Bike Ride to Lake Kariba

Our entire Kariba camping group

Over the weekend, Vaughn, Dustin, Danny (I mentioned him in an earlier post), and I went on an 80km bike ride (approx 50 miles).  This is nothing impressive for anyone who rides bikes often, but I have never gone that far on a bike in my life.  On top of that, I am just over 2 months out of knee surgery, it was through the Zambian mountains, and I didn't have a road bike (I did get to use a pretty sweet mountain bike though).  Anyway, I was just happy to be alive at the end of the ride.  The ride itself was breath taking.  There were beautiful flowers and green trees lining the mountainsides.  Around every turn it seemed we would come across a small village composed of thatched roof huts, children calling out to greet us, or a giant baobab tree (Rafiki was probably living in one of them).  The collective beauty certainly made the ride much easier to manage.  At the end of our ride, we decided to join a bunch of villagers that were swimming/bathing in a river.  We may have stood out- I guess there is something conspicuous about three "mzungus"(white people) and a Zambian all in tight bike shorts swimming in the village river.  From there we loaded up in a truck and caught a ride with some friends to Lake Kariba.  We made it just in time to watch the sunset on the beach.  (I know what you are thinking- living in a 3rd world country isn't sounding quite as miserable as you thought.)  We camped out on the beach for the night and then headed out later the next day.  I may be sore from the ride (muscles and sunburn), but I am still smiling from the experience.

Sunset at Lake Kariba