KENYA (click on a photo to enlarge)

Cycling through Kenya was an incredible experience.  After arriving in Nairobi I took a bus to the village of Nanyuki, on the equator and at the base of Mt. Kenya.  From there I rode south through three distinct regions of Kenya.  The first was the densely populated and agriculturally important Central Highlands.  The scenery was beautiful, and the number of people along the road in a rural area such as this was unbelievable.  In most countries, when you get out of the cities you don't see many people, but not in Kenya!  Everywhere I went there were people walking, cycling, working the fields, carrying or selling produce, or just sitting around with nothing to do.  Unfortunately, this last group is probably the largest in many parts of East Africa.  Just about every king of fruit and vegetable imaginable is grown here, and I have been picking up mangos and avocados at roadside stands for pennies each day.  Needless to say, I cause quite a commotion whenever I ride by a group of people, but everyone is very friendly.  Being surrounded by a group of children, sometimes an entire village of people, is a daily experience when you're a foreigner cycling through Africa.  On the second and third days of my trip I rode through Nairobi, home to 3 million people.  In my opinion, Nairobi is fairly typical of a city in the developing world, and riding through it was predictably horrendous.  On the north side I had to enter the city via the main highway - the cars drive much faster than a safe speed and there is no shoulder on the road, so I was literally run off the road several times!  To the south of the city I rode through an industrial area...there I perfected holding my breath every time I passed by a factory or a truck came along so that I wouldn't have to take in too much black smoke.  Fortunately I had a local cyclist accompanying me through Nairobi, which helped me keep my sanity.  Thanks Tom! Southern Kenya is Maasailand, and I thoroughly enjoyed riding through this part of the country.  Most of the Maasai have refused to comply with demands that they incorporate themselves into society, and they are easily recognized by the colorful jewelry and clothing that the women wear and the clubs or spears that the men carry.  Every time I thought I was completely alone, I could always look carefully and see a Maasai moving along with a small herd of cattle or goats out on the plains, far from the nearest house or road.  For my last night in Kenya I camped on a ranch adjacent to Amboseli National Park (5 tire punctures in a single hour on the way).  The ranch was owned by a Maasai family, the father of which supposedly had 13 wives and 147 children.  They invited me into one of their mud huts to spend the evening, but it was so smoky in there that my mzungu (swahili for 'white man') eyes couldn't take it.  The next morning I saw elephants, baboons, gazelles, ostriches, African buffalo, and zebras.  I crossed into Tanzania with, literally, no money, food or water.  The area stretching between southern Kenya and northern Tanzania is fairly remote, and there are no banks, ATMs or foreign exchange bureaus.  I spent my last 200 Kenyan shillings on a jar of delicious local honey and my last 50 dollars on the Tanzanian visa, so I had to ride for two days with nothing more than the clothes on my back plus the cycling and camping equipment I was carrying.  Fortunately, crossing borders here is an easy process.  If you're American and look like you are going to spend a lot of money in their country, the immigration officials don't give you any trouble at all.

follow my journey in Northern Tanzania