tanzania

14.04.08 - George arrived again bright and early in the morning, he again got our fire going and was given a cup of coffee for his trouble.  We also met his wife and kids although they were either shy or could not speak English very well as they said nothing.  George waved us off and we were back on the road again, after being in Rwanda where you can basically drive around the whole country in a day it was very depressing when we were not making very good progress, we soon realised it would take three days and not two which we originally thought to reach Dar es Salaam.  Even with the roads being good tarmac it was still slow going, we drove all day before finding somewhere to camp again.  This time we were inundated with people who just came to watch us, we got on and cooked and ate and they still stayed watching not really saying anything to us.  A couple of guys we paid to collect wood for the fire, then took it upon themselves to tend the fire for the next few hours much to Alan’s annoyance who always likes to be in charge of the fires.  Eventually Troy had to ask them to leave and found out that they were hanging around thinking we may want them as guards for the night, we politely declined their offer and they finally made their way home.

15.04.08 - Our friends arrived back very early and apart from saying good morning they watched us in silence as we ate breakfast and packed up.  The road started off ok, but soon deteriorated where it had been washed away, the next few hours were spent avoiding dips and holes and frantically winding up the windows every time anything passed us to stop too much dust coming in the car.  Finally reached Dodoma mid afternoon, first stop was a cash machine then we did a bit of shopping.  Decided to try to find somewhere to camp just outside Dodoma, found a really nice secluded spot where we were not found by anyone all night, we had a very nice evening around the fire not feeling like we were exhibits in a zoo.

16.04.08 - Kevin & Philippa had decided they were not now going to Zanzibar and were heading south as they only had another few weeks before they wanted to be back in South Africa.  We said our goodbyes and they headed off a little earlier than us as they have far more miles to go.  We set off fairly early, the road to Dar es Salaam was very good, we arrived mid afternoon, got the ferry across to the south beaches and checked into the Sunrise Beach Resort where we set up camp right on the beach, there are several other overlanders staying here, one couple who are Dutch and are travelling north had met Regentas.  After five days of not showering we were all desperate for a shower, but stupidly headed for the bar first which is where we stayed drinking far too much, we finally showered very late and headed for bed.

17 to 19.04.08 - Spent a very relaxing few days on the beach, caught up on all the washing etc.  As we were by the sea thought it would be nice to buy some fish, the first day of trying we were unsuccessful, the following day Taryn & I bought 6 fish from a spear fisherman fresh from the water, and unfortunately Troy & Alan who were in town did not get our message and brought back another 5 fish.  Whilst wondering what we were going to do with 11 fish for 4 people, the manager of Sunrise arrived and invited us to a fish BBQ they were putting on that night as they had a photographer taking promotional pictures of the place.  As our fish needed cooking the chef agreed to cook it on his BBQ with the rest so we could make a curry with it the following day.  Had a lovely evening of free food and wine with the candlelit tables on the beach.  Unfortunately it did rain several times over the few days but usually not for long and it was still incredibly warm.  The plan was to spend a couple of days here and then head off the Zanzibar, although the place is so idyllic we were wondering why we are going to leave and go to Zanzibar at all.

20.04.08 - Left the car in the Sunrise as they will store for you whilst in Zanzibar.  We had decided to go on the Flying Horse which is the slow ferry across which is half the price of the others.  Got onboard and were pleased to see a tv thinking they would put on a movie or something.  For 4½ hours we ended up watching a dubbed Spanish porn series with all the rude bits taken out, every time it looked like it was going in that direction it suddenly went to an advert, at one point we went to adverts every couple of minutes.  Considering that most of Zanzibar is Muslim this seemed a very strange thing to have on the tv, however as crap as it was Taryn & I ended up glued to it!!  Reached Zanzibar walked out the gates and were immediately pounced upon by the touts, we had expected this but could not believe how bad they were even telling them to F*** off does not make them leave.  We had already decided to stay at the Garden Lodge Hotel so made our way there with touts following us all the way; thankfully when we got to the hotel the security guard chased them off.  After a quick freshen up we were back out for some more hassling while we found somewhere to eat.  Went into a bar on the beach for a drink ordered a Savannah but were told they had run out, then ordered a white wine but were told that had also run out, so eventually I ordered a sex on the beach cocktail.  Everyone else’s beers arrived, eventually the waiter comes out with my drink, he puts down 3 glasses in front of me  and explains that this is my cocktail, shocked I check what is in the glasses, the first was a quarter glass of beer with a dead fly floating in it, the second looked like the dregs of someone’s coke where the ice has melted in the bottom, the third was a slice of lime, it looked like he had cleared someone else’s table and given me that.  Much to the waiter’s surprise I told him to take it back and bring me a coke instead as thought now it may be the safest option.  Left there and went to a new Indian restaurant with the intention of having a meal, however we first went to the bar and after a couple of hours drinking thought it was a better idea to just stay there.  The tables in the bar only have 2 chairs around them but instead of bringing a couple more they brought cushions for Taryn & I to sit on, Troy thought this was great having the women sat at his feet!!  Finally left a little the worst for wear and made our way back to our hotel.

21.04.08 - Went for a walk around Stone Town and soon decided we did not want to stay any longer so arranged for a taxi to take us to the beaches in Paje, this also turned out to be a mistake as when we got there we found very few places open.  We ended up at the Mount Zion Beach Resort which was meant to be open but were not really set up for guests.  The manager guy was lovely and rushed out to buy in some beers and food for our evening meal, in the meantime all we had to drink was a bottle of Gin & a bottle Southern Comfort that Troy & Alan had bought in Stone Town which we mixed together with a dash of soda and slice of lime to make a very potent blend.  Soon we were all feeling very merry which was a good thing as we had found out that the place had no water, although they did put a bucket in our room to flush the toilet and we had fleas in the room for which they gave us some spray.  We then decided we would only stay the one night and leave Zanzibar altogether the next day as we had not enjoyed the island so far and kept thinking about what we had left behind in Dar es Salaam.  We did have a good evening and when the place has water, no fleas and other guests you can see it would be very nice, our evening meal was excellent and the manager did his best to make us feel at home.

22.04.08 - Rang the taxi to come and pick us up to take us back to Stone Town, the journey back we lost count of the amount of times we were stopped by the police each time the driver gave them a piece of paper they had a brief exchange of words and we were off again, we started to think we would never make it back.  As the slow ferry does not leave until midnight we decided to go on one of the quicker ones instead.  Bought our ticket and with an hour or so to spare went to the Freddy Mercury bar for some lunch which ended up being a takeaway as by the time it finally came we didn’t have time to sit and eat it.  The crossing back was very rough we saw and heard many people around us being sick and the ones that weren’t just looked green.  We were also struggling not to be sick as we were feeling rough before we even boarded the boat due to the drinking the night before.  The only one on the whole boat who seemed not to be effected was Troy who sat there happily reading the whole trip.  It was such a relief when we made it back not only to be off the boat but also to be back in Dar es Salaam, we then had to get the ferry to the south beaches and a taxi back to Sunrise Beach Resort where we planned to stay a couple more days.  

23.04 to 02.05.08 - The last 10 days have been spent relaxing, sunbathing and trying to drag ourselves away from paradise.  Our laptop died on us so spent a few days walking around the shops trying to convince ourselves to part with our money to buy a new one.  We finally got one and brought it back only to find ours now working again, we are going to keep the two at the moment as we are not sure whether it was just damp and will be fine now or whether it will stop working again in the future.  We found a place to get our wheels balanced so hopefully we can drive faster than 80kmh again which should make getting around a bit quicker, I think we have also checked out every supermarket in Dar es Salaam and spent a fortune in the process.  We were also reunited with Chris & Janet who arrived last weekend, it was quite a surprise to see them as I had got my dates wrong and thought they had already left for their months trip back to England.  We caught up on everything we had both been doing since we parted in Gonder usually over a few drinks from the bar.  As we would be parting from Alan & Taryn for a while as we are heading to Kili and they are going straight to Malawi we decided it was about time we became self sufficient by buying our own lighter, matches and BBQ all of which we have been relying on them for.  The weather has been much better since our first stay and we have managed sunbathing and swimming in the sea, we  have even managed a couple of runs on the beach in training for Kili which has just confirmed how unfit we now are after so long sitting in the car.  The day before we were going to leave Troy woke feeling very ill and spent most of the day in the tent, as there is little point going to Kili feeling unwell we have had to stay another day.  However we had to say goodbye again to Chris & Janet who headed off to Zanzibar for a few days and Alan & Taryn who are heading south.  Today it seems very quiet just Troy and I, we will hopefully be leaving tomorrow.  We cannot believe we have been here so long the place is so relaxed and the company so good, that time has gone by so quickly without any conscious thought, but we are now looking forward to stepping back into the hectic pace of life on the road.

03.05.08 - I woke feeling like death having caught Troy’s cold, we packed up both having to stop every few minutes to blow our noses.  We finally left and headed for the ferry, whilst waiting with us both sniffing we started to wonder if climbing Kili is really such a good idea with the way we are both feeling on top of being so unfit.  We drove until we reached the junction to turn off when Troy suddenly decided to keep going and head for Iringa instead, at least now we will have a reason to come back to do Kili in the future when we haven’t been sat in a car for months.  The problem we had now was that we had left Dar with very little food as were thinking it would go off whilst we were climbing and so unknowingly I was deprived of my last visit to the supermarkets.  We drove until we reached the Mikumi National Park where we drove straight through on the main road seeing a few elephant, giraffe and zebra; we stopped just down the road from the main gate at the Genesis Motel where we could camp in their gardens.  As we didn’t have much food we decided to have a meal in their restaurant even though at first glance it looked expensive, however we did not read the menu properly and what we thought we were paying for one main meal turned out to be 4 courses.  First they brought out a bowl of popcorn which we ate thinking it was just a way of getting us to drink more, then they brought out soup which I tried to say we had not ordered but they left it anyway, after we had finished the soup they then brought out the biggest meals we have ever seen, by now we were struggling and when I had finished it didn’t look like I had even started, so I was even more shocked when they then brought out a plate of fruit each for us.  We ended up leaving the restaurant stuffed and got straight into the tent to lie out and watch a movie as we were too full even sit up anymore!

04.05.08 - Packed up and left early heading for the Old Farm House just past Iringa, on the way we were stopped for speeding.  The police were stood only a few feet past the speed limit sign as you enter the town which gives you no chance of slowing down in time without slamming your brakes on.  Troy tried explaining this to the officer who just said that if we wanted to dispute it we could go to court, Troy said this was fine he would go but first wanted to see the calibration certificate of the speed camera.  The officer looked a little cheesed off, went to talk to his mate then came back and told us we could go.  We drove off feeling pleased with ourselves that it had worked as we had no plan B if they had managed to produce a certificate.  We stopped in Iringa town on the way through to find an ATM and hopefully a shop to buy food.  The first we managed ok although every ATM in the town had a huge queue, the second we did not manage, although we found out later that there was a good market there but being a Sunday we think it may not have been open as we never found it.  We made it to the Old Farm House where we were greeted by a very surprised Alan & Taryn who expected us to be half way up a mountain.  It was Alan’s birthday which Troy took as a good excuse to head straight for the bar.  There were 2 other South African couples also staying there who were heading north so we swapped some waypoints and stories with them.  We had a lovely meal in the restaurant and then spent the rest of the evening drinking around the campfire which was really needed as due to the altitude it gets very cold at night which is something we have not been used to for a long time.

05.05.08 - Spent a lazy day in the camp, catching up on reading about Malawi and deciding where we want to go and what we want to do.  We managed to buy some mince beef which is the farmhouses own produce.  We spent another evening drinking and sitting around the campfire.

06.05.08 - Decided that we did not want to rush to the border so drove to Mbeya where we managed to do some shopping and find some internet as needed to update the website as were getting so far behind.  However we were back to slow connections again and after 40 mins and only being able to upload 3 pages in that time we gave up and left to find somewhere to camp the night.  We ended up at the Mbeya Green View Inn where we could camp in their grounds.  We ate and then all feeling tired from the previous evening headed off for an early night, also knowing we would be awoken a 5am by the mosque that was right next door.

07.05.08 - We were woken but not by one but three mosque’s one of which started 10 minutes early.  After they had finally stopped it was pointless trying to sleep again so thought we may as well get up and get an early start as we had the border crossing to do into Malawi.  Made very good time reached the border, customs and immigration was easy both ends and we were back on the road again in another new country.  Stopped in Karonga to stock up on money and food from the Peoples supermarket, then we drove to Chitimba to stay at the Songalina Sanctuary which is a lovely place right on the bank of Lake Malawi.  Managed to buy beer and wine town, which was a mistake as we all ended up drinking far more than we should have.   


Final thoughts: We left Tanzania feeling a little disappointed that we had not done Kili but it does give us a good reason to go back again.  The country is lovely and huge especially after Rwanda, the people are relaxed and you are not hassled.  Tanzania is an expensive country though, fuel is almost UK prices and the parks are just ridiculous.  We would have liked to have gone to the Serengeti but it is double the price of the Masai Mara with from what we have heard less chance of seeing the animals.  We have several more opportunities of going to game parks in other countries so do not need to bother with the greediness of Tanzania.  Parks aside we really enjoyed Tanzania especially our time at Sunrise.