LP Guidebook for budget traveller

I'd do some searching for cyclists' blogs.There are & have been in recent months, plenty of cyclists in & around Kenya. They are the best source for safe places to camp, state of roads, etc. I've been staying at Milimani Backpackers in Nairobi for quite some time; I was there in May/June, & 4 cyclists passed through. No guidebook exists that caters specifically for cyclists & the LP, Bradt, etc will give you guides as to what to see, etc, but accommodation, for instance, changes from month to month & there are many more options than those listed.

Thanks Londonroad.

Yes. I agree. its what i do. I am an experienced cycle tourist. Just haven't been to Africa yet with my bike.

My cycling there wasn't recent, but it was great fun, one of the best ways to see the country in my opinion. Kenyans are for the most part good, decent people. Just use common sense and I'm sure you'll have a fine trip.

I'd love to hear more detail from any cyclists on their experiences so if you had a blog please post a link.

And any kenya specific tips if you can remember might be nice too.

Actually i just realised my bike might not be the best for Kenya. Do you think i really need to get a mountain bike. My current bike is a Giant with 700mm wheels. If i have to get another mountain bike, i'll get another Giant at the lower end of the cost range. Been there done it before on rough and rugged roads sO i know what i'm dealing with. I've even still got a nice pair of schwalbe tires ready to go. I just don't know if I should let Kenya wreck my current bike which is rather beautiful since i had it painted by some aboriginal women.

You don't need anything fancy, I had a single gear Indian Hero bike I bought in Tanzania. I didn't make a lot of distance each day and I did have to get off and walk it up a lot of hills, but it was sturdy and did me proud - only damage was to the chain guard, which was badly buckled after I fell into a ditch getting out of the way of a bus. (In Tanz, but Kenyan driving is no better...)

You could consider buying a bike when you get to Kenya, you can sell it again at the end of your trip and not risk damage to your own bike, which sounds a bit special.

I didn't have a blog, but here's a link to a good one: The Big Africa Cycle

lol Contrary to what I think you intended, you've confirmed my notion that i should to buy a moutain bike.

I did most of the research of the first edition of the Rough Guide to Kenya on a 1984 English Cycles MTB, a few years after having toured much of the country on and Indian 3-speed bought in Moi Avenue. It was – and I think still is – the most wonderful way to see any country really, well as long as your timeframe is loose and you're happy to be flexible about loading your bike onto a bus or matatu when the going gets too tough or the road too boring or too busy.

Subsequent editions of the book haven't been researched by bike, and Kenya has changed a lot. But there are still some areas where a good mountain bike is easily the best vehicle for exploring. I was up in the southern Aberdares a few years ago with an old Toyota Land Cruiser, trying to follow a route between Thika and Naivasha that I had done on my bike. We came across so many pine trees knocked over by elephants that eventually we ran out of time and had to turn back. On a mountain bike I could have just gone round them, instead of having to chop them up and winch them out of the way.

There are some parks you can visit on a bike (or on foot), including Hell's Gate, which has some good plains wildlife, and Kakamega Forest, which has impressive stands of rainforest and fantastic birdlife. I think you could also cycle into any of the parks that allow entry on foot, including Mont Elgon, Mount Kenya and Aberdare (though you'd have to test that theory at the park gate, and you wouldn't be allowed in on your own, so solo travellers would need to have a local guide or a KWS ranger with them) and Arabuko-Sokoke on the coast. I cycled through Lake Bogoria National Reserve, and several private conservancies certainly allow mountain biking, though usually on their own bikes. The Rift Valley is particularly good by bike. Nyahururu to Lake Bogoria was a wonderful ride, mostly downhill. There'd be nothing to stop you cycling into the Mara ecoystem, as far as say Maji-Moto Eco-Camp, southwest of Narok, where they have MTBs for guests.

A wonderful post richard. Do you have more info on your trips anywhere? I suppose it was the days before blogs. Did you ever write your diaries up as a book or anything? I'd love to read the detail of your journeys in Kenya and any other country if you did it. What year did you tour around?

Even your post makes going to Kenya sound very exciting. So great to have all these ideas about how to see wildlife on a bike in Kenya as that's my main purpose for going there, though i think i still should at a Safari or two if i can afford it to see what can't be seen the other way. Or do you think that would be unnecessary?

What year was the first edition of RG? Maybe I could find it in a secondhand shop.

My trip would probably be between 6 weeks and 8 weeks. The former would mean i had more money and I'd really like to aim for that as i notice i get tired nowadays at 8 weeks. Maybe its only because i often tend to leave home in a state of low fitness. So maybe i 'll try harder to build fitness this time. It will make me more efficient.

I have already decided i think that I probably won't go down to coast. I live on the coast and although parts of it sound interesting, seeing wild animals is my main focus and since my time is not unlimited, i have to make choices.

Do you have a recommendation regarding paper maps? I always like good maps. But if i have to get GPS i will do that.

Can you summarise the main changes in Kenya from the time you were there? The changes that might affect me anyway.

When i did my indian trips, i would use public transport to get me around quickly because i had an ambitious itinerary I wanted to follow. It was somewhat tiresome to use buses and trains but added a lot more incident to my experience. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good so i'm not a purist but generally prefer to stay on the bike if possible. I also used the trains in Japan to get me over the boring city bits. And that was an excellent idea that many cyclists shy away from there because of a perception that it's too difficult to put a bike on a train.

If you are remotely interested, you can read my Japan blog on crazyguyonabike.com. It's called Japan in Spring. It's not yet finished but I'm getting there. The first half is pretty tidy now but there's a lot of photos - not all great but useful for the prospective cyclist. When i've finished, i may go back and cull the pictures.

A wonderful post richard. Do you have more info on your trips anywhere? I suppose it was the days before blogs. Did you ever write your diaries up as a book or anything? I'd love to read the detail of your journeys in Kenya and any other country if you did it. What year did you tour around?
It was well before blogs, internet, mobiles or even fax machines! I cycled round Kenya in 1981 the first time, and then again in 1985 to write the Rough Guide to Kenya.

Even your post makes going to Kenya sound very exciting. So great to have all these ideas about how to see wildlife on a bike in Kenya as that's my main purpose for going there, though i think i still should at a Safari or two if i can afford it to see what can't be seen the other way. Or do you think that would be unnecessary?

You certainly can't easily visit the major parks and reserves without going on an organised trip, or at least renting a vehicle and ideally having a driver-guide. But some of the lesser known ones are still rewarding, and you'll see animals like giraffe, zebra, various antelopes all over the place, not always in defined parks, just wild. Even elephants sometimes.

What year was the first edition of RG? Maybe I could find it in a secondhand shop.

Yes, you can still find it floating around. But the current edition is better for useful info. Those cycle routes and ideas are still in it.

My trip would probably be between 6 weeks and 8 weeks. The former would mean i had more money and I'd really like to aim for that as i notice i get tired nowadays at 8 weeks. Maybe its only because i often tend to leave home in a state of low fitness. So maybe i 'll try harder to build fitness this time. It will make me more efficient.

I have already decided i think that I probably won't go down to coast. I live on the coast and although parts of it sound interesting, seeing wild animals is my main focus and since my time is not unlimited, i have to make choices.

Do you have a recommendation regarding paper maps? I always like good maps. But if i have to get GPS i will do that.

We did a very good Rough Guide map, on very tough polyart synthetic paper, in collaboration with Reise Know-How, the German travel publisher. They still publish the German edition (the Rough Guide map is out of print, but again you'll still be able to track it down). The German one is on amazon.de ISBN 978-3831771226

Can you summarise the main changes in Kenya from the time you were there? The changes that might affect me anyway.

New roads, and old good roads that are now bad. You can't cycle direct from Nairobi to Mombasa any more. Nor would you want to. Or from Nairobi to Thika. But much of the Rift Valley, the west, the central highlands, Laikipia, is all still good cycling country, and there are lots of keen cyclists in Kenya.

When i did my indian trips, i would use public transport to get me around quickly because i had an ambitious itinerary I wanted to follow. It was somewhat tiresome to use buses and trains but added a lot more incident to my experience. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good so i'm not a purist but generally prefer to stay on the bike if possible. I also used the trains in Japan to get me over the boring city bits. And that was an excellent idea that many cyclists shy away from there because of a perception that it's too difficult to put a bike on a train.

The train from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa is all but finished these days. It just about hangs on with two or three services a week in each direction. Buses are much more reliable.

If you are remotely interested, you can read my Japan blog on crazyguyonabike.com. It's called Japan in Spring. It's not yet finished but I'm getting there. The first half is pretty tidy now but there's a lot of photos - not all great but useful for the prospective cyclist. When i've finished, i may go back and cull the pictures.

I'll have a look!

And Safari njema!

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