Today has been our last rest day on the tour. Next time we wake up and don’t need to ride a bike, we’ll already be in Cape Town! Where has the time gone!? It’s also been our laziest rest day of the entire tour. We’re camping directly at the Orange River, which forms the...
Days 103–104: Beautiful Windhoek—modern, clean & green (and very German)
We’ve had two wonderfully relaxing rest days in Windhoek. What a beautiful modern, clean & green city in an absolutely stunning setting surrounded by rolling hills and blessed with a benign climate! Highlights on my end: Chilling for hours at the Craft Café inside the Craft Center—great food, great service, fast Internet, nice ambience...
Day 97: Once again flying HIGH, this time above the Okavango Delta
I’ve had a very relaxing rest day in Maun, the tourist capital in northern Botswana. Maun is a desert town mostly used as a base for exploring the Okavango Delta, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife habitats. Together with Cath, Erin, Mike and Peter, we went on a one-hour flight early morning to get an appreciation...
Day 85: All about food—in and out
Similar to Lilongwe, Lusaka doesn’t offer much in terms of must-see touristic sights. Its clear highlight number one to most tourists: modern Western-style malls. Some of us who score high on the upper end of the cultural immersion scale would disagree. They kept busy exploring the markets and other more local aspects of the town. That’s not...
Day 79: A day at the wildlife sanctuary in Lilongwe—eating and drinking that is
Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, doesn’t offer much in terms of sightseeing or tourist attractions. That was good news for us—without any pressure to make good use of the time, we’ve had yet another relaxing rest day. I went to Koko Bean (a top-rated coffee shop cum restaurant) with E.A. in the morning for...
Day 73–74: Relaxing at Chitimba Beach (Lake Malawi)
We’ve had two relaxing rest days at Chitimba beach at Lake Malawi—time mostly spent eating, drinking and chilling. A few of us visited the surrounding hills for great views down to the lake. Muzz organized a trip for us to visit the Manchewe Falls (125m heigh waterfall) . . . . . . as...
Day 70: Raiding the best coffee shop in Mbeya
Finally, after seven consecutive days on the bike, we’ve had a rest day again. This time, we stopped in Mbeya, the largest city in southern Tanzania. Though spoilt by scenic green hilly surroundings that—while cycling through—at times looked like just back home in the Swiss or Austrian alps, the city of Mbeya itself is...
Day 62: Great rest day in Arusha
This might as well have been my most relaxing yet productive rest day so far. With all my washing done on our last cycling day and/or during our safari, the only thing left to do this morning was to clean my chain. I noticed that my rear tire had gone flat during the transport, but...
Days 32–36: After every detox, there will be a retox
After almost three weeks in a strict Muslim country without alcohol, Nairobi has not only been a time of recovery. Safe to say, some of us have been handling the renewed access to beer, wine and even spirits better than others; and writing all consumption onto our open tabs hasn’t been helpful to stop excesses. No...
Days 29–31: In transit
This post and the following entries are just quick updates to let you know what we’ve been up to since my last post for day 28. Last Friday, on day 29, we took the bus back from the Ethiopian border to Khartoum. At the same time, Max, Muli, Sharita and Wynand started their journey...
