Oral East Africa>Cycling from Kisumu to Kampala and back; Part 1, A journey of Faith and climate At the hut of the story

Written by Faith Asiko

By the time I completed cycling from Kisumu, through Busia, Iganga to Jinja, then Kampala, Mbale, Kapchorwa and back through Kitale I was done with cycling. I remember when I was climbing those hills of Kapchorwa and suffering, I was like, Nah, I don't advise anyone to come here on a bike. It's pure suffering.

But it only took me five days after that grueling trip through Uganda to get back on the saddle.

I only just recently picked up my bike and went for a short ride. It felt good to be back on the bike because, I had had enough rest and I needed to get out there

In the free air I realized that this is the joy of it. Like right now I'm just looking forward to our next trip and definitely I'll definitely do it again.

Pedaling for climate action

I had endured kilometers of unforgiving terrain, thirst, hunger, rain and painful suffering for seven days to raise awareness about the urgent need for climate action.

I realized I could be a positive force for change when in 2023, together with fellow cyclists, we managed to draw the world's attention to arthritis through our Ride for Arthritis campaign that was even featured on the BBC. That experience fueled my determination to continue using my passion for cycling to address critical issues.

But this seven-day trip was unanticipated, it had looked easier on paper. We had teamed up with two other cyclists to make a trip through Kenya and Uganda to highlight the impact of climate change and, through our passion for riding.

While many turn to traditional platforms like Baku for COP 29 to address pressing issues, we sought to use cycling adventures to inspire change and ignite conversations about the challenges in our community.

Along the way, our mission wasn’t just to ride but to leave a lasting impact, we had planned to plant trees at every stop where we spent the night, symbolizing hope and regeneration. In addition, we also hoped to engage communities through focused group discussions, sharing insights on environmental conservation and listening to the concerns of local residents.

We planned to set off from Kisumu on the first day and ride all the way to Jinja before we could rest for the night and then proceed the following day to Kampala, but this didn't work.

Kwa Ground

First, we left Kisumu quite late because we had some technical issues with our bikes in the morning. Kisumu is a very hot town that lies at the equator and hits unbearably high temperatures very early in the day.

Once we had our bikes fixed we headed out hoping to catch the time we had already lost. We covered a good stretch but by the time we got to Busia we were fatigued and hungry. We chose to cross over and try Ugandan cuisine before we could saddle back up and hit the road.

This was also not to be, Uganda was about to welcome us with a culture shock that not only threw us again off script, but also taught me that beneath this calm veneer, I am an impatient person. Let me just say fatigue and hunger combined when you're outside your country/comfort zone/norm is not a good thing.

You know in Kenya how we are used to, you know you go to a hotel, you ask for food. Like not even a hotel even a kibandaski. In Kenya, you go to a Kibandaski, you ask for food, it comes within less than two minutes. In Uganda, you'll go to a hotel, you'll ask for food, it will take 30 minutes. First of all, like the way they do business is not really chap chap. They're not quick to serve their customers. They give you the costarian kind of vibes and you're tired, you're hungry, I had to learn to be patient.

Sippy

What is more, we had to pay for water. One thing I discovered about Uganda is that I don't know if it's their tap water isn't treated and therefore not drinkable. But you know how you can go to a hotel or a kiandaski in Kenya and you find a jug of drinking water on the table? In Uganda, there isn't. When you enter a hotel, you buy food, you have to buy drinking water.

Because there is no free drinking water like the way there is in hotels in Kenya. And you see, like for us cyclists, when we get to a hotel, the first thing we look for is drinking water. Because man, we are usually thirsty by the time we stop at a hotel.

Free readily available drinking water is what we need. But yeah, we had to buy water. So in general, among the three of us, we would end up spending almost Kes5000 for the 7days just on drinking water from the moment we stepped foot in Uganda till we left

When we did get back on the road we only managed 15 kilometers before we were again derailed after a huge storm broke out. Basically, I personally don't feel safe riding in the rain and with the slippery roads and all that so we decided to shelter for around 45 minutes.

Mirage

It was clear that day one was not going according to plan and by now exhaustion was kicking in. This section presented the toughest ride for me mentally as fatigue had set in way earlier. I don't like rains. Something happens to me when I'm on the bike and it rains. It's like it sucks the energy out of me. So I wasn't feeling myself.

By the time we were setting off the idea of reaching Jinja was off the charts and we settled on Iganga. But while the compromise appeared closer according to the calculations I had done on my computer and according to the map Iganga town seemed to move away with the horizon.

I remember I had hallucinations of like getting to Iganga three times! I was constantly checking the kilometers and according to the map I should have been in a Iganga by now but lo and behold we just kept going. My friends, kept on telling me that it's like 5 kilometers ahead. But after what felt like 5 kilometers, we are not there yet. They still say 5 more kilometers ahead.

I was on the verge of breaking down, and it was only day one!

Anyway, we got to Iganga late with the rains, with our soaking clothes and bikes we managed to find a place to eat and sleep. I remember food was super expensive here. We paid around 71,000 Ugandan shillings and that was too much for just food alone.

Background checks to buy sim card

With day one having been such a disappointment I was not too sure about the next leg, which we hoped to split between a stopover at Jinja to visit the source of the Nile. Also in Jinja we were supposed to look for a SIM card because we needed mobile data.

I was like please do not let it be that day again. But the universe was having none of it, trouble would soon assail us again as we went in search of a sim card. Being a Sunday, we couldn't find a place that was open to buy a SIM card, we eventually managed to get a place but let me tell you, buying a SIM card in Uganda, you feel like you're a criminal.

It's like the DCI (Kenyan director of criminal investigations), or maybe it was because we were foreigners, I don't know. They even made us stand holding the simcard and they take a photo of us before selling us the mobile subscription.

After we got the SIM card the second thing was to go to the source of the Nile which also quickly presented a problem.

We didn't know where the source of River Nile was and the local people could not understand what we meant by the source of longest river on earth. When we tried asking, they kept giving us wrong directions that we almost gave up.

But now that we had got access to technology, I eventually managed to call my friend in Kampala who told me that I should ask people where the Nyege Nyege festival was taking place. Yeah, there is this festival that takes place in Uganda every year, at that very location. I think that was the last day of the festival and it was happening around the place where the source of the Nile is. So eventually when we asked for the place, they showed us and we got there!

Don't ask me because I don't know really what it is. It's called Nyege Nyege Festival which translates to horny-horny in Kiswahili is aptly named for a reason. We took some photos. Enjoyed some Ugandan music then proceeded with our journey to Kampala.

Four-star rest day

And so the second day ended at just about 7 pm when we arrived in Kampala. We didn't expect it would be that long, nor did we expect to get there in the dark, but again, you never know what happens on the road. Luckily this day it didn't rain but we got a mechanical issue just before Kampala which we managed to fix.

Kampala also brightened up the trip as it allowed us to rest, and rejuvenate. We met with that friend of mine who showed us around the city. He was able to get in touch with his friend who is also a cyclist and owns a hotel and he gave us a really, really nice discount on his hotel. We basically slept in a 4-star hotel for Kes1500 but in reality it was supposed to be like Kes4000 per night.

As we took day three off, to be rest day, we decided to go into the city center to explore but I wasn't ready for what I experienced!

Read also: Part 2, The madness in Kampala...