Egypt
After s 20 hours cruise over Lake Nasser and a train ride from the port into town, we finally Aswan. Reaching Aswan was then a real culture shock. In the 500 meters we walked from the train station to the hotel, we saw more tourists then in total over the previous 3 months!!!
Sudan
We changed the mountainous area with his lovely fresh, chilly, and at times, rainy weather of Ethiopia with the hot and dry flats of Sudan. (Sounds like as I preferred Ethiopia, but then if I write it that way) Finally we escaped the rainy hills of Ethiopia with his chilly night temperatures - I even had to wear my fleece trousers at night in Addis Ababa - and are now in Sudan with more pleasant temperatures of around 35-38 Degrees Celsius - sure no fleece trousers at night necessary any more but some ice cubes :-) - sound that I'm glad to be out of Ethiopia, or?
Ethiopia
As we arrived at 10 PM in Moyale, the border post was closed and I had to sleep at the Kenyan side. The fact that the accommodation on the Ethiopian side is apparently better was not what bothered me but that I would not be able to get on the 6 AM bus in Ethiopian Moyale and therefore had to stay one day in Moyale - nothing I could do about that though :-).
Kenya
I left Dar for Kenya with the intention to cross Kenya within a week or so. Along the way though, I decided to go for a few days to Lamu - an island on the north coast of Kenya. From the LP I knew that there would be a festival at the 2th of May but I was sure that by then I would be at least in Nairobi or even already on the way to Ethiopia. Well, it turned out that the Maulidi-Festival (the birthday of Mohammed) was not at the 2th but at the 10th-14th and that I stayed on Lamu for it.
Northern Circuit
For the last 3 ½ weeks I was in the lucky situation to travel with my sister. Lucky not just because I saw here for the first time since over two years and we could spend a wonderful time together, no, but also lucky because she wrote the report!!!!
Mozambique
Mozambique was a different place then the cities in South Africa - the roads were full of potholes, the most buildings in state of disrepair and the shops not as well stocked - well that was the reason I went to Mozambique, wasn't it???
Crossing Lesotho
Malealea 'The gems of the Mountain-Kingdome Lesotho' is a nice place but, for being the 'gem' did not quite stand up to my expectations - but then I'm Swiss and we do have very nice mountains. Nevertheless I had a goodtime and made a pleasant walk through river gorges and local villages.
Going to Lesotho
With leaving Knysna at the Garden Rout of South Africa, I finally started my way north. With a 12 hours overnight bus ride I got at 3:00 AM to Bloemfontein where I unrolled my Terma-Rest and sleeping bag in a corner of the bus station. At 6:00 AM a worker woke me up just to ask me which bus I had to catch since he was concerned that I would oversleep the bus-departure.
The days on the truck
Sorry, this report I still have to write and that will probably take some time. For a rough overview of what I did, you can have a look at my 'On the road - Africa' page.
The days before the tour II
We left the next morning and waved a pickup car down. It felt great to stand in the back of the pickup with all the locals and the bags of cement. We made a small detour to unload all the cement and some of the passenger and then went on our way again. We stopped some times more to pick up other peoples or drop somebody. Finally we made it to the town from where we would start the walk.
The days before the tour I
Had I good six months ago the feeling that I needed a change in couture, surroundings and way of transportation and that very feeling made me start my bicycling adventure trough Canada and Alaska, now, some 6 months later, I had the same feeling. Once more I was ripe for a change and to say North America goodbye and to start exploring parts of Africa.
The last days in the US
The decision was partly taken away from me as my bicycle got stolen in front of the library. Though I could have bought another bicycle (Katherina had already called here friends and I could have had a bicycle for a good price - thank you very much Katherina) but I took it as I a sign and decided to stop cycling and to move on to Africa.
US’s Noth-West Coast
Sitting at the Inner Harbor in Victoria enjoying the warming sun I thought about my further travel plans. First I thought that I would make my way to the US, visiting Seattle and Boston and then go on to Africa. In Africa I would have gone for some weeks on a organized Truck-Safari from Nairobi down to the Victoria-Falls and then travel independently back to Nairobi and up to Ethiopia. For a change, that would hade been not on a bicycle but on public busses. The idea was then to go to Egypt and from there making slowly my way back to Europe, this time on bicycle again.
End of the Northern Adventure
First I thought about staying in Dawson City for some days and see how the weather will evolve and then decide how to go on. It happened that I met Marie and she was going back to Whitehorse and she would give me lift. The opportunity was to challenging for not to grab it and so I reached Whitehorse not after 7 days cycling but a 7 hours car ride.
The last part of cycling in Alaska
After some nights in the cinema, a bit of sightseeing and shopping for a new jacked I left Anchorage for my last destination up in the North - Dawson City. The weather was great and the fall colors beautiful - many persons told me that this is the nicest time to see Alaska. I had wonderful days cycling along the Glenn-Highway towards Glennallen and on to Tok. First I was afraid that the road would be packed with RV's, heading for the warmer south but they had already left a week ago.
Valdez to Anchorage
The place I crushed for the few hours till the ferry would leave was in a small tent right at the ferry pier. At 3:00 AM I was woken by the arriving ferry and so I packed my belongings and went on the ferry. Two hours after arriving, the ferry left the fogy Valdez harbor.
The classical Alaska-Picture
After the short break in Paxson, I had a very beautiful ride along the Richardson Hwy. It was like the classical Alaska-Picture in my head - forest, hills, river, lakes and in the background the snow covered mountain peaks of the Alaska Range. Here I made my 'Alaska Picture' - me cycling up a hill with the mountains in the background (at the present just available in 'undeveloped-slide-format' so not to see here yet).
Gravelroad
I got up and there was a totally blue sky - I could almost not believe it. After the rainy days it seemed, that at last, that a sunny period would start - or at least so I hoped. Although the sun was out it was pretty cold - the condense water on my tent was frozen - and I had to dress myself warmly to have breakfast. To dry my wet laundry, I hanged them into the sun and after a while steam was rising from the wet clothes - waht was pretty need to see.
Leaving Fairbanks
After my trip up to Prudhoe Bay and back I needed some rest and so I settled in for a few days in Billie's Hostel. We had wonderful weather and there was also the "Golden Day's" of Fairbanks - I think it was the 100-year anniversary of the founding of Fairbanks - and there was also a wedding / hostel party at the hostel. It was a really relaxing and enjoyable time.
Prudhoe Bay and back
After the 9 days cycling from Haines to Fairbanks I had two day rest in Fairbanks. In Billie's Hostel - the place I stayed in Fairbanks - I met James. He is also with his bicycle on the way and just completed the Dalton Highway from Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) to Fairbanks. Since I still wasn't sure whether I should cycle this Highway myself we started to talk about his experience along the road.
I completed the first part of my Cycling-Adventure
After the days on the ferry and in the places of South East Alaska, was really eager to finally really starting cycling. The first 60 km to the boarder with Canada was easy riding along the river and I already thought - hoped - whether my whole intended route would gone be that way - well that would have been to easy wouldn't it?
The days on the ferry
I meet a girl in Prince Rupert and she just came back from the north and she had just beautiful weather. She stayed in the area around Haines Junction and this is, were the first part of my trip will lead me to, so I hope I will have nice weather as well.
On the way to Alaska, the fist week
Well, I'm here. I tell you I was not to sure whether I would get here - at least not on the bicycle. The first day was not too bad. Okay, I had difficulties to go up the last few hills on the way to Jordan River but I mad it.
The other side of Mt. Kailash
We were ready to go! Food for four days was bought and we knew when to bus would leave. We were rally read to go - for a 4-day trek…
