Something Special
I was off off to Tanzania for
K E Adventures
first commercial mountain bike trip in the area. There was going to be ten
days biking and two days touring. I was not sure what to expect from
Africa. And Tanzania as a country, was a complete unknown to me.
I had done walking and ski trips with adventure operators but not mountain
biking, so this was another unknown. For sure it would be different to any
mountain bike touring I had done previously on five continents. I expected
that the wild life would be the highlight. Certainly seeing giraffe,
zebra, ostrich, gazelle, monkey, pelicans, stalks and huge flocks of pink
flamingoes close up in a totally natural environment from our bikes in a
way not seen by tourists doing the standard jeep safari was something
special. My fascination with the flora and fauna is from the prospective
of an Australian who is accustomed to wide spectrum of diversity from
Europe to Australia to Asia. Someone who's experience is purely European
or North American will possibly be even more fascinated by the difference
in flora and fauna.
However for me the real highlight as a result of
touring northern Tanzania by mountain bike was the cultural experience of
getting up close to the Masai people. We biked through areas where very
few tourists go. We made close contact with these friendly and inquisitive people eking out a
subsistence style existence, with a culture similar to that they have followed for
thousands of years. Throughout the world, in India, in remote villages in
Fiji and rural villages in Malaysia, I am continually amazed how well
presented some of the poorest people are. They do not have washing
machines, hot water services or even running water to their houses but
they are so neat, clean and well presented despite their basic, dusty living
facilities. They put to shame so many people in western society who
present so poorly. The Masai people are particularly fascinating with
their colourful attractive dress. In the past their economic environment
must have been much more affluent for them to develop such a culture. The
mental image of these colourful people in both a picture and cultural
sense is the strongest memory of the mountain biking in Tanzania, even
stronger than the wild life, stronger than the fascinating and different
landscape that we biked through, stronger than the unique vegetation be
biked through and stronger than the spectacular image of Mt Kilimanjaro.
It is not that each of these other memories are not absolutely fantastic
in itself, each one of themselves would have made the trip all the way to
Africa to mountain bike worthwhile. The combination of great
mountain biking plus all these sights and experiences made for a fantastic
trip.
While the major towns like Dar Es Salaam and Arusha
may seem like third world in Asia or the Pacific or anywhere, once you
were out into the country side it was completely different. The harshness
and dryness may seem like outback Australia but the vegetation, wildlife,
the people and the culture were completely different.
The Biking
You head off on a mountain bike trip with people you
do not know and you worry on the one hand will it be real mountain biking,
or maybe just a dirt road tour? On the other hand you worry will it be too
tough and you can't keep up.
K E Adventure
graded this trip as demanding. I would rate their description as very
accurate, and especially on the first couple of days where I would
describe the grade at the high end of demanding towards the highest
category of strenuous. There were a number of days which presented a
considerable challenge to the fit and experienced mountain biker. There
were some long days with energy sapping terrain under a very hot sun. Even
if there was enough daylight at the end of the day to service the bikes,
it was hard to summon the energy to do so. While the challenge may have
been exhausting on some days, on most days it was rewarding and enjoyable.
Fighting our way through the soft sand which wanted to swallow up all your
energy during the first few days certainly lost it's appeal towards dark
on a long day. K E Adventure had been searching for an alternative route
that could be used for the first two days of the trip, and I understand
that they were going to evaluate some of the suggestions from our
group.
The ride was not overly technical but throughout the
ride there was enough technical challenge to keep most cross country
mountain bikers happy. Of the ten days biking, the route included seven
days which involved single track or technical sections. On two days there
were relatively steep rough sections and steep drop-offs, with large loose
rocks which required skill and nerve to ride completely.
A couple of riders lacking in fitness or ride
experience really struggled with some of the ride, and had to push
themselves to the limit. I do not think that this is the ideal preparation
from their point of view to enjoy the trip. They had to
walk sections other than the unrideable sand sections. On a twelve day
cycling holiday I think that you will get most enjoyment, if it represents
some challenge, but the grade is well within your limits at the time.
The Operator
My evaluation of
KE Adventure is on the basis of
this one experience. From my experience if you are doing a trip with KE be
prepared for genuine raw adventure standard, discomfort, inconvenience,
delays, upsets etc. Certainly do not expect to be nursemaided,
mollycoddled or have an armchair ride. I am not saying that KE do not
attempt to make the trip pleasant and enjoyable. It is simply that they do
not go to great lengths to sanitise the trip.
It is tough, hot and unpredictable out in Tanzania
and that is what you get. If you went out to Tanzania with some
experienced mates then you know that you will be expected to pull your
weight. You would anticipate hard days when things do not go right. The
weather, terrain and navigation will mean that a particular day may not
turn out as good as expected, or maybe it turned out a lot better. Expect
no different on a KE trip. Sure with considerable expense they could hone
down the trip so it does run pretty predictably. But then you have a
tourist trip not an adventure trip.
Do not get me wrong Matt Reedy the leader and Eddy
the Kenyan assistant worked dam hard to ensure we all the most
enjoyable time. Where problems did arise they minimised the impact on the
group and ensured that problems did not turn into a crises. Sure they did
not have the route down perfectly. However when people were getting tired or
finding it tough, Matt had altered the route before it had got to
be a
serious problem. When we were running behind he had changed the plan
and moved the campsites so we did not run out of daylight, and we did not
know until it had happened.
On the afternoon of the first day, extensive unrideable sandy patches, navigation and puncture after puncture put us
well behind schedule. Matt cut the ride short and found an alternative
campsite before dark. On the second day Matt changed the route to move us
more out of this very dry area
which the wildlife had departed from.
Sensibly he did not try to catch up the distance on the second day as some
members of the group were still very tired from the first day and the
track was simply too rough to make up time. So again the camp site was
altered.
He left the catch-up to the third day where the tracks
were much faster and there were some on road sections so we could
ride one and a half times the planned distance and still get into the third night's camp at Merserani Snake
Farm by mid afternoon.
Since there were only six of us, KE gave us a tent
each, which was not expected. This was something that they need not
have done, as we were to share tents and was a nice gesture. I believe
that it is indicative of an attitude to the trip members which is as much
a club attitude as a commercial venture.
The pre ride information we received was excellent and not only was a
great help in preparing for the trip, but also in adding to the enjoyment
of the rip. Good pre trip medical information is especially essential for
a trip to Africa.
The Luxuries
Going with a commercial adventure operator gives you
some luxuries that you will not get doing it yourself. After we arrived in
camp there was soon a drink of tea or coffee and a snack while we relaxed
or more often serviced the bikes and repaired umpteen punctures. We did
not have to worry about finding and purifying water, that was all done for
us. Of course the meals were all cooked and served. I thought that we may
have to help with food preparation and washing dishes etc. Not so, we had a
full crew of three and this was done for us. Lucky too, because a few days
we got in quite late and very tired, it would have been a while before we
worked up the energy to start preparing the meal.
I was expecting that our only chance to wash would
be the three nights we camped at commercial camp grounds and where we came
across a river. In fact we had a sort of warm shower every night. It
worked out to be a ration of one and a half litres
of warm water. You had to get your self damp, stop the water, soap up and
try to wash the soap and dirt off. It looked like most of the dirt ended
up on my towel. However with suntan cream and then very dry dusty
conditions we ended up pretty dirty at the end of each day. It was a
grateful bonus to get the dust off before
getting changed into our mosquito protecting long pants and shirt
for dinner, and not having to climb into our sleeping bag like we got off
the bike. I am sure that if you were leading your own ride in Africa with
a group of friends you would not get yourself organised for a warm shower
each night.
Of course the biggest luxury of all was not having
to bury yourself in maps and correspondence for months beforehand to
organise the ride. And when we were there we could concentrate all our
energies on riding. We did not have to worry about the navigation,
negotiation with the locals, locating camp sites and finding water. We had
the luxury of a leader and his support team to iron out the problems.
Private Trip
Do you need to mountain bike in the Northern Parks area of Tanzania
with an overseas commercial operator or could you do your own private
trip? I think that it would be pointless to try and do a multi day tour in
the area without a degree of local support. The area is too remote to
effectively tour without a support vehicle and you definitely need someone
who knows the area and can speak the language. You may be able to alter
the itinerary to stay in near-by towns and villages. The trip would take
more time and the towns and villages in the area are so basic that it
would not be more any comfortable than rough camping. As the section of
the website on service in Tanzania illustrates it is almost impossible to
organise things in advance from outside the country. You would need to
allow from three days to three weeks after you arrived in Arusha to make
the contacts, check out the people, do the planning, schedule and get
started. Most mountain bikers would probably think that their time was
more valuable, than the cost to be saved by running a private trip when KE
Adventure has a trip already organised.