I awake from a bad dream…one of a road that never ends: no turns, no visible landmarks and little elevation. After talking to others about my dream they confessed of one very similar...
Today we get our first taste of true Namibian desert, a stark change from the last month of tarmac. The smell of fresh dust and twin tire trails are reminders of roads past. The hills, ah the hills…we pedaled hard for every crest—each vista worthy of a postcard—and then coasted to our next climb. Duncan is the most popular person in camp tonight, due to his decision to deviate from the traditional route and take us into the desert. His promise of more desertscape during tomorrow’s ride is turning a smile from everyone…even the roadies.
You wouldn’t believe what a dirt road can do to a person’s spirits when there are only ten days to the finish line. A spectacular sunset, boasting the first clouds we’ve seen in weeks, was a fitting end to a scenic day of riding.
Tomorrow we dine upon the edge of a canyon
Due to the political violence in Kenya this year, we were unable to conduct our usual bike donation in Nairobi. As a result we have made a cash donation of $2000 to one of the TDA Foundation's annual recipients, Maji Mazuri. Instead of bikes, this year the funds will go towards desperately needed food, blankets and mattresses, cooking pots and charcoal stoves, and clothes for the many members of Maji Mazuri in Kenya that have been displaced by the recent riots.
Notre long periple touche a sa fin, une nouvelle dynamique prend place… En effet, après une petite phase de lassitude pendant laquelle la plupart des cyclistes comptaient les jours qui nous separaient du Cap, l`atmosphere se detend a nouveau et chacun profite du moment present ! Apres un super repas mexicain prepare par le chef hier soir et une belle journee de velo, nous voici dans un camp un peu amenage (deux douches et trois toilettes), au milieu de nul-part, tapisse de gramines au reflets argentes, parfume de quelques pousses de thym, parseme de tumultes de roches et de “quiver treesâ€: c`est un arbre un peu biscurnu, ou les branches nues portent des aloes, surprenant ! Sans oublie les statues eparpillees partout dans le camp, fabriquees de materiaux de recuperation (tissus, aspirateur, bois, feraille en tout genre…), de quoi egailler cette belle après-midi ensoleillee ! De plus, demain, nous quittons a nouveau les routes pavees pour une derriere portion de piste, le long du canyon de la riviere Poison (“river fish canyonâ€) pour le plus grand plaisir de tous !
Having cycled 12 000 kms from Cairo to Cape Town…
through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa…
70 cyclists from Canada, America, Australia, Austria, Great Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa will cross the Finish Line…
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Tour d’Afrique Finish Line and Arrival Ceremony
NB: VIP’s, media, family and friends of the riders to please check in with the organizers at Market Square, diagonally across from and behind The Amphitheatre for security passes, media kits and refreshments.
Programme
From 10:00 – 14:00
Venue 1: The Amphitheatre V&A Waterfront
Enjoy the music and culture of performers from around Africa
Open to the public
14:00 – 14:30
Venue 2: Quay 6, V&A Waterfront
(In between the Table Bay Hotel and Jetties 1 & 2)
Welcome the participants as they cross the official Finish Line
Open to the public
14:30 – 16:00
Venue 3: The Amphitheatre, V&A Waterfront
Arrival/Medal Ceremony, Welcome by MEC Tasneem Essop
Open to the public
16:00 – 17:00
Venue 4: Market Square, V&A Waterfront
(diagonally behind The Amphitheatre)
Family, friends, VIP’s and media meet the cyclists over a celebratory glass of sparkling wine
Private function. Security pass required.
19:30 onwards
Venue 5: Hamilton’s Rugby Football Club
Number 1 Stephan Way, Green Point
(From Beach Road, Green Point, turn into Fritz Sonnenberg Road, then 2nd road right into Stephan Way)
Awards Dinner and multi-media show of the Tour d’Afrique
A few extra spaces are available, but booking essential. R130.00 including wine.
RSVP by 2 May, 2008
Theresa Brown:
Tel: (021) 674 5398 Cell: 084 353 1975 email: theresa@tourdafrique.com
Thanks to our sponsors for their support and participation
V&A Waterfront, Twende Overland Services, Bokomo, Spekko, Illovo, Jacobs, Squirt, Heinz
Saturday, April 26th, 2008 - Windhoek, Namibia
The Tour d’ Afrique Foundation donated 68 bicycles in Windhoek, Namibia on Saturday, April 26th. Bicycles were split between three non-profit organizations— Physically Active Youth (PAY), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Penduka TB Programme. Fundraising for all 68 of the bicycles came from TDA 2008 rider Chris Wille, a native of Victoria, British Columbia.The event was held at Joe’s Beer House and facilitated by Michael Link, a representative from the Namibian branch of the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN).
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - Osire refugee camp The camp is located in central Namibia, about 225 Km from the capital Windhoek, and currently has about 6,000 camp-based population including refugees and asylum seekers (down from 20,000 in 2001), of which 75% are Angolans, followed by others from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They received 19 bikes that will support healthcare activities, education and youth mobilisation.
Physically Active Youth (PAY)
They are a community-based strategy to help support and facilitate the development of youth in an at-risk context, in a low-income neighbourhoods in Katutura. Their mandate is academic excellence through sport training. They currently have 85 students. After last year's donation from the TDA Foundation, PAY now has a cycling programme. This year they are receiving 32 bikes, of which 12 will be MTB for their mountain bike team.
Penduka TB Programme
Penduka TB Programme provides treatment, care and support to just over 500 patients a day at 14 community-based health facilities located throughout Katutura. Approximately 70% of the staff are themselves former TB patients.
They also have community outreach activities to educate the community about the signs and symptoms of TB and the importance of early diagnosis and to help reduce misconceptions and misunderstandings about the disease that can lead to stigma and discrimination and finally to educate the community about the importance of providing care and support to TB patients. These activities are carried out in schools, churches, health facilities, open markets and any place people gather and perform dramas and share information about TB. They are receiving 13 bikes for the community outreach activities.
Four extra bikes will be allocated to Penduka's activities with TB patients hospitalized at Katutura State Hospital. Because these patients pose a possible public health risk they are usually inpatients for 12 -18 months. Due to the poor conditions in the hospital these patients often have very little to do or to entertain themselves. In order to address this we are starting a community garden for them at the hospital, a drama group and a choir. The bikes will be used by patients as an opportunity to exercise (which is very good for their physical treatment) and to get outside in the fresh air. The actual hospital grounds are quite extensive and have an elaborate road networks within the compound that the patients could use without ever leaving the hospital grounds. It is felt that the bicycles would provide the patients with a form of exercise and entertainment.
Tired legs found rest in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city. Since our two days there, we’ve tackled two lengthy riding days that begin the finishing stretch to Cape Town. Leaving Windhoek, a capital cuddled by mountains, the scenery seemed too perfect, as though it should reside in Disney’s Epcot Center. It is as if the city, mountains included, were picked from Germany and dropped in the middle of Namibia’s plains. The fact we are 310 kilometers out of Windhoek and haven’t seen a hill since, only gives credence to this theory.
Namibia’s plains are just as vast and featureless as in Botswana. The significant change is the roadside grass. The ear high elephant grass has been replaced by a feathery knee high grass. Strong gusts make the grass shimmer in shades of gold in much the same way a retriever’s coat shines when he twists to dry. Numbers of roadside game and wildlife are diminishing and Shop Rite and Spar, BP and Total are taking their place.
The slender road to South Africa brings us frighteningly close to speeding traffic. The hum in the distance brightens into a roar as it barrels past. We cringe and clutch handlebars, holding a straight line until taillights are safely ahead. The drivers are no less reckless than in countries past, but the unbent road and lack of policemen beckons speed from even the most conservative of drivers.
Tonight we sleep in the abandoned Gibeon train yard. Ten riding and one rest day separates us from Cape Town.
Over the course of a tour, between waking up and falling asleep, changes occur in each individual. It could be anything from a darker tan to a wider smile or a more elastic sprit. Yet on a daily basis it is not noticeable. These changes are minute and it is difficult for others on tour to notice any change has taken place. It takes a moment of reflection, rereading a diary entry or glancing at a photo to take notice this accruement of change.
Yet even then, we do not notice the little ticks and transformations we have under gone. It is only as we periodically retouch past friends and families that we start to notice how little has changed outside of the tour. Things at home are still as they were and the people we love are still living life as they did before, but our change is more apparent with this contact. We hear an old voice on the phone and it sounds new and for the first time in a long time we are connected with this world we knew as Home. It is then we are able to realize and reflect on these changes.
Somehow we’re already at the end of another section. Wow, the kilometers and time are flying by! Unfortunately, we’re going to be losing 8 sectional riders, including John, who’s been with us since Arusha, and 8 of our French guys, who’ve spent just the Elephant Highway with us. They easily covered a lot of ground, though, topping out with our 207 kilometer day. Not bad, guys, congratulations!
We’ve left another country behind as well (Botswana), and today entered the capital city of Namibia, Windhoek, where we’ll spend the next 2 rest days. People have big plans, some culminating with a trip to KFC, something people have been looking forward to since Egypt! We’ve hit fried chicken places before now, but not Kentucky Fried Chicken, so it’s going to be a big treat. Funny the things that come to mean so much to you while traveling. Others are planning to head to Swakopmund, a picturesque town on the coast, filled with adventure activities like sandboarding and skydiving. Otherwise, it’s the usual rest day activities, gorging on whatever strikes one’s fancy, doing laundry (I hear there are even coin-operated washing machines somewhere!), reading, finding the internet, sleeping in, etc.
After our rest days (2 in a row!), we’ve just 1 section left (the Diamond Coast), 2 countries (Namibia and South Africa), and 1,598 kilometers. I can’t believe it, but we’re in the countdown stages….
After a extended time on the saddle yesterday, I gave my bottom a rest and came to the campsite early to wash some dirty clothes and prepare for a extra couple days off from the tour on the coast of Namibia. It’s always interesting what you’re going to get when you roll into camp and go for a walk and see where you’re living for the night. As we came into town there was a Taxidermist, and all you could see through the window was a zebra, this was enough reason for a closer look. Warthog, lion, sable, giraffe, cheetah… they we all here. I hadn’t seen this many animals since the Serengeti earlier in the trip. We talked the owner for awhile and were given a backstage pass to the world of taxidermy.
Cette expression de Bruno caracterise bien cette journee. Aujourd’hui nous avons parcourru la distance quotidienne la plus longue du Tour d’Afrique. Apres une nuit tres fraiche, meme froide puisque certains ont eu du givre dans leur tente, un Soleil radieux nous a accompagne jusqu’au soir. Bien que les paysages ne soient pas differents d’hier personne n’a trouve ces 207 kilometres ennuyeux. Le defi que proposait cette journee a efface la lassitude ressentie ces derniers temps par certains des cyclistes. Nous sommes en vacances, notre seul souci est de monter notre tente en arrivant au camp, alors comment ne pas profiter de ces belles journees.
- Olivier Thudor
