BUCKET LIST KENYA t took us 10 years to make the trip to Kenya, to finally get to explore the remote regions that are home to the acclaimed pinnacle of African running and the legendary landscapes of The Lion King – by bike. A land of mountains, of fleet-footed people with laughing eyes and happy voices, of vast indigenous forests teeming with tropical birds, and of course, the mythical Maasai Mara.
Like so many young adults and middleaged parents, the movie about the young lion cub growing up to follow in his dad’ s enormous footsteps to become ruler of the vast savanna‘ pridelands’ made an indelible mark on our African souls. Play the“ Circle of Life” tune to anyone and they are filled with a sense of freedom, of the wonder of nature, and of unspoiled planet earth. We get the magic of open space and long slow walks through fields of gold. A place where, after time unplugged, we realise that life is simple and fleeting – here today, gone tomorrow.“ Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala...”
This movie, watched countless times with my kids on my lap, was the reason I returned to live in Africa many years before. Having been through our boarding school system in small towns and then served two conscripted years in the SANDF, all in the discriminatory apartheid years, I could not see a peaceful future in this country. I left to explore the globe and find a foreign place to settle. Having ridden my GT Zaskar with pannier bags halfway around the world for nearly two years after varsity, I was recovering in Singapore from food poisoning picked up in China when The Lion King premiered across the street. Two minutes into the opening scenes of flamingoes floating over the rainbowcoloured waterfalls at sunrise with crocs and hippos swimming below, I knew deep down and with every cell in my body that I was an African and needed to return home to what was now a free country.
MAGIC MOMENTS
Can you imagine how I felt, 30 years later, riding my bike with a group of longstanding South African friends, when a local pointed above us and said“ this is pride rock”. Nothing prepared me for the emotions that were stirred deep down. Throughout my life travelling other continents and chasing short-term goals
NEXT EVENT RIFT VALLEY ODYSSEY MAASAI MARA 22-26 Sepetmber 2025: 5 days, 475km, 8 000m ascent 27-28 September 2025: Option to extend your stay in Maasai Mara National Reserve post-ride riftvalleyodyssey. com
28 | MTB | bucket-list busting