The Journey...

8th January 2010 – 10th January 2010 – A Tale of Four Cities and a Lot of Driving

8th January

I had another day off on the 7th where I went for another walk, but in comparison to the other day it was relatively uneventful. The only issue of note would be the fact that I had to pack up my bag as my time in Bukoba was over.

Salum returned from Dar es Salaam on Thursday evening. He told me that we would be leaving very early the next morning. We were expecting to leave at 6 for a long drive to Mwanza. At Mwanza we were to spend the night before another early start to drive to Arusha. After another night the final leg of the journey to Dar would be endeavoured!

Somehow managing to get myself up and ready at about 5:30, I had a knock at my door where Salum asked if I was ready to leave. It turned out that we left Bukoba before 6. It was still dark at this time, but somehow it was still warmer than most days in England. As we drove along a fairly good road, every so often there would be people emerging from the side of the road to try and catch a lift. It was quite eerie seeing the figures of people slowly approach the roadside. It was almost as if these people were nocturnal and looking to get somewhere before the sun came up! Speeding along at 120 kph, quite a worrying speed given the size of the road, Salum was making some very good time. A bird almost left it too late to fly out of the way, and Salum may have swerved a little bit, but the lucky bird was able to live for another day!

After about an hour on the road we encountered a herd of cows that were blocking the path. Eventually these moved out of the way and the good road gave way to a work in progress. For the next two hours of the journey we were traversing a dirt road that was running alongside a channel. The channel was between 1 and 5 metres deep (varying in places) and a road was supposedly being laid there. Between bumps and narrow roads and occasionally getting caught behind trucks which can’t get up the hills, the road luckily changed to tarmac and the going was good again.

We were driving south alongside the lake. There were some amazing views of the lake, and I was quite surprised as to the number of islands that float along the water. So after a quick stop for some photographs, we started back on the good road! A weasel-like animal crossed across the front of the car, got about halfway and changed its mind. This was not a good choice. But there was only a small bump so I didn’t feel so bad! Soon after the weasel incident we stopped at what would be equivalent to a service station. Breakfast was a beef broth with a chapatti and a cup of tea was surprisingly good. We’d been on the road for about 3 and a half hours and I hadn’t realised how hungry I actually was.

After another few hours on the road I noticed a sign in the town of Geita indicating that a gold mine was located 5 km away. This seemed odd to me, why would you so readily advertise that? We headed in the opposite direction to the gold mine and got onto a bad road. We bumped about for another hour, passed through a lightning storm and we approached the ferry. We’d been travelling for about 8 hours at this point, and after a while the ferry appeared. The boat took us across a fjord-like aspect of the lake, and after a half hour we were back on another poor road.

When we arrived at Mwanza I couldn’t help but draw parallels between the town and many Eastern European towns. The architecture seemed similar, although I may have been imaging it. The town seemed very dirty, and it did not have the same charm that Bukoba has.

I stopped in a hotel which only cost 15,000/ per night. That is about £7.00. As it turns out there was a reason for this. Although the bedroom was okay itself, the bathroom was not good. The toilet kept a constant flow of water coming from the cistern, and the shower had loose, exposed wiring. It also had a tendency to randomly drip small trickles of water.

I avoided using the hot tap on the shower and was very glad to leave the hotel at 6 the next morning. I wouldn’t recommend staying at the Wande Hotel. I’d look elsewhere in future!

9th January

Before running away from the hotel, I braved another cold shower in the room. It was still dark when we left but after about half an hour on a decent road the sun started to pull itself up. The finish point for the day’s journey was Arusha, via Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. It was going to be a very long journey.

We headed on in the direction of Serengeti, which involved going north along the east shore of Lake Victoria. Nothing much happened on the journey to the Serengeti except I saw a sign to warn drivers of cow...but rather specifically Friesian cows. It was a detailed sign.

We arrived at Serengeti after two and a half hours, and $50 and 15,000/ to pay for permission to drive across the park. Even before driving through the gate a troop of baboons walked by as if to let you know that you were in the right place.

The road in the park was a gravel track but it was relatively smooth and it was less bumpy than I thought it would be. We were in the park for about 5 minutes before we encountered some gazelle and zebra and wildebeest. This was setting the trend for the rest of the day. There were warthogs and more deer, and then a bit of a drive with no wildlife. Soon after this dry patch, we encountered a couple of hyena looking for something to eat. I’d set my hopes on seeing elephant and giraffe and I was not expecting to see much more. As I was thinking this to myself we came across four elephants casually destroying the trees with their trunks. I’ve seen elephants in the zoo and thought that they were rather large. However these wild elephants appeared to be about the size of the moon. They were huge and so fantastic to see. About 3 minutes after seeing the elephants we stumbled across several giraffes. It was as if I was being spoilt by nature. I was really happy about seeing the animals and I thought if the luck would continue. As we came to some more gazelle I noticed that there was a little rodent running around near them. I thought it would be good to appreciate the little animals as much as the big animals so I took a couple of pictures! We came across some buffalo which I was amazed to see. I was quickly informed by Charles that if the car broke down then we would be dead within minutes as the buffalo would be goring us with the massive horns. This was some nice information to process so we drove on. We passed some more zebra, one of which had a bird hitching a ride on its back. Quite cheeky of it, I bet it didn’t ask for permission. After some more zebra and buffalo and antelope and more glorified pigs we then stumbled on some baboons and some more giraffe. We hit another wildlife dry spell for a while and then saw some ostriches and a few different kinds of monkey. After a quick stop to fill up the car with some petrol we passed a tour operator who told us they were off to see a cheetah in a tree. I was a bit puzzled by this because as far as I know it is leopards that carry food into trees. It was incredible to see the big cat in the tree casually munching away at its dinner. Just up across the branch was a cub. We didn’t stay long, and it was pretty hard to take a good photo of the animals. I felt quite happy that I’d seen it, but I still had hopes for seeing a lion. Salum said that we should get a move on because we still had to get through Ngorongoro. On the last stretch of road before the next park we encountered a huge eagle sitting on a rock. It didn’t do much so we didn’t stop for long. Just as I was giving up hope of seeing the lions we came across four lionesses sitting on a rock about 5 metres from the road. I took millions of photos of the lazy animals. I assume that they had just eaten because they were very lethargic and didn’t seem to mind the car that stopped very close to them!

I was very happy with all the animals that I had seen, and I was looking forward to seeing Ngorongoro. So after a short break and another $50 and 15,000/ to pay to drive through the next park we were on the way again. Across the flat plains of Ngorongoro there were hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra. I’d never seen so many animals in one place at one time. Words can’t describe the scene. I would only suggest that you go an experience it for yourself. It was mind blowing. Passing through Ngorongoro we saw lots of Massai. A couple of girls tried to get us to stop and buy some beads from them, when we didn’t stop they threw rocks at the car. It was a bizarre experience, and somewhat hostile, just because we didn’t stop. Ngorongoro has some spectacular scenic views. If I had the time I would spend a few days just roaming around and taking photos. As Salum was keen to get through the parks I only managed to take a couple of shots, and most of them were while the car was moving which is slightly disappointing.

It took 5 hours to cross the parks and I had taken something in the region of 400 photos. We stopped in a town after the parks and had some dinner. This was the first time in over 24 hours that I got to eat. Unsurprisingly I was quite hungry so dinner didn’t last long at all! We drove for another 2 hours before we arrived at Arusha. The hotel that we stayed in was a relatively plush place. It cost twice as much as the place in Mwanza but it was well worth it! All in all, the day was the best experience that I have had in Tanzania so far. I would do it all again at a drop of a hat. Unfortunately the words don’t seem to do it any justice so I would recommend doing it all for yourself.

10th January

After the excitement from the day before I was looking forward to getting to Dar es Salaam as soon as possible. I wanted to check the photos and make sure that they were up to scratch. The day started in a slightly more fun fashion...an 8 o’clock start off time.

I had had a very comfortable sleep the night before and I felt quite refreshed. I even had time to grab some breakfast before we set off on our merry way. It is about 650 km or so from Arusha to Dar, so we were in for one last bout of heavy driving. Luckily most of the roads were friendly and nice.

So having left off at 8 we made some very good progress and it wasn’t long until we were in the metaphorical shadow of Kilimanjaro. This is a huge hunk of rock that seems to be located in an almost questionable location. It sort of seems out of place, but you know it can’t be. The foothills to the mountain and the mountain itself took up about 90 degrees of my vision for the majority of the trip along the Arusha-Moshi road. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating with me, and the clouds covered the top half of the mountain. I was a bit disappointed because a picture of the snow capped peak would have been lovely. Never mind though. Perhaps another time.

The scenery was spectacular again. The road followed a chain of mountains which were just high enough for clouds to be breaking over them. It was a fantastic view and I caught a couple of moving pictures on the way. We stopped briefly to stretch our legs and I got out to shoot some photos, but I could really feel the intensity of the heat. It was like being in the middle of a desert, although it wasn’t very desert-like.

The amusing sign that I saw this day was one suggesting that drivers slow down because there are strong winds ahead. I like the way that the meteorological system in Tanzania can be so accurate. Other than the amusing sign, and the Liverpool F.C. restaurant that I saw in Moshi the trip was comparatively dull. The roads were long and boring, and there was a lack of entertainment.

We tried stopping for lunch at another motorway service centre equivalent, but there were 8 or 9 coaches there already, and the place was packed tight! We grabbed some biscuits for the journey and then headed back to the road.

The traffic jam for Dar started about 25 km outside of the city. We crawled along the road and eventually the city became apparent. Dar is not built up like many western cities, but rather it is built outwards in a sprawling nature. It is bizarre to see. It was very muggy and quite dusty but it seemed okay for the first few minutes. We stopped to drop off Charles at his housebefore heading to the hotel where I stay for a few nights. The hotel is much nicer than the one in Arusha, and it has a pool which looks quite cool.

I’ll be sure to let you know how my adventures in Dar go over the next few days. Right now it is time to stop typing...