Bollocks! Suddenly we were surrounded by 20 men wielding weapons and closing in fast!! "It's thunder and it'st lightning, and it's all things too frightening..." By the time we dragged our bikes off the red earth of dirt roads and into the savannah bush, the day was old and the sun had retired behind the horizon. Throughout the day, children would stare in confusion, the younger ones would even cry. They had never seen mzungus (foreigners) before, let alone two mzungus in tight lycra shorts straddling heavily laden bikes. (To be fair...I too would be reduced to tears at such an ungainly sight). We were truly off the beaten track; choosing to ride the reddest, dustiest and bumpiest dirt roads that didn't even appear on Hardy's most up to date gps basemaps. But we were also riding north, into territory known for tribal unrest. Throughout East Africa, the many tribes that inhabit this singular latitude are often in conflict with each other. As clouds of lightning set alight the night sky yonder, we pitched our tents up for the night. An omen of ill tidings perhaps? Suddenly, under the cover of darkness, we found ourselves surrounded by the formidable silhouettes of twenty machete brandishing tribesmen, shouting and closing in. We remained calm. Without a common language, it's rather difficult to commumicate in the pitch black. Shinning the torch on ourselves and then towards the bikes and tents seemed to subdue the intial aggression. Fortunately one of the tribesmen spoke some English and within 20 minutes, the village chairman was summoned. So it turned out the "warriors" initially suspected us as rebels or rival tribesmen trespassing! We explained our wee adventure at length with the chairman as interpreter. Regardless of not being able to see their facial expression, you know it's going well when you suddenly hear a chorus of "Eehhhh!" - the commom sub-saharan expression of pleasant disbelief and amusement! A high pitched expression that both Hardy and I have come to affectionately adore. We rode north in search of the Karamajong people...but in the end, they found us. Words will forever fail to rekindle the surreal magic of tonight. #karamoja #karamajong https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn8asWShXzP/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=iwubi7rvkxn3
