Buns In: How to Pee in the Bush Without an Audience

Photo Credit: Michael Kariuki @_mkariuki and Zawadisha @zawadisha

Bikepacking Through Kenya, Kula Cloths & One Very Cool Human 🌍.

I have some pretty cool friends in the outdoor industry, and Jen Gurecki is definitely one of the coolest.

Jen is the founder of Coalition Snow, a pioneering women-owned ski and snowboard brand that closed its doors last year. After facing cancer, Jen decided to take her business in a different direction, focusing more on something that has always been at the heart of her work: connection and community.

And that's where Far Out came from.

Through Far Out, Jen curates and leads incredible adventures, including ski trips in Japan and bikepacking trips through Africa.

And here's where Kula comes in!

For Jen's most recent bikepacking trips through Kenya, every single participant received a custom Kula Cloth! (I'm a little jealous of them, actually.)

Buns In: How to Pee in the Bush Without an Audience

Peeing in the bush in Africa is not as simple as finding that one perfect shrub that magically hides your front and back parts from bystanders. Quite the contrary. The “bush” in Africa refers to the gorgeous, vast, wild landscape peppered with acacia and African myrrh trees, sprawling with wildlife, and home to communities that have existed in harmony with nature for hundreds of years.

Meet the Welcome Committee

Those communities? They’re full of children who think a group of women and non-binary folks riding bikes along the dusty dirt roads is the most wild and perplexing thing they have ever witnessed.

While you’re busy picking up your jaw as you ride past a tower of giraffe, those kids are playing a game of telephone. Before you know it, literally everyone and their mother who lives within a 20km radius knows you’ll be pedaling past them in just a few minutes.

And that’s what makes peeing in a bush nearly impossible when in the bush.

Before we set out on our cycling trips in Kenya, we always share six tips on how not to scar local children as you frantically pull down your bibs to pee while cycling through Kenya:

1. Read the trail. If you see paths created by motorbikes or the hoof prints of domesticated animals like cows and sheep, there are people nearby. You may not see them, but they likely see you. Have fun on that single track they’ve created, but keep your pants on.

2. Follow the 20-minute rule. Wait until you haven’t seen any signs of humans for at least 20 minutes. Then squat, buns in, at the nearest bush you can find. Don’t wait for a better one. Chances are, there won’t be a bigger one around the corner. What you see is what you get.

3. Outlast your fan club. You must ride long enough to tire out the gaggle of children who have decided to run as fast as they can to keep up with you. You will continue to be awed by how long they can keep up once you have ridden through their community.

4. Use props. At water and refuel stops, position the tire of the support vehicle between you and the onlookers.

5. Build a human shield. If all else fails, create a human shield. Not the most traditional way to make new friends, but in a pinch it works.

6. Leave No Trace. And finally, Leave No Trace by using your Kula Cloth! Attach it to your bike underneath your seat so that it’s easy to grab when you need it, but not in the way when you’re trying to shift gears or unzip your frame pack. We’re not going to be those visitors who leave our toilet paper under a tree that will soon become dinner for an elephant.