Interview with Géraldine

Here's an interview with Géraldine, a young French woman who recently traveled to Kenya, near Nyeri County!

Over 1,000 km by bike with an elevation gain of 15,000 m!

Géraldine completed the Kenyan Bike Odyssey, a demanding 1,000-kilometer mountain bike route through diverse landscapes and nature reserves. Along with four other companions, she completed the challenge in 18 days, starting from Nairobi, crossing tea plantations, volcanic valleys, nature reserves, lakes, and desert areas.

Everything went smoothly, following the planned stages and enjoying the hospitality of the locals, who often welcomed the adventurers with hot meals and fresh fruit. There were also encounters with wild animals, including zebras, giraffes, antelopes, buffalo, and elephants. The encounters with local people along the way were always warm and enriching.

Géraldine will keep wonderful memories of this trip, particularly the extraordinary landscapes, the encounters with wild animals, and the moments of joy she experienced.

Sleeping under the stars. She highly recommends this adventure to those looking for a unique and enriching experience, while being well prepared physically and materially.

 

1/ Could you please introduce yourself, Géraldine?

I'm 39 years old, originally from France, and have been living in Belgium for 15 years. I often travel across Europe to develop my projects in the visual arts and documentary filmmaking.

When I'm not in the studio, at the cinema, or in a museum, those who know me know they'll find me on my bike. Cycling was a revelation a few years ago. I started traveling around town for my daily commute and found it truly magical to be able to reach my destination faster than a car or tram, all powered solely by my body's energy. From then on, new perceptions emerged: a desire to travel by bike, to embrace the world, to become one with the environment. The bicycle as a means of transport, as a political tool, as a means of observation, as a source of pleasure, freedom and inspiration (as soon as I pedal, I begin a form of meditation).

2/ What was the project in Kenya?

Naturally, when you start traveling by bike, you meet a community of other enthusiasts. It's an area where communication is important for sharing experiences, mapping out routes, riding with people of a similar level, etc. This is how I joined a competitive amateur road cycling team. The idea for this trip to Kenya came about spontaneously when I discovered that a route had been mapped out and tested by an experienced cycling traveler: The KENYAN BIKE ODYSSEE. It's a demanding route, a 1,000-kilometer loop on mountain bike trails, with an elevation gain of 15,000 meters. The challenge was set: we left Nairobi on January 1st and completed the loop in 18 days.

We were 5 women cyclists, equipped with good mountain bikes, tents and sleeping bags, bike repair kits (after the 3rd day, we had to reseal a tire, after the 6th day, put in a new derailleur cable and untwist a crank tooth...) and an emergency first aid kit that luckily was opened less often than the bike repair kit. The whole thing weighed about twenty kilos, with the essential equipment for our autonomy, without compromising a certain lightness necessary to keep a good pace and climb steep slopes.

The route started in Nairobi, passed through the tea plantations, true spectacles of greenery, Limuru and the Rift Valley, crossing a volcanic zone to reach the first nature reserve of the route, where we were able to observe very closely (too closely sometimes?) zebras, giraffes, antelopes, buffaloes, wildebeests. The road then led to Lake Naivasha, inhabited by many species of birds, hippos and fishing activity, then a crossing of the Eburru forest to reach Soysambu Conservancy. The route wound between Kerio and Great Rift Valleys, reaching a region of lakes, Lake Baringo, then crossing a desert area, hot, burning, arid, extremely dry, a real challenge, Lake Bogoria. Then a breathtaking setting announced the end of the journey, rolling between the dunes of the Laikipia region, Masai and Samburo Land, the elephant territory... Mount Kenya loomed on the horizon, when we knew we had reached our goal of 1000 kilometers across the savannah, arriving in Nanyuki, where a high-end campsite awaited us to celebrate the last kilometers.

3/ Did you complete it all?

We were able to complete the entire route without incident. Sometimes we had to work a few extra hours to cover the kilometers (80 on average with 1,000 meters of elevation gain), but we always arrived before nightfall. We had to set up camp, mainly in natural areas that were equipped for bivouacking (with a water tank or basin, and regular toilets). In some areas, we were welcomed by locals who often also offered us a good hot meal with rice, corn, red beans, meat (for those who wanted it; personally, I'm vegan), and a breakfast with delicious mangoes, passion fruit, bananas, guavas, etc.

The itinerary planned to cross at least one village per day, in order to stock up on drinking water, food in general, biscuits and fruits in particular, which often constituted our evening meal. In most villages, we find the Salons. These are very warm places, where we enjoy tea accompanied by mandasi (fritters) and chapati (flatbreads) that we had gotten into the habit of dipping in sugar, as if to taste a little familiar taste of bugnes or crepes, which always made people laugh. (Perhaps they tried it after we left...?) These places, whose walls and furniture were carefully painted in shades of blue, were the resting and meeting place for people who walked from one village to another for multiple reasons. Sometimes, we talked about our respective trips. The curiosity was mutual.

4/What memories will you keep?

Between these villages, there were only paths, no roads for cars, no houses, and unspoiled wildlife. Extraordinary landscapes. We crossed red earth deserts, the horizon was always marked by several mountain ranges. We could see as far as the eye could see. We climbed steep slopes and descended at full speed, slaloming between the stones, kicking up clouds of dust. And then we slowed down, because in the distance, zebras, monkeys, and giraffes spotted us, and we didn't want to scare them away. By approaching slowly, we could admire them, with the same proximity as a horse behind a fence. There are no fences here, free animals that you have to try to understand when you approach them, to know if you're disturbing them or not, if their gaze is curious or threatening, scared or calm.

Never indifferent: we were certainly as surprised to see giraffes as giraffes are to see animals on wheels! We stopped, we observed each other and then we continued on our way. These encounters were almost dreamlike, magical. It was the first time we had this relationship with wild animals, this deep observation and this apprehension too... We experienced a critical situation with buffalo and had to adapt our pace when we were in elephant territory. On our way, we sometimes stopped to assess the freshness of the excrement and thus know if we should be extra vigilant, slow down, change route. A group of Masai who had hosted us for the night, had recommended that we not travel between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m., because this is the time slot for the elephants to move to the river. I felt that here, cohabitation took place, for the respect of the living.

Sometimes children would emerge from the hills, running towards us... Yet there were no houses nearby, just a few goats in the shade of a tree. And then, looking into the distance, sometimes we saw these small clay-walled buildings, integrated into the landscape like any other natural element. The colors were strong: the red earth, the very blue sky, the traditional Masai clothing, red and dark green.

 Sleeping outside and living to the rhythm of the sun is like reaching a form of fulfillment, experiencing a complete cycle, being intensely in the world, soaking it up, and connecting with the animal within us. I love listening to the transition from the sounds of day to the sounds of night, feeling the breeze on my cheeks, and then, when day breaks, hearing the soundscape change tone, becoming more high-pitched, detailed, and joyful, the first birdsong that erases the sometimes terrifying sounds of the night and says the most beautiful hello.

5 / What recommendations would you give to those who would like to attempt this adventure?

It's an extraordinary journey, from which I returned amazed, enriched, fulfilled (and super-trained for the start of the cycling season!!), but also overwhelmed. It's a huge privilege to have been able to experience this adventure, and I wish everyone who wants to experience it could do so...

I can only recommend this Kenyan odyssey, preferably in a small group, with a good level of training and good equipment, as the route is demanding. (Some areas are remote, and you need to be able to cope with the challenges you encounter yourself.)