RIGHT: Game drive in
the Ngorongoro Crater
FAR RIGHT:
Maasai people show off their jumping skills
ASK THE EXPERTS
Frank Cheshire, cycling product manager, Intrepid Travel: “Travellers are always looking for a different way of experiencing a destination and cycling is becoming the chosen medium. The main attraction is the interaction with locals. When you’re cycling, you become part of the environment rather than merely passing through it.”
James Adkin, cycling programme manager, Explore: “Interest in Africa cycling holidays is definitely growing. Before booking any cycling holiday, read the trip notes to see how the cycling is graded. Check the average temperature at the time of year you’re visiting too.”
Andy Ross, head of cycling product, Exodus “People considering this type of holiday should think about what wildlife they want to see. They should specifically research the likelihood of viewing animals from the saddle.”
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formula is depressingly similar whether you’re in Togo or Trinidad. You arrive just as the locals happen to be holding their weekly hoedown, be it a wedding or an elder’s birthday. You snap some photos, do some dad-dancing, purchase some jewellery and depart. But when you’re cycling, more authentic experiences become easily accessible. We arrive at the flamingo-fringed
Lake Manyara via a winding forest trail, admiring foliage-nibbling giraffes en route. A local fisherman shows us the enormous tilapia he’s caught, before giving us some fish to throw to a gaggle of nearby storks, which leap in the air and batter their rivals out of the way with their huge wings.
In the distance, jeeps bounce along
a road, roofs extended to reveal occupants clad in spotless safari uniforms, binoculars raised to squinting eyes. To them, the storks we’ve just fed are mere dots on the horizon. Later, we meet a local Maasai who hops on his bike and leads us down a dusty track to his village. We’re the only visitors, and the local men are keen to show off their traditional jumping skills, leaping skywards while the women whoop and dance. I join the throng, hoping I’m simply witnessing some Maasai matchmaking rather than inadvertently being married off to a local. Afterwards, the Maasai lead us down onto the plains and invite us to show
Cycling breaks down barriers. During our rides, kids dance by the road, sticking out scrawny arms in the hope of high-fives
off our (non-existent) cattle-herding skills. We manage to corral the cows into their enclosure, before chaos ensues and the animals disperse. A baby goat suffers an identity crisis and dashes into the cattle pen, and his young owner dives into the enclosure, crawling under cows’ bellies before emerging from the dust clasping the tiny animal. More than anything, cycling breaks
LEFT: Cycling in Lake Manyara National Park
down barriers. During our daily bike rides, kids dance in the dust by the roadside, sticking out scrawny arms in the hope of high-fives. On more than one occasion, a local joins our clan for a short stretch and we tackle the hills together, us on our shiny bikes and in bright Lycra, them in colourful shawls and worn rubber sandals.
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