Kentz Engineers & Constructors Cairo to Capetown Cycle Challenge

Botswana There were rumours of tailwinds in Botswana since Cairo. They were there but only if you were going from Capetown to Cairo. The first 2 days were head and side winds and you really notice it when the terrain is flat. We made it to Maun which is a popular spot to rent a canoe and take off for a few days on the Okavango Delta. It's the only river in Africa which does not run into the ocean. Instead it runs into the desert. It changed direction millions of years ago when tectonic plates moved apart. Not as fascinating as the Amazon river changing direction (originally flowed into the Pacific Ocean) due to the rise of the Andes mountains, but still good fodder for cocktail parties.

Free Ride I did manage to sneak onto safari on the river Chobe, saved me $35U.S. There were nearly a hundred elephants a one time drinking and cleaning themselves at the river, as well as hippos, crocs and monkeys.

I didn't take any safari trips in Maun, to be honest I was very happy to get the time to chiill the bones and recover. I spent a lot of time at the campsite swimming pool and bar ! I did go out to a local nightclub - it was free entry so that's where the people who couldn't get into the nice places went. It was a classy joint with a wire fence to protect the barstaff. The guys were all dancing with each other and spirits were high. My only beef was the rap music which is everpresent in Africa (except for Ethiopia.)

855 Kilometres in 5 days it's true, that just happened. Sometimes a few days passes and when you cycle huge distances each day blends into the next. If you asked me to recall any specific day I would give you the fishhook eyebrow and walk off. Botswana is very sparsley populated so you actually need to look for people when you cycle.

I cycled through Botswana and met only a handful of people on the way. Those I met were very nice but not very trusting (no offence to any Botswanian readers). The landscape tended to repeat itself making it impossible to tell how long I was cycling for and difficult to imagine one specific place or time. The only thing that stands out is the day I saw wild Elephants and Giraffes at a watering hole. I was cycling through a nature reserve which is part of the "Elephant Highway".

207kms The longest distance of my ride in Africa. I have to say I have had harder days and mental preparation and chocolate helped me through this. It took about 10 hours but that was peppered with coke and beer stops. I've had much tougher days and the winds were in my favour.

Namibia It was great to break the 200 mark and the last few kms led crossed the border and into Namibia. It was a great end to the day and a few cold Windhoek beers awaited me over the border. It's an awesome bottle of suds and it's hard to say no at $.70c U.S.

24 April Right now I'm mid-cycle at an internet cafe in Gobabis a small town and it's almost time for me to log off and break the news to the sweet girl working here that although I have an awesome flash bike I have no money to pay for the last 2 hours of internet use. My first impression of Namibia is a good one. That could be because Botswana wasn't the most characteristic stretch of my expedition. But people are friendly and the biltong is cheap.

Next stop is capital city : Windhoek, so good they named a beer after it.

Free Internet Yep she let me have the internet for free in Gobabis. I arrived in Windhoek a totally western town with terrible traffic. The cars leave you no room and I had to jump off the road 4 times on my ride. I stopped into a taxidermists on the way to Windhoek. He gave me a tour of his business. I won't forget the giraffe he stuffed it for a man in Switzerland. The cost of stuffing it is 20,000Euros. This man aims to stuff up to 8 animals a day and ships them all over the world. It's hard to see why someone would hunt a giraffe. I chased a few around in Zambia and they run away so it's not such a challenge to justify stuffing and shipping it around the world. Nonetheless this man seemed happy, wealthy and had over 50 tortises in his garden.

Later in Windhoek I ate zebra and some other wild game in Joe's Beer Garden - a restaurant famous for serving wild game. After a late night in El Cubano I got up the next day at 8am and drove 350kms to Swampkopmund in a rented car with 2 friends. There is a primary road and secondary corrugated asphalt road to Swampkopmund. That's right we took the secondary one by mistake and it took us nearly 6 hours of steep hills, big rocks and heavy sand. I spun the car out of control one time but managed to recover it very close to a mound of sand. We then all agreed to drive under 90mks at all times. The road was about a kilometre wide and both warthogs and monkeys were grazing happily, on this stretch we saw 3 houses and met 1 other vehicle.

As I journey south into winter the nights are getting longer and of course later and Swampkopmund is no different. After a long night of playing pool, dealing with drunk locals and sipping Jagermeister I eventually got to bed only to get up early to go sandboarding followed by quad biking. The sandboarding is tough and walking up a 90 metre sand dune in snowboarding gear is hard. The town of Swampkopmund is like a little German town completley different from anywhere else in Africa, I could stay longer but unfortuanetly I have a deadline in Capetown - only 12 more days on a bicycle. The Namib desert awaits bearing bush camps and asphalt roads.

Robbed ! I just checked my bank account online and a withdrawl of 1500Euros was made in Ethiopia. I wasn't me. I can only see a serial number, the amount and the date. I remember the day : it was in Bahir Dar and I went into a bank gave them my bank card and asked them to take out some money (not 1500Euros). They looked at it for a few minutes then handed it back to me saying they can't help me. Think I need to call fraud.

Well I made the 3 days through the Namib Desert. This is reputed to be the best place on earth to see stars and it doesn't disappoint. In fact Africa with it's large plains never disappoints in that department. The Namib desert hosts exceptional scenery and reminded me a lot of the Nubian desert in Sudan. Despite 3 punctures the riding was easy. The sand was nicely packed down and made riding a pleasure.

Of course you can't cover the same distance on desert dirtroads as you can on tarmac. However in order to visit Fish River Canyon we had to ride one day of 130kms of dirtroad followed by 50kms of tarmac for a total of 180kms. This was quite a tester as any other dirtroad day has a total distance less then 120kms. Factored in are the 2 very large hills and a very strong headwind knocking the face off you. When you are cycling at 10kms you do get frustrated. I did curse all the gods, my bicycle and of course the 1970's funk group Earth Wind & Fire. I soon ran out of people and music groups to blame, you need to put the head down and get on with it. It took me about 10 hours with only 2 ten minute breaks throughout the day.

Fish River Canyon Africa's answer to the Grand Canyon, having seen both I can confirm they are big holes. What always amazes me more then the scenery when I see these wonders, is the thought of how patient a river can be. It takes millions of years for that river to carve it's course 500 metres down. I have been in Africa for 4 months but it feels like forever: ok, it's not a fair comparison but it can give you that drop in the ocean feeling when you're gazing at desert stars.

We also stopped by the Orange River for the last rest day before Capetown. I took time out to reorganise my stuff, have a few last Windhoek draughts and admire South Africa from across the river border.

South Africa I am writing from an internet cafe in the town of Springbok, there are 5 cycling days left and the buzz of Capetown is all around, every time I pass a road sign and see the kilometres gradually reducing I am overcome with mixed emotions. Each day on the bike, although it's not always enjoyable or easy it's always a blessing.

Springbok in Springbok Springbok is an alcoholic shot as well as a town in South Africa. Yep, thanks to my good friend Erica De Jager I have drank this shot in it's namesake town. It's a special day and will be remembered with much love like the time I ate a frankfurt in Frankfurt.

After a couple of beers and dinner courtesy of my new best friend Wimpy it was time to go home. I was with my 2 good friends Rod and Dave Pennington. Springbok, however quaint during the day is a different story at night. The differences are immediate between South Africa and every other country. There are bars on all windows, guard dogs, barbed wire and even fake snakes in some gardens. Rod tried to flag a cab but kept on mistaking the armed reaction guards for a taxi. The last one eventually gave us a lift home in the back of his pickup. Once the sun sets in these small towns although noone is around there is always the feeling of being watched from behind layers of security or even from behind bushes.

It's the last few days of my journey and the scenery is magnificient- it's like cycling through Connemara in Ireland. The Northern and Western Cape of South Africa is very sparsley populated, plenty of hills, wind, rain and rugby is starting to state it's presence in bars and even in the banks ! The towns we camp in every night are tiny with little to offer but a good watering hole. As you can expect when winding down a journey of this length and magnitude people start to celebrate the end early and this can have strange consequences....

Dance of the Flaming Bums I don't want to give too much away on this because I want you to be able to read my blog from the comfort of your workplace. During the course of a cycling day, say 145kms long, the average spandex clad cyclist will think of what every 8 seconds ? OH YES that's right ........ food. After that it's your guess. Some think of the end, what's next, what happens after such a long journey ? What knowledge have they acquired along the way ? Some cyclists however think of other things. Clive for example, a good friend of mine from England suggested the Dance of the Flaming Bums. This should only be attempted after a beer maybe 2. It's first and foremost a race where each contestant must sprint down the street with toilet paper in it's natural position, fully ignited. The person to run the furthest wins.

The location was Main St. in Garies, the contestants remain nameless. Dave Pennington brought the iPod and loud sound system guarenteed to wake up the locals. On your marks, get set, LIGHT ! There were some burns and body hair did once again prove flammable. After several heats and a final it proved impossible to declare a winner as people were laughing too hard. Needless to say it was a well documented event : there is video footage and many photographs which should deter all involved from a career in politics.

3 days left and 375kms left to Capetown !!