar Es Salaam

401 Miles - Bus

Erik:

Loong bus ride. At least we got to watch 8 hours of religious Tanzanian movies! We made a friend. His name is Ray and he's a journalist from Dar, living in Nairobi. We got Dar at dusk and caught a Tuk Tuk. What a crazy ride. We eventually found the YWCA and got some dorms. It was full of some interesting people. We all chatted for a bit and then Steph and I hit the hay a bit early.

Steph:

I met Petronella on the bus. A really nice, large woman dragging her wide eyed one year old around. She sat down across the aisle from me and we shared our life stories. She was funny. When she was getting uncomfortable or trying to dig around for something she's just hand over her baby and he'd sit there and stare at me with those intensely black eyes. It happened a few times during the 8 hour drive. At one point we stopped at a rest point and she was having trouble so I offered to help. She said, "yes, thank you" and handed me the kid instead of the bag I was reaching for. Then she grabbed the bag and walked off the bus. And then she continued walking! She went off to buy a drink and then on to the food stand without ever looking back. I chased her around for a few minutes through all the people carrying her kid. She wasn't concerned at all! When I finally caught up to her, she turned around and looked at me as if to say, "what?". My excuse when I handed her her child was that I had to go to the toilet. It was funny.

There's an interesting mix of Islam and Christianity here in Dar. We're staying right next to a church which is right next to a mosque. The people of Tanzania are 40% Islamis, 40% Christian and 20% follow traditional beliefs. I love the diversity and I love that everyone gets along.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12 March

Dar Es Salaam – Zanzibar

46 Miles - Ferry

Steph:

I had the wort headache last night. I couldn't sleep because of it and it stunk because the beds were perfectly comfortable and the mosquito nets were intact. Around 5am I finally snuck into Erik's room to steal the advils. Breakfast is included here at the YWCA and consisted of a peice of toast, a slice of watermelon and a boiled egg. I felt full which means that my giant cycling appetite is finally shrinking :)

We walked over to the ferries to buy our tickets over to the island. A ton of guys started hassling us on our way over there trying to sell us cheaper tickets on their sketchy boats. After fending off a few of them, we decided to speak only spanish and get rid of them that way. It was working, he didn't know what I was saying and I kept telling him we were in Dar Es Salaam when he asked where we were going. UNTIL he called over to his buddy John, pointed at me and yelled, "espanola!". Haha! Darn it. Then the whole thing started in surprisingly great spanish. Fail.

A few hours later we were in ZANZIBAR!!! Even the water in the harbor is crystal clear! It's beautiful and looks like the Bahamas from the boat, with it's colors, architecture and the color of the water. But as soon as you step on land you feel the middle eastern influence. I love it. The way people dress, I guess, is the most obvious sign. I don't know how the women handle this heat. But they do, and they do it gracefully. Some just cover up their hair while others wear the full burkas. The men wear their prayer caps and robes. A lot of store signs are in kiswahili as well as arabic and you get a whiff of spices whenever a breeze decides to blow by. About 85% of people, especially older men, say, "Karibu" (Welcome) and smile as you walk by. The maze of narrow streets reminds me of Venice. The buildings are old, rundown and the paint is faded and chipped. It's glorious. People come from all over the world to take pictures of the famous doors of Zanzibar. It's pretty much impossible to take a bad photo of the large, thick and incredibly intricate carved doors. Windows are just as pretty and their paint is usually better maintained and bright compared to the dull appreance of the rest of the building. The view from our hotel is of a big, blue sky, palm trees, rooftop gardens, the Catholic Cathedral all with the muslim call to prayer in the background. You look down at the alley below and see children running and laughing as the scooters swerve expertly around them. There is more culture and history in this town than any other place I've seen in Africa. I'm totally in my element.

Erik:

The ferry ride over was decent and on calm waters. Stone Town is amazing. We wandered an hour trying to find our guest house. We had a really persistant (and annoying) man follow us the whole way. Finally got rid of him. We went to explore and ran into Helen again. We had met her in Lilongwe (Malawi), then again in Chitimba and how here.

For dinner, we went to the night food market. It was ok. Apparently Zanzibar is like Cancun for a lot of Europeans so it's pricey and touristy. But well worth it.  

Dar Es Salaam

Zanzibar Harbor

View from Flamingo Lodge

Breakfast at Flamingo Lodge

10 March - Snakes!

10 March

Snake Park

0 Miles

Steph:

We, again, were in a delicate state today. It was Geoff's (another overlander) birthday last night and Dave kept being super generous and buying us rounds. It was really fun. I love how close everyone is. Erik and I went to bed around 2am, before things got really out of hand :)

After eating breakfast with our little clan, I snuck off to do some laundry and pack the rest of our things away. The snakes at snake park get fed on sundays so that was the big event of the day.

It was awesome. In a slightly sick way, of course, because you're watching baby chicks get swallowed whole by vicious dinosaur looking monsters, but really cool anyway. Dave, Amy (development worker from UK), Erik and I kept running back and forth between all the displays waiting for one of them to strike.

When feeding time was over, we visited the Maasai Craft Market next door. It was nice.

The evening consisted of all of us chatting about life and traveling and future plans. Dave, Ishi, Amy and Wayne (from SA) are awesome and we're sad to leave them tomorrow.

9 March - Yes, there's room for you!

9 March

Arusha (Snake Park)

Erik:

Dave got Steph and I slightly intoxicated last night. Ma and BJ (owners of Snake Park) fed us dinner and breakfast, Wayne is a super chill S. African overlanding with no schedule, Amy is a development worker from Yorkshire and Dave and Ishi rock. We love our new friends. We all get on really well and just chat and drink. It's fun.

Steph:

We were in no condition to set up the tent last night. Haha! But somehow did it anyway. It's baffling and impressive :)

Snake Park is a very cool place. It's a major stop for most overland trucks and caters almost exclusively to them. The owners are Ma and BJ, from South Africa, and the way Dave and Ishi greeted them last night makes one think that they are their favorite aunt and uncle. This community is really close knit. Every truck stops here aprox every 3 months, if not more often, for several days while passangers go on Safaris in the nearby parks. So the crews get to bond and know each other like family. Ish said it felt good to be home.

In addition to running the campsite, Ma and BJ started a free clinic for the local community. It's top notch and the only one in the area that treats snake bites. It's funded 100% by the "World Famous" Bar. It's one of the coolest I've ever seen and, thanks to the overlanders, packed every night. AND they also have a little bit of a zoo. A ton of snakes, all of them local and most of them lethal. Black and Green Mambas, all kinds of cobras, vipers, pythons, etc. They're really cool. Plus, a few crocodiles, monitor lizards, tortoises and several birds that have been injured and rehabilitated.

So yeah, this place is great. We've been introduced as "the stow-aways" and accepted into the group very graciously.

Today we went to Arusha to get some things done. The main goal was to find some bus tickets to Dar Es Salaam. Done. After some internet, laundry soap and getting hassled a bunch, we decided to take a matatu (mini bus – you know the ones that drive crazy fast and we've been avoiding on the bikes) back to the camp to save some money. We finally found one going the right direction but it was full. As in FULL full. People's arms and legs were practically hanging out of the windows. But does that stop anyone in Africa? No, it doesn't. So here we go, the mzungus are squeezing in. There are no seats left and (somehow) 3 people are already standing. So we crawl into the space between the inside and the sliding door. Except the door won't shut anymore and so Ishi's (who is tall) one foot is literally hanging out of the car. I've got my hand on someone's leg and nothing to hold on to. Erik is squashed between the very large woman behind him and myself. Ishi's hair is in my face and I'm standing on one leg because there's just no room for my other foot. We're giggling (in the beginning) but everyone else on this car refuses to smile at us. They all just glared. It was a long 20 minutes. A really lonnnnnnng 20 minutes. Erik counted 33 people. I couldn't turn my head to count the ones behind me so I'll take his word for it. Toward the end, we were all cramping up and in pain but the whole thing was hilarious. Totally worth the $0.45 (vs $7usd each in a cab).  

Snake Park Bar

Matatu ride :)

8 March - Change of plans. AGAIN.

8 March

Karogwe – Arusha (Snake Park)

230 Miles

Steph:

Dave sleeps in the front cab of the truck and since we arrived so late, Erik, Ishi and I slept in the back. At 5-something am, Dave decided to head out without waking us up. That is, until he went over a giant pothole that sent all of us flying into the air. Good morning!

The landscape changed a little today. We went fron green mountains and hills to AZ like desert. It was hot too. There were a few parts of the road that were under construction which made us go pretty slow. More like we're used to on the bikes. It was nice. I waved at people and most waved back happily. We drove past a giant mountain range that reached the clouds. It was breathtaking. Kilimanjaro is supposed to be pretty visible from here, but since it's rainy season it's all covered up by clouds:(

We stopped for lunch in Arusha. It's a busy place with horrible traffic. Dave has been talking up this incredible sandwich for about 4 days now and we finally got to try it. Bacon, cream cheese, avocado on amazing bread and some magical ingredients. Pretty awesome.

Ishi asked her friend, Tiday Tidu (to-day to-do) to come talk to us about possibly doing a safari with his tour company. This guy is a very classy masai and incredibly nice. He offered us a really good price. Despite being a really good price, we can't really afford it or really justify it, especially for just 4 days. So Dave offered an alternative. Why don't we join them for the first leg of their overland tour. They go from Nairobi to Uganda, Rwanda and back to Nairobi in 19 days. It's expensive, but only about twice as much as the Safari here in the Serengeti AND we would be able to go hiking with Gorillas. GORILLAS!

After thinking about it for 3 minutes and we said, YES! We have about a month left before our flight home and we had thought of spending most of it on Zanzibar and then making our way to Nairobi, whether on the bikes or by train via Mombasa. BUT NOW!!! Here's the new plan:

We head to Dar es Salaam as soon as possible and spend a little more than a week in Zanzibar. Dave and Ishi take our bikes to Nairobi, we meet up with them there, climb on the truck (with other passangers this time) and they take us to Uganda/Rwanda, we go hiking in the jungle, find a gorilla family, chill with them for a while, then head back to Nairobi just in time for our flight back to Phoenix. Saavy?

Saavy :)

Now we're really broke.

Erik:

Got to Arusha around noon. Interesting town. Decided to book a Gorilla Loop trip with Oasis Overland for ~$2600 (19 days, 2 national parks & gorillas). The safaris are $1400 for 4 days.

Over-expenditure it is!!

Back to the desert and dust

A taste of Arusha

Traffic! Bleh. This would've stunk on the bikes :)

7 March - Baobabs, Elephants and mountains!

7 March

Forest Plantation – Karogwe

424 Miles

Erik:

We went through the Baobab Valley. There were tons of them everywhere. It was really cool. I drove up with Dave for most of the day while the girls hung out in the back. We also drove through Mikumi National Park. Dave said that sometimes he sees Elephants there but we ended up seeing Elephants, Buffalo, Giraffe, Impala and Zebra.

There was a group of Elephants right on the side of the road and we stopped to watch them. An adolecent male thought he would charge us but then changed his mind halfway. His trumpets ended up being really pathetic and very funny. It was cute.

We drove well into the night trying to find a place to stay. All in all it was a good day. The news is proclaiming Kenyatta as Kenya's president and that violence is minimal. So Kenya is a go again.

Steph:

That Elephant was so cute. You could tell he was young. The rest of his family just slowly wandered away from the road, not really bothered. But he wanted to be the big man and was clearly scared. He'd decide to charge and flapped his ears but then would turn around and shuffle away. Then a few meters later, he'd turn around and trumpet at us. It sounded more like in the cartoons, when a elephant trumpets but then someone grabs his trunk and he just runs out of air. You know what I'm saying? Super cute. I must say, coming across these guys on the truck is quite a different experience than on the bikes. I was looking down on them here and saying, "oh how cute". They were still cute on the bikes but about 3 times taller than me and I had to whisper it so I wouldn't get killed. :)

We stopped at a bus rest stop for lunch. It was a really yummy buffet thing for not very much money. The islamic influence is much more obvious here. From the dress to the "Salaam Aleikum" (spelling?). It's time to cover up the knees and shoulders. People are incredibly friendly and very welcoming.

This was the most mellow accident we saw. I was too distracted to pull out the cameras for the rest of them

Baobabs!!

The Tree of Life!

"I miss the rains down in AFRICA!!!!!"

Look! All of them together! 

The little hot shot. I want one.

6 March - Banana

6 March

Chitimba – Tanzania Bush Camp

282 Miles

Steph:

Again, it rained all night. We crossed into Tanzania and it was pretty straight forward. I noticed a difference in the people right away. On average, people are much heavier here. There are men with big bellies sitting around eating more. I don't recall seeing that in Malawi. People are still waving and smiling at us though. Maybe a little less. Ok, yeah, less, but it's better than just the stares we got in Botswana. There are also a ton of motorcycles! They're everywhere and used as taxis here. We stopped at a market for lunch and the street was full of women with baskets filled with bananas on their heads. Malawi had their corn, Tanzania has bananas. Three guys approached us immediatly yelling, "my friend, my friend, this way". I know they're just trying to earn a buck but they're kind of annoying. They'll point you in the general direction of something they think you need and then expect you to pay them for their service. This one in particular became very rude and started yelling when we refused to give him money for nothing. The market was cool though. We bought veggies to cook dinner with and some fried potatoes for lunch.

The scenery was really pretty. ALL MOUNTAINS covered in banana trees and Tea... plants? Tea leaf bush (i don't know what to call them), which were really cool. After a ridiculous down pour, we arrived in a forest platation. That was really weird. I never really expected to see a cold, wet pine forest in africa. We ended up taking a dirt road into the woods and camped under the stars. Ishi made a delicious lentil stew thing and I made mashed potatoes. Awesome. Then it got cold enough for our sleeping bags! Woo!

Erik:

The border was very professional. No one tried to rip us off which was nice. The roads in Tanzania are perilous though. They're way too narrow and trucks and Matatus (combis converted into mini buses) drive like idiots here. We saw at least 4 serious accidents where semi's had rolled off the highway. I'm glad we didn't cycle. Don't think we would've made it far. Life's different from the back of the truck. We got flipped off a few times, which has never happened before. We also drove through Mbeya, where we were going to hop on the train to Dar es Salaam. It was bad. Again, glad we didn't have to ride through there.  

All mountains

Tea leaves

Asante Sana Squash BANANA!!!

Pines?

5 March - Best ride EVER

5 March

Chitimba

0 Miles

Steph:

We decided to stay another day because we heard that a group of orphans is coming to take a few pitcures with some shirts that were donated. Dave wants to give them all a ride in the truck and the three of us (erik, ishi and myself) agreed to supervise the back.

They showed up around 3pm and there were 23 of them. In total, there about 500 from the village and surrounding areas, but only 23 shirts were donated. 500 Orphans. It breaks my heart. Anway, they were so excited about the truck. Most of them have never ridden in a vehicle before. The man in charge of them, George Washington, is older, beautifully wrinkled and a complete saint. You could tell from the huge smile on his face the entire ride that it meant a great deal to him seeing these kids so happy. And they were exstatic. Running from one side of the bus to the other, waving at everyone we drove by, singing songs and laughing. We put on Bob Marley and they went balistic. Something that we do every day without even thinking about it was an experience of a lifetime for these kids. I was on the verge of tears the whole entire ride. It was unbelievable. By far, one of the best experiences ever.

Enjoy the photos :)

Erik:

Today we rode in the truck for 45 minutes with 23 orphans from the village. They sang the whole way and were very excited. It was great. If nothing else had happened in Malawi, this would've made the whole trip worth it.

Good day.

That's Dave :) Bless him

Unfortunately, not everyone got to go

Ishi with the kiddies :)

George Washington, mayor of the town

Happy happy happy

It's all about the poses 

Ishi's glasses got passed around

Awesome kids

4 March - But you are...fat!

4 March

Chitimba

0 Miles

Steph:

Last night I recruited the camp guards to show me how to play BAO. David, Samson and John were super fun. Their english was limited but good enough. David is the self proclaimed "Master" and is really good. They seemed really excited about teaching me, so while everyone else was talking and drinking at the bar with all the pretty lights and music, I hung out with these guys by the guard shack. The way they play is really impressive. It looks simple at first but the game is very strategic and requires a lot of forethought. It took me forever to count everything out for just one move but they play lightening fast and always have their next 4 moves figured out. It's crazy cool to watch. I'm not very good but I think I'm getting the hang of it. When I went to bed everyone else was already asleep.

This morning was nice. We made breakfast and the 4 of us just sat around talking about all sorts of things. Mostly about the state of africa and possible solutions to the multiple problems. That kind of stuff. It's fun to hear about Ishi and Dave's prespectives.

Eddie, the owner of the camp invited Ishi and I to go visit a project that he's been working on in the village. We drove to a school that he helped build. I think he's on to something in the way he's helping. It acutally related a lot to what we had been talking about earlier. So many organizations, charity groups and NGO's come in here and hand things out. Whether they come in a give out food, or build schools or bring in temporary volunteers, it's all handouts. This has been going on for decades (especially in Malawi) and the result is a unfinished projects and not much of a work ethic. We've seen it as we ride by. This is why all the kids yell, "give me, give me, give me!" when they see white people and why there are so many incomplete buildings and projects along the road. As soon as the foreigners finish the initial project or set up a school or give away 10 pens, they leave and it all stops. The locals don't take the initiative because more help will come. Except now that the world is in a bit of a financial crisis, less help is coming and people don't really know what to do. What Eddie is doing is small, but it's worked. Basically, when he arrived here from the Netherlands, about 8 years ago, he asked the community what they needed. The village talked it over and said that a school was very necessary. So instead of bringing in the supplies and volunteers to build this school he told them that he would find the funds but they had to do the work. He basically forced them to go out and find some designs, find the supplies, the construction material, the whole thing and then he funded it. But they did the work. They, as a community, built their own school and got it running and now they have 3 buildings with 8 classrooms teaching grades 1-8. They work very hard to keep it going because they are the ones who made it happen. The only thing Eddie does is check the receipts and go visit every once in a while to take pictures for the donators in the Netherlands and say hi to the kids (who adore him). It's brilliant. I think it's all about empowering the people and their communities, not about doing it for them.

So we went to see the school and a few teachers showed us around. It's simple. Open aired and plain. The higher grades have posters and maps on the wall. They do really need books and pens, so Ishi is going to work on getting a few donated from their passangers each trip.

We had a group of kids following us around the whole entire time. The three of us had cameras and the kids went nuts over posing and then looking at the photos. It was incredibly fun and slightly chaotic.

There's another storm coming tonight and the lake looks really cool with the black clouds rolling towards us. I'm going to play BAO with my buds again tonight. Woo!

FUN NOTE:

As we were looking at the classrooms, one of the teachers asked what I was doing in Africa. I told him that I was cycling and had come up all the way from Cape Town. He paused, looked at me, looked me up and down and said, "But you are...fat!".

No joke.

To make it even better, he put up his hands and made "grabby" gestures as he said it.

Yup.

I didn't even know what to say so I laughed and said, "yes, I am fat, but my fat legs are very strong". He looked me up and down again, shrugged and just nodded.

Ouch.

It might take a while for my self esteem to recover from that one.

Bastard.

3 March - Trading & haggling

3 March

Chitimba

0 Miles

Steph:

It rained and stormed all night and our tent got wet. Boo. But by breakfast it had cleared up and after swimming in the lake, meeting the pet impala and its protective goat, we visited the wood carving market at the entrance of Chitimba Camp. It's all really beautiful and I want it all. They have all sorts of things; engraved boxes, masks, picture frames, figures of the animals, chairs, incredible tables and chests, etc. These guys are eager too. As soon as we stepped out they were all over us luring us to their stands and introducing themselves with names like Vegemite, Will Smith, Samsonite and just plain Tim. We went out already knowing that we wanted to get a "Bao" game set. I used to play a version of it with my brothers when we were little called Mankala. The rules are a bit different here. Tim offered to carve us one just the way we wanted and charged us 10,000MK (~$30usd). We agreed and I think he felt he was ripping us off slightly and threw in two personalized key chains for free. Haha! It's ok, the box turned out amazing and I think it was worth it.

Ishi told us that these guys also accept trades. She traded in a tshirt for a nice little mask. So we decided to try it. We'd already agreed that we were going to get rid of a bunch of stuff before going home and now that we were on the truck we can get something bigger. We wanted a Malawian Chair. I don't know if that's the official name for it but we saw them in Botswana and they called them that there, so that's what I'll go with. It's a really simple design; just two pieces of wood. One is the back and the other is the seat, kind of a stool actually. The backs of them are the incredible part. These guys carve the most intricate and beautiful designs on them and some get really creative. They're awesome and pricey. After a LOT of negotiating and going back and forth, we traded:

• 2 handle bar bags – still looked good after being manhandled 5 months
• 1 pair of nice, barely used water resistant Colombia pants
• 1 REI shirt
• 1 blinky bike light
• 1 journal, empty & nice
• 1 mechanical pencil – big, big hit
• 4 pairs of adidas socks – used but clean
• $3 usd

for a magnificent chair carved out of teak with the big 5 on it. It rocks! This was my first real haggling experience and I'm super excited. Now we just need to figure out how to get it home :) Sorry, don't have pictures, you'll see it at home.

Chitimba Beach!

2 March - Bamboo Bridges and drunk guys

2 March

Kande – Chitimba

144 Miles

Erik:

The drive was sweet! Those hills were killer but the views are nice. We got stopped by the army and police and were told to wait. Wait for what? The president to go by, of course. After standing around for about 45 minutes her troupe rolled by. Her very fancy car slowed down, she rolled down her window and waved at the villagers (and us). A very big woman with a very bright orange dress on. So now we've seen Malawi's president AND Namibia's as well. Cool beans.

Going to Chitimba was a breathtaking ride. Snakey roads on the side of mountains overlooking the lake. This would've taken us at least a week on the bike. It was beautiful.

We stopped at a "100 year old" bridge made entirely out of bamboo (the original one was built in 1905 and has been rebuilt on a regular basis ever since). The villagers are super enthusiastic and self driven about it and are trying very hard to get tourists to stop here and visit the bridge. The man in charge had the whole village singing songs for us and showed us their little "museum" of artifacts that his "forefathers have been using for many, many years". Dave and Ishi want to see if this place would be good for them to stop with their passangers, so we did the whole spiel and walked over the bridge. 50M long and scary wobbly. Haha! When Steph was walking back, a drunk dude jumped on it and started bouncing. It was hilarious. Then they sang us the history of their tribe, showed of lots of neat stuff, prechristian. I hope they stay successful. More people like that and this continent would be in a much better place.

Check it OUT!!!!

Rickety old Bamboo bridge

This guy was hilarious

Beautiful mountains that we're not riding over :)

1 March - New friends AND a ride?

1 March

Kande Beach

0 Miles

Erik:

This morning I woke up and my knee hurt so badly. I couldn't crouch on it. Don't know how we'll do these hills that are coming up. Kande is very relaxing. Tomorrow we'll head to Nkhata Bay though. We need the atms there and camping is supposed to be very cheap. The overland trucks left this morning, so the camp is nice and quiet.

We met an overland truck driver, Dave, and his trip leader, Ishi (also from west scotland!). Had a great time chatting with them. They explained how the Overland thing works and showed us their really well equiped truck. Their trips seem really cool. They basically last for 75 days, Nairobi to Cape Town, then drive back up to Kenya empty. Right now they're on transitioning back up north, so they don't have any passengers with them.

We chatted with them for most of the day and really hit it off. Around dinner time, Dave offered to give us a ride to Arusha, Tanzania! We're slightly behind schedule and I'm hurt, so I'll talk to Steph about it.

Steph LOVED it!! So, to Arusha we'll go by truck. We'll spend a couple of days on another beach farther north and then do some bush camping in Tanzania. It should be great. We'll see stuff that we wouldn't be able to see on the bikes or by train. It also solves the mountain/knee issue. Woot!

Steph:

Dave and Ishi are amazing. They told us all about their job and living off this truck, which is yellow. Haha, I don't think I'll ever escape this color. Anyway, they think that the two of us would be a great team on an overland truck. Maybe in South America. Erik can drive and be the mechanic, while I take care of the passangers. Sounds like a great job to me.

About getting a ride up there. At first I though, "really?", but about 4 minutes later it dawned on me that this could not get any better, here's why:

• For weeks now, we've been trying to figure out what to do next. With the elections in Kenya coming up, we aren't sure if things would get as violent as they did a few years ago and whether to try to fly out of Dar Es Salaam instead. We've already changed our tickets to go home 2 weeks earlier due to some stuff at home that we would like to be back for, but the rest was still up in the air. This clears things up a bit

• We are running out of time. Spending so much time in Lusaka was great and we don't regret it but it set us back a bit. The train from Mbeya to Dar only leaves once a week and to make it without having to spend time in Mbeya (which we don't want to do), we'd have to cycle every day for the next week. Erik's knee is giving him problems and the mountains we're facing are the worst of the entire stretch, so that would be tough and not fun. Chances are, we probably won't make it in time.

• We're tired. I know that sounds lame, but the past week and a half has been tough on us (mentally, more than anything). It's been great in terms of getting to know Malawi and its people but the cycling part has become more work than enjoyment and we find ourselves focusing more on our daily destinations rather than enjoying the ride.

• If we go to Arusha with Dave and Ishi, it'll open up Tanzania a little more. Just with our bikes, we would've taken the train to Dar from Mbeya, then gone to Zanzibar and then Nairobi. That's not much of Tanzania. On the truck, we'll see the whole route from south to north and maybe find a good deal for a safari in the Serengeti or Nhgorogoro. These guys like to stop in villages and markets just as much as we do and we'll bush camp so that'll be better than the train. And more comfortable, since we'll have the back to just ourselves and our bikes.

• PLUS, these two are really cool and I'd love to hear more of their stories and get to know them better.

So we discussed it and decided to go for it. And are actually really excited. The only thing is that we won't go to Nhkata Bay (free snorkeling and canoeing), but we're over it. Mostly, we're over it because now we'll be able to go through the Valley of the Baobabs and a National Park as well. Woop.

It is weird to think that we're done cycling though. I look at the bikes, all muddy and dirty, and it does make me a little sad. But the point of this trip was never really to "cycle" Africa. It was, and still is, to see Africa. We've cycled 3000 miles, which I think is still pretty good and quite an adventure. Now we have a big tour truck to ourselves and get to chill with its crew which I see as another adventure.

Oasis Overland 

Kande Beach

Sweet setup. We scored some eggs for breakfast :)

28 February - More cyclists

28 February

Ngala – Kande Beach

41 Miles

Erik:

We had a lovely evening last night but didn't sleep well. It got cold and my leg kept insisting on cramping. By 8:45 we were packed and had finished our breakfast.

It felt a little cooler than yesterday. About 20 miles into the ride we ran into two other cyclists. Jan from the Netherlands and Janis from Latvia. They have both been at it for 8/9 months or so. Jan did Netherlands-East Africa and down while Janis came down the West side. Janis was really cool. He had handmade perniers and a rad beard. He said he got arrested and strip searched in Uganda because the villagers said he looked like a terrorist. Really funny story and super chill dude. We all chatted for about an hour and then rode on. They were shooting for Nhkotakota which is quite a ways away, especially this late in the day.

We went to a secluded beach for some lunch, the water is really clear here. For a lake.

At like 3pm we got to Kande. At the open market I bought 2 tangerines, 5 guavas, 500g rice, 6 tomatoes, 5 avocados and 2 "ice drink" thingies for 750MK. That's about $2USD. The ice drinks are flavored water that they freeze and put in a little plastic bag. Delicious.

Kande Beach Camp is super nice, but very tourist ridden. Those big overland tour buses are here. The ones we've seen on the road so much. It's super cheap to camp and the beach rocks, so we'll hang out here for a couple of days.

We played fussball with a west scot who lives in Peru and a nice Malawian. Really good night.

Steph:

I got up early to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful. There was a group of fishermen launching their boats and one of them walked over to me. His name was Leuben and he's only 14 years old. We ended up talking for almost 45 minutes. He just kept asking questions about everything from what kind of music I like to what I do for "entertainment", to why I am in Africa and what I think of Malawi. Malawians seem very proud to be Malawian. This kid was so sweet. He kept telling me that he was proud of me being in Malawi and that he was proud. Proud Proud Proud. It was really nice talking to him.

Ooh fun story: We were riding along this mountain, close to the beach and wondering whether the plants growing on the side of the road were Mary-jay-juana or not when we stopped to switch out our water bottles. A very old, little wrinkly man came walking up the road towards us and I greeted him in my now perfected Chichewa greeting. He smiled and started saying a lot of words that we did not understand. He realized this and invited us, in very broken english, to go back to his house to smoke with him. It was amazing. I wanted to go really badly but we declined politely and he smiled and said, "no problem, no problem". I guess that answered our pot question, since I'm pretty sure he was already pretty stoned.

It was a good day. I kicked Erik's butt in Fussball and then a Malawian named James kicked mine. Good stuff.

Good morning! Storms in Mozambique!

My young friend, Leuben

Jan, the dutchman and Janis, the terrorist :) Cool guys

Market in Kande

27 February - Ngala Camp

27 February

Dwanga – Ngala

10 whole miles

Steph:

Short day!! Haha! I don't know why we're so tired or whiney. Maybe it's the humidity, I don't know. We arrived at the lodge in Ngala which was highly recommended by the chileans. They were right, it's incredibly beautiful but we didn't realize how expensive it was. It's really fancy too. Since we weren't able to get cash in Dwanga, we really couldn't afford it. The owners were lovely though, both South African, and were willing to work with us on the price a little bit. The camp ground was right on the beach under some trees. We made our lunch at the run down palapa right on the water. They use it as a beach bar during the high season but right now it's completely empty. Rice, avocados, tomatoes and onions all mixed into our cool little pot. It was delicious. God bless cheap, fresh vegetables. Erik napped for a while and I accidentally fell asleep in the sun. Now I'm a lobster. Oops.

Erik:

It was a hort ride to Ngala. Sadly, it's too expensive to stay here for more than one day. I need some time off from riding. It's about 38 miles to Kande from here, so hopefully that won't be too bad tomorrow. We have all day to chill out here. It's really pretty. Ngala Lodge is much too fancy for us. I hope Kande has a more "backpacker" feel to it.

Our tent right on the beach 

Fishermen on the lake

26 February - Modi Bwanji!

26 February

Nhkotakota – Dwanga

40 Miles

Erik:

Today's highlights:

• 1 hour of silence (no people) as we rode through a mountain
• Golden baboons, two families
• riding through the misty rain
• All in all, I'm dead.

The atm at Dwanga doesn't work which means we have no money until Nkata Bay. We'll make due.

Steph:

We had breakfast in town today and learned a few things. Patrick and James (our waiters) taught us some basics in Chichewa. "Modi-Bwanji" – Hello, How are you? "Tidibueno" – Fine. "Caieno" – And you? "Zicomo" – Thank you. Woo! We practiced and tested it out all day. Most people just stared and said nothing but some actually responded! Very exciting.

There was a bit of road today that did not have people or villages. It was about 45 minutes worth of silence that were surprisingly wonderful. It made me realize a few things.

• I miss the quiet! Just the two of us huffing and puffing up the hills and the birds chirping. Saying hello to every single person all day long on top of the huffing and puffing is kind of exhausting. It was nice to be in nature again.

• Then again, I forgot how stressful it can be just to be in nature. Haha. We saw a few baboons on the road and stopped to watch them for a while. They're smaller than the ones down south but it reminded me of how it was in Botswana and the Caprivi. Always on high alert, listening to crunching twigs and other scary sounds. Constantly starring into the bushes hoping nothing comes charging out at us. Sleeping with one eye open and freaking out about the slightest little sound that seemed out of place (like we would ever know if it was out of place :) Don't get me wrong, I loved it. It was so exciting never knowing what was around the next turn. But also just slightly nerve racking.

We stayed in Dwanga instead of going all the way to Ngala. We were both tired and I'm really dehydrated. We found an ok place to stay and walked to the village to try the atm. We're total celebreties. The kids go crazy when they see us walking around and the adults just stare. It's weird man.

Rain clouds

School girls that came to talk to me for a while :) Really sweet