Tanzania Mountain Biking Part III

Terat to Emboreet

Highlights: riding with zebra and wildebeest, open plains, kids at the school, riding bikes with Maasai, serendipitous meeting with Maasai at a boma, range of habitats, thick bush, hard uphill, point to point riding

Distance covered total: 63 km

Distance covered mountain biking: 63 km

Accommodation: lightweight camp like night before

The ride today was superb. Riding with game, riding on wide open plains, then into Emboreet village, then a long uphill through Commiphora woodland, dipping down into thick Acacia – Commiphora, lunch under a massive Acacia tortillis with a hill to grab pictures and views from and then a harsh but pretty uphill all the way to camp. Did I mention the teste flies? No, well there were tseste flies today. Ouch!

Riding in Tanzania there are three major types of experience one might expect to make it different from anywhere else in the world. Views, wildlife, people. Today we had lashings of each and plenty of them.

A few minutes from camp we had reached the Terat plains, well actually they surounded us. Cattle went to water behind us and in front, small herds of wildbeest dotted the plains and now and again zebra too. This is one of the great advantages of this particular route at this time of year – lots of game!

Why is there game here, some 40km as the crow flies from Tarangire National Park? Simple really: food. Out here amonst the grassy plains that afford us stupendous views of Kilimanjaro and Meru, the annual rains afford a great and nutritious crop of grasses. Used by domestic cattle and wildlife alike, this really is a haven. Animals from Tarangire migrate here every rainy season to feed on this rich bounty, and, when the water sources and food sources start to dwindle, they head back to Tarangire. Tarangire has a lifeline in the dry season – a river, a sand river at that, which means that vast volumes of water are held in storage for the long dry season ahead. Elephants are particularly adept at making drinking holes in the sand beds, indeed I have heard it said that they prefer drinking from these pachyderm pawed potholes. Anyhow, back to the plains.

But, this is all in danger of being lost. Population pressure combined with the need for cash has meant that over the last 2 decades the amount of faming in these areas has increased steadily. Despite the fact that farmers only return about 3 good crops every 10 years, the land is still being increasingly turned to till. This means migration corridors are being lost, as are the grazing grounds of both the Maasai cattle and the animals that migrate here.

Well here’s the good news, through the initiative of the Maasai and a group of companies in and around Tarangire, a fund has been put together to pay to one of the villages, Terat, to NOT allow farming on their plains. The companies in Tarangire National Park (and around it) realise that with no feeding and breeding grounds the wildlife stock will suffer, and the Maasai, who know these lands better than anyone, see the value of protecting their precious range lands. Indeed, recently Kenyan cattle had been trucked in, yes trucked in to these areas, and so the value of open grazing grounds has been painfully obvious to the local Maasai. So, this is the ‘stop-gap’ solution. Easement payments to villages to keep farming out in favour of simply leaving the land as it is and managing it in a traditional way. The group of companies has also raised money this year and hopes to expand the initiative to another village thereby increasing the area preserved dramatically. But, as we saw ahead, the corridors are still under threat.

As we cycled along great tracks we eventually came into Emboreet village land and here the farming is apparent, as is the wildlife, rather dramatically standing out on the plains as the farms slowly spring up around them. Will this corridor be saved in years to come? Only time, and strong village leadership combined with the resources of those that believe in preserving a more traditional way of pastoral lifestyle, can change the direction of what is happening here now.

And on we went, stopping at a limestone hill (which had metamorphed somewhat, possibly pressure or heat or some combination, and possibly indicative of sea cover in long past years, although lake bed also presents as an option) and then down down into Emboreet village. Kids everywhere coming out of school and boy do they love the mountain bikes! We pushed on pretty quickly before the ladies had a chance to alight straight into a long uphill. Gunnar and Peter L immediately broke into an uphill race to my shouts of “there are buffalo in those woodlands ahead!” and a Maasai on a single gear Phoenix bike smoked us all! The woodland was unusual. Lots of Commiphora, big Commiphora unlike I have ever experienced, and plenty of Erythrina (bussei?) in flower too. Breaking through the tree line we passed a Maasai boma – Pete K couldn’t resist lending out his bike to a moran from the boma. And on into the bush once more, red soils, black cotton soils, thick bush, Acacia nubica and then tortillis woodlands. Very close to Oldonyo Nabpe we stopped.

Lunch under a big tree. Nothing better. Acacia tortillis is commonly known as the umbrella thorn, rightly so – it makes for sun shade. Rolls tables and chairs popped up, thanks to our helpful crew, and we had a light lunch of salads, sandwhiches and fruit. Great cheese too – made in Maasailand. My Maasai shuka, which doubles as my sleeping bag, emergency blanket and now nap throw, came out and Peter L and yours truly had a bit of shut eye.

As the heat abated just a tad we set off once more. Really nasty grasses here by the way, they dig into shoes and socks mercylessly until they finally hit flesh. Ow! Best remember gaitors next time. Once riding it was not a problem and we rolled on, up and down, across dried up rivers and around hills. Pretty vistas of pristine bush were a real highlight BUT THE TSETES were horrendous. It was only a day later when I figured out they hate freshly applied sunscreen, and so, in the meantime, we all suffered in silence. Some not in so much silence to be honest.

The final 10km turned into 15km of uphill. What an uphill. Not some brutal short slog to a summit, but a long unabating pedal bashing all the way to camp. I definitely could have stopped a while ago but we all finally peddled into camp for a rehydrate and rest.

Mawe camp / rock camp: stunning little camp. Ancient crystalline rocks make up this part of Tanzania, and in fact much of the central part of Tanzania. All of this is igneous – pertaining to fire. Always loved that description. Subterrain events where magma had forced it way upwards into country rock had left massive domes of silica rich plumes. As the land around, softer than these intrusives, eroded away over millions of years so these harder rocks have become exposed, leaving a rich mosaic of hills, perfect for our camp, perfect for a sundowner! The whole team, after showers and plenty of water, headed up to the edge of our rocky outcrop. Heather, 83 years and going very strong, led the way, and as the sun set we enjoyed a beer. What a day.

Next day, tsetses, elephant damage, poachers, game, waterholes and game drives!