Initial Plan

After a couple of years enjoying Switzerland, it’s time for another adventure. So on the 12th of February 2025 Lina and I will be packing up our bikes and flying to Nairobi to spend a year wending our way down East and Southern Africa until we reach Cape Town.

Why by bike?

As much as I love hiking, after my walk across Europe I felt like a change. I’ve had it in mind for the last few years to see how I enjoy travel by bike. There are some obvious tradeoffs. On foot it’s easier to lose oneself in nature, provided there are trails.  However, outside of Europe and North America there are very few long distance footpaths, and inevitably one would need to walk on roads a lot of the time. For many parts of the world (such as Africa) a bike is just a far more convenient way to see a country. Being connected to road networks (albeit dirt roads) can also have its benefits, such as bringing us into contact with locals more often.

The other big factor is that Lina has a foot issue that would preclude a long journey à pied, at least for now.
With bikes we’re equally clueless, I’m faster uphill, she is faster downhill, so I think it will be a good undertaking for us to tackle together.

The Route

We don’t have a set route that we’re following, just the start and end points. The plan after leaving Nairobi is to head north, with our first stop being the town of Nanyuki in the foothills of Mt Kenya. From there we will probably try and see a little bit of the north, perhaps as far as Lake Turkana. After this we will head over to Uganda, making our way across to the Western border with the DRC where we can head down to Rwanda and follow the Congo Nile Trail.

It’s about here that the plan starts to become more vague. We’ll just have to see how we feel when we get there and let the path unfold before us. There’ll be plenty of time to think about it, and see who we meet. I for one am excited to let the winds blow us about to some degree.

Originally we wanted to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town, but given the war in Sudan and some of the less than enticing reports people have given of police harassment in Egypt and stone throwing and level of aggressive begging in Ethiopia I think we’re both okay starting in touristy Kenya. In days gone past it sounds like Sudan was a welcome respite from its neighbours, I have only heard glowing praise of the warm and hospitality of the Sudanese people. Hopefully we can return in happier times.

There is still so much to see in East and Southern Africa that I don’t think we’ll be wanting for experiences. I still have the idea that if this cycle works out we can come back and cycle north from Nairobi if it feels like unfinished business.