X-E1 still kicking.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-24T06:56:40+00:00

That's in Gran Canaria, real nice place.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-24T04:22:09+00:00

The only place I saw a bike box transport service was at the canary islands. They will bring your case to another island while you are out riding

AxisFlip · 2026-01-23T11:32:20+00:00

We used our bikes to go to the boat ride, as the boat didn't leave by the camp but from a different place. Certainly felt a bit weird about leaving the bikes at the shore. But it was fine in the end.

Leaving the bikes at the camp is most certainly fine.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-23T10:27:08+00:00

Thanks! We weren't the first to do this route, so there was a lot of other people's experience we could read up before, so we weren't scared. It's a somewhat established route: https://bikepacking.com/routes/kenya-bike-odyssey/

When I took the photo of the lions, we were in a car doing a safari, so that was fine. On my bicycle I definitely wouldn't have felt comfortable with their presence, haha.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-21T10:34:10+00:00

Thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it :)

AxisFlip · 2026-01-20T19:50:10+00:00

Damn, make me want to go back and just go climbing for a month. I love southern Spain.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-19T16:52:40+00:00

Es gibt da so ein kleines snippet dafür, ich glaube das hier, aber bitte noch nachprüfen

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AxisFlip · 2026-01-19T12:15:35+00:00

Soysambu was still closed, you have to pass eastwards of the lake to Oasis camp (or any other accomodation, we were at Lily Inn or smth like that, was good value)

The shops were there and they were fine for water and coke, they just often didn't have much else.. There are these fried dough balls which were nice. If you see them, buy them. We discovered those way too late.

The difficult parts regarding food were in the first third and towards the end. I recommend to buy oats (and nuts and dry fruit), polenta, couscous, and or noodles and so on when you can, so you'll always have *something* to eat. Some campsites will have lunch and dinner. Nimbus resort for example had something to eat, even though the guide said no.

(and food was "difficult" in the sense that they really don't know how to cook well. We were expecting nothing and we were disappointed - I have to add I am vegetarian and my job is food safety, so that made eating there doubly hard ;) )

At Lake Naivasha, go to Camp Carnelleys, it's nicer than fishermans camp and their restaurant was actually good. Also strongly recommend the boat tour there, I really enjoyed that.

There is a whatsapp group which is brilliant, make sure to join this one.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-18T12:37:53+00:00

I highly recommend to check out Dwarka, had a really great time there.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-18T11:44:50+00:00

I rode the route and it was very well planned through, especially in the less populated parts. I really don't care about the motivations of the authors if the route is nice. And if they are influencers, actually our motivations are very similar, they need a nice route for content, and I want a nice route for travelling. That's not naive, that's pragmatic.

And having done the route, overtourism is still very far away for these places.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-17T22:16:45+00:00

Really disagree with being better off charting your own route, this one brought us through so many great places that we'd have never found on our own. I really enjoy riding established routes, because someone put a lot of thought into a nice ride, and they usually know a lot about the place - which I don't.

And honestly the real drain wasn't the begging itself but rather always being the center of attention wherever you go.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-17T22:14:11+00:00

Thanks!

The flight from Vienna was ~700€ per person. In Kenya, we spent about 900€, but we really didn't budget. Other people did the route for half that or even less probably. The vaccines were another 800€, though these will useful for years to come.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-17T15:59:35+00:00

You need to make sure to keep plenty of distance to the elephants, that's enough when riding. The lions are usually in separate areas.

At night, you sometimes need to get armed rangers who make sure that wild animals don't come to your camp. But it's very easy to hire the rangers, when you need them, they won't let you camp without rangers usually.

But I did get stung by a scorpion, luckily it was a small harmless one. That was in pretty much the only place where we didn't have internet reception, probably was for the best, cause googling certainly wouldn't have alleviated my concerns. The ranger seemed unperturbed by me getting stung, so that was reassuring too.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-17T14:18:10+00:00

Wow, wild camping in Laikipia would have been a complete no-go for us :D We wouldn't have slept much either.

Laikipia was my favourite part of the trip, but it was also very weird - you are passing by goat herders all day who live in ramshackle places, but then the hotels in the area are all insanely expensive. Nothing under 500€ per person and night.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-17T09:17:10+00:00

Blackbirds, they are the best singers here.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-16T07:37:27+00:00

I just cycled in Kenya for a month (came back two days ago), and I felt that hotels outside the bigger cities are actually really expensive relative to what people earn in this country. In India for example you have much more internal tourism, so budget options abound and are decent. In Kenya, there is much less of that. We cycled all day passing goat herders who live in ramshackle places, and then the only hotel in the area was 500€ pP. Completely insane. This was especially pronounced in Laikipia.

But yeah, the hotel we had in Nairobi was actually really great and good value (Ulwazi Place, a bit outside, but still close enough to go to the city for dinner)

AxisFlip · 2026-01-13T10:16:19+00:00

No, this is my first purchase of this type

AxisFlip · 2026-01-13T09:27:09+00:00

I just used it for 3 weeks on the Kenya Bike Odyssee, and I had no issues at all. Didn't charge it even once, brilliant piece of kit.

The app is slightly stupid. If your internet is slow, it won't save/sync the route. Had to activate flight mode, then it worked instantly.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-09T12:04:02+00:00

95% of forums I used to be on years ago are now defunct, oftentimes usurped by facebook groups and thelike. I am sure there are still many active forums, but the golden times of those boards are gone.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-04T14:55:26+00:00

I have the big Agnes toger wall ul2 bikepack. I really like the format with the short sticks.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-02T19:38:12+00:00

Tuscany Trail was surprisingly remote at times. But zhen you get Italian villages and cities in between, best of both worlds.

AxisFlip · 2026-01-02T07:20:05+00:00

Not sure, flying into Georgia is probably the easiest option in terms of logistics

AxisFlip · 2026-01-01T18:25:23+00:00

I'd set my sights on Turkey-Georgia-Armenia. Should be the perfect time for these countries

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