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Africa is vast and varied with every point of the compass unique in its own way. East Africa is no exception and is famous for its traditional tribes people, exceptional wildlife and majestic vistas.
Kenya and Tanzania is where Escape Adventures first began back in 1999 and today remains our most popular cycle tour.
Break free from the bonds of ‘normal’ on our 16 day biking and camping adventure as we travel from Nairobi in Kenya to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Bike on remote back roads away from the chaos of Nairobi city to the sudden sparseness of open savannah. We bike alongside wildlife grazing the plains and camp with local families and villages along the way. We pass beneath the highest free-standing mountain in the world, Mt Kilimanjaro. Spend time game viewing in Amboseli National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, with the highest concentration of plains game in the world, then cycle through the cool rain forested Usambara Mountains before ultimately dropping down the tropical Indian Ocean coast.
Join us and fully immerse yourself into East Africa and experience the people, culture, wildlife and landscapes of this amazing continent.
Start: Nairobi, Kenya
Finish: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Meet with your tour leaders & fellow bikers at 5pm for your pre-departure meeting and first meal together. Please plan to arrive no later than mid-afternoon to allow transfer to our hotel in time for the tour start.
Accommodation: Glamping tents
Meals: Dinner
We start the day with a visit to either the Shedrick Elephant orphanage or the Giraffe Centre. Following a short transfer out of the city, we take the time to become acquainted with our bikes and cycle away from the city and into the African savannah. A gentle day to ease us into the saddle brings us to our campsite for the night.
Cycling Distance: 30km.
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Biking away from civilisation we head out on meandering rural roads towards Amboseli National Park. We meet Maasai tribes’ people before spending the night in a bush camp under a big African sky.
Cycling Distance: 82 km
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We continue biking through true African savannah, keeping our eyes open for giraffe and views of Kilimanjaro, until we reach the border of Amboseli National Park. We finish the day with our first short game drive, through the park to our campsite.
Cycling Distance: 35km.
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We rise early in the morning for a dawn game drive through Amboseli National Park. Renowned for stunning views of Mt Kilimanjaro and huge herds of elephants. We camp with our Maasai friend and in the afternoon visit their Manyatta (village) and experience their traditional culture and lifestyle.
Cycling Distance: 0 km
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast we continue biking around the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro and towards the Tanzanian border. Crossing into Tanzania we transfer by vehicle to Arusha the safari capital of East Africa.
Cycling Distance: 33km
Accommodation: Guesthouse
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Cycling on paved roads allows us to really stretch our legs. We again encounter Maasai tribespeople herding their cattle and plains game on our way to Mto Wa Mbu a small town at the foot of the Rift Valley Escarpment. Explore the town and visit local craft markets.
Cycling Distance: 30km
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We drive into the Ngorongoro Crater and spend the day with some of the best game viewing in Africa, returning to Arusha in the evening. If you are after the ‘The Big Five’, it is all here waiting for you.
Cycling Distance: 0 km
Accommodation: Guesthouse
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Departing Arusha, we begin heading towards the coast with a transfer drive south past Mt Kilimanjaro and the wide-open spaces of the Maasai Steppe. We finish the day with a fun ride to our riverside campsite.
Cycling Distance: 20 km
Accommodation: Riverside Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Climbing away from the plains we head up into the Usambara Mountains. Driving for the main part of the climb, then biking on to Lushoto – an old German colonial town nestled high in the mountains. From here a scenic ride through gardens and villages brings us to a viewpoint overlooking the endless plains below. A maze of village tracks take us onto our campsite at a rustic colonial lodge.
Cycling Distance: 45km.
Accommodation: Camping/Upgrades available
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A well earned rest day for those who wish or take a hike into the stunning Usambara Mountain rain forest. Here we have a chance to visit a local school and get your hands dirty helping with our long standing tree planting project.
Cycling Distance: 0 km
Accommodation: Camping/Upgrades available
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Winding along little used dirt roads and tracks we bike further into these beautiful mountains, through rain-forest and farmland, and villages with the ever present cheers from school kids as we pass by. This is an area that rarely gets visited by travellers and the welcome response we receive from the local people is fantastic.
Cycling Distance: 42km.
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
With the tropical coastline as our goal our day begins with a swooping, hair blowing descent to the plains below then we ride along quiet dirt roads and through sleepy rural villages and sisal plantations.
Cycling Distance: 82km.
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ride rolling dirt roads to meet the Indian Ocean and our campsite near a palm-lined beach.
Cycling Distance: 68km.
Accommodation: Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Our final ride on mostly quiet dirt roads, through small fishing villages and finally to Bagamoyo town.
Cycling Distance: 47km.
Accommodation: Coastal Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Final breakfast together and a morning transfer to Dar es Salaam for those who are flying out. / enjoying the beach / onward travel.
Meals: Breakfast
Your tour itinerary offers 20-85km biking per day; a total distance of up to 500km spread over 11 days of biking.
The terrain is mostly undulating and flat with some short rolling hills. The riding surface is a mixture of dirt roads, paved roads and non-technical single track and can be rough at times, slow going, pot-holed and sandy. The riding challenge of the tour should not be judged by mileage alone. The trip is suited to riders with a good level of biking fitness and off-road biking experience will greatly enhance handling on rough roads and add to the enjoyment of your tour. A mountain bike with front suspension is the ideal bike and we have a fleet of our own mountain bikes available for hire.
Support: Our trusty support vehicle carries all your luggage, has lunch, snacks and water at hand, and is there if you need a break from the saddle.
Your cycle tour includes rides of up to 85km per day. Please do read about the daily riding distances taking note of the riding terrain in the itinerary below and prepare accordingly. The more prepared you are the more you will enjoy your adventure!
Preparing for your cycle tour should involve:
Please do contact us if you would like some help with a detailed training plan.
Support: Our trusty support vehicle carries all your luggage, has lunch, snacks and water at hand, and is there if you need a break from the saddle.
In Kenya and Tanzania, we have our own fleet of Scott Scale 965 bikes available for hire. They are hard tail mountain bikes, perfect for off-road touring in Kenya & Tanzania. They are running Shimano SLX- Deore 12 speed gearing, 100mm travel forks, tubeless 29″ wheelsets and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes. We have them available in S, M, L and XL.
We carry all our spare parts out to East Africa and maintain them ourselves to make sure they are in optimal riding condition for your ride with us. If you will be hiring a bike from us please let us know prior to your trip, and please feel free to bring your favourite saddle and clip in pedals (if you normally clip in).
Your tour leaders will take care of your meals and snacks throughout your adventure with us. This excludes one lunch and two evening meals which are at your own cost to give you the opportunity to explore eating options of your own choosing. We are most definitely able to cater for vegetarians and special diets and if this includes you, it is essential to advise us of this before your tour begins, so that the support vehicle can be stocked with the necessary supplies. Typical meals include:
All accommodation for the duration of your tour is included. Ten nights are camping, and five nights are in small guesthouses and lodges on a family basis (2-4 star). The camping is ‘real camping’ and sometimes in remote locations.
We supply spacious dome tents which we will show you how to erect, and foam mattresses.
Singles: We do not charge a single supplement!
If you are traveling on your own, you can have your own tent for camping nights and we will pair you with another single biker of the same gender to share a twin room for the hotel nights. If you do not wish to share, that is fine too, but a single supplement will apply!
This trip has 8-14 bikers, plus two experienced Escape Adventures tour leaders and a local interpreter and driver.
Life changing – an incredible insight, an incredible introduction to the people and their lifestyles of Eastern Africa. Then you throw in the exposure to wildlife that otherwise we only see in zoo’s or on the TV. The EA team were immense – knowledgeable, well prepared and resourceful – at ease in the tour environment and all played such a huge part in our enjoyment of the tour. The “Beast” and the bikes were spot on, the “Beast” was so well stocked and prepped for our journey. Hats off to the EA team, past and present, who have put together the tour with so many places no other tour is going to take us to. The game park visits are a highlight, but they’re matched by the interaction with the locals, the opportunity with the tree planting to give a little back and then there’s Solomon’s Rock and the Usumbara’s to rave about as well. Thanks to all at EA – see you again soon.
Brendan and Janet.
Amazing! Organized. Well considered. Well balanced with challenges, adventure and surprises. Personable, knowledgeable guides. It was such a privilege to experience Africa this close up. The information provided, the itinerary, the packing list was all bang on. I wouldn’t change a thing! Loved it! Hope to do another tour with Escape. 10/10.
Starting our cycle adventure in Nairobi, through the African savanna, arriving at the Amboseli national park with Kilimanjaro towering above us. I thought could it get any better…. OMG yes! Camping next to a Maasai village that has no obvious roads leading to it. Meeting the families that live in the village and interacting with the kids. What a magical place. A memory I will never forget. Across the boarder to Tanzania and biking towards the Rift Valley escarpment. Wow what a ride, passing elephants and giraffes. A well earnt day off to enjoy the Ngorongoro crater. Heading of towards the coast through small villages of the Maasai Steppe, beautiful big smiles that welcomed us, all wanting to meet and say Jumbo. Exploring the Usambara Mountains. Before heading back down towards the coast to Bagamoyo. The views, the people, the animals the accommodation, and oh yeah the biking with new friends. Absolutely amazing. Fabulous memories of beautiful friendly, welcoming and often astounded faces. It was the best 555km of cycling ever. It really is the best way to see the real Africa.
The Kenya Tanzania Escape Adventure was fantastic. I would do it again and highly recommend it if you want to experience wild-life in the wild, the people, and the culture! It was Kiwi style experience in Africa; fun, everyone pitching in and something new every day. Our group size was small which made it so much more personal. Camping meant we were off the beaten track, meeting locals and the food produced from the back of the “Beast”, our support truck, excellent. Their custom made bikes were easy to use, comfortable and well maintained. A truly memorable experience with wonderful guides.
Joey and I had the most incredible trip to Kenya and Tanzania during June of 2019. The information and helpfulness from Mandy in the office, to the actual bike tour with John and the crew, is a testament to them offering an experience of a lifetime and living up to it. We felt we had an authentic African experience – can’t get much more real than waiting for giraffes to cross the track and watching tribesmen herd their goats in to the village for the night at sunset. Next on the list is Madagascar with Escape Adventures of course!