Day 52 Sunday March 3 Simba Lodge to Arusha

by Henry

107 km traveled, with over 900 m total elevation gain. 28°C. mostly crosswind today.

4 km downhill on a dirt path as we left camp in the morning.


We are always grateful to hit the tarmac, which was very smooth and had a good shoulder today.


Transition from pavement to 41 km of dirt road, which we encountered early in the day.


The vast majority of the unpaved section looked like this. We diligently focused on the road and worked our way around the protruding rocks. We had to navigate one very steep, highly technical section with large boulders.


Riding over one bridge, I was surprised to see a rather deep gorge.


Even though we had to continually scan the road to ride safely, the surrounding mountains always capture our attention.

Both Kenya and Tanzania list Swahili and English as official languages. We were usually greeted with “hello” or “how are you?” in Kenya. Tanzanians greet us more consistently with “jambo” - “hello” in Swahili. It’s effortless and fun to greet everyone with a “jambo jambo” as we roll by. 


Paralleling our experience on tarmac, there were many descents and ascents.


Large Catholic Church as we arrived in Arusha.


Traffic lights are a rarity here. Vehicles pay heed, but boda bodas go right through the red light.


If he only knew his name was being used without licensing fees.

Destination in Arusha is Maasai Camp (the name of a resort, and not the bush camp from three days ago). Arusha will be the jumping off point for our Serengeti safari.

Everyone got busy reorganizing their bags, as space is limited on the safari vehicles. We also did a quick load of laundry, cleaned the accumulated dust off our drivetrains, and lubed our chains. Once our bikes were locked up, we got a ride to our upgrade hotel room at Serengeti Villa a kilometer away.

Geoff from Philadelphia just had his derailleur and rear wheel replaced in Nairobi. Today, for unknown reasons, his new derailleur blew up on the dirt road, so he had to ride the TDA vehicle into Arusha. Pam from Australia gave him the spare derailleur she was carrying and Tim provided a spare friction shifter. The TDA bike mechanic was able to MacGyver it to work.

Everyone is looking forward to the safari.