Country | Tired of I.T!

Mixed Up Messages

Jan 132012

Sleep has been a bit of a weird one lately, lying awake till quite late and tossing and turning throughout the night, partially from heat, vivid dreams, grief? Who knows. But one thing for sure the energy levels are starting to fade, coinciding exactly about the time where I’m dealing with major hills on a regular basis. It’s not Canadian Rocky style hills, but still something that requires a lot more energy than what was offered in the mostly flat country of Botswana. I woke up the next morning saying [read more]

Crossing Lines

8 Responses »

Jan 062012

I’ve got good news – I’m riding again! I crossed into the Zambia border after losing the coin toss of entering into Zimbabwe for half a day and crossed into a new country leaving fond memories of my time in Botswana. Seriously – you want to go to this place and meet the people. It’s a dream to cycle in with the flat terrain, good roads, courteous drivers, great prices on food and other services, and the amount of wildlife that you will see running around at any given time. [read more]

Zambia Statistics

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Jan 062012

My route while traveling through.. InformationInfo: Formed: 1964 Population: 12,935,000 peopleArea: 752,618 sq/ kilometresLanguages Spoken: English, Chewa, Bemba, Lunda, Tonga, Lozi, Luvale, KaondeCurrency: ZMK Kwacha Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly [read more]

Overpowered by Emotions

12 Responses »

Jan 032012

So close, yet so far, I had intended on riding into a different country via Kasane (a very unique area where Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia meet) yet am suffering some extreme setbacks, throwing a huge wrench into plans – initial period of grief and panic subsided quickly – ‘Don’t worry, this is why you are doing this Dave, nothings meant to go smoothly forever’). The last 2 kilometres felt like jelly as I headed towards the first grocery store I could find and looking down at the rear wheel the [read more]

And so it draws to a close

4 Responses »

Dec 312011

2011 was awesome – What started off on shaky ground due to some very bizarre health issues I decided that the best course of repair was to get on my bicycle – mysteriously 5 days into riding through areas of Canada I hadn’t yet explored it went away as quick as it came on. Let me never go through that experience ever again however. I managed to ride a little over 12,000km through 6 countries – small amount but I also took some time off to stop at some music [read more]

Challenges

6 Responses »

Dec 242011

You know when things go wrong that they seem to come all at once? No different even here in Africa – although its opened up my eyes for the need of a mail drop shorty. I’m cycling up to Maun (Mow-oon) in time for Christmas Day putting in almost 100km days in the process. it’s different here, certainly a challenge each day with the new weather conditions, the amount of people begging for money on the side of the road, the animals, and the bugs. Spiders are a force to [read more]

Green Pastures

3 Responses »

Dec 202011

First off, I want to clear some misconceptions of Namibia – specifically the east side when leaving Windhoek – No matter what any cyclist, driver, recreational person, police officer, whomever says about it being flat and all downhill – it’s pure lies. While it may seem like a steady drop in elevation, it is a healthy dose of ups and downs with such a gradual decline it doesn’t even feel like it is going downhill until the last 50km to reach the border of Botswana. It likely doesn’t help that [read more]

Botswana Statistics

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Dec 202011

My route while traveling through.. InformationInfo: Formed: 1966 Population: 2,029,307 peopleArea: 581,730 sq/ kilometresLanguages Spoken: English, SetswanaCurrency: BWP Pula Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name upon independence in 1966. Four decades of uninterrupted civilian leadership, progressive social policies, and significant capital investment have created one of the most dynamic economies in Africa. Mineral extraction, principally diamond mining, dominates economic activity, though tourism is a growing sector due to the country’s conservation practices and extensive nature preserves. Botswana has one of the world’s highest known rates [read more]

Preventative Maintenance

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Dec 162011

Just a few hours away from leaving the capital city of Windhoek in Namibia after a few solid days of rest – Short of a few hills today it’s all downhill from here for very long time, the kilometres will start to add up quite quickly paired with tar roads. I met some cyclists who surprisingly knew who I was by name and website who were out training for the Desert Dash – an annual race that has 450 riders travel from Windhoek to Swakopmund over 380km of dirt roads [read more]

Recharged and Rolling Again

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Dec 112011

Sleeping under an overpass – surprisingly quiet, with the exception of the drafts of wind that shake around my tent and the birds who have nested in the roof. It’s also a dried up river bed that has seen some damage likely in the past year due to the massive amounts of rain in the area, but it’s safe to say I’ll be ok tonight. Hello from Central Namibia! My scheduled posts didn’t even get entered into the system, so we’ll have to give that a go for [read more]