From Livingstone, they had a windy, hot ride of about 100km to what was meant to be a night of bush camping, but Bryan managed to go ahead and speak to a farmer in the area name Marius, and his wife, Rochelle, who were very happy to have the team stay the night. The couple read about Gareth and Derrick bungee cycling on News24, and Marius connected the team to another farmer, Tim, who was situated just outside Choma where they had planned to bush camp the following night after riding a further 100km.

Tim took some of the team on a tour of his farm, and the team learned more about farming in Zambia and how Tim spreads his risk by farming various things including tobacco, maize, cattle, and sheep as well as black carrots, which none of Joburg2Kili had ever heard of or seen before. Bryan ended up having to share his tent with Tim’s two big, brown Labradors and a Jack Russell, who were adamant to sleep in his tent.

“From Tim’s farm, we had a long ride of 109km ahead of us to get to Moorings Campsite, which is just after a town called Monze. Riding through Monze, we had sight of where riots had taken place by seeing the debris of burnt tyres left on the side of the roads. This we have learnt is a result of the recent elections in Zambia which is believed to have been rigged," said the team. 

The team spoke to some cyclists along the way and one local cyclist, Donald, rode with them all the way to Monze, and even took on Warrick in a short sprint-off. He also believes Camilla is his daughter, as she is born in the same year as his actual daughter.

From Moorings Campsite, the team rode 96km to a location that was marked off for a bush camp just outside the town of Mazabuka. This was described by the team as their “toughest ride of their journey” so far, as they had a 30km/h headwind for most of the way along with rolling hills, and the road surface was no longer smooth but rutted, and had many potholes.

“We were very lucky, though, as Bryan’s dad has been working with a guy called Johan Beukes, who lives in the area and welcomed us to come stay with him, his Italian wife Paola and their two kids, Luke and Giovanni. Johan and his family spoiled us with a three course dinner, which was the best meal of our trip so far. We couldn’t be more grateful to them for looking after us so well,” says the team.

Paola has her own business called Essential, which is a natural skincare brand of products that she started to make as a hobby, but has now blossomed into a successful business. Camilla is super happy to have received some of her products to use for the rest of the trip. Find out more about the skincare range here.

After breakfast the next morning, the team were transported back to the main road to cycle up to Lusaka. The weather had changed overnight and it was cloudy and extremely windy, which meant they were in for another tough ride, which included the steepest hill on the ride so far and a headwind.

“Whilst riding, we came across a small group of children on the side of the road, so we decided to stop to give out some toys from Mattel to give away on the journey. At first, the children seemed very apprehensive and almost ran away from us, but as soon as Camilla started showing them how the bubble wand worked they all started to smile and laugh. They couldn’t speak any English and only spoke in their local language, but it sounded like they were happy and grateful,” says the team.

The team eventually got to Gareth’s friend's place in Lusaka, and Bryan’s parents and his sister also drove down from Chingola to meet them in Lusaka. They came through for a braai on the evening of day 26, and it was great to finally meet them.

For more information, visit www.Joburg2Kili.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram