The Story of the Phoenix- Teaser

Journey to the Source ended almost 6 months ago, but

is fresh in the memories of Jon, Angus, Dave and Aukje. 

We present you with a short teaser before the HD documentary will

be available in 2009. Raw, engaging and entertaining footage of this 'magnificent bicycle ride' from the Coast of Tanzania to the Source of Humankind! This is... the Story of the Phoenix.

News from our bicycles

We were happy to hear that three of our bicycles seem to have a marvellous time at schools in the lake Eyasi area. Way to go Phoenix!!!

new movies

Click HERE to view two short movies that were filmed during JTTS. Enjoy :)

While Angus has already landed in Victoria again, Dave is spending his last days in Tanzania on Zanzibar, and Aukje and Jon will trade in historical Stonetown for Dar es Salaam very soon to prepare for BEeTRoUtE

The white sands and blue waters of Zanzibar were a sight for sore eyes after all those long, dusty hours...











JON

a few days have passed since the Journey to the Source team parted their ways. it was an emotional farewell for me, as they mostly tend to be. the tensions that come about from travelling 24/7 with team-mates with different perpectives, attitudes, ways of living, language challenges was a factor that Journey to the Source also had to deal with. we would be lying if we were to pretend otherwise. however, quietly indulging in a bright florescent blue, celebratory cocktail whilst watching the setting sun on the northern tip of zanzibar on the final evening of our time together, these ebbed away with the retreating tide.

what a journey! right to the last sunset, and discussions...

AUKJE

Why is it that once your holiday or journey has ended, and when time passes by, you can only remember the good stuff? Why is it that i can vividly remember Angus handing out dark chocolate after a campmeal, Dave explaining to a Masai warrior how his camera works, Jon poking and blowing in a campfire to get it going, yet the memory of scary visions, the smell of blackfumed trucks roaring past and the uneasy feeling when there was quarreling again, slowly fades away? I know that Journey to the Source has been far from easy at many different times, but right now, i am only grateful that i had an amazing six week adventure with these three men :)

JADA plus our Zanzibari 'extra', Dave 2

Karibu Karatu (and beyond)

The team has landed on Zanzibar after arriving in Karatu by bicycle and a three day safari in Serengeti and Ngorongoro parks. Three of our bicycles were donated to local schools in the Lake Eyasi area (where they will come in very handy for carrying water and general transportation use) and one was donated to a local in the Arusha area. Goodbye dear Fonix-es!

Uploading photos and movies proves to be somewhat of a challenge right now and will have to wait a bit longer, but here are two of the temmembers' experiences from last week.

ANGUS

Well, the cycling portion of Journey to the Source has concluded. We cycled from Pangani on the coast of the Indian Ocean to Karatu, a dusty town 15 kilometres from the gate to the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. It would have been great to cycle to Olduvai (Oldupai) Gorge where the oldest human remains on Earth were discovered. However, the gorge lies inside the conservation area and all visitors must be in motorized vehicles... and the guards weren't fooled by the cardboard cut-out of a Toyota Land Cruiser strapped to the sides of our bicycles. :)

After an amazing 3-day safari in the national park and crater, we were driven back to Arusha in about 2 hours. It was neat to see the landscapes and towns we have cycled past on bicycles during the last week. But, it felt weird to not be cycling... almost like we were cheating in some sense.

Along our journey we have met a variety of people and had insightful discussions with them about issues of concern in Tanzania including the lack of a social safety net, the impact of climate change on agriculture, the rising price of gasoline, the development of a car culture, the need to raise awareness of forestry issues among the general public, the changing practices in agriculture towards organic foods, and the disposal of garbage. Some people we had planned to meet ahead of time, and wonderfully, several of the people we bumped into simply by chance.

It is an eye-opening experience to witness the current state of Tanzania. I am impressed with the high proportion of people we meet who are engaged in activities to help themselves, their families and their country. There are some friendly and inspiring individuals working towards a positive future for the people and environment of Tanzania.

Although the major cycling portion of our journey is finished, the journey will continue for at least a week as we explore the island of Zanzibar and its surrounding marine environment.

DAVE: Notes from the wildlands (Serengeti)

Note 1
I sit, shrouded cosily in a massi blanket, exhilerated and content under the emerging stars and moon. Before me a vasst chasm patiently rests - the Ngorogoro crater - a place of myths and enchanted life. A noble tree spreads its branches mindflly over the tents huddled around it and is siloutted by star and moon splashes behind. The atmosphere is warm and kindred despite the chill in the air. Chatter floats on the wind and laughs arise from the bustling kitchen and dinning huts, and friends round tents. This is a unique and magical place and there is an energy of life's wonders pervading around.

Note 2
Earlier, as we arrive after a stunning day on the plains, a 'magestic' and awesome Bull Elephant saunters in the nearby bushes. Behind, the gully receeds into the sunset and the upper crater rim - rich deep green forest tangling around. Magnificent white tusks sway to and fro as this wise soul munches on the nearby branches, swinging its trunk lazily for the next mouth full. Suprisingly light footed, our friend is seemingly indifferent to our exposed company just fifteen meters away, and, after a time, easily strolls between the waiting trees into the forest.

Note 3 - Serengeti Soul!
A more vast space I have never known. A sea of grass lands extends in all directions to hazy far off African horizons, interupted only by the odd mountain range in the distance. Free from human presence (minus the swarm of safari vehicles! - but don't look that way) the space attains a unique ayre. This is a place that ozzes wilderness and rhythms deeper than our busy distracted human world is used to. There is a timelessness and grandness to the plains. Islands of ancient granite (some of the oldest rock on earth, formed over 2.5 billion years ago) prutrude from the ocean of grasslands, like tropical havanas in the Pacific). These serve as home bases and the place of communuity for many residents.

Zooming along with the warm, enveloping wind on one's face, the blue sky towers all around and the crisp stalks push through dry soil on endless savana...freedom, "overawenees" and a feeling of deeptime, deeplife and deep nature fills your spirit.

There! a lioness strawls, her cubs playing nearby. Awesome muscle ripples under tight skin, toned and well feed, but lean and athletic. The zebras, gazelle and giraffes too exhibit extreme physical conditioning...these are creatures that need to be in peak shape to survive - magnificant specatacles

Note 4 - Serengeti departure
As we pass under the gate of the serengeti and back into the NCA (crossing only what is a manmande line, but none the less marks the return of permanent human inhabitants in the form of Massi tribesmen)...I saviour those last moments..knowing I will remember with fondness and awe the world behind, and knowing that the serengeti has touched my most fundamental depths

On a street in Moshi - Worlds collide

The man walks through the bustle and colourful caos Moshi's bus station, an eccentric node on the never ceasing network of human movement and transition - like a hive, darting, swerving and moving.

He is laden down by a bags, one on the back and on smaller the front, and the bright yellow bundle of a tent ads to an impression of excess. There is little in the pack other than a few t-shirts and some boots, but the picture is combersome enough.

The man strides down the dusty street, between street stalls, wofts of bbq maize, piles of ndizi (banana's), and moves to rhythms pf 'bongo flavour' squeaking out of the portable radio on the other side of the road.

The flavour and scent of coffee is on his mind - as he absorbs the foreign scenes all around.

There on the road sits another man. Older than our traveller, with thicker skin, textrued and learned. He is darker, from the sun but also heritage - he belongs here. His knee is brandished, disfigured in a thick smooth white scar, and joints strain and twist. Outstretched before him his hand shakes and asks. It looks down the rugged edge of the footpath to the approaching traveller laden down with possesions and wealth.

What a site it must be from that hand? What does it see as it wavers at the approaching figure - stark with contrast perhaps...or are they so different?

The traveller is troubled as worlds collide. Something tells him not to give, not to 'handout'...justifying peversly that this will only worsen the situation. Really..will it? Why does he think this, as he turns the corner to satisfy his coffee lust.

The coffee shop is shut - and the traveller is saved his highest moral dilema of indulging in such opulance whilst leaving that other hand wavering unfilled.

Is it right to eat/drink with exhuerance right next to such poverty? If not..then how can one live this way back home...the only difference there is distance, or more acurately... the name belonging to the owner of that hand.

Update July 7th - Mto wa Mbu

Angus and the donkey.. a modern fairytale :)




ANGUS
'Lost and Found'

On Thursday (July 3rd), Dave and I caught a dalla dalla - a mini-van used like a local bus service, but often bursting with over 18 people - back into Arusha to pick up some supplies and replace some broken spokes on my rear bicycle wheel. I was standing stooped over the people sitting in the front of the mini-van for the short trip. Dave and I hopped off in downtown Arusha and I spotted a young man selling a bucket full of a sugary peanut snack - sweet!

As I was deciding how many pieces to purchase, I suddenly realized I forgot my backpack on the dalla dalla. Oh ****! According to Dave, my face went completely white. Grasping my bicycle wheel in one hand and a peanut snack in the other, I madly ran with Dave up the street. Dave asked people where our dalla dalla's final stop was. After a few blocks we came across the final stop and a line-up of dalla dallas. I spotted our driver and was sooooooooooo relieved when my backpack appeared from the back of the dalla dalla. Whew!

Later that day, Dave and I visited the Arusha Museum and spotted a display titled 'The Great Journey'. A Japanese researcher had retraced the ancient migration of humans across the planet, except he did it in the reverse direction. Starting from the tip of South America, he travelled under human power (hiking and cycling) north through the Americas, kayaked across the Bering Strait, crossed Asia, the Middle East, and down the eastern side of Africa to Tanzania - to the site of the oldest human remains. Completed in 2002, his journey took over nine years and he met many indigineous groups of people. He did take breaks to return to Japan each year to write about his journey. Even so, it kind of makes our journey feel short... :)



Lake Manyara


DAVE

A day in Africa. A day on the road. A day of moments and exchanges, of vistas and sites, smells and tastes. One day on a journey - you can live a great deal.

As we have made our way from thriving Moshi to 'Africa's Geneva' Arusha, across the plains into the rift valley and now to the very shadow of its western escarpment in the town of Mto wa Mbu (River of Mosquitos) - it feels as if we have been touched by the real rhythm of Africa's Land. The sun has blazed into sunset behind Mt Meru, as Mt Kilimanjaro adhorned itself with orange light further to the east. Vast grasslands stretch out, interupted only by the plumes of dust trampled into the air by passing herds of Maasi cattle, layers of hilltops receed into the seemingly endless distance, bomas (huts) of massi dot the landscape, and Lake Manyara glistens like a silver thread under the approaching escarpment of the rift valley as it emerges from the haze.

Giant Malibu Stalks 'gracfully' slide into the upper branches of the trees overhead, squarking and rustling as the forest strains to hold them aloft on their perches. Higher still a flock of 30 or more spiral into the vibrant blue sky. Three baboons move just behind that bush and suanter arogantly off the road, while acorss the velvet smooth lakeside grasslands buffalo peruse the scene.

In amongst this all, are the moments and exchanges of conversation of those met on the journey.

I stop to 'capture' that postcard Baobob tree with my lens, and in the mean time a pair of amused maasi warrious recline on their sticks alongside my bike. 'Habari - unapenda wapiu muzungu?". A small amount of common verbal language is enough to be company for each other for a few mins - each party as interested as the other in what is before them. Later as I push my pheonix up the steep escarpment road, three young boys are playing beside the road (the stunning view of a tiring day's light falling on the glassy smooth surface of Lake Manyara behind them, as Africa's famous soft red light comes into its own). They laugh at my bike's air horn - toot toot! That seems to be funny where ever you do it in the world. I stop and swap names and greetings...laugh some more and say farewell. Earlier I was sitting with a Maasi in his mother's hut. His father owns this small 'village' complete with his 9 wives and a hut for each of them, which he roves as he wishes. The young Massi beside me is becoming a warrior - his bush training and circumcission trial soon to be faced - as he hopes to make that vital progession to his destiny. Now I am beating a drum, the two Malawian's beside me (artists here in Town) groving and showign me the way.

The day ends...and half way up in the sky, amongst the shooting stars the southern cross peers down, a familiar friend, in a foreign but friendly and increasingly captivating land.

A day in Africa can be a rich lifetime.







Masai men

JON


Thankfully good news has come from Zimbabwe, (my last post from the Summit blog), and Ben Freeth and others have been found, although badly beaten (article), their strength remains formidable! Kia KAHA!!!

It comes close to 6 weeks since our arrival in Tanzania and the final straight of 'Journey to the Source' is in sight. Individually we have faced our own challenges, and as a group perhaps even more so at times, with quite a history as a team. We have had a challenging time with what 'Journey to the Source' actually is - it has more levels than we can display on this blog. The description at the top is a little vague to say the least (and this post is also... oops), however, we have been working to clarify the core components that have brought us together for this wonderful journey. We built some bridges this week, funnily enough in the midst of the vast Rift Valley that we are about to ascend out of today. I am excited about the next 2 weeks we have together and know that we will make some real progress. Looking forward to sharing this with you soon :)

AUKJE


After leaving Arusha, we have been on our bikes again for a couple of days and after a day of 'cultural tourism' where we visited fishermen at Lake Manyara, tasted bananabeer at a Chagga home brewery and witnessed jumping Masai, we leave for Karatu today for our final bicycle section. I now have a love-hate affair with my Phoenix 'Fonix'.
And with the men i'm travelling with :)
The JTTS weeks on the bike have certainly pushed me out of my comfort zones in many ways, both physically and mentally. Another culture, another way of living, other sort of talk (and farts.. and burps. Lots of them :) No problem, but just not what i was used to). It is fun and adventurous, but also takes up a lot of energy. Living in a newformed group, with different nationalities and ways, another language, requires adaptation, but with many months ahead in Africa, i realise that staying close to who you are is important to get through the hard bits. Journey to the Source as a concept is on its way to be defined, but the inner journey is just as challenging.