In any emergency situation, my first instinct is always to go where I feel most safe. In the case of this COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic that is gripping the globe, that's my first reaction once again: to leave Uganda and fly home to Chicago where I can be with friends and family.

But upon further reflection, Tim and I have decided that it may be best for us to wait out the storm in Africa, even if that means we'll be quarantined and on lock-down in whichever country we find ourselves in. Uganda, Kenya, or Ethiopia are our immediate options, though it's not like we'll have a choice when it happens. And when the lock-down begins, we'll be stuck. For how long, we don't know.

Is this really the best option for us? Well, there's no saying for sure, but the following is a snapshot of what's been happening out here, and why we're choosing not to leave.

​So far, life here in Uganda is continuing like normal. The Coronavirus hit Sub-Saharan Africa very late in this pandemic and is still reported as only isolated cases in large cities and international hubs such as Nairobi, Kenya or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. There have been no major outbreaks in the entire region. Yet.

That means that businesses are still open, there are even other tourists at the hotels going on safaris and hiking through the national parks. Stores are full of supplies and no one is panic buying. Yes, there is even toilet paper, but in all honesty, most people out here have squat toilets and don't use toilet paper.

In some ways, this region is well-equipped to go into survival mode. Most people who live in rural areas rely on food grown and raised right in their backyard, and the rainy season has provided the region with lots of healthy crops and gardens. We are in an area of fresh water lakes, while herds of cows graze through the fields. So no one seems to be concerned with running out of basic necessities. Even electricity is often obtained from solar panels.

​But that doesn't mean that people here aren't taking the Coronavirus seriously. In fact, they know all about viral outbreaks, and have many systems and practices in place from when Ebola was a big concern a year ago. 

At the border between Rwanda and Uganda they were taking everyone's temperatures, forcing you to sterilize your boots and hands, and the guards and medical personnel were wearing masks and gloves. I have to say, it did look a bit apocalyptic to see a camo-clad soldier holding an AK47 with rubber gloves on and a doctor's face mask. What sort of bio-terrorism guerrilla warfare sci-fi tv show have we stepped into?

Outside of the border, no one on the street is wearing masks. But everyone is watching the news closely, washing their hands, giving elbow bumps instead of hand shakes. They know the drill here, and no one in Africa makes fun of virus epidemics. It's an unfortunate part of African life.

Well, no one can say for sure what will happen. There are now only a few confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in East Africa at the moment. But if there's any indication of what's been happening in other countries, this virus will spread undetected elsewhere in the region. And when it does, the already fragile health care system of these countries might be be overwhelmed.

East Africa has some real disadvantages in the fight against this pandemic, such as poor economies based in tourism that may not easily recover from a financial slump, few qualified health care professionals, and a lack of a solid medical infrastructure. But Africa may also have a couple of advantages. 

Africa is a continent of young people, who usually only get mild symptoms of the virus and don't need hospitalization (though they can still spread it). Only 2.7% of Kenyans are 65 and older, compared to 14% in the US (source).

Those are who are smokers are also more susceptible to having serious complications of the Coronavirus. I'm happy to say that Tim quit smoking nearly a year ago, and we're now more thankful than ever that he did. But besides him, East Africa doesn't have a lot of smokers: only 4% of adults in Ethiopia are smokers compared to 21% in the US as of 2018 (source).

I can only hope that these factors will spare East Africa from becoming a humanitarian disaster. This is just a hope though, as the only way to truly know is to wait and see.

So instead of spending thousands of dollars on last-minute airfare, along with flying our bike back to the States, we've decided to stay. Being close to friends and family may be what we want, but it's also what the virus wants.
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We will most likely need to renew and extend our visas, and if there's a quarantine and we're forced to stay put, I have no idea how that will affect our visas, as this is all unprecedented. But we'll find out I suppose.

Maybe if we are in a place long-term, we'll rent an apartment. We're still traveling with Leo, which has been wonderful, and especially in a difficult situation, it's good to have a friend around so that we know we're not in this alone.

Also, we are so thankful to have the messages and well-wishes from all of you out there, and we wish only the same for you.

Because above all, we hope that you stay safe, and please keep us updated just as we will keep you updated.

​We'll write Part 2 once we know how things out here are going to progress.

Our time traveling through Tanzania was a bit different than what most tourists do. Due to costs, we didn't go on any safaris and we didn't hike up Mount Kilimanjaro or snorkel around Zanzibar. But what we did see and do in Tanzania was truly memorable, unique, and special, not because of lions and elephants, but because of the people we met along the way.

“You will never want to leave Malawi," is what people told us. “The lake is perfectly placid and warm, and swimming in it is divine." Hearing things like this got me excited to visit this small African nation bordering the most biodiverse lake in the world: Lake Malawi. But then we also heard the many warnings: “Watch out for the Bilharzia parasite," and “Beware of crocodiles."

Moreover, it was going to be $75 per person just for the visa to enter Malawi, and because we happened to be visiting in the midst of the rainy season, the weather would be at its worst. In the end, we worried the high price to see this small country would not be worth it for us.

We entered Zambia from Botswana through one of the most difficult border crossings we’ve ever experienced. We were traveling with our motorcycle friend, Emiliano, and crossing borders with another traveler usually makes things easier. With three people, two of them can try to figure out the procedures and stand in separate lines, and one can watch the bikes (me).
 
But for some reason, nothing seemed to be easy when it came to the convoluted process that was getting a visa and vehicle entry permit into Zambia. The heat, the lack of signage, the expense of it ($50 USD for a Zambia/Zimbabwe visa, $20 USD for road tax, more money for carbon taxes, insurance, paying fixers, all in Zambian Kwacha), and most of all, the chaos of the place, made it a horrible experience.

​We have nothing against Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, but when you’re stuck there for weeks on end because your motorcycle is broken, all you can think about is leaving.
 
We had unfortunately snapped our monoshock (rear suspension) when we’d first entered Namibia. We waited for two weeks for our new shock to arrive from Austria, and when it did, we packed up the bike, got on the road, and headed to Botswana when we realized something horrible: the monoshock was not the only thing that needed replacing. The shock’s spring was also damaged, and we would have to turn back.
 
That meant it would be another week and a half of waiting in Windhoek and paying for repairs and living expenses before we could continue with our African travels.
 
This was very depressing for us, and it certainly wasn’t a great beginning to the holiday season.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday upon us once again, it is time to start pondering what to get our two-wheeled riding loved ones for Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever gift-giving traditions that the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster may have, and even for the atheist in your life that likes receiving gifts on a cold December day.

Here is a brief list for those motorcycle enthusiasts in your life. These are some of our favorite items which have served us well on our round-the-world trip.  We are not sponsored by any of the products below, and bought each item ourselves with our hard-earned money. These are simply our fair, honest opinions after putting them through hell over the last two years.

Most people who visit Africa usually go on a safari. And there's nothing else on the planet like it: driving through the flat grasslands of thorny acacia trees, telling your fellow travelers to hush when you think you see something, and then whipping out your camera and holding your breath as a several-ton elephant lumbers out of the trees. It's the stuff of legends.

But there is a high price to be paid.

We were on our way to Namibia's famous red dunes at Sossusvlei when we took a nasty spill and broke our motorcycle's monoshock (rear suspension), which if you're unfamiliar with bike mechanics, is something that you can't just fix on the side of the road. So we had to tow our bike up to Namibia's capital city of Windhoek (which was quite an adventure in itself) and are still waiting for a new monoshock to be flown in from Austria.

While we're waiting, we decided to rent a car here in Namibia to explore this beautiful country. ​And what a trip it's been!

It turns out that going by 4x4 is the way to see Namibia since most of the country's sights prohibit motorcycles to enter. This is due to a number of reasons (such as lions could chase you, a valid reason I suppose), so in order to see things, we would have had to either join a tour group or rent a car anyway. Even the place we were headed to when we had our accident, Sossusvlei, doesn't allow motorcycles in, it turns out. Maybe this broken monoshock was a blessing in disguise.