Travel Diary: Rwanda

Rwanda you blew our socks off! Although we only spent 10 days in Rwanda it currently ranks as our favorite country on this journey (after Mozambique for which we just have a soft spot). Every hour of every single day something impressed us, whether it be the proud and functioning civil society; the communities caring for each other; Happy children running with a bounce in their step, How random adults will help small little children (dressed in neat school uniforms) to cross the road; Adults moving about with vigor, Pretty gardens everywhere; Zero litter or even leaves in gutters, Smooth roads with fresh paint markings throughout. We could go on and on but really it has to be seen to be appreciated.

Our border crossing at Cyanika was perhaps even easier than the one from Tanzania to Kenya a couple of months ago and already on the Uganda side we got a taste of what to expect, money touts who politely asked if we needed money and didn’t hassle us when we said no but rather helped us navigate the various buildings you are required to visit in order to cancel the Carnet and get stamped out. Once through the Uganda side you need to remember to cross over the road as Rwanda is a Right Hand Drive country.

Rwanda is a land of curves and passes which naturally means stunning scenery but also slow driving and so the 120km’s to Kigali took quite sometime but we weren’t complaining as we marvelled at the scenery or how in the middle of nowhere there would be somebody tidying up a little section of the road. We probably drove over 5 -6 mountain passes and on each one we saw small pelotons of cyclists out training, we doubt it will be long until Rwanda has a cyclist challenging for the polka dot jersey in the Tour de France.

Wonderfully clean and well mantained roads

Another sign that the country is more advanced was upon entering Kigali and noticing how all the BodoBoda riders have helmets on, including their passengers, that and the fact that the traffic lights not only work but have count down timers on them. The traffic however is still pretty chaotic which combined with driving on the “wrong side” of the road means you need to be super vigilant. One of Stuart’s ex-colleagues (Dion Thompson) had kindly invited us to stay with him so we quickly stopped at his house and loaded up the washing machine before heading out to find a supermarket, bank and place to obtain a local SIM card.

Over the next 4 days, courtesy of Dions wonderful hospitality we got to see how vibrant, modern and metropolitan Kigali is. This is something we would have no doubt missed out on if just on our own. Of course no visit to Rwanda is complete without visiting the various genocide museums and so while Dion was at work we took ourselves off to the Genocide Memorial monument. The tour makes for a very emotional and quite draining 4hours. It is absolutely horrific to see the atrocities and hatred mankind is capable of and how the world pretty much looked the other way while it took place but then on the other hand it is amazing to witness how the country and people have rebuilt themselves over the last 25 years and in fact overtaken all of their neighbors in terms of development.

Perhaps due to a lack of planning (or because it doesn’t really matter whether you have carefully plotted a route or not when traveling like this) upon leaving Dion we ended up driving back over the some mountain passes we had crossed on our way in. Our destination was Red Rocks campsite on the way to Gisenyi, which one review in iOverlander describes it as “the most backpackeresque place we have been to in Africa. It ticks all the boxes with graffiti, guests with dreadlocks and weed smoke”, as well as that they support the local arts community and have a small recording studio on site. So we were expecting something different but it exceeded our expectations as Mr Jones got a starring role in a music video shoot. #MrJonesFanClub

When we arrived a crew was busy setting up to film a love song by a Rwandan artist called Edouce Softman, after shooting the first scene the videographer come over too admire Mr Jones and to ask if we would mind if they took a few shots with him as the background. Who are we to say No! Over the next 4 hours they shot various scenes and now we are holding thumbs to see if Mr Jones makes the final cut for his song “Ni Wowe”.

Our own #behindthescenes video of Edouce Softman: Ni Wowe

After the excitement of the film shoot a few days of relaxation on the shores of Lake Kivu was called for. Lake Kivu as with many of the other Rift Valley lakes is just huge, covering over 2700 square kilometres and being more then 450m deep. Across it’s waters is the Democratic Republic of Congo which is a stark reminder of how one country can rise up in 25 years and another can just slip further into darkness.

The drive around the lake and down to the camping areas we stayed at once again provided many slack jawed moments as we marveled at the scenery and tidiness of the rural areas. Most of the lake’s shoreline consists of steep hills covered in tropical forest, with little coves everywhere and the water dotted with multiple tiny islands. If we had to choose to live on a lake this one would currently be top contender.

Of course the campsites were once again nothing special and usually a study in contrasts, such as our first two nights were we camped in the backyard of a small guesthouse next to the staff kitchen and had a nightly audience to our own food preparation. In fairness they probably sat on that wall every night and chatted, we and Mr J just added something new to talk about. The stark contrast is evident as you step around the building onto the lakeshore and the most stunning views.

Further down the lake, we stayed in the grounds of a hotel but for a change we weren’t in the back and probably had the best view of all, parked down on the lakeshore lawns were lunch and drinks were served for the hotel guests. Of course Mr Jones did his best to grab the limelight, this time Stuart snapped a pic back of another fan club member as they passed by on a water taxi. A few minutes later Mr Jones latest fan club members (Francois & Benoit) had disembarked and had invited themselves on a tour of our living quarters.

Snapping “back” a member of Mr J fan club

A common activity that many lodges and campgrounds (throughout Africa) offer is a “cultural tour” of the local village where they take you on a walk through the village and you get to see and take pictures of the villagers going about their daily business, this has got us to thinking that perhaps we should create our own activities list: USD5 for a pic of us and Mr J or USD10 for a “cultural tour of him. If we had done this from the start we could have avoided drinking box wine or alternatively paid for half the trip by now. #MrJonesFanClub

Leaving Lake Kivu and the little town of Kibuye the Rwanda slack jawed moment’s continued, this time because the road deteriorated and was a potholed and gravel mess equalled with scruffy villages. The contrast to the Rwanda we had got used was so stark that it almost felt like this little section had been neglected or overlooked in Rwanda’s rejuvenation. Why would this be when the rest of the country has come so far? Also the people in the area generally appeared poorer and more apathetic, is that a sign of what poor infrastructure does?

Our intended destination for the day was a spot about 100km short of the Tanzania border so that we could get across the border early and have plenty of time to deal with what we had heard were terrible roads on the Tanzania side. To get there though we had to pass through Kigali once again and so having found a German butchery previously who supplied good quality and reasonably priced meat we made a stop to fill-up the freezer.

Since entering Rwanda we had noticed a small vibration coming through the car usually when powering up a hill or riding against the gears on a downhill and as we left Kigali this seemed to be getting worse so upon arriving at our overnight destination the rest of the daylight hours were spent trying to diagnose the issue. Not having a wealth of mechanical knowledge can make figuring out such issues a challenge but thanks to modern technology it is certainly easier these days. Having spotted some suspicious items Stuart sent off an email to the mechanic who has maintained Mr j over the years hoping to get a reply even though it was approaching 5pm on a Friday, thankfully Marc come back quickly with some advice. In the meantime a very suspect Universal Joint on the rear prop shaft was found and as it was now rather late, we turned to a Landrover facebook group and searched past discussions. This seemed to confirm that it was most likely the UJ causing the vibrations which fortunately we are carrying a spare for. The next days planned border crossing was scrapped for a maintenance day.

At first we attempted to do the repair ourselves but after struggling with the prop shaft bolts Stuart called it quits and we decided to rather take a slow drive back to Kigali and find a garage their. A call was made to Dion to see if he could find a suitable garage and in doing so we discovered it was UMUGANDA day and therefore everything would be closed until 11.

Umaganda which loosely means “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome” is a mandatory program on the last Saturday of each month which has been in place for the last 10 years. From 8:00 to 11:00 all businesses are closed, cars are kept off the streets and Rwandans come together in their neighbourhood to try and make it a little bit better than it was the month before. The evidence speaks for itself although it is not without some controversy as a lack of participation can result in a fine or even arrest.

We had just resigned ourselves to sitting on the side of the road waiting for 11:00 when a singular car drove past so we decided to risk it and follow, a few kilometres down the road at a traffic circle the police pulled over the Rwandan car but allowed us to pass. It turns out that while on Umaganda day Rwandans may not drive prior to 11:00 foreigners can and so for most of the journey back into Kigali we enjoyed blissfully quite roads. Upon arriving back in Kigali we had not yet heard back from Dion so first tried two garages marked on iOverlander but both were closed for the weekend, thankfully shortly thereafter Dions contacts come through with a garage that was open.

Mr Service Ltd is located down a dingy backroad and the first impression of the yard is not great but the Turkish owner and his staff were super helpful and professional and in just over an hour they had removed and refitted the prop shaft. Once again #MrJonesFanClub emerged, this time in the context of a small bidding contest between the owner and one of his customers for an offer on Mr Jones. We had a guaranteed offer of USD30k for him, not bad considering he is 25 years old, and an off the charts one of USD100k! Before temptation got the better of us we made a hasty retreat back to Dion’s house.

There didn’t seem any point overnighting once again closer to the border and so we made an early start from Dion’s knowing a long day was ahead of us, in the end it was 12 very eventful hours! The first drama of the day was a duplicate credit card transaction for fuel at a very smart Engen garage. We literally did not have a single franc in cash left on us so chose Engen as you could pay with your card but having driven away Stuart had a nagging suspicion that all was not in order, so an hour down the road we stopped and checked the banking app. Once again modern technology come into play as we chatted to the bank via the app on our phones and then filled in, signed and logged a dispute via the laptop and email. All done from the side of the road.

Once back on the road we were soon at the border only to be confronted with our next drama of the day, our stay in Rwanda was technically illegal! We had been given a 90 day stay upon entry and paid no visa fees, which it turns out is only allowed for those traveling on a diplomatic passport. After much back and forth we were told we had to go back to the Rwandan side of immigration, get a different stamp and pay for a visa. At any other African border post an issue like this would have opened us up to all sorts of potential issues but not in Rwanda were they were only intent on making sure the rules were applied correctly.

The border with Tanzania is a “one-stop” one but with offices on each side of a large river and depending on which direction you are going you use one or the other for both passport controls. In principle this works fine if you are heading in one direction only but in our case we now had to go against the flow of traffic twice in order to go back to Rwanda, get our visa and then back to Tanzania to follow normal emigration processes. Added to the above was that once all this was complete the Tanzanian official to whom we needed to pay road tax was on lunch and so we had to “wait”.

Leaving the border you are given one last reminder of the stark contrast between Rwanda and most other African countries, within 100m the road deteriorates into a potholed nightmare. As somebody prior to us had described it: “it is so bad the potholes resemble bomb craters”. More on that and the couple of remaining dramas for the day to follow in the Western Tanzania blog.

Africa is a beautiful continent and has much to offer but in our opinion for it to be truly wonderful, a giant leap forward is still required and Rwanda gave us a glimpse of how that may be even possible in the space of 2 decades. At the risk of repeating ourselves below is some of the impressions which really stood out as different to most of the other countries we have visited so far:

A proud and functioning civil society
Communities caring for each other
Happy children running with a bounce in their step
How random adults will help small little children (dressed in neat school uniforms) to cross the road
Adults moving about with vigor
Bicycles used as bicycles (even if transporting a load) and not just pushbikes
Productivity – Even in small or rural villages, people always appear busy, not just standing or sitting around talking away the day
Pretty gardens everywhere
Zero litter or even leaves in gutters
Somebody is always cleaning or tidying up the roadside (even on remote dirt roads)
Smooth roads with fresh paint markings throughout
Apart from the one exception, were road maintenance is required it is done by professional looking crews
A clean and smart capital city
A modern metropolitan and vibey culture in Kigali
Functioning street lights even in small towns
Traffic lights which work, have count down lights on them and are obeyed
Adherence to the law (Boda boda riders with helmets, water taxis with life jackets)
A society that partakes in physical activity for pleasure (cycling clubs, running groups, walking groups, basketball courts, etc)

For sure we did not spend long enough in Rwanda to get a holistic view of it and there must be negative sides to it as well nonetheless the positives made a big impression.

Links to other sections of the blog relating to our time in Rwanda:

Gallery: Rwanda

Practical Information: Rwanda

Captain(s) Log – January A glimpse into the emotions of life on the road

Maintenance log: A list of what it takes to keep us and Mr Jones on the road

Travel Diary: Kenya

Merry Christmas everyone, here is the latest edition of our travel diary, this one covers the relatively short time we spent in Kenya. In addition there are links to the picture galleries, our hopefully “practical info” pages for anybody perhaps planning a trip here in the near future and of course the obligatory maintenance log showing what has required attention (not just Mr. Jones related)

We never look forward to border crossing as you just don’t know what to expect and what hassles you will have however the border crossing into Kenya at the Namanga one-stop border post is by far the simplest and cleanest boarding crossing we have yet to do. Having said that, we were still approached by the inevitable tout (Omar) when filling up with cheap Tanzanian diesel just before the border. Omar was quite the character, he had the facial features of a Somalian, was missing more teeth than he had, wore a Maasai blanket and spoke fluent Afrikaans. He tried to weasel his way in with us and we did our level best to ignore him, at the border boom he tried to get his hands on our documents which naturally we refused and then he got into a small fisticuffs with another tout and was duly hauled away by security, no doubt missing another tooth. Once past the boom however you enter this lovely clean area with nobody hassling you and all administration for both countries handled inside one building, the person taking payment for road tax even providing us with a “hotspot” off his phone so that Stuart could get the OTP needed to process the credit card transaction…

The drive into Nairobi was quite simple and for Stuart it was quite noticeable to see some of the progress that Nairobi has made over the last few years since his last business trip there, with things like the bypass roads now fully complete and functional. Also the traffic was not too bad but perhaps that is because it was a Sunday afternoon.

For the first part of our stay in Nairobi we stayed at Jungle Junction which is an iconic overlanding campsite and has probably seen most overlanders at one time or another who pass through Nairobi. The “honesty” bar fridge and notice boards are covered in stickers and cards of travelers details from over the years and it was so nice to find our friends, Chris & Erin Ratay, sticker on the board with incredibly a space below it for us to stick our own contact details on.

In 2010 we met Chris & Erin in Malawi, at that stage they were enjoying one of their many annual 2 month breakaways from life in Colorado USA. Prior to settling in Colorado they had ridden their motorbikes around the world and hold a Guineas book of records for that. In 2011/12 when they rode their bike back from Tanzania to South Africa, we lent them Mr Jones for a couple of weeks and for them that was the beginning of the end for long term motorbike touring. A few years later, having now done much of South America on the motorbike, they returned to South Africa and purchased a Land Rover 130 Defender which they they have now driven across Africa to Europe. On their way north they stopped over in Johannesburg and introduced Vifaru to Mr Jones, now in virtual spirit we were able to reunite Mr Jones and Vifaru again.

East Africa has been experiencing exceptionally high rainfall this season which is being caused by a phenomenon known as “a positive Indian Ocean Dipole”, this occurs when their is a significant variation in the sea temperatures of the Western and Eastern Indian Ocean with the western side being much warmer. The resultant low pressure cell that forms over the Western ocean causes cooler airflow from East to West and subsequent heavy precipitation.

With all the rain, the Jungle Junction campsite often represented a swamp but we made do as best we could. While there Mr Jones got a well deserved service and we managed a few trips into the nearby shopping mall. On one of those we spotted an insurance brokerage and as we had had a nagging suspicion since entering Tanzania a month ago that the COMESA ( provides you 3rd party cover for East Africa) insurance purchased at the border may not be valid, we stopped past to check and sadly confirmed our suspicions. It meant we had been conned out of USD90, a month ago and had been driving around illegally during that time too. The plus side was to buy insurance for our time in Kenya was relatively cheap, the downside was that due to the regulations and our planned time in Kenya we weren’t able to buy COMESA for the remaining countries and so will need to buy insurance at each country as we enter it.

One of Stuart’s ex-colleagues who now works in Nairobi had invited us to stay over at his house and so on Friday afternoon we drove across town to the newer “expat” areas. This meant heading towards the city centre and the inevitable traffic, while sitting in one of the traffic jams a message popped up from Steve on the phone to which Stuart replied we are “currently at Stork Circle”, Steve’s reply of “see you tomorrow morning” sums up the traffic quite nicely.

Any visitor to Nairobi who has transited from the airport towards town will probably recognize what Stuart refers to as “Stork circle”, it is the chaotic traffic circle next to the national stadium were you are guaranteed to idle for a lengthy period and above which there are always a number of storks perched in the trees. If you are lucky they do not mark your car as you are stuck under their tree waiting for the traffic to start moving. In the end we got across town in under an hour, partly aided by a large bull bar and not being intimidated by the mini bus taxis.

It was great to catch up with Steve & Leonore, meet their new addition to the family (Alexander) and enjoy the simple pleasures of a home (on-suite bathroom, washing machine, large kitchen and freezer so that we could defrost ours, etc). Tania also got to indulge in a back massage which was well deserved after all the long hours in Mr J and one afternoon we took a short walk in Karura forest. This is a 1000ha forest within the heart of Nairobi and is a wonderful breakaway spot for many.

From Nairobi we headed to Lake Naivasha which although it is in the Rift Valley sits at a relatively high altitude of 1800m, the final descent into the valley is spectacular and we naturally stopped for the obligatory photos at the touristy viewpoints. Mr Jones had to do some wading in the last 15km as the tar road along the lake shore had been washed away and a torrential mini river was flowing through, for us the water was only up to the bottom of the doors but for many of the small cars going through it was rather deep. Camp Carnelly on the lake shore is located within a large Fever tree forest and is very pretty, unfortunately they did not have power at the campsite and with the cloudy weather combined with tree coverage it meant for the first time this trip our solar panel could not keep the fridge battery sufficiently charged and so we only stayed two nights.

80km further along was another lake and so with plenty of time on our hands we did some grocery shopping and then enjoyed a lunch at Spur, Naivasha was the last place we expected to find a Spur. The drive along the Rift Valley towards Lake Elmenteita is magnificent with fever tree’s lining the road and wonderful views across the Rift Valley, when not worrying about the Kenyan drivers overtaking antics.

The campsite overlooking Lake Elmenteita turned out to be a real gem with super friendly staff, electricity and hot showers. The only potential negative was the lack of shade but with the current weather that was not an issue for us. We had hoped to use the SUP on the lake but water craft are not allowed as the lake is a haven for Flamingos and Pelicans so we had to make do with watching them from our vantage point in camp. Although we are not great “twitchers” we did get to record some “lifers” while there with the help of WhatsApp , Stuart’s mom and google.

By coincidence, exactly 4 months after crossing the Tropic of Capricorn in the Kruger park we crossed the Equator, naturally we stopped for the obligatory photos. A real pleasant surprise and interaction here was how the hawkers left us entirely alone until we had taken our photos and only then did they approach, it was only lady hawkers and at one point about 5 of them had Stuart squashed up against the open drivers door as they leaned into the car peddling their wares to Tania. They were however so sweet and gentle with each only wanting to sell one item so long as their colleague also got to sell one that we ended up getting out of the car again and going to each stall to buy a small little item and drove away with smiles on our faces.

At the start of the day we had been undecided as to which lake to head to next, Lake Bogoria or Baringo, at the equator we decided for the latter. Lake Baringo is naturally very full at the moment and we ended up camped within 10m of the waters edge, however the camp staff assured us that the crocodiles were friendly ones and thankfully we only saw one baby during the 2 nights we spent there. The sounds of fish eagles calling and hippos grunting made for a beautiful background soundtrack and on the one afternoon we were treated to a young hippo frolicking and eating in the reeds just 20m offshore from us.

A curious hippo at Roberts camp, Lake Baringo

From Lake Baringo we intended to head east towards Eldoret and then Uganda with a stop at Naiberi for a night. The drive there was absolutely spectacular with the GPS leading us from valley floors at 1400m over two mountain ranges, the first at 2000m and the second at 2700m, initially on a minor tar road, then dirt and finally a very muddy pass. Just before the last pass we were confronted with a raging river but thankfully a couple of locals on motorbikes crossed over to us on a pedestrian bridge and showed us the way to a small concrete bridge which Mr Jones just fitted on. On the other side we stopped in the little village to consult the locals on how best to get to Naiberi, with conflicting opinions we decided to risk the pass as it seemed the shorter route. As we got higher and started to experience the first of the many to come landslides the trepidation grew but thankfully each time a track had been cleared through them and ultimately we were able to summit and join the tar road to Naiberi. We learnt a couple of days later that it is quite possible to drive all the way to Naiberi from Lake Baringo on tar but in fact the GPS mis-direction had given us a spectacular drive with great scenery and wonderful people interactions.

River or road, track through one of the mudslides

Although it had been a spectacular drive it had extended the planned ETA and so with only 15km to go until our planned destination we were looking forward to stopping and enjoying a cold beer. Unfortunately only 5km down the road a minibus taxi rolled as it was coming towards us and so we spent the next hour or more applying minor first aid, thankfully there were no major injuries with the worst being a broken collar bone. It was however sad for us to observe how many very smart SUV’s just drove past without any consideration to stop and attempt to help.

Feeling rather shattered we decided that dinner in the rather unique cave bar at Naiberi camp was in order while watching the Cape Town sevens rugby on tv in order to decompress from a day of very conflicting emotions.

Our intention the next day, was to stop briefly in Eldoret for some shopping and then head across to Uganda but the best plans are meant to be broken. While shopping in the very fancy Rupa’s Mall we were approached by a young Lady (Jenienne) who asked if we belonged to the Landy outside and duly invited us to come and stay on a farm nearby.

Before heading out to the farm, part of the shopping mission in Eldoret was to find a louder hooter for Mr Jones. IOverlander referenced a street with lots of spares shops, this turned out to be the “backyard mechanic” hub of town. Google maps took us into the street but it was total chaos and after running out of space we somehow managed to reverse back out while being hassled by boda boda’s (little 100c motorbikes) impatiently trying to squeeze past. Having parked in a quieter side street, Stuart returned on foot to see if he could source something suitable. Being the only Mzungu in a spot like this is guaranteed to create a lot of curiosity. Hopefully now the sheep which are forever wandering into Mr J path will react a little earlier, goats, donkeys and dogs are generally street wise sheep are absolutely clueless!

The Krugers are 4th generation Kenyan/South African farmers, in the early 1900’s a number of Afrikaaner families come to Kenya to farm in the Eldoret area and as we later learnt the Kruger’s are the last remaining family from that migration. Jannie & Jeannine together with Fanie & Carol were wonderful hosts, providing us with a whole house to ourselves and so we spent a couple of nights chilling on the farm and getting some chores done (clothes washing and High pressure clean of Mr Jones underside). The farm itself is spectacular with areas set aside for wildlife and the rest for farming. On an afternoon drive with Jenienne we observed Oribi, Duiker, a herd of endangered Rothschild Giraffe and heard how just recently they had captured and relocated a lone male lion who had wandered onto the farm and then disappeared and evaded all attempts to catch him for nearly 2 weeks. Stuart also got to hitch a ride with Jannie in the massive combine harvester as it is maize harvesting time, which was a new experience.

After 2 wonderful nights but needing to move on, we left the farm and headed for the Uganda border a few days later than originally envisaged.

Summary: Kenya surprised us, after Tanzania we were a bit jaded (in particular due to the corruption and park costs) but Kenya revitalised us. Kenyan’s are very friendly and helpful, English is well spoken throughout the country even when buying veggies or seeking directions in remote villages. Entering Kenya we didn’t really have a plan as to where to go other than stop in Nairobi and regroup, sadly the weather didn’t play along with us and because we have now decided we would like to get to Cape Town for April we ended up spending only 3 weeks in Kenya. We could however have spent much longer, firstly there is the coast North of Mombasa which looks stunning and then we found many little gems throughout the country and are sure there are many more and that is without visiting any National parks.

Gallery: Kenya

Useful links and Practical info for Kenya

Maintenance log: a list of the damages we incur or work required to keep both ourselves and Mr Jones on the road

Travel Diary: Tanzania

The latest edition of our travel diary, this one covers the month we have spent in Tanzania. In addition there are links to the picture galleries, our hopefully “practical info” pages for anybody perhaps planning a trip here in the near future and of course the obligatory maintenance log showing what has required attention.

Even though the Malawi/Tanzania border post (Kasumulu) is relatively small and we crossed on a Sunday it still was the typical African border post experience: Chaotic, slow, needing to source money via black market money changers as the ATM’s never seem to be working, negotiating for insurance, etc. On the positive side we seem to be getting better at not being swindled by the money changers, this time Stuart insisted on them giving the exact rate quoted by the Tanzanian Revenue service fee receipt and that they pay the authorities direct, only then do they get any USD from us.

Our first impressions as we left the border and started the climb up to Mbeya was of significantly less people density, less young children, less deforestation and far more open space with indigenous bush than Malawi. A very welcome change indeed. On the other side of the coin we encountered crazy driving and traffic on entering our first town (Mbeya), especially by the little tuk-tuks. Our first overnight stop was at Utengule Coffee lodge on the outskirts of Mbeya were we camped on the plantations helipad for 2 nights before starting our journey towards Dar es Salaam and the coast.

Not far out of Mbeya, Stuart got stopped for speeding, which he was in fact doing as he had sped up just 100m before the end of a 50 zone. The officer however only had a cellphone pic of the “offence” as the person manning the radar gun was situated 5km further back in a village. So began a rather long cat and mouse game as Stuart insisted on seeing the actual radar device, the operator then had to catch a motorbike taxi to bring it and in the process Stuart got to witness a number of under the table payments by the local offenders. This opened an opportunity to discuss the “issue” and in the end we drove away not having to payed anything but having learnt a lesson regarding where the speed zone ends exactly.

The distance from Mbeya to the coast is just over 800km but it took us 5 days, simply because after each day’s drive we felt we needed a rest day before tackling the next stage. The main reason for this is twofold, the speed limit constantly moves between 50 and 80km/h and then the rest of the road users are borderline crazy so the two combined require exceptional concentration levels. A best and worst case example of this driving is the video we captured of two fuel tankers overtaking us on a very steep downhill with blind bends ahead

The main highway to Dar passes through Mikumi National Park which means if you cruise along at a reasonable speed you have the opportunity to do some game viewing without paying the ridiculously overpriced Tanzanian park fees but perhaps the even better reason to game view is to ensure you do not accidentally knock over any animals as the fines are quite steep. We have no idea why a giraffe is more valuable than a lion but you most definitely don’t want to hit one of them.

As we had been warned by many that the traffic in Dar es Salaam is crazy and should be avoided at all costs, we turned North just before Dar and headed to a small town called Bagamoyo. Bagamoyo has a dark past as it was the main port for the ivory and slave trade in the 19th century, it was then the capital of German East Africa for a decade before that moved to Dar es Salaam. It has a small “stone town” of crumbling buildings from that time which we enjoyed a walk around until a short tropical downpour forced us to take cover inside the port entrance. The port is still very active with Dhow traffic as Bagamoyo is in fact closer to Zanzibar than Dar es Salaam

When pumping up our Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) in Malawi in order to paddle the lake in search of a spot to watch the Rugby World Cup quarter finals we had discovered a crack in the pump, Red Paddle (the SUP manufacturer) had been fantastic in sending out a new handle via courier for us. We had had that delivered to a colleague of Stuart’s brother and were planning to have to go into Dar to collect it but Benson was fantastic and brought it to Bagamoyo for us. Unfortunately the handle ended up not fitting so we arranged for another to be sent, this time for us to pick up in Nairobi.

We did however venture to the outskirts of Dar on one day in order to do some shopping and found a real gem of a shop called Shoppers Plaza. Normally we are a source of some fascination when we empty 5l water bottles into the water tank outside shops but this time we split up meat and repacked it for the freezer in the parking lot, boy did we attract a crowd. Much discussion was had about us in Swahili and all we could understand is that our “long safari” was being discussed, in Swahili safari means “to journey”.

In our initial trip ideas, a visit to Zanzibar was always on the cards but in the end we decided not to go across as firstly the current season of “short rains” is not ideal for visiting, secondly we would need to find a spot to store the car where we could it plugged into an electrical point so that our freezer didn’t defrost. It is not so easy to find such a spot that has reliable electiricity and will ensure it remains plugged. The final reason was we calculated a week in Zanzibar travelling independently would prove to be a rather pricey exercise and we could in fact get there cheaper flying from South Africa on a package trip.

So from Bagamoyo we decided to head up the coast a bit in the search of white sands and a spot to put down roots for a bit however to move only 80km north meant a 230km round trip, firstly going back inland and then back down to the coast as the alternative was traversing Sadaani National Park and we did not feel like paying USD140 just for that privilege. Not long after leaving Bagamoyo Stuart had another encounter with the Tanzanian traffic police and again dodged paying, this time by insisting on paying the official amount provided he could have a receipt and turning down offers for them to “help him out”. As luck would have it the receipt machine didn’t have signal (or perhaps this was by design) and so he was let off with a warning. It might appear like we are speedholics in Mr Jones which apart from being impossible it’s just that the police here are sneaky in the tactics to catch people. When chatting to other travellers the question always is how many fines have you paid versus warnings that you have been given by the traffic police, a form of cat and mouse that gets played out.

The trip turned even longer when the road back to the coast turned out to be 100km of dirt made very slow due to the many ruts recently ripped up by vehicles due to the unseasonal heavy rains the area has recently had. For the last 10km we wondered if the camp was even operational as the road kept getting narrower and often felt like little more than a footpath so we were delighted to find Barry’s Beach Lodge open but instantly disappointed when we saw the beach was littered with seaweed and generally not suitable for chilling on. Also it was incredibly hot and humid and the campsite was tucked back and “protected” from the breeze. With nowhere else to go we took out some beers and chilled on the lounger just above the beach, slowly our sense of humor returned and was helped along by a glorious sunset.

In the end we spent 3 nights there as it was quite pleasant chilling on the loungers and using the swimming pool. Swimming in the ocean was only feasible at high tide due to the big shifts in tides, at low tide the water was at least a 20 minute walk away. All in all it was a pleasant few days at Barry’s apart from a small incident Tania had with a coconut tree when making a supply run back to Mr Jones one afternoon.

We were still undecided whether to head into Kenya via the coastal route or to go inland and up to Nairobi and as the roads were in bad condition we made a short 2,5 hour move up the coast to a spot between Pangani and Tanga called Peponi. For the first time in years we had to haul out the recovery straps, so that we could pull a Landcruiser which had chosen to breakdown at the most in opportune spot on the ferry crossing at the Panga river. Peponi was the kind of spot we had hoped for 3 days prior with clean beaches, lovely treed campsite and a funky chill out area, so we stayed for 6 very relaxing days.

Peponi to the small port town of Tanga is only 30km but again it took over an hour due to the sorry state of the dirt road after the recent rains. After a little bit of a wander around we found a small superette to re-stock at and then set off for the East Usambara mountains and a spot called Enau Forest lodge. These mountains are only 45km front the coast and rise to 1000m in altitude so naturally get a lot of rain, especially in the rainy season which we find ourselves in. Halfway up our path was blocked by a truck which had slipped into one of the deep ruts and despite the drivers and various helpers best efforts it was clearly going nowhere. Out come Mr Jones recovery straps for the second time in a matter of days so that we could pull him onto hard ground.

Rescuing the truck from the mud

The road up passes through the Amani Forest reserve and we were expecting to pay park fees of USD30 so were not impressed when this turned out to in fact be USD65 for a short 1hour traverse through the protected part of the forest! Enau Forest Lodge was however very nice even if rather wet, Stuart got caught out and took shelter for 30minutes under a rock overhang when out on a short walk from camp one afternoon. We awoke to torrential and continuous rain on the third day and as we were operating off the solar panels decided it would be best to move, also we weren’t looking forward to the muddy descent and didn’t want to risk doing this later if the rains didn’t let up. The descent while requiring a lot of concentration and the use of low range in fact was a bit of a non-event.

Just a little further inland is the West Usambara mountains and again we were rewarded with a spectacular drive up to the highlands, this time thankfully on tar. The highlands are at 1400m above sea level and 1000m above the Maasai plains below, once again it receives a lot of rain but is less wild and therefore has a very well developed farming area. All in all it is a very pretty area. For our first night we camped at the Irente Cliff Viewpoint hotel, you camp in the rear parking lot but this gives you a spectacular view straight from your backdoor.

Stuart did a mornings guided walk to a different viewpoint and through the local villages and farmlands before we packed up and moved just 2km up the road to Irente Farm which has a lovely campground in the forest and is of course more peaceful than a parking lot. Using the knowledge of the area gained from the guided walk we did some short walks from here too.

We were hoping to get good views of Kilimanjaro on the drive to Moshi but unfortunately it remained cloaked in a layer of cloud all day. The day ended with a bit of a bitter taste in our mouths after a run-in with some scam artists at the Coffee Tree campsite and we ended up spending another night behind a hotel in the parking lot/campsite. It was at least peaceful and in the morning the clouds had cleared and we could get a look at the snow capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

From Moshi we headed westwards, stopping for some shopping in Arusha before heading towards the Ngorongoro & Serengeti reserves. Sadly we wouldn’t be visiting either as the park fees are just exorbitant, a 24 hour trip into the park and descent into the crater would set us back USD580! Our planned stop for the night was Migombani which is perched halfway up the escarpment overlooking the Rift Valley and Lake Manyara National Park. Initially Stuart couldn’t find it on Tracks4Africa so we were using google maps which took us along the roads it has on record and deposited at a very large camp on the top of the escarpment, effectively the closest point on google maps but directly above Migombani. It was in fact quite a nice diversion with good views on the way up the escarpment but not fully appreciated at the time.

Migombani camp is a real gem with the best ablution facilities we have had all trip, a lovely pool overlooking Lake Manyara and for the first time in a number of weeks we got to interact with a number of other overlanders. It was very easy to spend 4 nights here, although we did almost get washed away a few times due to the occasional torrential storm.

Stormy weather makes for fun photo opportunities

An early start got us to the Kenya border just before lunch, all along the way was evidence of the heavy rains we have had the last few days with overflowing rivers, debris washed onto the road and flooded low level crossings.

Tanzania East & Central Gallery

Captain(s) Log: a different view of the ups and downs of daily travel life

Useful links and practical info for Tanzania

Maintenance Log: a list of the damages we incur or work required to keep both ourselves and Mr Jones on the road

Tag: #traveldiary