Jim Cavanaugh’s Tour d’Afrique

4.13

 Today we rode out of Lusaka.  I am a bit embarrassed to admit how little of Lusaka I saw, and how much of my hotel room and the adjacent mall I did see – many good restaurants, lots of good rest, etc.

 In talking with a rider today, she recalled reading blogs from last year’s trip singing the praises of a good hotel and the mall in Lusaka, and thinking at the time that was weird, given the desire for the “African experience.”  But, today we completely relate to them, as we have had a lot of African experience in our trip to date, and some creature comforts is really nice now and then.  Most of the restaurants were part of South African chains, and the grocery, which was terrific, was part of a German chain.  The prices for many things that we wanted were often higher than at home, probably due to shipping.  Food prices in the restaurants tended to be comparable to home.  Meaning, not many of the locals were eating or shopping at these places, and most of the consumers were either well paid Zambians, or NGOs or governmental types.

 Today’s ride was bout 158 km, a few hills, some unpleasant traffic going thru Lusaka and then afterwards, but then we turned off, the traffic slowed down, and it became a great ride today.  I found myself riding with 2 local riders, Charles, who speaks good English and is 34, and Mike, whose English is not so good and is 21.  I spent most of the afternoon riding with Mike, who is a very strong rider.  He did not take any mercy on me, and we averaged just under 30 kph, or 18 mph, for the day, and we did not push at all early in the ride.  So it was a pretty fast day for me, with no photos, and pretty diligent riding.  Not my favorite type of riding, but riding with the Zambians was fun.  Normally, I have a version of ADD on the bike, in that my mind wonders a lot and I am not very consistent in my speed.

 Zambia has a lot of English going on, both as a foreign British colony, and simply cuz in Africa English is often a compromised national language, as is French in Northern and Western Africa, where there are many tribes and they speak different languages.  Hence, English, or French, becomes the compromise national language, and many folks speak it.

 In learning more bout Zam Bikes from Dustin, a kid from San Diego who is one of the founders, they build bamboo bikes which they send to Calfee Design, in the Bay Area, and Calfee markets them.   Apparently, Calfee has set up builders of bamboo bikes in various places, and it becomes a win-win for both sides.

 Zam Bikes has also developed some steel bikes, and have them built in China, shipped here, and then assembled and marketed.  Many of their bikes go to home health nurses, who ride them checking on patients, many of whom suffer from AIDS.  Before the bikes, the nurses could only see a few patients a day as they had to primarily walk to the patients, but with the bikes, they are able to see 2-3 times as many patients in a day.  Methinks that Zam Bikes is doing good.  They are supported by a non-profit out of the States, and I can get you info if interested.

 As an aside, Dustin’s bike was stolen at one of our camps, along with his helmet, and 15 of our chairs.  The crime was reported to the police, and that morning they spotted a guy riding a bamboo bike (neon lights flashing), and the rider was wearing a helmet.  The rider took off running when the police stopped him, but they got the bike back to Dustin, and he did the ride that day.  Dustin told me that the police had the thief’s name and number, and would catch up with up, do him some physical rough justice, and then throw him into jail.  Apparently, there is not that much crime here, and the police don’t tolerate it, especially against tourists, as we bring in lots of revenues.

 4.14

 Today we did 185 km, some hills, mostly flat, the morning was pretty boring scenery, but the scenery in the afternoon picked up.  I tend to leave camp around 6:30, and am able to knock out miles in the morning, and take it easy in the afternoon.  The ride was pretty uneventful today, except that at around the 150 km mark, this local guy on a single speed got on my wheel, and stayed with me for 20 km.  He was an incredible rider, and to throw salt on the wound, he was carrying some freight on his bike rack.  A couple of other riders caught up with us, and we picked up the pace and ultimately dropped him, but he was really amazing while he lasted with us.  Sweat was pouring profusely from him, I suspect his cadence was 120+ for much of the time that he followed us – that is really tough to keep that high of a cadence for that long.  He would kick butt in a single speed race on a good bike, much less the tank that he was riding today.

 As I think bout Africa and its people, I have pretty much enjoyed most of the people that I have met.  They are friendly, happy, living a pretty tough life.  What they tend to miss is opportunity, cuz there is not much here.  I think that it must be very difficult to be talented and willing to work, and yet not have any opportunity to pursue.  In contrast, in the States, I think that in every profession there is always room for good people.  I routinely hear from my lawyer and accounting friends that it is really difficult to find any good professional employees to hire, and yet we hear from the media that there are too many lawyers. 

 I don’t know the solution to Africa’s problems, but education always helps.  Once folks are educated, birth rates tend to drop, other aspects of life improve, but without work opportunities, the changes will be limited.  And it is not clear to me how to create these opportunities.  For example, one can do micro-loans to establish businesses, but there must be viable businesses to establish, or else the loans won’t be repaid.  In this economy, it is not easy to establish a viable business that will sustain itself.  I think that the answer to Africa’s issues will turn on helping to create opportunities, not simply providing aid, as that simply perpetuates an aid-dependent society             (similar to spoiling a kid and then wondering why the kid is always dependent).

 4.17

 As I type this, I realize in 4 weeks at this time, we will be done with the ride, as we arrive in Capetown 4 weeks from today.  We still have a lot of riding to do, 3 more countries to enter, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.  I think that a significant percentage of us are ready to be done.  I will be happy when this trip is done, and rarely do I feel that bout an adventure.  But, 4 months is a long time, and a lot of life back home is being missed.  Of course, a lot of fun life is being enjoyed.  That is always the balancing act of travel, but 4 months being gone, camping, roughing it mostly, on a timetable establish by others, is a physical and mental challenge.

 But, all the same, I am having fun, am glad that I am doing this trip, and will do another trip with TDA in Asia, although for a shorter time period on the next trip.

 It is really nice to live without always having stress in my system, and being part of the rat race.  When I tell Africans that life in America is really stressful, in much different ways than theirs, they have a hard time believing me.  I don’t believe that they can truly imagine the pace of our lives, it is hard for me to do so after a leisurely few days in Zimbawe hanging at Victoria Falls, and as I presently lie in my tent.   

 4.18

 Today we rode from Livingstone to the Zambia border, took the ferry across the Zambezi River, and crossed into Botswana.  It was a pretty uneventful day, only bout 80 km of riding, but border crossings are always a bit complicated, and we usually ride a shorter day.

 In my last posting, I sang the praises of Livingstone, but want to continue them.  It is a great area, and if one wanted to see Southern Africa, such as a safari in Zambia or Botswana, a week at Livingstone would be time well-spent.  I think that I will be signing he praises of Namibia and South Africa as well, and I think that this whole area is a great part of the world to visit.  One can rent a car and do it on their own.  And, if one is anti-Moslem, the good news is that there are not many Moslems in this part of the world.  One might also consider throwing Zanzibar into the mix as well, as a week there would be very fun.  It seems very safe to me, certainly as safe as driving down the freeway.

 Yesterday, we took a river safari down the Chobe River, which empties into the Zambezi.  It was just great, we saw lots of birds, 3 different pods of hippos, several big salamanders, water buffalo, impalas, wart hogs, elephants, and a lion going for a kill, but missing out.  For 3 hours and $33, we saw an amazing array of critters.  It was weird to think that the park that we visited was right next to the town that we were staying in, and all of this action goes out just outside of town.  TIA.

 4.19

 Today we rode bout 159 km to a bush camp.  We rode on the Elephant Highway, and although I did not see any, other riders did today, as well as a few giraffes.  But, I saw plenty of elephant sign on the highway, its own sort of road hazard.  It was a strange day of riding, in that the road was pretty straight and level, and we rode through savannahs, which I thought were beautiful. 

 I have a real fear of mountain lions, and when riding alone in the mountains, always have some concern bout a mountain lion getting me from behind.  I had the same fear today as I rode down the highway, which had tall grass on each side of the road.  I realize that it is not a logical fear, but fears often are not.  Suffice to say, I was not subject to any lion attacks today.  Tomorrow is another story.  And for that matter, so is tonite, as we were reminded to not leave any food in our tents, as we are sleeping in a game park.  However, 2 guys who snore loudly have pitched their tents close to me, not sure what impact that will have on the wildlife.

 The Botswanans must have a subtle sense of humor.  On this highway with virtually no people, and long stretches of straight roads, there were signs telling drivers to obey all traffic and road signals, even though there were no such signals on the road. 

 We passed some farm property today, which was very interesting.  It was just adjacent to the savannah, with a long fence and big cattle crossing separating the land.  They were growing sorghum and sunflowers, in huge fields.  We would have savannah, most likely with wild critters in it, then farm property, then savannah, then farm property – wherever there was good dirt, there were crops.

 In talking with one of the South Africans about Zimbawe, or Zim as they call it, she told me that they used to visit in Zim a lot, as it is a beautiful country, but with all of the turmoil, they have not gone there much of late.  Previously, they could drive to Livingstone via Zim, but today she told me that it is hard to buy gas in Zim, or food outside of the large hotels, etc, apparently because of Zim economic issues and manipulations.  It is a tragedy that under Mugabe Zim has gone from one of the richest countries in Africa to one of the poorest.  Fortunately, he is in his 80s, and although in good health, he won’t live forever.

 Botswana is an African success story.  I don’t know all of their sources of revenue, but one is high-end safari tourism, another is diamonds, which is mined by DeBeers.  The country only has 1.2M people, whereas Lusaka had 1.2M in it.  The population is very sparse, the roads tend to run straight forever, and there are not many kids along the road.  Apparently, Botswana will pay for as much college and post-graduate for its citizens as they are willing to attend.  Additionally, the Botswana government retains ownership of all real property, but it will allow business and its citizens to use the real property for free, and the free use can pass on to successive users.  It is my understanding that the government also retains 51% ownership of all businesses, but does not meddle in the operations.  Am not sure how, but the country seems to be working and doing just fine.  Further, I don’t think that Botswana has an income, but does have a 12% VAT, recently increased from 10% -  of course, the local papers carried stories of citizen outrage over the 2% increase – some things are the same all over.

 We are having a bit of chair wars at camp right now, so far in friendly fashion.  Before the trip, TDA told us repeatedly not to bring chairs, as they would supply them.  But, they only brought enough for the original number of riders.  For this section, we added 10 sectional riders, so we are short.  But…….we had 15 chairs stolen at a camp last week, so we are 25 chairs short.  A week later, TDA has not done much to address the issue, which is not good from my perspective.  I am hoping that they solve this problem quickly, but they are not jumping on it, and only seemed to start to address it today after one of us raised the issue with them   But there are a number of strong-willed folks in the group, and if they have to sit on the ground, more will be said.

 4.23

 We are having a rest day in Maun, Botswana, and hopefully will be able to find internet today.  Tomorrow we will be down to 3 weeks to Capetown.  A few more days in Botswana, and then onto Namibia, and finally South Africa – there is still plenty to see and enjoy. It will be 14 weeks tomorrow since I left Portland, and 3.5 weeks until I get home.

 4,28

 Admittedly, have been a bit lazy on the blog.

 Today we arrived in Windhoek, Namibia.  We just spent 9 days in Botswana, one of the driest countries in the world.  It rained every day that we were there.  I got caught in the rain twice on the book, and it poured, along with lightening and thunder, a number of nites.  Packing wet tents was the norm.

 We crossed into Namibia 3 days ago.  The countryside is pretty flat and sparse, something like Kansas with more interesting vegetation.

Namibia is a former German colony, then was controlled by the South Africans, including apartheid.  It received independence around 1990.  It is blessed with the Kalahari desert, lots of sand dunes, great wildlife, and fortunately, its own diamonds, to keep the engine running.

Windhoek feels like a modern, western city, with all of the comforts and conveniences, which i appreciate.  I am happy to be here today, with a rest day tomorrow.

4.23

greetings and salutations from maun, botswana.

have written a long blog bout all kinds of nonsense, but internet is slow, and will post it when i get to windhoek, namibia, in bout 5 days.  we have 2 more days in botswana, and then cross into namibia.

this is a beautiful country, with only bout 1.2M people, so sparse population, very flat, and the roads are chip seal, so they are ok riding.

am alive and well, will post in 5 days.

4.16

Congrats to all of my cpa pals, as well as the rest of you, to get past April 15.

Am presently staying at the Victoria Falls Hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbawe. We got a great rate, and are staying at this great colonial hotel. It was built in 1904, and in some ways, it seems that little has changed. The service is fantastic, the views of the gorge are great, the food is good, etc. But the room feels like it was built in 1904.

We arrived yesterday, and were told that there was a barbecue for all that one could eat for $15. After seeing how much hungry cyclists deprived of good food could eat, they changed the rules today, and limited the amount that we could take. Perhaps they will go back to the old rule after we leave.

This morning we walked over and checked out Victoria Falls. To say that they were amazing is understated. Frankly, I ran out of superlatives when there. The volume of water is unbelievable, as is the speed of the water as it approaches the falls.. And the spray shoots well above the falls, creating permanet rain in places. In several places we saw permanent rainbows. Sorry to say but Niagra Falls looks like amateur hour compared to Vic Falls. Am sure that Norman Mailer could put interesting prose on the Falls for pages, but in the interest of brevity and as a favor to the reader, suffice to say that if you ever get a chance to go to Vic Falls, GO!

There is good rafting on the Zambezi, with possibly the most class 5 rapids in one day in the world. But, since we are here after the wet season, the river is running too high to run. As a result, I am probably saved a few swims in the Zambezi.

The town of Victoria Falls is next to a park, and was told that there are animals in the park that come into town. I thought that was BS until I saw wart hogs walking around town grazing, including on the hotel lawn, monkeys playing on the hotel lawn, and bout 6 elephants crossing the main road into town. In watching the elephants, I later realized that only tourists, including me, were fairly close to them, whereas all of the locals stayed a long way from them.

Under the Mugabe reign, Zimbawe has been a total disaster, going from one of the most prosperous countries in Africa to one of the poorest. And of course, that burden falls mostly on the people., particularly the poor, which is most people. Inflation was rampant here for years, and trillion bills are readily available for purchase on the street as souvenirs. Today, the country operates on the US dollar, and that is what is available in the ATMs. Today a local dude attached himself to me as I was walking around today, and we spent a couple of hours talking. He was 25, very smart, very articulate, and yet did not have much hope or future opportunity. He had lots of curious questions bout life in America. I am always reminded by such conversations that I am lucky to be born in America. We swapped email addresses, which blew me away that he had email, and it will be interesting to see what he has to say in the future.