Oh my, 30 years ago
Introduction: "Same same but different"
Patrick's RTW journal is in Dutch and has not been translated yet to English. Rachel's journal is on a monthly planner where each day she kept a written record of the destination, the distance in km and a few words describing the day.
This journal will mostly be a photo journal.
Remember this is the time of slide film and when one counted how many photos could be taken per day. Where mail is picked up Poste Restantes every couple of months. Information is gleaned through guidebooks, talking to locals, and other travellers. A time with paper maps and money managed with American Express traveller's checks. So different from today's way of travelling, and yet not so different in purpose.
Our route in 1994 from Capetown to Nairobi:
We rode along the coast to Hermanus to Swellendam to Oudtshoom to Bloemfontein and onto Johannesburg. There we met people who took us to their cabin just outside Kruger Park. This is where Rachel exclaimed "A zebra! I can't believe I've seen a zebra in the wild!" To which Patrick teases her to this day.
We cycled from there into Zimbabwe and up to Bulawayo, taking the train to Victoria Falls (2015,Train from Vic Falls to Bulawayo). Cycling back to Hwange and then to Binga whee we caught the ferry on Lake Kariba to Kariba.
Into Zambia, we cycled from Lusaka to Lilongwe then around to Monkey Bay, then back cycling up the western side of Lake Malawi. Here we heard about the genocide happening in Rwanda, so our plans to go and see the gorillas were changed. (2015 we cycled from Mbeya, Tanzania to Lilongwe, a safari from Lilongwe, to South Luwange NP, then bus to Lusaka, cycling Lusaka to Liviningstone).
In 1994, around Livingstonia, and touring the Nyka plateau, Patrick caught Malaria. With his recovery, we had an opportunity to catch a ride on an empty Overland Truck. Patrick was still too weak to cycle, and our Kenya Visas were about to expire and there was a long way to go.
So we hitched the ride on the now empty (but for a few backpackers) Overland Truck to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and took a ferry to Zanzibar and then back to Tanga. From Tanga, we cycled to Arusha and arranged to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Patrick negotiated with Gaspar, our guide, to have a second guide come along. This was in case one of us had altitude sickness the other would be able to continue on to the summit. We had two guides, a porter and a cook for 5 days to take us up the mountain. Memory fades but we think this was all for $300USD per person.
Also from Arusha, we arranged a safari into the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The last stretch was to Nairobi and then a 3 week ride around Mt. Kenya including a day trip from Nakuru to see the flamingos on Lake Nakuru. (2015, we cycled to Lake Nakuru, and it was disappointing, the alkalinity of the lake has changed and flamingos have left and the rhino are dying from disease or being relocated)
From Nairobi we flew to Madrid Spain and took a train to Gibraltar. From there we cycled back to Ossendrecht Holland, Patrick's home village through Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.
This ended Patrick's 2 year around the world trip and Rachel's one year solo ride in NZ and Australia and 9 months cycling with Patrick, she then returned to USA.
(2015, we cycle Nairobi to Capetown, then flew from Capetown to Kochi, India)
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Patrick came to the USA May 5, 1995. We decided to marry July 8, 1995 in Missoula MT and after a 6 week honeymoon ride, we settled in Boise Idaho.
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