As you will have read in our Rwanda travel diary the entry into Tanzania was not without it’s issues and our second impressions (because this is our 2nd time into Tanzania) were disappointingly worst than the first. The couldn’t care less attitude of the Tanzanian customs officials while we waited for the official to come back from lunch so that we could pay our “road tax” were immediately followed by terrible roads. As one user on iOverlander describes them: “potholes resemble bomb craters with extremely steep sides. Trucks bounce along with cabs swaying and oscillating like a fairground ride, definitely not for the faint hearted..”
Within the first couple of kilometres we saw two recent truck accidents/wrecks and a few kilometres later come to a grinding halt as the road crossed a small hill and held a huge truck jam. Initially we joined the queue but after realising that we had more chance of squeezing through than the trucks we inched our way forward past the first 20 trucks until we got to the real jam which was 4 trucks wide and no way around. It is amazing to watch how what at first appears to be total chaos and with no solution in sight slowly starts to take shape as one or two drivers begin to boss the rest around, eventually a couple of trucks inched their way past us down the hill and even though at only 2km/h they were still often locking up brakes and sliding past, then we would move upwards 50m or so and wait for the cycle to repeat.
A couple of hour later we were clear and moving freely or at least as freely as the “bomb like craters” would allow. As darkness approached we were left with two options, either bush camp or stop at the only lodge marked on iOverlander. Bush camping on the side of the road in this part of the world is not appealing so we opted for the Medy One hotel, located in a little cross roads village. Finding it was an adventure down tiny little streets crowded with informal vendors and once the gps showed us we were on top of it but still could not see anything, Stuart opted for walking to find it. While it was nothing special it was clean and secure even if the decor left a lasting impression – think gold curtains, pink mosquito net and a multi coloured bed spread. We made supper in the parking lot, 5 metres from the open air bar and then retired to our room.
Another day of not great roads followed as we headed westwards towards Lake Tanganika and Jacobsen Beach campsite. Jacobsens is a little piece of paradise but unfortunately our hopes of an extended and relaxing stay were dashed when there was no power point at the campsite and the days were overcast meaning our solar panel could not keep the fridge auxiliary battery fully charged. So after 2 nights we needed to move on.
Ideally we would have moved a few hundred kilometres down the lake to Lake Shore lodge as it was one of the few “must do” destinations we had in mind for this trip. It looks like a little bit of paradise and we thought we could down tools for at least a week, pump the SUP up and generally enjoy lake life. Sadly we learnt that they were closed until 15 February which meant that there was nothing left for us in Tanzania and with no sign of the rainy season abating the decision was made to head South for Zambia as quickly as possible.
Tanzania was however determined to not let us go that easily, the road from Kigoma (Jacobsens beach) while initially beautiful quickly turned into a slippery muddy mess thanks to the recent rains and once again we were confronted with a big truck and bus traffic jam. After sitting for a couple of hours while a bus which had slid sideways and blocked the road was cleared (by the passengers) we followed a couple of other local 4x4s through the narrow gap only to be stopped a few hundred metres further by another blockage. Over the next couple of hours we made slow but steady progress through the blockage. The blockage probably spread over 5km and 100’s of trucks and busses, so as we drove away we felt very sorry for all the passengers who would be spending at least one long night marooned there. It is amazing how things can change though, as we learnt from fellow traveller’s who come through a couple of days later that there was no sign of the chaos and it was an easy drive, goes to show what some heavy rain can do.
Video footage of us negotiating the mud blockade
After a long hard day we stopped in Mpanda to fill up with fuel and draw some money. While modern technology and ATM’s make life a lot easier these days, it is still not without it it’s stresses as often the ATM will appear to approve your transaction and then reject it. At least once a month these days we have an “approved” and then reversed transactions on our accounts. On this day however nothing seemed to happen and after two minutes of waiting a small amount of panic ensued as Tania thought the machine had eaten her card! Thankfully after another minute or so the machine spat the card out, so off we drove to try and find another ATM which might co-operate.
In Africa we try and stick to one hard rule – “Don’t drive at night”. In 6 months we have only broken that once, when entering Malawi from Mozambique after another epic day , but after the days delays we found ourselves chasing the setting sun and did eventually pull into our campsite on the outskirts of Katavi National Park a few minutes after dark.
Hippo Camp, while very basic, was a pleasant end to an exhausting day. The caretaker immediately set about lighting the donkey boiler so we could have a hot shower and so after a simple supper, we had a lovely hot shower and fell asleep to the sound of hippos grunting in the nearby river.
Apart from a dirt section through the park, thankfully from here on the road become normal smooth tar and so over the next couple of days we managed to tick off some big mileage to the Zambian border, although we did not dodge another hotel parking lot camping experience.
The Nakonde border between Tanzania and Zambia is meant to be a one-stop border post but couldn’t be anything further from the truth. By now we have crossed a few border posts and the one thing we always refuse to use is a runner/tout. This time however that was not possible, as we had driven past the Tanzanian customs office simply because it was outside the border zone with no signage other than “staff parking”. This meant we had to walk back to it in an attempt to get the Carnet stamped but as they couldn’t now inspect Mr Jones it was an “issue”, score one for our self-appointed tout who resolved the issue. Back at the “one-stop” offices immigration/emigration was relatively easy and in the some place but then none of the counters for paying road tax were manned so it was off upstairs to a very crowded office where our “self-appointed tout” jumped the lines to get that sorted. Through the the back corridors we went to another office so that we could pay carbon tax, but as they were offline a few more closed offices followed as the tout looked for a solution. It was at this point that Stuart realised that the “tout” was indispensable. The final step in the fantasy “one-stop” border post was we had to physically exit the border area to visit Zambia customs and get our Carnet stamped. It took about 2 hours with the tout and would have probably taken 6+ on our own! When will countries realise that borders are essential for trade and make lasting first impressions for tourists of the country.
Everything we had read of the next 300 – 400km of roads inside Zambia was horror stories but the first 60km after the border while by no means great were not too bad and we covered the distance in just over an hour before pulling off for the night at Kings Highway rest camp.
Day two in Zambia did however deliver the promised bad roads together with a multitude of stupid checkpoints. Invariably the police checkpoint would be just before a bad section of road and of course they would always ask to see our receipt for road tax, the irony was not lost on us but most certainly on them… We did hopefully restock a good dose of Karma by stopping and helping, in the pouring rain, a stranded car transporter who had two flat tyres on the Gelandwagen V8 TriTurbo he was driving. He was transferring the vehicle from Dar es Salaam to the DRC, a journey which would take him 8 days and for which he would earn the princely sum of USD300.
Climbing back into Mr Jones, drenched to the core, it was another reminder of the irony of Africa: on the ground is a poor soul doing his best to make a living and earning a basic wage while entrusted with a very valuable asset whereas the recipient is no doubt floating in cash from shady deals (of some sort or other) and mainly focused on image (cause why else would you order such a car with low profile tyres for a country like the DRC) rather than creating long term wealth or a sustainable environment.
During the course of the days driving we come to the conclusion that for a road to count as potholed in north western Zambia it must be able to at least absorb two wheels at a time and be as deep as half the tyre otherwise it is just a good smooth tar road with a few irritating holes.
Kapisha Hot Springs was a pleasant surprise after another long day on the road, it was just such a pity the camping is ridiculously priced otherwise we would have definitely downed tools for a couple of days. Nonetheless we thoroughly enjoyed our soak in the hot water before bed and again the following morning.
While soaking away our aches and pains in the morning we heard a tree come crashing down not too far away but didn’t think anything more of it, only to find when we got back to Mr Jones that in fact it had fallen right next to and partly on to Mr Jones. We did however get lucky in that the only damage to Mr Jones was a slightly dented bonnet which a day later we mostly panel beaten out.
Despite the soaks in the hot water spring we were still feeling a bit battered and travel weary so decided to do a short hop to Bayama Lodge, where we hoped to take a rest day. Bayama while not spectacular in terms of facilities was a welcome rest stop, firstly cause they had nice food at good prices, then as an overlander you only pay for the first nights camping and thereafter stay for free. Stuart was also able to borrow a drill from the owner and so pop rivet back one of the panels we damaged on the muddy Tanzania roads as well as remove the Fubared side step and generally give Mr J a good going over. In addition we removed the bonnet and panelbeated out some of the dents from our fallen tree incident.
As we continued our journey south towards the Lusaka the road thankfully improved but the police checkpoints did not decrease, blowing our earlier theory that bad roads followed any such checkpoint. The main focus of these later checkpoints seems to be checking to see if your hazard lights are working, we very quickly got to recognise when a checkpoint was approaching as all the cars/trucks coming towards you and in front would have their hazards on. Quite often if you approach the officer with yours working, he/she waves you through but if you don’t have them on they will for sure stop you and walk around the car making sure all 4 are flashing. Bizarre!!
Sometimes the simple things in life can make such a difference, like reasonably priced box wine and other goodies. All who visited us in joburg and hopefully enjoyed a lunch or evening on our deck will know we enjoyed nice wine and had a reasonably well stocked wine rack. Simple economics have however exposed us to the “joys” of box wine on this trip and we have even become connoisseurs of it, for instance we can reliably inform you that Overmeer Red pairs very well with curry. Having said this even box wine has been expensive since Mozambique and so finding almost normal ZA priced boxes at a Shoprite just north of Lusaka totally made our day. Before anyone gets too concerned we didn’t only buy box wine, other essentials were also stocked up on.
The rainy season continued to follow us as we left Lusaka and headed for Livingstone with torrential downpours for much of the drive, when it wasn’t rainy and the road allowed us to get a little speed Mr Jones started to shudder anywhere around 90km/h which was a little worrying.
Having experienced similar in Rwanda our initial diagnosis was a worn UJ on the front prop shaft and perhaps also an issue with the steering joints. Stuart was also worried about the water pump which seemed to have an annoying squeak. As Livingstone has a very well recognised Land Rover mechanic (Foleys) we stopped by to see if they could help but they could only see us on Monday so we settled in for the weekend.
The weekend brought LOTS AND LOTS OF rain, which at one point forced us to move camping spots and meant there was not much we could do in terms of activities but despite this, the forced couple of days rest was just what the doctor ordered. Over the last 10 days we had clocked more than 3000km’s and none of them on good roads so we were naturally rather tired.
On the Friday, Foleys had told us to come around at 10:00 on the Monday morning as they probably wouldn’t be finished a job they were busy with until then but being anxious to get the show on the road and being wary of “africa time” we pitched up at 8:30. Of course they were still busy with the vehicle from Friday and reminded us they were expecting us at 10, we left doubtful that they would in fact be ready but lo and behold when we returned at 9:55 the wheel nuts were being tightened and Mr Jones was being looked at only a few minutes later.
One hour later a quick but thorough check of Mr Jones was complete, with some items to watch but nothing which should stop us for now. As the border with Namibia appeared to be reachable by 3pm and nothing more to hold us in Zambia, it was an easy decision to hit the road.
Zambia however was not finished with us, as we headed west and as soon as we past the turn-off to the Botswana border post (Kazungula) the road deteriorated into a potholed mess, pretty much the some kind of mess that welcomed us a few days earlier on our entry from Tanzania. With a healthy set of dodgem driving and the use of the track running next to the roa, we covered the last 150km in reasonable time and did in fact reach the border post by 4pm and a really simple entry into Namibia at Katima Mulilo.
Our traverse of Western Tanzania and Zambia is certainly not the way we like to travel (sticking to the main road and ticking off kilometres) but the weather and many places being closed or inaccessible was not conducive to slow travel sadly.
Practical Information: Zambia Some useful information for entry and travelling through Zambia
Maintenance Log: The usual list of items requiring maintenance in order to keep ourselves and Mr Jones on the road
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