Hi David, great hearing from you. So we went through our photos and found yours we think, (confirmed on FB) If you are ever in Boise look us up. Best through Warmshowers, we are Racpat.

Hi! I am the American guy from Seattle you met in summer 2016, who recommended the Saspol caves. Amazing were they not? Glad you ran into my partner Tom in Leh. I found him safe n sound at our guest house. Let's just say dehydrated, tummy, lying by the side of the road you get the picture, but fortunately a driver I knew well was just minutes behind and we loaded him up for a ride to Leh. He did great on the rest of our trip to Nubra, Pangong, and Leh-Manali. I love your Spiti entries: did the loop clockwise Sep 2014. You are world travellers: I am an India Himalaya obsessive with 4 bike trips and a few treks. Cheers! David K, Seattle

Yes, this is "typical" midwest America. But then so are stripmalls and Walmart parking lots........

To a European, that's so reminiscent of rural America

Thanks We had a great experience and lucky to do so....sailing across the Drake Passage was an adventure and yes lots and lots and lots of Penguins!

Even withOUT cycling there.... way cool! And PENGUINS!

Hi Mark,
I guess it helps that I'm a nurse (Rachel), in determining which to use I had them categorized whether is was above the abdomen (Antibiotics for infections (Respiratory, Skin, UTI) or below like diarrhea. Fortunately we came home almost with a full kit. Never used the dental filling repair...we would have just followed the instructions I guess. Thanks for asking. All this falls into Murphy's law, if you have it you won't need it.

Hi Mark, no we left our bikes in Ushuaia hostel, sat in the tour office waiting to find out if we got a spot on the ship. We were finally told you have a spot...run... we were on board, the ship sailed as we were still in the lobby waiting to be assigned a cabin.
Agree that would have been cool but at least we got on board.

Speaking as someone who's sutured his own ankle while on an overnighter, I can tell you that this is a really comprehensive list... a penicillin, a cephalosporin, a sulfonamide, and a fluoroquinolone... you have pretty much every bug covered. Plus all the other items.

My only questions are: (1) how does the "Dental Filling Repair" work? and (2) how did you determine which class of antibiotic to use?

I hope you needed very little from your list. I'm looking forward to reading more in order to find out. :-)

Were you actually able to cycle in Antarctica, even for a mile or so just to say you did? Cuz, you know, that would be amazing!

That is a good plan, you will enjoy Zambia and Malawi. Southern Tanzania is mountainous and beautiful with tea plantations. Definitely carry a waterfilter, there are many wells to pump water from, but it is better to filter it or tap water (in towns) before drinking. We did get quite a few flats, but I think it was because our tires were getting old by then. There are a lot of thorny plants in Africa. I have no experience with tubeless, but what I understand is that you need a compressor to reset the tire if you ever loose all air. That might be a problem.
Enjoy your trip, please let us know if you have a journal so we can follow you.
Patrick

Hi Patrick and Rachel, thanks again for your message. You may be right, it is a bit ambitious to do this in 2 months. As it is my first tour in Africa I don't want to start to aggressive. My new plan (time still 2 months): Start in Lusaka (Sambia), take train/bus down to the VicFalls, cycle through Sambia to the South Luangwa NP and on to Malawi. Following pretty much your trail, but from South to North. Then on to Tansania and Mbeya (heavy mountains..). There it is possible to take the train (TARAZA) to the east (Daressalam). I checked with TARAZA people, they accept bicycles on this train. Maybe I drop off before Dar and go north to Arusha/Lushoto. The return flight should be from Sansibar (Emirates). Here my questions: 1)What do you think about this plan? 2) Did you take a water filter for water purification with you? 3)I saw in your day-to-day reports that there were quite some flat tyres. Would you recommend to go tubeless? Thanks again for your guidance.

Mosquito net: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ID7E7B4?tag=wimarketinglt-20&geniuslink=true&th=1

Hi Guther,
2 months seems pretty quick, but you could always skip some sections by hitchhiking or busses. We did not cycle between Dar es Salaam and Mbeya so cannot comment on that, but I understand the road is busy. In Malawi don't miss Livingstonia and the Nyika National Park.
2) From Livingstone (Zambia) you could cycle to Kasungula and cross directly into Botswana. The road from there south to the junction at Nata is known as the "Elephant Highway". Search it to read some other cyclists experiences before you decide to cycle it. There are lots of overlanding muzungus in 4WD in this part of Africa though, you could fairly easily get a ride with them.
3) We used a once-a-week Malarone prophylactic and also carried our own travel mosquito net. We would stretch a clothesline across the bed and sleep under our own net. The one we used has a plastic ring at the top that folds up the way you would fold a bicycle tire.
Let us know if you have more questions, Patrick and Rachel

Dear Africa-Lovers, your travel experience gave me a lot of motivation over Christmas. I now think about a cycling tour from Daressalam to Windhuk. I plan roughly two months for that. Starting in May to beginning of July. Question 1: What do you think about this plan? Countries: Tansania, Malawi, Sambia (following your "footsteps"), Botswana, Namibia. But: I want to avoid Zimbabwe. Question 2: Is it possible to go directly from Sambia to Botswana? Question 3: How did you prepare and protect yourself against Malaria, Dengue,... all these potential Moskito-bite viruses... Thank you very much for your expertise.