Back to Europe

I spent two easy weeks in Europe eating amazing pastries, fancy cheeses, dense breads and bratwurst. I was so glad for good food. Cologne Germany was my start. I really liked that city. There were so many bikes around that people didn't bother locking them to anything. Bike lanes followed nearly every road and through a ring of parks circling the city. The Rhine river cut the town in two. An impressive Cathedral towered over downtown. It felt good to be in Europe.

I followed bike paths across Germany. They were spread out like a maze along my whole route. I was so excited to find them, paved and following old railroad grades, that I would frequently ride them even if they didn't go in the direction I was trying to get. They were sirens to my wheels. I couldn't help but follow them through the quiet fields and forests, windmills swinging lazily above, or along pleasant tree lined canals. When I got to the end I would check where I was then get back on track headed south.

From Cologne I went to Zurich. That is where I finished this second round in Europe. To get there I passed from Germany into the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and into Switzerland. In France I took a picture of myself in front of the border sign for a second time. I was wearing my raincoat and rain pants, same as three years ago. Three years on, I've changed, my outfit hasn't. I'm repeating countries now. I take it as a sure sign it is time to find a place to be still. Switzerland is the 41st country I've visited and I think will be my last new one for now. I've got a flight to New York City. I'm making my way home. 

I believe that good art is merely that which makes me stop and take a second look. 

Tanzania

I've crossed Tanzania, stopping just a day away from Kenya, a day away from Kilimanjaro. It is the furthest I could make it in Africa. Tanzania had presented difficulties from a lack of food and water. No one was starving, it was more of just an extreme lack of ingredients. I could get tomatoes and fried bread regularly but not much else. The days were hot and wet, the road muddy, sometimes sandy, tetse flies came and went in swarms. I suppose it was a fitting way to finish Africa. The challenge I am always a looking for.

Despite the difficulty I didn't miss the stunning beauty. In the south I climbed steeply for an afternoon, the first time since Lesotho. The road followed along the rim of a mountain range that rose sharply from the plains. Ancient volcanoes, now cold, dotted the landscape below. Storms rolled through breaking up the sunshine. Every afternoon school children would cheer and chase me as they walked home from school. In the north more volcanoes appeared, large cones standing individually, rising a mile or more into the sky. They appeared slowly out of a persistent haze, then linger on the horizon for days as I circled around them. I stopped in Maasai communities. I complimented their many cattle and felt a little embarrassed to admit that I don't own any cattle myself. As part of their circumcision ritual some of the boys had intricate patterns of white dots and lines painted on their faces. The look was striking and beautiful, the paint shined brilliantly in the sunlight against their dark skin. They wore feathers in headbands and black clothing while all the other Maasai wore red. I saw very young boys herding cows too. The boys were maybe 4 years old and the cows were all babies too. It was funny and cute.

I am heading back to Europe now. I am in search of good food and lots of it.

 A flower for you. 

 African highway. 

 That is my tiny bike on the left. 

Mount Meru 

Zambia

Zambia had the distinction of being entirely pleasant and, by the end, exceeding dull. I've finally lost my patients for roads so straight and flat. There wasn't even any wind to push me one way or another. I peddled in a tepid sea of still air, clouds blooming on the horizon in every direction.

Before the smooth road passing friendly little villages got the better of me I visited Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. Recent rain had them flowing at full volume. The roar was intense and the spray coming up from below rained down in an endless shower, turning the walking paths into streams. The falls were so wide and the resulting mist so thick that I never saw to the far end of them. From every view rainbows cast about dancing in the froth. It was magnificent. I also visited the Kundalila falls. I suspect no one but the locals have ever heard of them, but they were spectacular in their own right.

The road north was dotted with tiny villages selling tomatoes, potatoes and on one day only, watermelons. I filled my water at the town wells and took my turn pumping for anyone else there. Many people spoke some English. The children would call out “How are you!” as I passed. “Fine!” was the response they were looking for and invariably was their reply whenever I turned the question back at them. I did a lot of racing in Zambia. Because the road was well paved and with a wide shoulder many people had bicycles. Any young man I caught up with would match my pace. It was never spoken but there was no way they were going to let me bike away from them. I would try to though. On their rusty single speeds with soft tires and sometimes carrying passengers on the rear rack, their wife and baby perhaps, they would keep up with me. I was never able to pull away from anyone. After 20 minutes, more or less depending on where they were going, they would pull off without a word and I, breathless with burning thighs, would relax my pace until the next challenger appeared.

I followed the highway for more than 1000 kilometers. On both sides of the road the grass was beaten back by men with a sort of bent machete, like a large grapefruit knife or a sharpened golf club. That is a corridor of grass, 8 meters wide, 1000 kilometers long, being mowed with sharpen golf clubs. As surely as I thought it strange for them to be doing that they thought it strange for me to be biking so far. I suppose neither of us were wrong. 

Victoria Falls. 

  

 A flower for you. 

Kundalila falls. 

I found this insect in my nightmare. 

Bringing coal home for cooking. 

 The road to Kundalila falls

I had to find a place to camp when it was dark one night. Turns out I was in a graveyard. 

Botswana

I spent nine pleasant days crossing Botswana. The people were exceedingly friendly, always waving. As I continued north wild animals became a main topic of conversation. Everyone warned me about elephants and lions ahead and asked if I was not scared. I told them I wasn't, but after a hundred people cautioned me about lions I couldn't help but be anxious.

I entered the area with the animals in north east Botswana. It was a remote 300 kilometer stretch with a small village halfway through. The “big five” lived there, in the bush just off of the road. At rest areas signs precluded the government from liability. Leave your vehicle at your own risk they said. I tried to stay moving and kept a close eye on the tall grass. Fixing a flat tire becomes pretty exciting in a place like this. The first night a Park Ranger strongly suggested I stay at a camp ground. In fact he drove me there so I would arrive before dark. The second day I found a lookout tower to sleep in. As night descended 15 elephants arrived to wander beneath me and make strange noises in the dark. I was thankful to be up in the tower as I would have been terrified to be down there hanging between trees among the thrashing elephants. On the third night I hung my hammock in the forest. Despite the night I just had in the tower I decided I wanted to sleep among the wild things. Elephant trails were everywhere. Earlier that day a shepherd pointed out a lion's print in the sand, a truck driver showed me photos of lions next to the road, the road I was on. I pushed my bike into the forest shortly before dusk, and hung my hammock as high off the ground as I could. I laid in it wide eyed, ears straining to identify anything in the darkness below.

By the time I left Botswana I had seen a couple dozen elephants, a zebra, a roadkill hyena, impala, baboons, small snakes and warthogs. I took a ferry to the safety of Zambia. Everyone had nice things to say about Zambia.

 This is my mascot. I found him on the side of the road in Argentina.

 Camping in the lookout tower.

 Hammockeers will recognize this as a high hang.

This was the closest to a welcome sign that I could find.