Home » Malawi Tanzania » Cycle to the Summit Part 17 - Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe

Highlights of the Dar to Lilongwe stretch of Cycle to the Summit have included some super cycling and World Cup football action. We cycled through Mikumi National Park where we saw elephant, giraffe, zebra and buffalo, before crossing into Malawi to see first hand the famine situation that is featuring in the UK press. We also learned about the increasing problems associated with the AIDS epidemic. We are currently enjoying the hospitality and company of our friend Sutapa in Lilongwe. Over the next few days we will visit WaterAid and plan for the final stages of our journey to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

Cycle to the Summit Part 17 - Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 20:12:13

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said 'Danger - Wild animals for the next 50kms' and it is amazing how this sign affected my nerves. Had it not been there I would have been oblivious to the threat of being eaten by a lion or trampled by an elephant, but on seeing it, my mood changed from excitement to real nervousness. After about 20km, my feelings of nervousness for my safety had disappeared and were replaced by apprehensiveness that we would go the 50kms and not see any wildlife. These feelings were then replaced by one of annoyance for the litter that lay on the side of the road and the speed of the traffic that went past with a blatant disregard for any poor animal that might stray onto the road. The 50km stretch of road was filled with annoying speed bumps - the sort that are ineffective at reducing the speed of the hurtling buses but are quite literally a pain in the backside for cyclists! The speed limit is clearly signed on the road as 70km/hr, with a night limit of 50km/hr. After the conversation about development we had the previous night with Prosper I thought all the government needs to do is put a few policemen in the park and the revenue that they would make from catching those speeding in the park would surely be enough to pay off most of the national debt - well maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but…
We then saw some huge round mud footprints leaving a trail across the road - they looked suspiciously like where an elephant had crossed the road and immediately my feelings of nervousness and excitement returned. The trees that had lined the road gave way to open savannah where we encountered three elephants standing by the side of the road in the shade of a small tree, some 150 metres from us. Just a little further on we saw a large group of giraffe. They began to run, and giraffe are amazing when they run. Their head lopes forward and their legs move in a very weird sort of way. They were joined by zebra and buffalo who stood watching us watching them. We cycled ...