Staying the distance
Using a bike is easy, cheap, green, independent, quiet, fast, convenient, door-to-door, fun and healthy. It's a benign form of exercise, with the body supported rather than experiencing jarring such as when running. Undertaken progressively, it's easy to build up to an impressive mileage per day. It's the progressive bit that's important: don't set off for your African bicycle odyssey without at least a week of steady pedalling behind you. No need for marathons - start with a 10km journey and build up to a 50km epic by the end of the week. Your backside may hurt, your muscles may ache, but this shouldn't last long. If your rear really hurts, check your saddle, its height and its fore-aft position. Don't think you need to plump for a soft, squishy saddle. In fact this can be positively detrimental, wasting thigh power. There's plenty of posterior comfort info at www.whycycle.com.

Extremes of temperature and relative humidity can put a strain on even the fittest of cyclists. Some two-wheeled adventurers have been known to overdress for local training rides, to simulate African heat.

The number one health tip for home training rides, and for the odyssey itself, is to drink plenty of water. Yellow pee is a sign of dehydration. Wrap your water bottles in wet socks. Odd, yes, but evaporation cools the water, a process hastened by the wind you generate as you cycle along.

Hire or fly-bike?
In South Africa there are many good quality cycle-hire businesses. They sell and rent the kind of branded bicycles commonly found in the UK and the USA. However elsewhere in Africa there are no such guarantees and it would be best to bring your own bike.

Even in the most remote of African villages you'll be able to find a handyman who can repair/bodge bicycles, but if your bike features front and rear suspension you may find it hard to get back on the road after a mishap because exotic spares will be few and far between. Virtually all new bicycles nowadays are made from aluminium. This is a lightweight, stiff material, perfect for bicycle frame tubes, but it needs a hi-tech welding kit to repair. A steel-framed bicycle is the most practical option for rough-stuff African travel.

If you truly want to experience Africa from the saddle, why not do so from an African bicycle? These are cheap, ubiquitous, tough and a doddle for locals to repair. You would also be seen as less of a Western explorer, and wouldn't mind the odd few bangs and scrapes the $25 bike would get when being transported on the rooftops of buses and the like.

South Africa-based organisation Afribike has developed tough-as-boots transporter bikes for use in Africa. These machines could easily be adapted for trans-Africa jaunts. Check out www.afribike.org. Washington-based charity Jacana is currently developing a bicycle built for Africa. The Build A Better Bicycle (BABB) project will build the bikes in Africa.

African cycles (most, in fact, are made in China) are heavy and not multi-geared, a disadvantage for touring in tarmac-covered, mountain-dotted Europe. In Africa such beasts of burden are perfectly suited to corrugated dirt tracks.

If you'll only be cycling in South Africa, you could bring (or buy locally) an expensive Italian-crafted, skinny-tyred road bike. South Africa is a top cycling country: world champion mountain biker Greg Minaar is South African and West Rand local Robbie Hunter can be seen in the Tour de France and other European classics. The 168km Pick 'n Pay Cape Argus race is an annual festival which attracts 35,000 riders, one in ten from outside South Africa. The 2004 race - open to any fit cyclist, regardless of Lycra-ownership credentials - will be held on Sunday 14 March. Details of this annual race are available from

What to take
A bicycle is a brilliant load-carrying platform. People cycle the world with huge amounts of gear stuffed into their pannier bags, so you'd be amazed how much you can carry. But it's best to bring as little as you can get away with. You don't need much when cycling. Consider wearing long-sleeved shirts and long trousers if you will be travelling in extremes of heat. Wear shorts and a t-shirt and you risk severe sunburn. A lightweight tent is useful, but all you really need is a tarpaulin and the string to hang it from trees and bushes. A compromise would be an inner tent only. Best bet would be a mosquito net inner. And pack an insect hood and gloves. Tsetse flies love snacking on cyclists.

Ruts and gloop
There are some stretches of wondrously smooth tarmac in Africa but, on the whole, get used to washboard. Motorists hardly feel the bumps, but it's their axles that cause the serrations that you will come to hate as you traverse Africa. Some tracks are more rutted than others. The worst can sap your energy and shake your hands to dust. The ruts are evenly spaced and at just the right distance apart to loosen your fillings. Ride at the side of the track - the washboard effect isn't so bad there. Front suspension forks will help, as will well-padded cycling mitts. If you thought washboard was bad, try an African downpour. The dust turns to gloop. You grind to a halt. Try to avoid the rainy season.

Keeping safe
You may think you're travelling low-tech by traversing Africa on two wheels but expensive, exotic bicycles are droolsome to thieves and in urban areas you'd be a slow-moving magnet for the local ne'er do-wells.

Cities around the world pose security risks for unwary travellers. African cities are no exception. As elsewhere, don't flash your cash. Keep cameras and other luxuries in nondescript, scruffy bags, not made-to-measure luggage that shouts ‘Steal Me'. Wandering hands can make grabs for untethered items on your bike so make sure tool-kits, tent peg bags and other bits of largely worthless yet essential bits of cycle-touring paraphernalia are either hidden or zip-tied to the bike.

Wandering hands of a different nature can bother female cyclists. When in cities, and when visiting religious sites, dress for modesty not comfort or style. The same goes for men: sausages are made for cooking, not transporting in Lycra! Outside cities, motorists often travel at breakneck speeds and don't slow down for cyclists. Many of the speeding vehicles have ineffectual brakes, dusty windscreens and couldn't-care-less drivers. Don't block their way to protest at their discourtesy.

Animal danger
In most of Africa's game areas bicycle riders are not permitted, for obvious reasons. But in countries with poor security it's possible - although highly inadvisable - to cycle in big game areas. Lance Armstrong couldn't outpace a slavvering wild beastie so you've got no chance. Stick to the beaten path. Safari from a jeep, not a bike saddle. That's not to say you won't see plenty of animals on a bike tour of Africa. Plains riders can safely spot species like zebra, giraffe, kudu, and impala.

Culture & environment
Car-borne tourists travel fast. Too fast to stop and chat with locals. Bicycle tourists take their time, savouring the vistas and the company. It's unusual for motorists to be invited into people's homes for the night, but for slow-moving cyclists it's the norm.

OK, so cycling is green and clean. But you're still a rich, decadent Westerner. In relative terms, that is. It's important to bear this mind. You're still an alien sight, perhaps even more so because you've opted for self-propulsion, which in many African eyes is not a very Western trait.

When cycling in Africa you have to develop a distinctive way of riding one-handed. The other hand will be forever waving. Cycling brings you close to people, and most of them like this. In North Africa kids have a penchant for raining stones on cyclists. Pretty much everywhere else you will be a welcome visitor. As you cannot easily make it to big cities to re-supply, you're also a boon to the local economies you cycle through.

Good Vibrations
For those who prefer to pose rather than pedal, Carrie Hampton recommends a spin on a Harley Davidson.
Reclining on the back of Fat Boy, heading towards the Cape coast, one of my lifetime dreams was coming true. I sat astride a throbbing 1340cc Harley Davidson feeling every bit the biker's moll. It was a perfect Harley day. Cape Town was warmed by early summer sunshine, and the simple pleasure of travelling unconfined infused us with a sensual feeling of freedom. In convoy, we travelled the smooth but winding Chapman's Peak cliff road, our senses blitzed by the sheer drop into the glossy green sea below.
You cannot be in a hurry when riding a Harley - to rush things is the antithesis of cool dude philosophy - so we settled into a cruising speed of little more than 100km per hour. This was perfect for appreciating the meeting of the Cape's two great natural forces - mountains and oceans, and for inhaling the ubiquitous scent of salty sea air or glimpsing the occasional spurt of water or forked tail from a surfacing southern right whale.
The irresistible lure of the Harley Davidson revealed itself whenever we stopped, and I began to wonder if I might lose my hot seat to pretty girls who came to flirt. Even my previously sceptical driver had to admit with a backward glance and a grin that, "Girls really do seem to love a man on a Harley". Not to be outdone, I remounted Fat Boy and waved to passers-by - and I'm pretty sure I saw a large black tail waving back.

Biking Safari
Of all the African countries where cycling safaris are feasible, says Geoffrey Dean, Uganda must be hardest to beat.
All the ingredients are there: spectacular and varied scenery, great wildlife, a general lack of traffic, the friendliness and warmth of the people, low crime rates and good security. In Uganda the bicycle is also the commonest form of transport, certainly outnumbering motorised vehicles in the provinces. Then there's the fact that relatively few visitors have discovered this small but charming country since it emerged in 1986 from two decades of dictatorship. Tourist numbers in Uganda are still low - far more so than they perhaps should be in the country that Winston Churchill famously dubbed the Pearl of Africa.
Given the time constraints of my ten-day cycle, I would have to concentrate on one area: the renowned south-west of the country. Murram (dirt-track) rather than arterial tarmac roads were another logical preference. The aptly-named Churchill Safaris, a Kampala-based company that offers cycling trips around Uganda, had already reccied the districts through which I would travel with a guide/fellow cyclist and a support vehicle. Some sort of motorised back-up is recommended, if only to get into national parks where cycling is prohibited.
We managed between 50-70km a day, avoiding the hottest times and using the vehicle for any uninteresting sections, such as the 120km main road between Kampala and Masaka, or for really arduous climbs such as in the Kabale Hills (known as the Switzerland of Uganda). Make no mistake, Uganda's south-west is very hilly, but with every up came a down where we could freewheel with the cooling breeze in our faces and stupendous views of ridges, lakes, forests and plantations all around. From a bicycle seat, the scenery always seemed better than through a windscreen.
Meeting local people was another real pleasure of cycling in Africa. Many of their old-fashioned bikes were laden down with huge bunches of bananas strung either side of the back-wheel or with urns of milk strapped behind the seat. In the bustling town of Kabale, where there are hundreds of bikes in the city centre, some are even used as taxis, with passengers sitting side-saddle on a cushion fixed above the back wheel.
White people are seen so rarely in the remoter areas that I regularly heard cries of "muzungu!" ("white man!"), particularly from children who would rush up to us with wide grins. One day we passed a herd of wide-horned Ankole cattle, shepherded by a boy who greeted us with impeccable politeness. On another occasion we encountered a dozen or so prisoners accompanied by a single guard with a stick. "How ya doing?" one of them exclaimed, making me think that even convicts in Uganda are friendly.
Churchill Safaris had skilfully mapped out where we would spend each night. Mantana Tented Camp in Lake Mburo National Park (30km east of Mbarara) was our first port of call, followed by Lake Bunyonyi Overland Camp near the Rwandan border. From there it was on to Gorilla Forest Camp in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where we enjoyed respite from our bicycle saddles in exchange for a hard day's gorilla tracking. After a full but rewarding day's cycling and driving from Bwindi to Queen Elizabeth National Park, we reached Mweya Lodge, with its staggering 270-degree view over Lake Edward to the west, the Kazinga Channel to the east and the incomparable Rwenzori Mountains to the north. Our night at Mewya was complemented by another at the much smaller Jacana Lodge, which is delightfully situated by Lake Nyamusingire. Its location, just inside Queen Elizabeth Park, enabled us to cycle along a track which marked the reserve's boundary. It was a rare opportunity to ride amongst wildlife that included Uganda kob and elephant.
The silent gliding motion of our bikes seemed to reassure them.
Geoffrey Dean travelled with Churchill All-Africa Safaris, www.churchillsafaris.net

Six Great Rides

1. From the High Atlas to the Sahara
600km, 40% paved
From Berber villages to Tuareg carpet shops, this route is one of jarring contrasts. The red dirt of the mountains gives way to the sand of the Sahara as you descend Tizi after Tizi on tarmac, to the palm-fringed, touristy ‘oasis' of Ouarzazate. The High Atlas has been a draw for European tourists for 100+ years and mountain hospitality is sold, not given. This tour is very much on the beaten path, with many holiday companies offering trekking and biking holidays to the High Atlas.

2. Cairo to Khartoum
2300km, 45% paved
Don't do this tour in the summer: the heat will be truly oppressive. The start at the Great Pyramids of Giza is spectacular but you have to tackle an awful lot of urban sprawl. The route is largely flat. The biggest obstacle is making sure you don't get hit by the many air-conditioned tourist coaches. Naturally, such luxury travellers aren't so evident in the Sudan.

3. Nairobi to Iringa
1000km, 100% paved in Kenya; 10% paved in Tanzania
In 1984 cousins Richard and Nicholas Crane made mountain bikes famous by getting two Saracens to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. In fact they carried them much of the way, so forget any notions you may have of cycling on Kili. This route takes you into the Serengeti and close to the Ngorongoro Crater. Wildlife is plentiful.

4. Lake Malawi to Victoria Falls
1000km, 70% paved
With some of the friendliest people in Africa, Malawi is definitely a country where you spend most of your time waving, making for some wobbly steering. The countryside is benign by the lake, tougher on the Mulanje Massif and tougher still as you cross into Zambia. The Lower Zambezi National Park is chocka with wildlife.

5. Victoria Falls to Windhoek via the Kalahari desert
1400km, 30% paved
Wheels can get you to the main sites, but it's best to ditch the bike for boats for trips on the Zambezi and into the Okavango Delta. The washboard tracks through the northern tip of the Kalahari desert are punishing. The desert scenery in Namibia is spectacular.

6. Windhoek to Cape Town
1500km, 90% paved
You can't cycle on pure sand, so the Sesriem/Sossusvlei dune area is out of bounds, but Namibia's main roads are good, so you can get close to such hotspots as the Fish River Canyon without recourse to motorised help. The route south takes you through the scenic vistas of Namaqualand and the gorgeous peaks of the Cederberg. Ending in Cape Town, this tour is probably the most consistently beautiful in Africa. Following the famed Garden Route would make for a good 4-5 day cycle tour in South Africa.

Tour Companies

Independent cycle tourists have to carry all their own supplies, which is liberating but limiting at the same time. There's the freedom to go when you please, but not really where you please. With heavy bags and a bike that must be kept in one piece, it's not practical to choose rough dirt-tracks when there's a paved route close by. However on the sort of guided tours where the luggage is carried on a ‘sag-wagon' and the bikes are full-suspension monsters, off-road is the order of the day. On a holiday with any of the companies below, you'll get to ride single track routes you'd never find if you were riding on your own, trying to get from A to B. This is the plus side. On the down side, there's less contact with ‘real' people because the group travels in its own bubble.

AfriGalaxy Tours & Travel Limited
Tanzanian-owned holiday company with a (proposed) 4-day Mt Kilimanjaro bicycle tour. www.afrigalaxytours.com

CycleActive
10-day trips to Ethiopia and Malawi. www.cycleactive.co.uk

Escape Adventures
16-day tours through Kenya/Tanzania, and Namibia. www.escapeadventures.co.uk

Exodus
8/14-day tours in Morocco, Ethiopia and South Africa. www.exodus.co.uk

Explore Worldwide
New biking programme launched this year with trips in Morocco and South Africa. www.exploreworldwide.com

KE Adventure Travel
8/12-day tours of Morocco and Tanzania. www.keadventure.com

SA Cycle Tours
South African based cycle holiday company. Charles Ekström specialises in 1-2 week tours along the Garden Route. www.sacycletours.com