Tom forced himself to keep smiling as the chief handed him a bowl of steaming blood and milk. Circled around him, on the hard red earth, in the shade of a thorny African tree, sat ten tall Maasai warriors, dressed in red robes and dangling earrings. In their hands they held long, sharp spears. They were looking at Tom with dark, shining eyes. Tom’s blue eyes looked back at them. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. His clothes had faded in the African sun and were very dirty. The spears glinted in the hot sunshine.

Tom looked away from the men and down at the carved wooden bowl. The mixture of cow’s blood and milk was warm and, as the disgusting smell of the blood reached Tom’s nose, he had to fight his stomach not to be sick.

“Pretend it’s strawberry milkshake!” he pleaded silently to his stomach with his smile super-glued to his face. “Just pretend it’s milkshake….”

And with that he gulped down the whole pink bowlful in one go. The men raised their spears in the air and cheered. Tom put down the bowl and wiped his chin.

As the grinning chief patted Tom on the back, Tom sighed with relief. This short ceremony meant that Tom was now welcome in the Maasai village. He would be safe here and everyone would look after him and make him feel welcome.

“That wasn’t so bad after all!” he thought to himself. “Still, I should be used to swallowing weird food and drink by now.”

The welcome ceremony was over. “That’s a funny sort of welcome,” thought Tom. “Remind me never to be unwelcome here!” The men stood up and guided Tom back through the village. Their bare arms rippled with muscles. They walked together past huts built with branches, twigs, grass, and mud. Chickens scratched the dusty earth, searching for food. Tiny children stared in amazement at Tom, the strange new visitor to their village. The sun beat down. The men were all laughing and chattering together about Tom’s performance drinking the traditional bowl of milk and blood. Tom could not understand their language but he saw that they were happy.

They led Tom to a flat piece of ground where he could set up his tent for the night. He felt happy. He was tired after another long day’s ride. But he had made new friends in this village, and he had a good place to put his tent for the night. Plus, he was having a real adventure.

Tom thought of his friends back home, wondering what they were doing right now. What would they think if they knew that Tom had ridden his bicycle all the way to Africa? He didn’t think that they would believe him. Would you believe that someone could ride their bike all the way to Africa? But it was true, all true. Tom finished putting up his tent and unrolled his sleeping bag. Then he thought back to how all this began….