DOGS we have encountered since Egypt are not aggressive toward people in general, neither are they collared or tied up in any way (unlike donkeys, goats and cattle which are tethered or hobbled if not being herded) dogs roam the villages, roads and bush looking well-fed and happy and are often with their owners (herdsmen) trotting along with the cattle/goats/sheep.

ROAD TRANSPORT is alive and well in Africa and most definately connecting places, people and products! From single gear bicycles (which often overtake us) to minibus taxis, luxury busses, oil tankers, huge double trailer flatbed trucks and overland vehicles. But north of Zambia it is almost exclusively Toyota country! All old Toyota bakkies retire to Egypt or Sudan! Malawi taxis are square little cartoon-like Toyotas (never did find out what they are called). New Toyota bakkies, the Prado and Cruiser make up the rest. What defies logic are the kilometres of trucks standing at border posts waiting to be processed. In some instances the drivers live in their trucks at the border for 10 days!

And then there are CHILDREN – lots and lots of them! In Egypt and Sudan the girls were reserved and the boys either friendly or aggressive. A few cyclists had stones thrown at them, while others had children jump out in front of them making it necessary to swerve or stop to avoid them. Outside of the big cities in Kenya we attracted a lot of attention with screams of Mzungu!! /Mazungu/Muzungu (white person, foreigner) together with aggressive waving and running – sometimes alongside a cyclist for several kilometres!

COKE STOPS are life-savers when you have been cycling the entire morning and your electrolite in your bottle is just not giving you the sugar-fix your body is craving in the afternoon! It never ceased to surprise us when we found a small mud brick shop with a freezer and cold soft drinks – absolute life savers – which we missed when we travelled through Botswana, Namibia and South Africa!

STRUCTURES were what first caught your attention. In EGYPT the pyramids, but Valley of the Kings had the most non-obvious structures – underground. Much was learnt over hundreds of years on stabilisation and underground tunnelling, there were deaths too when tunnels collapsed and rock did not hold. Perfect artwork and hyroglyphics as a result of specialist artists working in teams 1. Carve outlines 2. Paint base colour 3. Colour paint 4. Detail

WATER:
SUDAN had huge metal water towers in each village with a pump-minder. Donkey carts with 10 gallon drums or heaps of 25 litre plastic bottles used to collect water and CLEAN Irrigation canals for farmers.
In EGYPT it was collected at wells with hand pumps. Irrigation canals and rivers were often used as garbage dump sites, particularly in Cairo.

SCENERY & INHABITANT changes were expected and yet in each country there was something that took our/my breath away…
[ ]Egypt:
Abu Sembel – Ramses II & Queen Nefertari Temples
[ ]Sudan:
Ladies’ colourful wraps, Nubian Desert, Khartoum – our first shopping Mall & ICE CREAM since leaving home!
[ ]Kenya:
Nairobi bead factory, baby elephant sanctuary & re-introduction into a new elephant family
[ ]Uganda:
Jinga – source of the Nile; Boda boda (Motorbike Taxi) ride
[ ]Rwanda:
Kigali Genocide museum; litter-free living; true tolerance & reconciliation
[ ]Tanzania:
Arusha’s Cultural Heritage Centre & Art Gallery; Serengeti & Ngorogoro Crater; ladies on their own bicycles.
[ ]Malawi:
Chitemba Beach, Lake Malawi
[ ]Zambia:
Victoria Falls; local patriotism “one Zambia – one Nation!”
[ ]Botswana:
Nata Lodge, friendly Maun
[ ]Namibia:
Mtb country; Desert vistas; Dunes; Joe’s Beerhouse, ANZAC day
[ ]South Africa:
Road through Cedarberg to Riebeekstad’s mountain vistas; Atlantic & Indian Oceans; Boulders Beach curio shop.

Hi Steve, Good to hear. 2017 would be the year to join us as we have added some incredible extras to the ride to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the ride – https://tdaglobalcycling.com/2016/04/special-15th-anniversary-edition-of-the-tour-dafrique/