I’ve always considered motorised transport the best way to explore new places. Get in, gas up, pick a destination, go!

The downside is that a car cocoons you from the environment, making you more a tourist and outsider, almost snobbishly telling those you pass on the road ‘Look at me looking at you feeling pity for you out there’.

My thoughts on touring were changed a few weeks ago when covering the Tour d’Afrique, a 12,000km, Cairo to Cape Town, 120-day cycling expedition run by TDA Global Cycling. We were asked to join the cyclists over two of their 7-day Moyale to Namanga cross-Kenya expedition.

The first thing I did was put together a team featuring one of Kenya’s top sports photographers Kevin Midigo and Brian Mule whom I work with at Click.

Since I’d frequented the Isiolo – Nanyuki section of the A2 which is where our coverage was to be focussed on, I prepared a map with indicative shots of the environments we’d be shooting the cyclists in.

We prepared, left Nairobi and got to Isiolo where we found the cyclists camped at Rangelands Hotel.

The TDA Crew getting ready to prepare dinner for the cyclists.
The TDA mechanic working on one of the cyclists’ bicycle. He was very handy because sometimes bicycles breakdown hundreds of kilometres from any town. Stretching them muscles in preparation for the following day of cycling.

The cyclists bussed between Laisamis and Isiolo because of insecurity concerns.

This board was displayed at camp every evening, to inform the cyclists of what to expect the following day.

The following morning, we left camp early heading back towards Nanyuki.

Since we’d picked the photography spots the day before, and we had the Google Map to consult, there was no guess work as to where we needed to stop and shoot, and distances between the different shoot locations.

This was our first location, somewhere between Maili Tano and Isiolo.

Mt Kenya had pushed all the clouds away and proudly displayed her peaks for all to marvel at. And so we did.

Since the cyclists left camp at different intervals, we had to stake out at photo spots for up to an hour to get as many shots as possible. After that, we got into Silvester and drove to the next location, occasionally finding the first group of cyclists had already gone past.

The Isiolo – Nanyuki route is about 72kms, with an 800m rise in altitude. That had to take it’s toll on some cyclists. Stopping to exchange pleasantries with residents. A bicycle has a way of making someone more approachable. That’s one of the advantages of touring on two wheels.

One of the main features on the Isiolo – Nanyuki route are the wheat fields in Timau. Shooting here was a beautiful joy.

Just before Timau town, the TDA Crew set up an early lunch stop where cyclists stopped to replenish their energies and perform quick adjustments to their bicycles.

From Timau it was a quick dash to Sportsman’s Arms Hotel in Nanyuki for the night and celebrations to mark the expedition’s last night in the northern hemisphere. The following day, our first location was at the signature Equator sign just outside Nanyuki.

We then drove ahead of the cyclists and waited for them outside Bantu Lodge.

Then at Naro Moru town to give the feel of riding through a roadside urban centre in Kenya.

I don’t know what that matatu did but the cyclist clearly wasn’t happy. We concluded our coverage at one the climbs between Marua and Karatina.

Spotted this man on a knife-sharpening bicycle climbing the same hill. I had to make sure he featured.

So, would you take a tour of Kenya on a bicycle instead? Let me know in the comments section.

You can also watch a video about our experience below.