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 :)