Matrimonial Mayhem. Is Africa Safe For Solo Women?
Us Africans have a problem....” The man dribbles down his stripped shirt and straightens the belt on his bulging kacki pants. His muscular hand firmly clenches his Mosi brand beer as his reddened eye balls gaze with affection at my sunburned peeling bare arms. Oh, [...]
What Motivates The Long Distance Cyclist?
A guest post by WOW(WomenOnWheels) Cyclist of the Month- Antoinette Morgan Since my childhood days I always liked cycling. We only had one bicycle that we shared between 4 kids, but I always won the fight for the bicycle. Additionally, I learnt that the best [...]
Hemorrhoids and Heatstroke…Top 5 Outstanding Reasons to Cycle In the African Rainy Season
Number 5 You can cycle for days with a t-shirt shoved into your pants while hoping your now big bottom will create padding between your 3 headed hemorrhoid and your hard leather bicycle seat. Number 4 Push the pedals up 30km hills with your blackening [...]
Is It Better To Wrap Your Legs Around A Boy Or A Magic Bicycle?
I have shagged the boss and now I need to find a new job...I am looking for something more extraordinary” Bridget Jones famous words echo through my amused mind as I sit on Chizumula Island, Lake Malawi, Africa waiting for the second replacement set of gear cables [...]
Robbed In Tanzania
That brown door does not look right, I think to myself as I stand facing my guest house room door, the lock has been broken, I have only been gone for about twenty minutes, I think to myself as I gently push the door open [...]
Madame Mzungu
“Mzungu, Mzungu,” I hear joy hollered from the road side as I cycle past raising my tired arm from the grips of the dusty handle bars struggling to form another droopy hand wave. It is possibly the 137th wave of the morning as the word [...]
Friendly+Uganda=Too Much Fun!!!
Somewhere in far western Kenya in the village whose name I did not catch I was adopted, taken in by a hard working nurse named Margaret at the local mission clinic. Clients with malaria, dysentery, typhoid, some 9 months pregnant line the cement porch [...]
Bandits and Bras…Securing Support While Cycling In Bandit Country
I am going to have to start wearing a bra if this corrugated dirt road doesn’t improve I think to myself as my flimsy torso bounces off Pandemic’s seat, my airborne body hardly landing vertical back on the pedals. My bum, insect bitten from peeing outside [...]
The Kenyan Border…Through Granules Of Sand To A New Land
I am percolating with a certain kind of elation that I have not felt in some time, hit by a wonderful speed ball of energetic happiness. I crest the final hill into Konso village as a new day begins over the glowing emerald green hillside. [...]
A Cup Of Humanity
As I push forth through the final hill on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the firewood carriers have captured my attention. Women, bundles of firewood strapped to their mule shaped backs. peer down into the shadows of the mountainside. Their tiny strong thighs stride [...]