Another tough Meltdown day......but less than 1 degree to the equator!

Beyond the Saddle ....Cairo to Cape Town
Howard Fairbank
Wed 7 Mar 2007 17:51
Position: 00:56.573N 37:34.486E

At another bushcamp 'in the middle of nowhere'....this one is real nice, as I found a waterhole about 1km away, and watched the sunset there.....lots of birds, and evidence of elephant, giraffe, and antelope but nothing seen...will try again before sunset tomorrow.

Cylced 87 km today, but the road corrugations were horrendous, and extreme heat from 11am onwards.

Lots of hyenna howling last night...I got up a 4am to walk up the dry river bed where I was sleeeping to try an find one of them....no luck though!

Early morning scenery on the ride was good, and I got motivated to take a 45 min walk into the bush which proved worthwhile, from the scenery and birdlife, but no animals. The vegetation looks so 'animal friendly' yet didn't see much.

Once the heat got up, the prospects of seeing wildlife reduced significantly, and it became a game of finding the least corrugated path through the humps and bumps!

I must have consumed 6 litres of fluid on the ride today. Fortunately there were two little villages where I could buy warm. cold drinks! I finally understand what a Kenyan cold drink is...... a bottle of soda, that has had room temeperature water poured over it to cool it down, and then placed in a fridge that isn't connected to electricity!

Had a very interesting chat with one of the police guys who is sort of escorting us.....probably best left for the newsletter!

Tomorrow sees the end of the dirt road, for the next day's tar road crossing of the equator!

Thats all for tonight.....