Concern Challenge - Tanzania Cycle Diary
September 2010

Day 1 – Damien Enright
The day started with us all meeting at 10.45 in Dublin airport.  After the awkward introductions (and ten seconds later I forgot everyone’s names) we checked in and went up to Duty Free and flew out for the start of our African Adventure.  On our arrival in London we were faced with a long 5 hour layover.  Some went shopping, some went to Garfunkel’s for food and some went for pints.  There was then a panic as John and I realised we had the Lanacane for haemorrhoids and not chaffing oops.  Luckily Boots saved the day and had just two tubes left phew and finally we boarded for Kenya.  The eight hour flight was okay even though the entertainment broke resulting in half watched Karate Kid, A-Team and Sex in the City 2.  Some slept some didn’t but we all made it. 
We then had another little layover which resulted in some great people watching and sleeping on floors, energy levels were getting low.  We finally got on the final flight that would bring us to our Adventureland.  During the flight you could see Mt Kilimanjaro which started to get people excited and forget about the sleep deprivation.  Once we landed in Moshi and made our way through immigration we were welcomed by Able.  On the drive to our hotel we all got a brief taste of what was ahead and everyone’s eyes were wide.  Then we checked into our hotel which was lovely with 2 to each bungalow.  After a few drinks in the bar and a look around we all got fitted for our bikes and met our team leader Damon.  Nice introductions’ were over and we had a general introduction of what lay ahead, dos and don’ts and what to expect.  This was followed by a few ours rest and relaxation.  Everyone met in the bar at half seven and we packed into the bus for a quick spin to a nearby restaurant.  Now this was no usual restaurant it was a bonfire surrounded by tables and chairs in a big front garden of a house with loud reggae music in the background.  We then met Gearoid who works in the Concern office in Tanzania and he gave us a speech about Concern’s work.  It was then time for everyone to go home to bed excited and full of anticipation for what lay ahead.

Day 2 – Sarah Franklyn
Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer beauty of the red earth trails through the woodland slopes of the surrounding hills of Mt Kilimanjaro.  A jungle glade of green banana orchards neatly planted by the local villages offered much needed shade as I puffed my way up the hills stopping every few yards to marvel at the majesty of Africa as the low-lying plains spread out before me.  Jacaranda trees with their delicate purple blossom miles into the distance were dotted about the plains, along with the graceful acacias spreading out across the savannah.  Everywhere there were children rushing out to greet us as we rode past, everyone was dressed in their Sunday best and it gave the day a sense of procession.  It seemed that every 20 yards or so there was a school or a church and I was tempted to stop and go in and sing with the congregation who were giving it great gusto.  I wonder what they would have thought about a hot, sweaty, muddy and lobster-red white person croaking away with them!  The young Tanzanian men who were our companion guides were all so happy and many jokes, smiles and stories were shared.  Most of them were college-educated and spoke brilliant English.  Some of my long hill climbs were made easier by learning some phrases in Swahili – a beautiful language that our companions were only too happy to help me as I tried to get the right pronunciation.  As the on road part of our trip woke I found myself overheating and decided to be better safe than sorry on day one so I jumped into one of the support vehicles for a rest.  Kila the driver was only too happy to answer all my questions about the bird and plant species we encountered along the way. 
Determined to get back on my bike as the sun was going down in the early afternoon we saw our first giraffe silhouette against the setting sky.  We powered on through the plateau, the snow-peaked cap of Mt Kilimanjaro peeping through the clouds like a giant kingdom in the distance.  As the golden light of dusk coloured to plains, we saw a family of baboons who thought better of posing for us and scampered into the long grass.  Our camp was still 15k away so we jumped in to vehicles to enjoy a spectacular safari ride through the savannah in our open-roofed vehicles where we craned our necks to see the zebras and elands grazing, oblivious to our excitement they swished their tails in the fading twilight.

Day 3 – Olga McShea
We woke early for breakfast looking forward to the day of cycling ahead of us, some hoping for more downhill’s and some for more up hills with fewer bumps!  Our starting point was from a campsite with lovely off-road smooth red dirt trails.  Spirits were high and everyone was very excited about the day ahead on these trails, passing Maasai villages and seeing the authentic way of life of Maasai people.  They seemed intrigued by a bunch of mainly white people dressed up in full cycling gear cycling past them, while for us it was an amazing and spectacular sight of the colourful clad massai mara people.  It is a memory that will always stay with me.  While some people kept up the pace at the front others like myself stopped on occasion to take as many pictures as we could (I even managed to chat to and take a picture of a Maasai Mara woman fully clad in all her silver jewellery).  After 10k we pulled in for our first water stop then headed on our merry way again looking forward to a full day of these lovely red dirt tracks.  But as we proceeded further up the trail along our way our anticipations of a smooth cycle changed.  The trail got much rougher, lots of small stones and dust and the wind picked up with gusto.  Our river bed cycle started to ascend, meanwhile the terrain got more difficult with larger stones and rocks in our way and concentration become prominent in everyone’s mind, especially that of Damon.  Losing a cyclist at this point in the cycle was not an option.  He called a halt at about 8k.  Bikes were loaded up and we proceeded to walk on ahead to our lunch point set up in the open terrain under canopy.  On the hill beside us were a few kids tending to their cows.  Pam and I decided to converse with them as best we could and also got to take a few great photos with them.  Lunch as usual was sumptuous and everyone took a small power nap, some half on and half off chairs and some spread out on the ground, not the best idea I have ever had as with the wind being quite strong I managed to place myself in the path of a flying chair!  We moved on further up after lunch as that seemed a little more manageable with the wind also in a different direction.  But all did not go to plan.  The further we cycled the worse the trail got.  Once again concentration was written all over everyone’s face, along with red faces and pain from all the bumps which were constant.  We managed to do about 12k before Damon called another halt and a water stop.  While he left us to catch our breaths he went on ahead to assess our cycle path.  Ten minutes later he was back with a very serious look on his face, and informed his tired group that he was calling it a day as it only got worse ahead.  Back we went into the 4x4s, bikes disassembled and we headed to our hotel for the night.  The hotel was a lovely surprise after a hard few hours of off-road river bed cycling.  We were staying in the Snowcrest hotel in Arusha that night.  The hotel was lovely but was reminiscent of the Labyrinth, with so many stairs and floors and ways to go up to different floors and rooms.  Some found it more difficult than others, even getting lost!  Plans were made to go for a nice swim to help relax the tired muscles but as the water was freezing we didn’t last too long in it and most avoided it totally opting for a cold beer instead.  After a while we all retired to our rooms to change for dinner.  Meeting in the restaurant for a lovely energy filled meal we then retired to the bar for a relaxing drink and retired early with anticipation of the next leg of the challenge on normal roads.

Day 4 – Daniel Desmond
Up a 6.48 after a greats night sleep in a bed and looking forward the day ahead, Val the legend my roomy was up since 06.00, showered and ready to go, he also had the coffee on NICE as I was not feeling too hot after all the beers last night, had breakfast number 1 and two, which consisted of Wheatabix, a Milo and then a tasty Omelette, cooked up fresh by the chef, I knew I was going to need a big breakfast to face the 75K's ahead.
We drove through Arusha town to get to a safe spot on the other side of the city, somewhere where the traffic was not as busy, we stopped across the road from a coffee plantation and we had our de-brief. We were going to have water stops every 10K the roads were good but there was going to be a few up and downhill’s, we had to cover 70+K, we were cycling from Arusha to Tarangerie National park where our accommodation was in a tent in the grounds of the Safari Lodge.
It was great to be back on the tarmac roads and everyone was really excited about putting in the mileage after the last two really tough days off road. There were undulating hills which when we crested led to the most stunning panoramic vistas of mountains and Massai Mara homesteads which were called Bombers, these were little round houses with thatch roofs.
As the hills were pretty tough, the group got separated with the better cyclists leading the pack we were probably stretched out over half a mile. I was at the back enjoying the views and taking it easy, also I was a bit hangover so was pacing myself in the heat. Sarah was also cruising along side me and I was taking her through how to use her gears to help her get up the hills and to save some effort for the downhill’s. When we managed to get up one 244meter hill we stopped to take in the view and take on some water, we noticed that the support car was behind us.  When we were able to get a view point to see down the hill we noticed that Lorna was stubbornly walking up the last hill pushing her bike, while we were waiting for her to catch up to us I was able to get some very sneaky video footage of two fierce proud Massai warriors walking out from the bombers towards me on the road, they were unaware that I was filming them and it really captured the essence of these amazing people.
Once Lorna had taken on some water and stopped to enjoy the view we were able to fly down the steep hill we had just come up one of the brilliant benefits of cycling the hills what goes up must come down :) for the rest of the afternoon Lorna, Sarah and myself cycled together as I was able to explain to the two girls how to best use the gears, by changing down to 2,1 1,4 1,3 1,2 and finally 1,1 as the hill got to its steepest point and then how to also freewheel on the downhill’s saving your legs so that you got a break from all the cycling uphill.
At one stage we passed by a bird sanctuary on our right and were able to get photos of these colourful looking parrots, our guides George and Willie were former professional birdwatchers that at one point knew the names of over 600 birds but could now recall over 300. Amazing knowledge really made the cycle come alive for us over the last 30K.  The view also 360 of the plains stretching as far out as the eye could see with mountains on the right and the left of us, and we could see how far we had come when we looked back in the distance.
At our next rest stop, I had to use a local toilet which was part of a tiny Christian village many population numbering 100, it had a big church with a blue cross on the front and a few small houses, and a school on the left. On my way back to the crew I got to stop and chat to one of the locals, he wanted to know where I was from, why I was on a bike, and where I was going, he welcomed me into his country and said enjoy the rest of the journey, it was a lovely intimate moment and just showed how joyous and welcoming the people of Tanzania are.
When we finally arrived at our accommodation which was the Tarangeri Lodge, they provided us with hot towels and juice which was lovely after the heat of the cycle; however the big surprise was around the corner, we walked through the Safari lodge to our sumptuous accommodation which was tent number 7. All the tents were laid out around a swimming pool, which was lovely and cool.
I was first into the pool ahhhhhh nice! To be able to swim off the 75K we had just completed, it wasn’t long before we had everyone in the pool, splashing about expect for Pam who couldn’t swim and John who just wanted a beer. It didn’t take long for Damien and Olga to start having competitions about who could do the better underwater handstands, luckily we had Johns underwater camera to verify, we got some funny photos. It was nice to be in the camp early to enjoy the last few hours of sunshine after completing our longest day of cycling yet.
Dinner was outside under the stars and was, our standard Vegetable curry, Okra, Rice and mystery meat which turned out to be GOAT!. I tried the goat, it was nice tasting but a bit stringy, I was fairly dehydrated and had a headache after the beers from last night so took it easy and just had water. We were also up at 05.00 the next morning to go and see Tarangerie National Park whooo hooooo....
I am definitely the jonah of the group as I was getting into my tent to get changed for dinner, there was a bit of a wind and I say " I hope these tents are stapled into the ground well there is a bit of a wind" bam the tent falls down on top of my head, very funny though.
After dinner some people played pool, some played Jenga and there was  girls vs. boys darts competition, which was won by the girls of course we decided to call it an early night and went to bed about 10.30
When I got into the tent I noticed Vals head sticking out the door instead of his feet, not normal, we had to sleep the wrong way around as the tent had collapsed at the bottom... not ideal for the old sleeping but was out for the count as soon as that thought crept into my head....

Day 5 – Kiara Nolan
Today was an early start.  We all set off at 5.30am from our campsite to make our way to Tarangerie Wild Life Park.  We drove through winding roads; this part was surrounded by many different animal species.  We all got a great insight about these extraordinary animals from our guides and were able to take many photos from the open top roof.  The guides helped us make the safari such a rich and memorable experience, the park boasts a whole variety of different species including giraffes, zebras, giant eagles and many different breeds of birds to name just a few.
Spirits were high as we left the park and we felt excited with our day ahead.  We stopped off on the way from an early lunch.  One of many delicious hot dishes served.  Here we set off on our easy 20k cycle to Mtowambu Primary School where we were met by the principal to give us an overview of the school.  The teacher welcomed many questions to give us more insight.  Here we presented to her many gifts for the children, others donated money to help to purchase school tables, books, pens etc.  The group were introduced to other teachers working in the school and we were lead into a class.  We all got the opportunity to introduce ourselves, to tell the children where we are from and what we do at home in our own country.  The children sang us a couple of songs one of which we all were able to join in (let me remind you everyone) “Heads shoulders knees and toes!”  We all left, it was a delightful experience and the kids were amazing.  Very friendly, happy children.  Here we left to make our way to the fabulous Lake Manyara.  The whole experience was tasteful.  We met for dinner at 7.30pm and spoilt for choice with a delicious buffet meal.
Some people decided to work off dinner by joining other visitors at the hotel with some music and a dance session.  Sarah got up to sing us a song having the band to help her in the background and John our dark horse played the drums.  Some of us made it a late session that night, singing many Irish songs; we also learnt a Tanzanian song “Jambo jambo gania”
The whole experience of this adventure has being rich and memorable for me.  I have met amazing people and I have left having learnt lots about the people of Tanzania, the wildlife and much more.

Day 6 – Pamela Doyle
The last day of cycling was upon us…my first thought, as we all sat down (or those of us who were fit enough after last night’s entertainment, Dan I’m sure it’s all just a blur to you now) for an al fresco breakfast taking in the panoramic lake Manyara view. As the cycle route up to this point would have been a challenge for Stephen Roche himself, our task master Damon had assured us that today would be “the day of gently ups and downs…nothing to worry about”.  Feeling competent and a little proud at having gotten this far and my mind all at ease with gentle pictures of the ride ahead we started the day with our first up hill, passing through many colourful bustling little villages along the way, this was to be the first of many up hills and it clearly began to dawn on me that this last day cycle was maybe going to be the straw to break the camel’s back.  We did have one huge downhill though for maybe 1 or 2 km’s which had the group cheering like it was 1999! I on the other hand was back of the pack again as downhill was a wee tricky for me and spent most of my descent with full brakes on, Val I was in awe of your torpedo like descent at 80mph! you rocked!  The downhill joviality didn’t last long though as the true uphill test suddenly made itself visible before us, I think I’m maybe not alone when I say that this leg of the cycle was truly the toughest physical punishment I’ve ever taken….ever!  The group was brilliant though and the team spirit was amazing as no one was left to feel out of the group, guys and girls, the weaker and stronger cyclists all shared encouragement and at each 10-15 km water stop it became clear to me that no matter what level, we were all going to ride into the finish line together which for me was what it was all about. I think everyone displayed a complete lack of ego and ride in as one we did to the most welcoming finish line I have personally ever encountered.  Zoe, doc, and Damon had the welcome banner, food and beer ready at the Ngorongoro entry gate. They really were brilliant as they had to charge ahead to have this ready….. I will never forget the feeling as we all arrived together; it really was a feeling of accomplishment and achievement, every one hugged and laughed, from the cooks to the support vehicle to the camp assemblers.  It was amazing. There was a bit of a scary moment though, as we were abruptly reminded that this was Africa after all when Damien was assaulted by a hungry baboon after his banana….pardon the pun.  When we had all calmed, the cycles were packed away and we drove (the most pleasurable driver ever) to our camp site at Karatu.  The site was beautifully nestled in a jungle like setting and everyone quickly washed up/took a quick nap before we left for a local craft market selling ebony carvings, art and jewellery.  I was in my element here….shopper’s paradise for beautiful African sculptures….and this was where I found the piece I had in mind to take home to my new mantelpiece…a Maasai warrior head carved from ebony.  Oh and by the way I have to say a big tThanks to Damon for bargaining down the price for me!
Back to the campsite we went for our “last al fresco supper” under a beautiful African night sky, the after supper entertainment was amazing around a campfire with a sing off between our Tanzanian companions and resident seanachai/singing guru Damien…. we did help a bit though with the humming bits. Sarah’s musical direction was of course indispensible.   It really was a great night and for me ended too suddenly when one of the locals said “I think it’s time to go to your tents now…….for your own safety”.   Enough said….I didn’t need to be told that twice and went to sleep with the sound of camp site protectors keeping the local elephants away by firing gunshots into the night sky.  A fitting way to end a truly great day.

Day 7 – John Donoghue
We had cycled from Machame gate to the gate of the Ngorongoro National park; we had endured cycling through rough terrain to long undulating tarmac roads, we became a team from almost strangers and experienced an amazing country, culture and people in less than a week. 
Today would be our last day in Tanzania.  We woke early after a night of celebrations with the team and crew.  Breakfast was the same as every other day, but you could notice people’s quietness, contemplation and increased awareness of their surroundings, trying to gather as much as possible from all their senses.
After breakfast we got everyone together from the team and crew, from the cooks to the mechanics, everyone who made this challenge possible.  We expressed our gratitude and sincere appreciation for all their efforts and hard work.  We felt it necessary as a group to give them something as a token of our appreciation and had a whip around, everyone giving something be it a cycle top, bike tools or even a good old tip.
After saying our goodbyes, getting contact details and exchanging facebook details we loaded up and made our way back to Ngorongoro National Park.  Through the gate we ascended up winding roads, thick fog and dense vegetations until the crater came into view.  A 600sq mile basin surrounded by ominous mountains every way you look.  As you look down there is every type of habitat as possible to support various species of animals, grassland plains, thick forest, vast lake and swamp systems all contained and teaming with wildlife.  As we drove along the dust paths we spotted nearly every animal you could hope to see on a safari drive, lions, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, flocks of flamingos, elephants and nearly everything in between.  An amazing way to round up the trip and to see the real beauty of Africa.  Leaving the park the group couldn’t be happier as we recall the sights and sounds as we ascended back up the winding mountain roads and back through some of the villages and towns that seem so familiar to us now.  We begin the long drive back to Kilimanjaro International stopping briefly to pick up some souvenir t-shirts and to enjoy our packed lunches prepared by the crew.
We stop in Arusha to drop off and say our goodbyes to Lorna and Dan as they continue their journey through Tanzania.  Dan is off to find his roots in Tanga and Lorna is taking a well deserved rest heading further on to Zanzibar.
Arriving at Kilimanjaro International airport we go through the motions of security and check-ins then enjoy the company we have for the time we have left in the airport bar before we start the long haul commute home.  As I’m sure everyone agrees this was a hugely mentally, physically and stimulating challenge that has changed views and opinions, changed lives, helped people who most needed it and given us all an experience none of us will ever forget.

Final thoughts – Val Lynam
This trip to Tanzania was truly a fantastic experience.  Everyday had a new adventure around every corner.  And on every corner there was a new experience to enjoy.  The group were very good, they worked together and supported each other as a team.  I would go with every one of these people again at a drop of a hat.  If we were not asking how each of us were, reminding each other to take their malaria tablets, giving each other and sharing medication (with the doc’s help)  I think it was the final day when the group really shined.  When we all as a team stuck with each other even when one of our people down, We started together…… we finish together.  As one.

This challenge could not have been completed without the expertise of Action Challenge and Ashante Tours. But mainly thank you to you the challengers, without your hard work and dedication to raise money for Concern we could not continue to do the work we do.  And of course thank you for the laughs!