Tag: Kilimanjaro

  • New energy!

    New energy!

    After the holidays in Dakar I started cycling with new energy. Both mentally and physically I was ready for a challenge to get in time in Nigeria!

    Bye bye

    I start cycling again in Tambacounda where I left my bike and fast enough I make my way out of Senegal. The stamping out proces is easy, but still quite some distance to the actual border. This means I will have to continue to entry Guinee in the same day. I don’t take the big asfalted way but a more quiet sand/dirt road which follows just next to a national park. I see many animals along the road and the cycling is just beautiful here! A bit later I reach Guinee and I immediately get a very welcoming feeling in the country. The first village I pass by I ask if I could pitch the tent there. It is a very basic place, with not much resources, but they insist on sharing their dinner with me and I have a great time here. They tell me they used to hear lions roar sometimes but that disappeared a couple of years ago.

    Into the hills

    The inland of Guinee has quite some hills and the roads take me to the Fouta Djallon region. This is a beautiful area inland of Guinee where the climate gives somewhat “cooler” and drier temperatures. Everywhere I’m cycling people are very warm and welcoming. After a while my arms hurt more than my legs from waving to all those people. I just love the mountains and this whole section gives me great views. The rest in Dakar gave me good energy as I’m still good to cover the daily distances. After a couple of days the legs start to hurt, but the beauty of everything here (nature, people, wildlife,…) totally makes up for that! I meet some other travellers on the road and this helps in making me not feel too lonely, which is a normal feeling after the great time in Dakar. The regular phone calls from friends and family help as well off course! (thankyou)

    Coffee and borders

    After about a week of cycling I get near the border with Liberia (I stay in Guinee). There I take a route which is a shortcut in distance, but would take about the same amount of time as the normal one (route de cafe/coffee route). No asfalt here but a dirt road taking me between coffee and cacao plantations. There I meet 2 French girls cycling to Benin. But as I’m trying to get many km’s done, we only camp together for the night and then I’m off on my own. Too bad I’m rushing a bit but as I have this goal now but I have to go on and maybe come back one day. I’m still enjoying this to the fullest and cycle on along the Liberian border towards the border with Ivory Coast.

    Full speed

    The border crossing to Ivory Coast was fairly easy and every time I tell my story to people, they don’t believe me. They are extremely surprised that I’m cycling from Belgium around the world. It creates funny reactions and all kinds of questions. I then receive many good lucks and cheers while I’m setting off again . I just love how people are open and warm in these regions and not even once I feel threatened or scared. In Ivory Coast the hills getting smaller and I can get my distances done with less effort. At the same time it’s getting warmer, but more facilities along the road. I am even able to buy a cold drink from time to time, what a luxury! For water I mainly use the pumps on the side of the road, mostly installed by NGO’s. These are very reliable water sources and always a very social moment for the people around.

    Peage

    In Ivory Coast I take the road to the Capital city Yamoussoukro. Things get more easy here with better roads, more shops and food. Once I pass by the city there is a big highway (peage) taking me all the way to Abidjan. The road itself feels much safer to cycle, there is more place for the cars and trucks. There aren’t too many of them either and by cycling on the emergency lane it actually feels good cycling here! Soon I enter Abidjan and this city is all chaos. One of the reasons I pass by this city is that I want to visit SOS Forêts, a local NGO fighting to save the forests in Ivory coast. From here in Abidjan I’ll enter Ghana, get to Togo, Benin and reach Nigeria just in time before my visa expires.

    SOS

    As in many countries I see the same happening here in Ivory Coast: deforestation. Lot’s of forest and wildlife is disappearing and SOS forêts is a local NGO trying to slow down and reverse this. In Abidjan (at the botanical garden of the university) I went to meet the president and other workers in the ngo. This project is already running since 1996. In 1992 Dr. Wadja Agnankou received the Goldman prize for his work to protect the mangroves in West Africa. As a result of this they founded this organisation that is still trying hard to limit the los of the forests here. I had the honour of meeting them and to see how they work. If you would like to know more about their work (I will get more into detail about it in a following post) please visit http://www.sosforets.ci/

    If any of you would like to help out in this great organisation, don’t hesitate to contact me. In Belgium I’m giving regular presentations for organisations or companies. The money I get with it goes to such initiatives and my next presentation I will definitely try to raise them some funds. There are other ways to help them out! If you have some equipment laying around that is in your way and you would like to donate, contact me (or them straight away). Equipment meaning: tents, binoculars, camping gear, gps, drone,…. Thank you.

    I want to give a big thanks to my sponsors who make this project possible!!

    and thanks for the great support!

  • Road alone

    Road alone

    Steven and I left Agadir on the same day, only 2 different paths. According to plan, I leave south towards the Sahara desert and Steven goes back to Belgium. It is with mixed feelings because it’s fun cycling with friends but the desert is calling…

    Tiznit what you think e!

    Guelmin is seen as the gateway to the Sahara desert and I can’t wait to get there. I imagine great sand dunes, long stretches of road and perfect tailwinds. The road from Agadir takes me to Tiznit (in Flemish this would mean “it’s not”). A very long boring road with a calm headwind, but it seems like going on forever. After a while I start looking at my data and see it’s slightly going uphill, we call that vals plat (false flat), or tiznit wa ge denkt e!

    The what?

    After a couple of days I arrive in Guelmin, where I expected all the dunes and burning sun! Not at all, it was cold, windy and raining… I couldn’t believe it but while cycling on I had to wear a full rain suit and that lasted about 2 days which drained quite some energy, especially because I was too stubborn to stop and wait for the wind to change. I pushed against the wind like a mad man and found the wind slightly changing directing after 2 – 3 days. What a relief!

    • Rain in the desert??

    …blowing in the wind

    With the wind changing direction I could enjoy the desert to its fullest! The never ending landscapes are incredibly beautiful and with the wind in the right direction I make great progress. I sleep in all kinds of places from roadside hotels, to abandoned buildings and off course, the favourite my tent. One of the issues a bit deeper in the desert is that by entering the Western Sahara territory, more and more army and police checkpoints are coming. It’s not that bad and all for my safety, but when you decide to wild camp and they see you, they’re too concerned and ask you to camp at their station. One time I had to and there was a French couple in their van. I could join them eating French (it’s actually Belgian) fries, life’s good!

    Ghost town

    When I got closer to the border I see an abandoned village and an army vehicle. I ask if I could sleep somewhere and they show me a nice house (at least it was one day). I can take my mattress and sleep on the floor, but that’s great because I don’t have to pitch my tent which gets very humid at night. The army is there because they’re de-mining the area. Good to know because they tell me there are quite some in certain areas, that’s a reminder of not going off tracks too far when looking for a spot to camp.

    The real des(s)ert

    In general, cycling the Sahara is not that physical demanding. There is a maximum of 100km without finding anything in this area. The real challenge is the mental game. From previous experiences (and I was looking forward to that) I knew that I had to go until I get sick of it. Then you have to go on! Push it further, that’s the real des(s)ert. You are mentally tired and just want to get out of there. And then I entered Mauritania…

      The beautiful desert

      Mauritania has been really kind (the people, like everywhere) but has been very hard on me as well. When I just entered I had a very hard headwind and was able to finish off my last 20km in 2hrs. There I stayed in at an “auberge” (not really) who gave me shelter and food. The next day I thought the wind would be from a better direction but it stayed an extremely annoying side/headwind which took lots of energy.

      I was able to cover 90km for 10hrs of cycling! But suffered quite hard. Because of the high winds I had to cover my entire face and still got sand everywhere and was sick of it all! I didn’t think I could go on for long until the first car stops and asks if I’m alright (the wind had pushed me in the side several times). I said I’m fine and they gave me water. Just that gesture of a bottle of water gave me the mental strength and energy to continue for another couple of hours! The next days the winds dropped again and I could find the energy of cycling to Nouakchott (the capital). Oh yeah, and I had some diarrhoea which weakened me more on those extra windy days (the irony..).

      The first stop

      The plan is to head down towards Senegal tomorrow and continue another 750km to Tambacounda (Senegal). There I’ll take a break. I will go to Dakar and arrange the visas for the next countries. Visit my friend Luca to spend the holidays with some other Belgian friends and my girlfriend will come over for new year as well. Looking forward to that!!

      Thanks to the sponsors who make this all possible!!!

      and thanks for the great support!

    • Getting high in the Atlas

      Getting high in the Atlas

      The weather and wind cleared after our departure in Rabat which gave us a great boost towards the High Atlas. This beautiful mountain range had us amazed throughout the ride!

      Bye bye sea you again

      Getting out of Rabat was an easy ride and we followed the ocean for a while. Just before Casablanca we turned towards Marrakech. The first days land inward weren’t very appealing so we took the opportunity to cycle get cover some distance. Pretty soon we saw the mountains coming up and getting closer to Marrakech the landscape turned into beautiful sights!

      • enjoying the view

      City hopping

      We reached Marrakech and decided not to spend too much time there. We where a bit afraid of this crowded city, mainly because cyclists and big crowded cities aren’t a very good combination. To my great surprise we managed quite well to cycle through, some roads even had bicycle lanes! Once outside the city we got a much clearer view of the magnificent Atlas mountain range and Mt Toubkal (4165m).

      • Toubkal!

      Getting high

      The whole area is extremely beautiful and I’m glad to follow Steven’s (https://20angles.com/) idea of cycling the High Atlas. We decide to cycle the Tizi n’ Test pass up to 2100m. It slowly takes us higher and higher following a river. This makes it a very long climb but never very steep sections so we can maintain a good pace. Steven has intestinal problems (that’s a clean word for bad diarrhoea) which gives him a hard (get it?) time on the bicycle. Still he manages to continue and after a complete day of cycling we make it to the top of the mountain pass just before dark. We decide to stay in Augerge la haute vue for some well deserved rest and great food.

      • going up
      • just before sunset!
      • made it up!

      Going down

      After a great night and breakfast we start our long descent. We get treated with amazing views from the other side of the atlas range. After about 30km of winding corners we come into a whole new landscape. An almost straight road takes us gently and very easy to the Atlantic ocean again. In Agadir Steven will go back to Belgium, we had a great 2 weeks cycling here but now I’ll be on my own to be crossing the Sahara desert to Senegal!

      • small peloton
      • leaving the Atlas behind us

      Plastic soup

      Yesterday I visited the Surfrider Maroc foundation. An organisation that tries to educate, inform and clean up the area from pollution. It is a small team of great people who are working hard to make people aware of this problem. They are going to schools and companies to explain about the situation and how they can help. They organise beach clean ups in the area and make art with the found trash. To find out more about their project and goals please visit http://www.surfridermaroc.com/ you can easily make a donation through their website! One of their current projects is to make a competition between schools to make art of “garbage” and the winning school would be able to expose it at a roundabout or entrance of the city. (still trying to find support from authorities to do that).

      One of the things I discovered on projects like this is that they need support from the local government to be allowed to talk in schools. This is a big difference in Belgium because a school can decide this more or less independent. The same goes for my friend Wahyu in Indonesia and it is not easy to convince the right people to get this permission. Luckily here in Agadir, they have a partnership with the government since a couple of years now. This creating the opportunity to go to schools and educate the children about their cause. As I see in Morocco people are quite receptive about the ideas they’re spreading and about the environment. I hope they can keep up the great work and will be able to spread their word!

      Kilimanjaro

      It might seem early but the climb for Kilimanjaro is fixed. Together with Wild Tanzania we’re organising an expedition and anyone who wants can join on this trip! The climb will start the 23 of June until the 2nd of July and is open for all who want to climb with me. Contact me at Veyt.jelle@gmail.com or check out the following link if you’re interested. I’m partnering up with them mainly because they have an engagement in their trips that respect the environment and the people working for them.

      Thanks to the sponsors who make this all possible!!!

      and thanks for the great support!