Last week, when I was up at Borana, I had a fantastic time cycling around the ranch. It's such diverse landscape - but I was a bit of a wimp and decided to opt out of cycling up the 'rollercoaster' (a series of hills that, in my opinion, are ideal for game drives, not cycing...), and decided to cycle from Borana Lodge to Rose & Tony Dyer's at Ngare Ndare.

The ride was very pleasant - we set off at 7am, when the sun was up and shiny but not yet too hot, and arrived at Ngare Ndare around 9:30am. First, the all important safety chat and bike check are conducted - with so much downhill it is important to know which is the back and which is the front brake! Albert, the brilliant cycling guide, demonstrated (almost) how not to use the front brake going downhill, which was a good lesson.

Then we set off in the cool Laikipia morning air. The roads are dirt tracks, some areas get quite rocky, but the panorama of views is mind blowing. Our ride took us across the ridge from the lodge, and then down quite a steep hill after which we branched off to a more constant ride - not flat by any means, but little hills and little dips, making it very pleasant.

At one stage we reached a flooded stream and dismounted to carry the bikes across. Our support vehicle was on stand by, never too far away for those much needed bottles of water. Along the way we saw eland, elephant, impala and giraffe - all peacefully munching away on their first meal of the day and glancing nonchantly at our passing...

Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/WQgFKPCn73M