The Kenya Bike Odyssey
A Journey of Discovery
Words by Allan Shaw.
I heard a quote recently that's really stuck with me: "Routine propels you, Novelty inspires you."
I think it's often said that the best part of travel is that first-person perspective of a totally new place. To go from images on a screen and secondhand accounts, to standing there yourself for your very own unique experience. A place that feels completely fresh and different. For me, there's a real pride and satisfaction in knowing lots of information about an interesting and far-off destination, and a completely different satisfaction in arriving to a place I know almost nothing about, but being ready to ask a thousand questions and learn along the way.
Despite my history of adventure travel, the African continent was — and still is — a pretty big blank spot on my otherwise crowded world map. Outside a handful of trips to Morocco, it's by far my least visited continent. After cycling across part of the Andes last year in Peru, I knew I wanted this summer's trip to be ambitious, and somewhere as unique and interesting for me as possible. Africa was already calling my name, and I quickly locked onto the Kenya Bike Odyssey — a 1000km route through the Rift Valley developed by bikepacker Tristan Ridley and published on Bikepacking.com.
The Route
The 900km route traverses part of the Rift Valley in Kenya. From the tea plantations and the dense and lush highland forests to vast lakes and sprawling, dusty savannah. It's a route that’s incredibly diverse in both landscapes and climate. I enjoyed misty mornings in the low teens and some scorching afternoons in the mid-30s. Crossing various National Parks and wildlife conservation areas, you have the very real possibility of taking your own mini Safari by bike. During the course of a few unforgettable days of cycling on the route I saw herds of elephants, zebras, giraffes, ostrich, impala and more cross the trail right in front of me, a surreal sight!
The Place
The Great Rift Valley in East Africa spans from Ethiopia in the north to Mozambique in the south, and is well documented as being the birthplace of modern humanity. The earliest human remains have all been found here, at the time when the valley opened up and made it useful for our primate ancestors to climb down from the trees and stand up on two hind legs for the first time. This was in the end both a journey to somewhere completely new and a return to the place we all come from. Even in Nairobi Airport there’s a sign welcoming all travellers to Kenya with the greeting “Welcome Home!”
The Country itself is somewhat divided between modern and relatively expensive lifestyles in the few big cities, and the humble and sparsely populated rural regions. The relics of colonialism still remain, with unequal landownership and development by European families and descendants. A large part of the population still survives below the poverty line and with basic amenities, many maintaining the agricultural traditions and practices of their ancestors.
The Locals
I found the vast majority of the Kenyan people I met to be exceptionally friendly and welcoming, especially the kids. From the early morning school runs, I barely had two hands on the handlebars as I rolled into villages, amid all the waving, greetings, fist bumps and high fives. I swore they had a sixth sense for passersby, so often hearing the scream and seeing the wave of an excited 5-year-old from an impossible distance, wondering how they had possibly noticed me from so far off.
And most of the adults were equally quick and happy to engage, often stopping to chat at the roadside, always respectfully and neverintimidating, all smiles! Their ease in making you feel welcome was noticeable, making so many of the interactions so sweet. The route offers lots of opportunities to stay on small farms and in guesthouses with local people, a special way to experience and learn about the region from the people themselves.
Safety
I distinctly remember feeling a bit anxious about safety on the first two days. It's of course natural (and sensible) to have concerns for safety in a new place, but I also try to prod at the validity of those concerns as I move. Having lived in Mexico for many years, a country with a similar misconception between fear in the media and genuine concerns for safety, I decided that for better or worse there was no way statistically that Kenya could be any worse than Mexico, and if I felt confident there, I should feel perfectly fine here. This logic thankfully played out, and I never once felt remotely unsafe in Kenya, which helped me grow in confidence with every passing day. It's also true that the route itself is quite popular with the international bikepacking community, with roughly 40-60 cyclists completing the route each dry season. So the locals are somewhat used to welcoming passing cyclists and fulfilling our basic needs, and if you're lucky you can pick up a new intrepid cycling friend or two along the way.
By the time I reached the end of the Kenya Bike Odyssey route in Nanyuki, my bike covered in deep orange dust and my Scottish skin lightly sizzled from long days under the hot sun, I shed some small tears of joy and gratitude for one of the most raw and unique experiences across a country in my life. For this most novel and inspiring of times in a new and fascinating place — one that, it turned out, had been welcoming me home the whole way. A journey like this makes every pedal stroke a breeze, because you're so stoked to find out what you might discover around the next bend.
Styles From the Trip
