Earlier this year I was on my way to Africa with a vague plan.  Each year I pick a different continent to explore and focus on doing things which excite me.  My travel usually involves adventure type stuff as I enjoy both physical and mental challenges.

I had about 6 weeks to spend in Africa and I wanted to become certified in SCUBA, climb to the summit of the tallest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro, experience a wildlife safari on the Serengeti and take in the culture of Africa.  I was able to enjoy each of those experiences, and a few more adventures, but in a completely different order than I had envisioned.

While in the Switzerland at the Zurich airport I met a wonderful person named Prisca Oluoch as I waited for my connecting flight to Nairobi, Kenya.   Prisca is a university professor at Strathmore College in Nairobi who was returning home to Nairobi from a speaking engagement in Spain.  We got to talking about her speech and soon
discovered that we had a lot of things in common and while sharing many similar values and perspectives.

Once our flight arrived in Nairobi Prisca had me set up with a taxi and gave me her contact info suggesting she might be available to show me around her city in the coming days.

I got situated in downtown Nairobi and was so excited to be in the heart of Africa for the first time (second time in Africa as I travelled to Morocco a few years ago).  It had been a very long day of flights and connections from Canada (about 30 hours) so I was happy to get some rest.

As it turned out Prisca and I were able to reconnect the following day as she agreed to meet me for a meal and then show me around.  At some point during our meal we began discussing her passion in cycling and my passion in triathlon.  Prisca shared that she loved to ride with friends in a group and that cycling was less common in Africa due to lack of money, bikes, bike shops, mechanics, parts etc…

Prisca explained that she was part of Wheels For Africa Kenya which is a group that is attempting to grow the sport of cycling in Kenya. One of the initiatives Prisca was coordinating is the attainment of bikes from North America and Europe. Prisca was in the midst of a partnership with a bicycle tour company named Tour D’Afrique; a company that provides supported rides across the globe.

It just so happened that Tour D’Afrique had a group of cyclists arrive in Nairobi that day.

Prisca asked if I minded joining her as she needed to meet some people to discuss their initiative; I agreed.  As we arrived at the fenced camp I noticed over 90 tents set up on the grounds and several huge trucks out back.  It occurred to me that a group of people were actually on this epic 4 month voyage riding 12,000 km’s diagonally across 10 countries of Africa from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa on a bicycle.
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