Day 21: Cycle to Eburru Forest

Daniel has cycled to Eburru before but this was Tom's first and long awaited trip. 8,500 hectares, perched high above Lake Naivasha it is a bit of a hidden gem of indigenous forest.

We organised to meet Joshua from Rhino Ark who told us about the conservation work done over the last 10 years. 
A big part of this is to replant areas that have been degraded in the past. They work with the local community who collect seeds from the forest then sell the saplings to Rhino Ark. Community members are then paid to plant them and tend them for 3 years until they are well on their way. 

We have seen a lot of amazing forests of different types so far on our journey and also a lot of destruction, mainly for charcoal. Rhino Ark will plant and tend a tree for every 75pence donated by you. So if you have enjoyed our blog so far, please go to www.justgiving.com/lamutojadesea . Pitch over, Thank you!

We came across a super-interesting village where geothermal steam rises to the surface. They put a pipe 4 metres down and then put it through a condenser and a long cooling pipe. Being on a slight hill, the condensate drains off and is collected in barrells for drinking. Here, Daniel is discussing with the owner of one system, Paul.

We have a cool campsite and managed to coax some very wet wood into a decent fire. Here is the fire, our cooking, Daniel and his tent. We have already seen reedbuck in the vlei behind. Sitting around the fire, we can hear lots of wild creatures making peculiar night time noises. The owls are very calming.
The hill climb today! That was tough, we did 900 metres up in total, mainly over a short distance towards the end; camp is at 2,500 metres or 8,000 ft so there is less and less air to breath. This was the profile:
Technical Corner
When planning our route, Daniel said, "I don't want to go on any roads, at all."

Today, he seemed to forget this as he yelled out, barrelling down a hill, "This tarmac is great!"

That is not really a technical insight but the beauty of a tarmac downhill is that you can go for it. Any other surface and brakes have to be applied heavily for fear of bags being shaken off and making arms and hands even more sore than they already are.

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