Thank you for looking at this page - to see donations list, see below this text
The money raised by you makes a direct difference to the communities the Keiskamma Trust serves in rural . All this cash funds health initiatives organised by the Trust in collaberation with local people, to address their health needs. The majority of work deals with HIV/AIDS and its devestating social consequences. In 2004 the Trust set up what has proved to be a highly successful ARV distribution programme. ARVs are complicated drugs but the crux of it is this:
AIDS + ARVs = LIFE
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UPDATE 4 - Jo'burg, South Africa - 23 July
the more geographically aware of you will know that jo'burg is a long way from where i was planning to be. when i should have been cruising north up lake tanganyika on mv liembe, i was flying south in a specially organised air ambulance. things have taken an unexpected turn: i'm heading home. i had been hoping to finish off my trip, but these thoughts were finally ended as apparently cycling up volcanoes, heart pumping, sun beating, pulse thumping won't help recovery. in planning this trip, people warned me of dangerous animals and african drivers, hot sun and bad water, tropical sickness and bandits. no-one told me about carbonated soft drinks and dirt roads.
and so it is. i had arrived in mpulungu on the zambian shores of lake tanganyika a day before the ferry was to leave. things arrive here transported over hundreds of kms of dirt roads, leaving them well shaken. fizzy drink no exception. the offending cap therefore left the sprite bottle with incredible force and even more unbelievable precision, straight into my left eye. the pain was exquisite. after a worse than useless trip to the local hospital, i took a 15 hour bus ride to zambia's capital, lusaka. the fact that i had 3 seats to myself will tell anyone who has travelled on african buses what a writhing and moaning mess i was. from there on medical insurance kicked in, and its a tale of ambulances, private jets and generally royal treatment. an excellent jo'burg opthalmologist tells me (for the more medically minded amongst you) my eye has suffered traumatic uveitis, hyphaema, vitrious haemorrhage, tears to the iris sphincter, scratches to the cornea, retinal bruising, angle recession of the trabecular meshwork, oh, and a black eye. but don't worry, my vision is now good, and crucially we're pretty sure there is no retinal tear. grand.
so to reach mpulungu, i left mzuzu, heading along the back roads towards livingstonia. i spent a night in lura (pronounced like the brazilian president as malawians can't make 'rrr' sounds) before arriving at the mushroom farm. here i pitched my tent on the edge of the cliff - dangerous when stumbling half asleep to answer nature's call at night, but incredible to wake up and see sunrise turn tanzania's mountains gold and all shades of green emerge from the hills and valleys beneath me (all from the comfort of my sleeping bag). this dramatic scene was supposed to be shared with a certain mr mcgregor and his mate charley who are currently making their 'long way down'. but he either cancelled or delayed, i reckon as he was enjoying the luxury lakeside lodge he'd arrived at the night before too much after the dry heat of tanzania. i passed by the next morning after descending the mountain's face (20 hairpin bends), thought of stopping off for a coffee and a chat, but insted pushed on to karonga. from karonga i hit chitipa and from there crossed into zambia, pedalling through very hot, very bush, very unpopulated lands to nakonde. nakonde-mbala was quick (in a bus), allowing me to spend a chilled morning checking out the moto moto museum's collection of ethinographic artifacts and pickled snakes, before cruising downhill (for 45km!!) to mpulungu, that fateful place. good times.
so that's it for now - 1934 wonderful kilometers, so many sights, sounds and smells, several intense moments, beauty and struggle, the richness of people and their material nothings; experiences i'm privilaged to have had.
and a big thank you for your interest, support, messages and money
ps
i'm happier now than i was in that picture
**
UPDATE 3 -
Mzuzu,
- 10 July
a short update, as the last while has been full of more or less nothing. nothing in nice places, like mocambique's niassa shore of the lake, the islands of likoma and chizumulu over to mainland 's nkhata bay. the bike has too been a passenger, as dhow has been lake transport except for an unpredictable overnight on the ilala ferry. places very beautiful and nicely relaxed - plenty of snorkelling and eating, enjoying colourful sunsets and golden mornings. it has been hard to get back to the bike.
to reach where i am here, i went back to mocambique. i was keen to get back there as didn't dig
blantyre
and wanted the buzz of mocambique and the highlands of lichinga. the roads around this concentrically constructed city i had heard to be particularly worth visiting and they were. had some long uphills to reach lichinga and passed through some amazing places. from lichinga down to the coast i had a confusing day, where 60km of cycling and about 4 hours of driving apparantly didn't reach 105km on the map. hmm. cobue is isolated and mchenga wede much more so. the ride down to lake level after passing through lands of forested hills and valleys was "rough terrain". quartz is a jagged rock. but beautiful.
rode up to mzuzu from nhkata bay this morning, plenty of lush rolling hills, bananas, papayas abound. mzuzu is high and seems to be a nice place. onwards i think
**
UPDATE 2 - Blantyre, Malawi - 24 June
the road so far has been good to me. have passed through some beautiful parts of mocambique and am now in malawi. since the last update, i rapidly reached inchope (519km hitch on a truck) and have been pedalling ever since. passed through gorongosa national park, a massively biodiverse area still recovering from the effects of the not too distant civil war. the game population were eaten and the park mined, but equilibrium is now returning. the 11km dirt track leading to it was the worst road passed yet, with the additional danger (i later find out) that lion tracks were found there last week. continuing north i pedalled 250km through deep bush, where i was surrounded by forests, snakes and long grass, baobabs and hornbills and the occasional honey seller. the destination was caia, from where i travelled along the southern banks of the zambeze winding my way along dirt roads relying on the other bicycle tracks to show the way.
i passed over the zambeze at sunrise on the longest bridge in africa, the 4km dona ana bridge of 1934. soon i crossed into southern malawi, from where more dirt roads brought me into the lower shire. despite what the name implies, no hobbits were in evidence, only malawians, and plenty of them. keen to reach tar again, as the dirt was now taking its toll on my confidence (i tumbled) and arse (it hurt), i put in an epic 125km day to reach lengwe. as these roads are very remote (!!), not many travellers pass these ways, particularly not outside of 4x4s. thus the confused/excited crys of 'mzungu' (white) still ring in my ears.
to reach blantyre, which i did midday yesterday, i had to ascend 1500m from the lowlands i was in, to the mountainous plateau most of this country is at. this was done in around 25km of road, winding up the side of the thyola escarpment in a series of steep, twisting road and hairpin bends. very hard work, but managed to cycle the lot. my kilometer counter tells me i have to date covered 1134km, with which i am very pleased.
the plan from here is unsure. its winter down here, and its cold. i am also sad to have left moz. although the people of malawi are supposed to be the 'warm heart of africa', i don't know how i could experience anything more than the hospitalities of moz. boa gente. therefore i am considering a return to moz to cycle a very remote and spectacular route through mountains to lichinga, moz, before passing down to the eastern shore of lake malawi. who knows?
i shall keep you all posted. many thanks for all of your kind contributions.
**
UPDATE 1 - Tofo, Mocambique - 10 June
I'm heading north, with a bike:
started in swaziland, getting used to riding a bike. hit hills and hotness in my dash to the border. but made it into mocambique, then went to the capital. maputo is nice like before, but didn't linger long, as the road was beginning. headed to xai-xai, passing flatlands in the morning mists and eating chicken and fruit. and rice. caned 104km one of the days (my best yet), but they also caned me. very tiring. am now chilling na praia mesmo. boas ondas. soon to head north, probably making speeded up progress (hitch), as close inspections of a map reveal that riding all the roads in mocambique is equivalent to riding thirteen and a half times around the moon*.
later the road will go to malawi, but further precise info unsure. have no map for zambia, but will pass there to the bottom of tanganyika where i hear a 1st world war boat is operating as a ferry along its massive length. not sure if i believe this, as how would it have got there? disembark in bujurumbura and head over the hills to rwanda. lost in the mist, i will pass into uganda. on to kampala and lake victoria, the largest of africa's biggest lakes. from the equator, i will return.
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