Departing the muggy port town of Bagamoya, we rode away from the coast and into the dry interior. After a full days ride, we transitioned from the hot savannah and onto the flanks of Kilimanjaro where we proceeded among cool cloud cloaked forests. The evening clouds parted just long enough for the enormity of the mountain to peer down at us from its lofty 19,300’ iced over summit. This was an astonishingly beautiful mountain! It was the first snow that we’d seen since departing Colorado. As mountain folk, it warmed our hearts.

Shifting layers of cool fog and rain shrouded the summit from view for the next 4 days as we traversed the mountains flanks. We were disappointed to not see more of the summit, but we were also very thankful for the cooler climate, which was a relief from the sweat soaked, red faced days that constitute the norm of African adventure riding.

The town of Moshi is the logistics center for climbing Kilimanjaro. Do we climb Kilimanjaro? We debated over this for a while. However, the weather and the costs were enough to cause us to postpone this adventure. Kilimanjaro is a major cash industry for Tanzania with about 25,000 hikers coming through annually, each paying roughly 2,000USD for the experience. We heard mixed experiences from different groups coming off the mountain. A good experience would be largely based on the guide company one chooses (guides are required by law). For us, coming back with our own kit, acclimating on Kili, then going for Mount Kenya’s Batian summit would be an epic trip of its own! In our current state, having great adventure motorcycles on hand, we chose to continue exploring by bike. We could get back to Africa for a climb, but getting back with bikes is another story. Kili would wait for us, although the glaciers I’m afraid will be gone soon.

In Moshi, we refitted at the The Garage, an AirBnB that caters to motorbikers, where we caught wind of an exciting adventure idea. While pouring over maps with the owner (a dedicated biker himself), it was mentioned that we might be able to push a route into Kenya from Lake Natron. The concept route was far into the backcountry, legally challenging and not shown on any map, digital map base or even google satellite imagery. We were instantly interested!

The first step was to try and sort out the legal issue of crossing into Kenya where there was no border post. Armed with a good attitude, patience and loads of optimism, we arrived at a border post near Moshi to try and get permissions. It took a massive amount of effort to communicate that we wanted to cross into Kenya where there was no road listed and no border post and why we wanted to do it. Fortunately, both the Kenyan border agents and the Tanzanian agents worked out of the same building, so we all sort of got together on this. The Kenyan’s not only understood our plan, but were keen to help us make it happen. The Tanzanian side however, wasn’t playing along and the big boss said no. This is the best part…there was a shift change at lunch. Returning from the bosses office after lunch, we told the Kenyans what our problem was. The Kenyan official just walked over to the Tanzanian side, talked to the new guy on shift, grabbed their stamp and stamped us out. Done! We were in Tanzania with exits stamps for Tanzania and entrance stamps for Kenya.

Back in Tanzania and with the border post beyond our rearview mirror, we breathed the collective sigh of relief, knowing we were mostly legally authorized for some serious adventuring. With that said, we were still a long way from Lake Natron with loads of good riding to be done as we circled around Kilimanjaro. The tarmac circles over half of the mountain and it’s a peg dragger. Ups, downs and good ol’ twisties, the smooth asphalt roller coasters through alpine forest and mountain villages.

.

On the northwest side of the mountain, the road transitions to dirt and it does not disappoint. Hard packed clay like surface whisks you over the mountain ridges and moss covered rock bridges pop you over creeks of glacier runoff.

Off the dirt track lies good bush camping for days!

We had a full herd of Cape Buffalo move into camp just after sundown, but no bugs, and I’ll take Cape Buffalo over mosquitos any day!

Exultant from the last two days of good riding and a big adventure ahead, we pulled into Longido to fuel and food up. On a whim, I inquired on the route ahead with a local. It was here that we found that our bureaucracy troubles were not entirely solved. Apparently, we needed a government permit to enter the Natron area, which was recently deemed a conservation area. Of course, the fee must be paid in Arusha, 60 miles in the opposite direction. So off we went, racing to Arusha in hopes of scoring the permit before the office closed for a long weekend. In Arusha, we navigated the jungle of busses and trucks, ultimately arriving at the government building where permits are issued. We were not late, it just wasn’t open at all that day. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. We’d come so far with the border paperwork and then to get hung up on this new “fee” was a big blow. But this is Africa, all is not as it seems. One persons says this, the rules say that and then a mile down the road it’s a completely different story. So, mulling over a hot brew at our campsite in Arusha, we decide to stick to our plan and push to Natron without the permit. We knew there would be a gate house near Lake Natron and there we would try to sort things out with all the charm we could muster. The question remained on how to get there? There was the main dirt road skirting Ngorongoro and then there was an obscure unmaintained dirt track running directly from Arusha to Lake Natron. It was a gamble, but we decided on the smaller dirt track, it looked like fun, at least what sections we could make out from google satellite imagery. All we needed was the rain to hold out for a bit.