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The Munali Musketeers
Cycling/mountain bike riding has, over the last few years, almost
taken over from polo, golf and tennis as one of the most favoured
sports in Mazabuka. There is that brave and determined team of
cyclists that whip up and down the Munali Hills at the rate of knots
in the early part of the year, getting into training for the
gruelling “Cape Argus” race in March. There is also a team of
cyclists from the Nakambala Cycling Club, led by Zambian Champion,
Justin Banda who regularly take part in cycling challenges in the
Southern Province and in national events. Finally (although I’m not
sure about this being “finally” … there could be masses of ad hoc
cyclists out there that I haven’t mentioned and I apologise for
leaving them out) there are the four Musketeers from the Munali
Coffee Cycling team who cycled a distance of 2,450 km’s to the
foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in just two weeks, and then, as if
that wasn’t enough exercise for the next ten years, climbed the
mountain!!!
The
Munali Musketeers consisted of “Willem-the-notorious -Lublinkhof,
well into his sixties and a passionate cyclist for the past forty
odd years. Willem travelled on a tandem bike with
bricklayer-come-professional cyclist, Peter Chintu who jokes about
his bicycle being his “first wife”!! Then there was the driver,
masseur and cook, Michael “Bogus” Phiri who drove behind the
cyclists in the support vehicle, and finally there was talented
sportsman and much loved pastor in the Mazabuka district, Sean
“Faster Pastor” Kelly.
We
have summarised Sean’s account of their amazing journey below.
On
Monday, January 23 the team set out from Munali coffee farm in Maz
and were escorted by Willem’s son, Jesper Lublinkhof and the Nyati
cycling team for 30 kms on their way to Tanzania. Their first
night’s stop was at George and Minnie Woodley’s Fringilla Guest
House in Chisamba. The butchery at Fringilla has always been famous
for its boerewors and Andrew Woodley sent the team off the next day
with a mountainous supply of wors that kept the team going for a
good part of the journey! George, who knows Tanzania well, gave
them some helpful tips on where to stay enroute. The following day
they met up with a Zambian-cyclist-in-training, and fan of Peter
Chintu’s, who was cycling in the opposite direction to the team but
happily joined them for the next leg of their journey to Forest Inn
in the Mkushi district. The famous Fringilla “wors” must have had
something to do with the fact that the team managed to cycle 220 km
at an average speed of 20 km per hour on that day!
Day
three saw the Musketeers cycling a 200 km stretch past Serenje and
through some heavy rain. That night they found shelter with a kind
family who made a fire for them and let them sleep in one of their
huts.
The
next day, the rain almost got the better of the team and although
they had to wait in the accompanying vehicle for it to subside, they
still managed to cycle 200 km on their journey to a rest house at
Mpika in the highlands of Northern Zambia.
Day
five saw the team battered and bruised, although the massage machine
helped, taking a rest at “the house on the lake”, Shiwa N’gandu.
On
January 28 the team set off on a mammoth 275 km trip up the
notorious “Kapiri Ngozi” which means the Hill of Danger. It was
long but not as steep as they had imagined and at the top there is a
monument to mark the spot where the first Portuguese explorer
spotted the lush plains of the Northern Province. Managing 28 km per
hour, the team finally made it to Isoka, a tiny town 2 km off the
main road and about 120 km from the Tanzanian border.
The
next day they cycled to the border town of Tunduma and began the
journey through the mountainous region at the bottom of Tanzania
into the bustling and picturesque town of Mbeya. They spent the
night at Hotel Utengule which is situated on an old German coffee
farm that overlooks the beginnings of the Great Rift Valley. The
next day they rested, playing chess and sharing a beer with a
Rastafarian fellow before setting off early on January 31 for a camp
site, in the arid lowveld, 135 km from Mbeya.
On
February 1 the team travelled 162 km at altitudes that ranged from
900 to 1600 meters to old Mazabukan’s, Rick and Jill Ghaui’s
Kisolanzo campsite. Jill had organized a wonderful welcoming dinner
for them and they ate as if there was “no tomorrow!”
On
February 2, the Musketeers set out on one of the most hazardous legs
of their journey down from the Chaibora tea estates and pine forests
into Baobab Valley. The mountain pass starts after Iringa and is
known as the Katonga Gorge. The team regarded the journey, with its
steep roads, hairpin bends and trucks and buses that seem to “fly
down the escarpment at speeds that make one shiver” as six times
more hazardous that the Zambezi escarpment down to Chirundu!! Once
in the valley they camped at the Baobab Camp site where the bathroom
had been cleverly constructed around an enormous baobab tree.
February 3 saw the team cycling “on the wild side” through the
Mikumi National Park. They were heading for the industrial town of
Morogoro, a lively and vibrant town situated at the foothills of a
high mountain range. They spent a luxurious night at the Oasis Hotel
in Morogoro, managed to catch up on some washing, watched the
African Cup of Nations soccer on TV and ordered a large supply of
egg sandwiches for the next day!
On
Saturday, February 4, the team set off on a 174 km stretch of
muscle-burning, back-breaking hell when they turned northwards, off
the Dar es Salaam road, and hit the worst hills they had ever seen -
from a cyclists point of view! After setting out at 5 am, they
arrived at their destination, the only motel in Segera, after dark.
On
Sunday, February 5, the penultimate day of their journey, the
Musketeers were subjected to desert winds and baking hot midday heat
on their 180 km journey to Same town and the Elephant Hotel. The
manager at the hotel organised a contact for the team to climb
Kilimanjaro, a man named Israel, and coincidentally, also a pastor!
On
Monday February 6, the team set off for the last leg of their
journey through Marangu town and on to the site where they could set
up base camp. The last 15 km of their journey saw them climbing
from 950 to about 1800 metres above sea level, but the good news was
that they could clearly see the mountain, its peak hidden shyly in
the clouds, beckoning them to their final destination! |
July
2006