Cycling in Tanzania has been a real delight, quite spectacular actually. Our first day out of Arusha was on good tarred road. We cycled through Masai country, passing though several villages and greeting the local folk with their colorful red and blue dress. The following day we embarked on six straight days of dirt road cycling through really glorious country. The landscape, luscious green rain forest, became more beautiful with every turn. There were endless fields of sunflowers, contrasting spectacularly against the red clay earth and blue, blue sky with the puffiest white clouds I have ever seen. We were treated to fast, sweeping descents; a cyclist’s dream. We could see rainstorms in the distance. At times we would hope to avoid the rain showers, at other times we would wish for the refreshing rain to come down on us as the afternoon heat was stifling. We had hit highs of over 40C on some days. We stopped in several villages for refreshing watermelon and coke and were treated very graciously by the local Tanzanians.
Its amazing how such simple things bring you such joy when you are cycling through Africa; a lone beautiful acacia tree in the distance, puffy white clouds in the sky, juicy piece of watermelon, a brief refreshing rain shower, a child on the side of the road screaming “Jambo”, a cool breeze hitting your face, engaging smiles of local people as you cycle by, a cloud covering the blistering sun in the middle of the afternoon, an ice cold coke at a local shop to cool you down. Life is simple when you are cycling, you feel alive, all your senses are awakened, and you can enjoy the simple things life has to offer.
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