Where to | African Bike Adventure

We made it! Back home after just under 2 months and 12500km's. Praise God.

So after doing 500 and more Km's over the last 5 days we are back in SA. We arrived in Barberton at about 17h00 after fixing another flat on my back wheel 28km before my folks' house. We did just over 12000km in less than 60 days and I think it is safe to say we are 3 more humble boys today. It was a epic trip and a life changing experience. Keep an eye for photo's on the site in the next couple of weeks. Eddie, dis vir jou ou maat. Ons het jou + gemis! En dan wat sal ons se; Yes please, I'm sorry en Akuna Matata!

Dar es Salaam. Yesterday we started about 70km north of Arusha and set of for Dar which is over 700km's. In Moshi we stopped to have lunch knowing that Kili was hiding behind the clouds was s sad thing as we all would have loved to see Africa's highest mountain in it's full glory. But that was not to be and so we pushed on. We only got to Dar at 10pm, by then I was out of it having had food poisoning for about 2 days we are grateful to have made it safely. After looking for a campsite a little too long we ended up living it up in the Southern Sun and so we have now lived in all extremes when it comes to accommodation. Tonight we are living local with a brother called Fred. Dar is a very relaxed coastal city and I would mind living here...

After having Mshikaki and chips we had a ride home in a Bajaj.

What safety rope?

Sleeping arrangements for tonight.

Tomorrow we set of to Malawi. Yeeehaaa!

PS: Edster as jy hierdie lees, ons mis jou tjom! Sterk staan!

We jaust got back to Nairobi from Masai Mara where we spent 3 days watching the migration. Back at Jungle junction Christoph fixed Riaans bike and tomorrow we just need to replace Duan's stearing head bearings and then we set of for Mt Kili. All good in Africa, akuna matata...

Mt Kenya(not the best view we had, but the only time we stopped...

We are in Nairobi. Yesterday Riaan had a accident not far from Marsabit. He had a flat front wheel and lost control and the rest as they say... He is fine and has no real injuries but his bike took a knock. He lost all the oil from a cracked engin casing, front rim bent to a triangle and more. He took a truck with his bike on the back to Nairobi and me and Duan met him here. So we hope to get his bike fixed...The ride here was great passing Mt Kenya on the way and I must say riding on tarmac was nice after over 1000km's of 4x4 tracks.

Our last beer at Mamma Hawo's(I hope)

The way the kids sleep when its hot...outside.

Last photo with the mission inmates, it has been 9 hard but good days here in Illeret. We had 3 meals a day, normaly goat meet, rice, ugali or spageti and freshly baked bread in the morning. The days filled with fighting the wind and killing flies. The good, well the kids for sure, we have learned lots from them. The rest you will have to wait and see...

My new tyre! Fitted and ready to go. So God willing we leave tomorrow morning.(only to realise a little later a pinched the tube and so had to change it again! The 19" tubes doesn't agree with me...)

After a swim in lake Turkana. So we are waiting for the plane to bring our tyre today. If all goes well we might still leave today. For now we are braaing some fish for lunch and I have internet for a change. Our time here has been filled with some great experienses but we are looking forward to moving again. With the time lost we have decided not to go to Ethiopia. It was a very hard and rather emosional decision but one that had to be made. A vow to return then...

Our view from where we have been staying for over a week in Illeret

The local kids. The one on the far right is called Kulukoi wich means rock, his mother is a drunk and he has come through alot, amazing little guy who can do some impressive acrobatics.

some Photos in trip gallery and on new blog posts.

Adding photos as I can, most of the good stuff is in the form of video.

Happy to report that we are having a blast!

Eddie is still getting his bike fixed and I'm not sure if he will join us again, but we hope so!

After a day of rafting on the Nile with Casey, Cody and Manuel. Legend rafting comrades,

With Richard and Peter in Kampala

We are having some trouble uploading photos but will try our best to do so soon.

Update 23h24 on 09/06/2011: My mouth feels better and we seem set to leave tomorrow morning. The delay was a blessing in diguise as we still had loads to do! Godspeed.

Nee eks nie dikbek nie dis n abses. En toe is ons trip met n dag of twee vertraag. Not to worry, we are on holiday! Katie is ook nog nie helemal lekker nie en ons glo sy more weer soos n blink nuwe sikspens operate.

Please note that the route has been slightly altered, but our aim is still Bahir Dar.

As can be expected we are facing some difficulties, like a bike with fuel consumption issues, a member with n huge absess and one who still writes an exam tomorrow night at 7pm...we have faith that all will be sorted for Wednesday departure though. I just love the excitement of being overwhelmed with things to do and an epic that awaits its participants patiently.(06/06/2011)

Taking the road less traveled, we understand that the team is, to a large extent going to have to make it up as we go along. As such, we contented ourselves with only a general mapped out route. The aim is to reach the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. The route passes out of South Africa and through Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and then a small part of North Kenya before entering the magical Ethiopian Highlands. At this point with approximately 7000km's of African landscape behind us, the team will reach the midpoint of the journey. The ascent back South then begins.

The way back will include the notoriously rocky road towards Nairobi through the Kaisut Desert on route to the Masai area which will allow us the privilege of witnessing one of Africa's most spectacular events. An estimated 1,5 million Wildebeest and 300 000 Zebras reach the height of their migration as they cross the Crocodile infested Mara River. From there the team will head towards Zanzibar before traversing back across Tanzania into Malawi where we will stop over in Lilongwe to visit some of the brothers and sisters in the Church. From Malawi we will head into Mozambique, enduring the sandy beaches of the South coast all the way down to Maputo before meandering through picturesque Swaziland and finally back into South Africa.

A highlight of the journey is visiting and meeting people in the Churches of Christ which is located in every country we plan to go through, these are brothers and sisters who share the same faith in Christ and same spiritual convictions as we do. It is always very encouraging to see people from different backgrounds, races and cultures share the same convictions and being equally committed to the mission of seeking and saving the lost.