Days 69 to 72 – Makuzi, Malawi

Makuzi is one of those hidden gems in Africa that you find by chance. Last time we were in Malawi we went from beach camp to beach camp to try and find the best spot and settled on this one and strangely enough, when Lisa was looking for somewhere to book for them to stay she chose the same one. It is just below Chintheche where Wilderness Safari has a camp but Makuzi is tucked into a little bay with rocks, white beach sand and the most beautiful huge shady trees to camp under. The lodge itself is a little rustic but very charming and Laura and Brett, the owners, are such interesting people and good hosts.

Laura's mother bought the place about 18 years ago and started to develop it into a lodge but was tragically killed in a Hang gliding accident when she was only 45 years old. Laura then took over the place and she and her husband Brett and their two boys have run it since then.

The water in Lake Malawi is very clean, clear and you would honestly think you were on the ocean with sand, waves and sea water but this is so much nicer because it is fresh water and there are no sharks. There is however the occasional crocodile and so I was ever watchful and a bit nervous about swimming out too deep. The last visit that they had from a croc was over 8 years ago; it had a go at some swimmer who had managed to get away. They had later shot the bastard ... 11 foot long....and not seen another since then.

Anyway it was quite safe in the shallow water as it is so clear you could see one coming from far away. There are also rumors that there is Bilharzia in Lake Malawi but this resort is about mid-way up the lake and there is no sign of it there.

Their two sons ages twelve and fourteen are home schooled and spend a good part of the day in the water, either surfing or playing on tubes or boating into the deeper water. They are both skilled spear fishermen and took Travis with them to a nearby rocky island where they do their spear fishing. He of course was absolutely in his element and barely came out of the water for the four days that we were there.

The lake is really quite deceptive as it appears to be so calm and tranquil but apparently the storms can get quite violent and they do appear out of nowhere. There were 140 fishermen that drowned a little while ago so it is something that really needs to be respected and not taken for granted.

The rest of us swam; sun bathed, read our books and went for long walks up the mountain. There were some unusual birds like the magnificent Purple Crested Turaco and tons of little birds like Manikins and Wattle eyes which we enjoyed identifying.

Kim spent some time going around the property with Laura looking at all the plants she had cultivated; she had some unusual local herbs that he was interested in. She was telling us about an active volcano in Mozambique that her mother had been trying to find... The reason for having taken up hang gliding and when her mom was killed she had decided to complete this mission for her and went with three friends into the mine infested area in Mozambique to find this volcano. There she found a village where there was a community of Nuns who have healing powers in their hands... Thank goodness we persuaded Ernest that we shouldn't go and find them... Forever the adventurer.

For me it was a very special time as I got to spend some time with Cammie who has been away from home skiing quite a lot lately. We have always been so close and we were able to spend time chatting and catching up on all the latest exciting things that had happened to her over the last few months. Kodi of course kept all the "big people" entertained and had them all going on his “expeditions" finding crystals on the beach. Poor Steve has to push him up and down in the waves on a big tube that he had managed to borrow from the boys.

Our original plan was to go up to Livingstonia and then on to Nyaka plateaux but we decided just to rather chill at Makuzi and rather not do too much driving with the kids. It was their first "African experience" and we didn't want to overwhelm them with too much traveling.

The last day at the lake was kind of marred by the arrival of the Lake flies. These horrible little creatures hatch from the larvae that are laid in the lake and in actual fact it was the wrong time of the year to see them. Well we seemed to have attracted a lot of stuff that was “the wrong time of the year" and we started seeing what appeared to be black clouds over the water. Brett, our host said  "Oh dear they are on their way"  he warned us that by the evening we would be covered in these pesky little flies. You can't complain too much as they are the life blood of the lake and keep the fishes fed but they do get into everything and I would much rather have not seen them... Just read about them - would have been good enough. The locals apparently catch them, compress them into a huge ball, cook them and eat them like they are a real delicacy. Yuck!!

Anyway that night was quite a sight, they came in from the lake and swarmed around the lights in a huge cloud so thick that it almost blocked off the lights completely. They got into our food, up our noses and into our eyes and when you got into the tent you couldn't put on a light inside as they are so tiny they just went straight through the netting. Thank goodness we were leaving the next day as I wouldn't have wanted a repeat of trying to cook without them flying into the food.

Till next time!

Day 66 - Mzuzu en-route to Makuzi, Malawi

The next day was an easy run through Mzuzu to Makuzi where we were going to meet up with Lisa, Warwick and the kids who were joining us for 10 days on our final leg of the trip. We hadn't seen the grandchildren for over two months so I was really eager to get going and settle in before they arrived. 

The day before they arrived, Ken, who had been trying to get out of the way so Ernest could park the car in the right place for the kitchen to be accessible, had backed into a tree and smashed his back window. Oh dear, it hadn't fallen out fortunately but the whole glass was shattered into those tiny little pieces and didn't look like it was going to hold together. So now we had to spend a bit of time covering it with everything from glad wrap to duct tape in an effort to keep it from falling out.  Amazing what glad wrap and duct tape can do when you use enough of it. So after using pretty much the whole roll Ken felt there was enough strength in the window to make a run for Mzuzu which was the next big town on our route to Makuzi.

The first 30 Ks of the journey was up the escarpment away from the lake shore road which was a real test of nerves. There are 40 or so hair pin bends with sheer drops off the side down about 50 or 60 meters. The road has not been very well maintained and is very narrow, full of pot holes and the verges broken away - this was not good for Ken as he was trying to get to Mzuzu to do a better repair on the window. The trucks going the other way have the usual attitude that they own the road and to hell with anyone else which adds to the stress, as you go around each corner expecting to see one of these 12 wheelers hurtling down the hill.

The view over the lake leaves one speechless and even though you hang onto your seat around every corner it is something worth seeing. The lake gets further and further away the higher you climb and you eventually lose sight of it as you reach the plateau and eventually get to Mzuzu. It is one of those bustling little African towns that are just bursting its seams with people and activity. My gosh there are busses, taxis cars and bicycles crammed into the towns so that it is sometimes impossible to move. Ernest has developed the technique of driving on these roads down to a fine art and has taken Kim's definition literally which is that the right of way in any road in Africa is determined by the degree of intimidation one is prepared to enforce. He just drives and everyone gets out of his way.

Low and behold we found a Shoprite and while I was doing the usual top up of milk, eggs and veggies the rest of the gang were ..... You got it, drinking coffee at the local coffee shop. Unfortunately for Steve he put his phone on the table and quick as a flash it was gone. We tried to figure out how it was done just so quickly, two guys walked in, bumped Ernest to divert attention and then moved in and took it right under Steve's nose. You just can't leave anything unattended in Africa. It was his birthday too so we were ready to find these little buggers and beat them up but we knew they were long since gone. It is just such a terrible thing when someone has their communication lines cut so abruptly, funny how we have become so dependent on these dam cell phones.

So we left town without being able to retrieve the phone and stopped again at Nakota bay where you can find all the Malawian carvers who sell some of the very famous Malawi wood carvings. Oh my gosh they are really master craftsman and there is such a variety of bowls, tables, lamp shades spoons animals etc. There are about 15 little stores along the side of the road and it is really like running the gauntlet trying to get from one to the others and make a choice. In the end you almost have to buy something from each one as they are the best salesmen on the planet. I also know that everything is so cheap here and I would get home and regret not having bought some of the bowls and lamp stands. So I kept sending Ernest running back to the truck for more money for "just one more thing" until, he eventually put his foot down and said "enough". The back bed is now knee deep in curios. The one thing we have noticed is that Malawi is one of the poorest of all the countries we have been to. One of the ways you can tell is that here you only see "taxi bicycles"  where as in Tanzania and Kenya it's "motorbike taxis". There seems to be very little industry and the lake is definitely the life blood of the country so nobody is starving because of the abundance of fish but nobody has any money. Probably the best thing about this country is that you never feel threatened here, in fact they are probably the most welcoming and polite of all the places that we have visited but gosh the poverty is heartbreaking. The kids line the road and wave madly as you drive past always with huge smiles on their faces. You pass many many schools but you wonder what the future holds for these guys as there are so few jobs for them to work towards when they are older.

Lisa, Warwick and the kids arrived late in the evening. They had flown into Lilongwe and arrived at about 12 in the afternoon but by the time they got their car and managed to leave the airport it was well after 2. They eventually arrived at Makuzi at about 8 that evening after a rather scary drive on those very narrow roads on a Friday evening. It is definitely the worst time to travel in Africa as we had found out when we were trying to get Ken to the hospital in Nairobi. The world and his mate is on the road going somewhere and as I mentioned before they never put on their lights till it is pitch dark. I think they think they are somehow saving their batteries or saving petrol or something ridiculous and dangerous.

Anyway! They arrived safe and sound and after much excited chatter we were able to feed them and put the kids to bed so they could get up early and enjoy the wonderful Makuzi beach and water.

Signing out!

Day 59 - 60 En-route to Lake Malawi - Marker 10,000km+

Lake Malawi, after the grueling drive!

So it was back to Dar for all of us. I must admit I had been dreading the flight back as our flight to the lodge was decidedly unpleasant. Since we got our own plane I have become quite used to flying and am not a terribly nervous flyer but I don't particularly like flying around in bumpy clouds which is what had happened. As it turned out our flight was not at all that bad. Even though it was much cloudier and probably bumpy, it was not at all upsetting. We all put it down to the pilot; he constantly communicated and was so obviously in control of the plane that before we knew it we were back in Dar, in the rain and on our way back to the hotel.

Our same taxi driver was there waiting for us and today, because it was Sunday, had decided that there was no need to short”ie cut’’ie and took us back to the hotel choppie choppie. Still took over an hour mind you.

It had been raining in Dar while we were away and I was not looking forward to confronting the damp and moldy Queen but after our long rest it wasn't such an overwhelming job.

We decided that we wanted to head out of Dar as early as possible the next morning so as to avoid the majority of the traffic.

So we were all up at 5.30, even Steve and Andrea managed to get their watches right this time and we left the hotel at 6 am on the dot. Thank goodness as even then the traffic was like Joburg on a Friday afternoon.... Horror of horrors.

It took us two hours to do the first 60 Ks out of that hell hole of a city. We all decided that would be the last time we ever visited that place; it is not worth the aggravation and frustration. Anyway we were out. Hurrah for the open road.

What we didn't know is that we had chosen the best day to travel out of Dar on the road for Zambia. The ports only open at 8 on a Monday morning so there are no trucks on the road on a Monday. They have to first get their goods out of the harbor, load and then hit the road and that takes most of the day.

It was a long hard day of driving, without too many trucks but there were the usual mad kamikaze bus drivers who pass on a blind corner or blind rise going like mad with no regard for human life what so ever. You could not pay me enough money to go in one of those things. Ernest was very restrained and drove really well, I think he thought if he went too fast I might just jump out the door... So all was good. He did however win the award for the day with a record of being caught 4 times for speeding. Oh my gosh those cops jump out behind every bloody tree and they fine you for as little as three kilometers over the speed limit. It was actually very annoying as they would be waiting at the point where the sign said 50 and unless you put your foot hard on the brakes it was impossible to drop your speed quickly enough not to get caught.

The one guy caught us and said we were doing 95 in a 70 k area, but on the GPS the speed was actually 77. Ks. I know I was sitting right in front of the GPS and looking at it when he jumped in front of the car waving his hair dryer at us (the radar that they use look like hair dryers) He would hear none of it and wanted to see Ernest's driver’s license. I opened the cubby and grabbed both yellow docs out the draw (his and mine) and handed them to the cop.

He very officially wrote out the ticket to Mr. Gaye Evangeline Corbett. He took the money, gave us back our "licenses" and we drove off. Only after we left did I realize that I had given him our yellow fever certificates and not our international driver’s licenses. That kept us entertained for the rest of the day... Oh my gosh he didn't even know it wasn't a driver’s license, we had a few very rude names for him I can tell you.

We made it to our destination of “The old farm house " - Kisalanza by about four in the afternoon a long hard day of driving but it was well worth getting all those miles behind us, and as far away from Dar and the trucks as possible. This campsite is well known to campers who travel in Tanzania; we have been here 4 times before and have experienced the hospitality of the very charming owner. She was born in Tanzania to a father who had several farms in the area but they were taken away from the family when Tanzania went socialist, all accept this one farm where she returned to from England when her father had died. I can't imagine being a woman alone on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Tanzania but she seems to love it there.

We were running way ahead of schedule so we decided instead of pushing on the next day we would just stay an extra day, clean out the mold in the Queen after Dar and explore the farm. A good day walking to stretch out legs would be great plus the extra bonus is that she had a small spa and hairdresser operating on the farm so the girls could get some pampering and Steve could get a hair and beard cut. I must say he was looking decidedly “bushy".

So we stayed put and extra day and set off for Lake Malawi the next day having fully recovered from the journey the day before. We have now covered over 10,000 kilometers and sometimes all you want to do is just walk and not see the inside of the cars.

It was now Wednesday and the trucks had all caught up with us so we knew the first 150 Ks was going to be a nightmare trying to pass them on that narrow and windy road but after that we would be turning off the great north road and going down to Lake Malawi. There was also the added aggravation of the Tanzanian traffic cops in every village with their hair dryers. This time Ernest insisted that Ken went first as he could slam on breaks and stop far faster than us plus he could then warn us of any cops hiding behind the bushes. That seemed to work well except for one time when we thought we were out the speed zone and Ernest was catching Ken up on a hill so he shouted over the radio to speed up and as he was obeying his lordship out jumped the dam cop again.

I think the Tanzanian Government decided that they are going to stop all speeding on their roads which is quite honestly not a bad thing, except that between the towns there is no speed limit so the trucks just go like mad and that is where the majority of the accidents happen, plus they don't seem to trap the busses and they just carry on at the same speed. Anyway it is a costly exercise and cost us plenty!

Once we were off the main road there were no more cops which was a huge relief but we still couldn't go very fast in any event as the road is very windy and narrow. The road is lined with so many people especially kids walking up and down on the very narrow verge. These small unsupervised kids frighten the hell out of me and are sometimes as young as three years old. They grow up real tough in Africa, it is the land of survival of the fittest.

Entering Malawi was just such a pleasure, gosh the people are so polite and helpful ... Someone said it is like a good mannered South Africa. They were efficient, had smiles on their faces and one for one said “welcome to Malawi, we love having you here" not like the arrogant Tanzanians. We were tested at the border for any sign of fever and had to produce all our immunization certificates. That is the first time we have ever been asked for them. I think this Ebola outbreak has everyone jumping.

We spent the night at a little campsite on the edge of Lake Malawi. It was right at the top of the lake but our eventual destination of Makuzi was still 250 Ks away and we didn't want to push it after dark. We found a great place called Akuna Matata at Chitemba Beach. It certainly wasn’t the best campsite we have found but at least the ablutions were clean and there was a nice big wall around the back so security was good. We did try and camp on the beach sand but sank straight down and spent the next hour digging ourselves out... So much for our nice quiet restful afternoon.

Shooooo signing out, few pictures to share!

Don't trust Ernest with a hose!!!

The Queen is little stuck!

Day 56 - 58 Azura Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

The drive from the airfield was literally five minutes and we were met at the entrance to the lodge by the smiling faces of the lodge staff. It always makes you feel so important and the ice cold face cloths to refresh you after the longish flight are always the cherry on the top.

I must say it was a bit of a bumpy flight so I was very glad to be back on terrafirma, our pilot had been a bit of a Harry Casual guy and had insisted on flying through every single cloud, instead of flying around them, I think he liked the thrill of seeing how much stress the plane and his passengers could take.

Anyway it was so nice to arrive and see the lodge and its decor. The first thing you see is the most beautiful ice blue swimming pool overlooking the very fast flowing Ruaha River which is just filled with hippo. I don't know why, but we have seen and inordinate amount of these very special creatures on this trip. Every reserve and river that we have passed have been piled high with hippo scrums (I always thought it was a pod of hippos but it is a scrum of hippos) and their honking at night has often been all around our camps. I am going to get home and wonder what is missing when I go to bed. I think we should import a few, we were wondering what kind of watchdogs they would make? They would certainly chomp any intruders but I am pretty sure we wouldn't have much of a garden.

The very comfortable lounge and deck of the lodge are built up high and it is so lovely to sit up there and just look over the pool to the river which is all of 80 meters wide with some rapids right in front. You do see Kudu, Impala and Waterbuck grazing on the other side of the river but as it is winter and the first rains have only just begun, the rest of the veld is pretty brown and leafless as is typical of the African bush.

The lodge manager Garth and his wife Liz are absolutely charming and are very seasoned and skilled lodge operators. They know exactly how to make you totally relaxed and well cared for during your stay.

So, we settled into the lodge experience with ease, were shown to our very comfortable rooms that are again tented, each with their own little plunge pools and covered decks. They are placed quite far apart from each other so are completely secluded and private. Laying on the front deck you can see hundreds of little finches all hopping around in the bushes close to the villas. Great entertainment during the mandatory afternoon rest and of course there is always a hippo or two fighting their way up or floating down the river, maybe to get a better view of the stupid humans lying around on our chairs.

Ernest was very keen to explore the whole area and so the next day we set off for a full day excursion to the lakes which are about 60 Ks from the lodge. Wow! Did we see a lot of different terrain! You go from the dry sparse vegetation over a very rocky section, through the usual dry river beds and then eventually come to these vast open planes with majestic umbrella trees that almost look park like with cut lawns and very green shady trees.

We did go to Beho Beho, the famous place where Fredrick Courtney Selous was shot and killed in a skirmish with the Germans during the First World War and saw his grave. After that went on to drive around one of the very large lakes in the area called Lake Lagala. It is surrounded by some rocky hills and the water from these surrounding hills is what feeds the lake with runoff, we were surprised that no river actually feeds into the lake; it is solely fed by the run off from the surrounding hills and plains.

There are very tall Borassus palms around the perimeter that grow up to 25 meters with the unmistakable characteristic that the trunk thickens at the top which makes them look very top heavy. The other clumps of palms were the Doum palm which is the multi trunked palm and gives at least a little shade during the day as the heat is pretty intense. We were able to tuck ourselves under some of these palms to have our long awaited lunch. We really laughed as Steve had been calling the Tamboetie tree the Baboetie tree and as much as we tried to correct him he kept reverting back to Baboetie. So we figure maybe we were going to have Baboetie for lunch... Ha ha. Well low and behold what came out of the picnic basket was the most scrumptious Baboetie. Now we have a seer in our midst as well as a mechanic come fix it wonder boy. Don't mess with Steve Ek se.( I say)

I must admit I was pretty impressed with a Baboetie picnic lunch in the middle of the Selous reserve looking at a lake with literally hundreds of hippos, crocks, tons of water birds and eat your heart out bird enthusiasts a whole lot of those very rare African Skimmers just sitting on the banks of the lake.

We watched a bunch of about fifteen Giraffe all come down to drink together, quite a sighting as the most I have seen drinking together before is about 5 or 6.

We set off again to go around the lake and to return on another route. This reserve is so huge it is hard to get the concept of just how much distance you can cover in a day.

On the way home we saw quite a bit of game but the unusual things were eland and a leopard. This apparently is very rare in the area and the first one that had been seen for a long time.

Joseph our guide was excellent; he has eyes like a hawk and could spot anything out there long before we could even see it. He was also an extremely good driver and cared for that vehicle like we had not experienced ever before from a guide... No wonder their vehicles are in such good condition. He also took very well to Ernest's teasing which you must understand is endless.

On one of the drives Kim dropped his hat so we had to back track a few Ks to try and find it. When we found it Ernest insisted that Kim climb out and retrieve his own cap and then said to Joseph that as a penalty Kim must run back to the camp. This Joseph thought was hilariously funny and then said to Ernest that that was too much penalty for dropping a hat because if that was the case then if we broke a glass he would have to “ kill”  us, this he found even funnier and was literally crying with laughter.

On our way home Joseph showed us a lodge that some American had built and operated until 2009. It had been closed just after 9/11 for some reason and just left exactly like that for 5 years now. The cars and trucks are still there, the buildings still there... Everything exactly as it was when it was operating. Oh what a mystery, we just couldn't find out what had happened! He had built a cable car over a nearby gorge and that was all still there in tack like the day the lodge was close... When I say intact, it looked like it was in tact but I wouldn't have like to put it to the test. The gorge was all of 100 meters wide and 300 meters down and the very thick cables still looked good but who knows if they would still hold. There was even a carrier for a vehicle to go across. The guy who built it must have been a very eccentric engineer and Steve was just dying to try and fire it up again to see if it worked.... We had to drag him away before he got any mad ideas.  

So we returned home after a 12 hour game drive. I must admit it was the longest game drive we have ever done but we covered huge ground and saw so much of the reserve which is what Ernest wanted to see.

The next day we wanted to go and see the confluence of the two big rivers in the area, the Ruaha and the Kisigo Rivers which then turns into the Great Rufiji so off we set on another fairly long game drive exploring yet another tiny corner of this enormous reserve - one of the biggest in the world by the way.

The confluence is very impressive; the two rivers come in and right in the center have formed an island which is made up of these huge monolithic basalt rocks. You can see that in the past there have been huge floods that have shifted and moved these rocks around with the sheer power of flooding waters. With some pretty nifty rock jumping and hopping (avoiding the ever present hippos of course) you can get to the middle island and can imagine the huge force of water that flows past during the rainy season.

We spent an hour hopping around, throwing stones in and making wishes which is something that Ernest has to do at every river he gets to. I am sure we all wish the same thing every time so this time I thought let's wish for something different. So this time it was that I would find a diamond the size of an egg just lying on the rock.... Dam it never came true! Anyway - it was getting late and having seen some nice big lion tracks on our walk down to the river, Joseph started to herd this unruly lot back to the vehicle for a quick sundowner and then our long trek back to the lodge.

At this point there was a huge debate... Open the bottle of Champaign or have a G&T ... Eventually deciding on a G&T. Joseph then kept saying he thought the Champaign was a much better idea, he had even packed the Champaign glasses, but we decided G&T it was. At this point he hid his face in the white cloth and confessed he had forgotten the Ginny behind. He had so nicely packed the tonic ie the ice and the lemon but he forgot to put in the gin ie. Shame he was actually blushing.  It was so funny we nearly fell off the landie. We had been puzzled why he kept trying to persuade us to have the Champers! Anyway we decided that the Champaign was exactly what we wanted and had a wonderful sundowner with terrific snacks and a glass of bubbly, but oh boy the teasing he got lasted all the way back to the lodge.

That night we had a great dinner somewhere way out in the bush under the wide open sky, a wonderful experience. Garth is a real expert in the stars and gave us such an interesting talk on the universe and where some of the constellations are in our spectacular night sky, which you can only really appreciate when you are in the African bush.

Well I am afraid our good time eventually had to end and it was time to pack up and get back to Dar and our cars which were waiting for us at the Mediterraneo. We had all had such a good time being pampered and so well looked after that it was hard to pull ourselves away. The last morning was kind of overcast and rainy and I think we all secretly hoped that the weather was going to get so bad that the plane couldn't come and fetch us. We were quite deflated when our pilot arrived and introduced himself. Oh well I suppose good things do sometimes come to an end and we had to pack our bags and get to the air strip to start our journey home.

I think that one of the most important things was that the rest had now given Ken a good chance to fully recover from his ordeal and he was ready to confront our long drive down to Malawi.

We loved every minute of our adventure packed few days and said our sad fare-wells to the staff that had become friends and looked after us so well in those few days we had spent with them.

Signing off, till next time!

18 September - Happy Birthday Steve

Day 55: En route Azura Sealous, Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

This was the day that we all have been looking forward to for the entire trip, the day we set off for Selous Game Reserve to stay at another lodge, Azura Selous. What excitement!

We had to get up and away real early in the morning as the trip to the airport, although only 13 Kms away, was right through the early morning traffic in Dar and I am sure by now you have a slight inkling of just how chaotic that is.

So it was a planned 6.30 start but it started off pretty slowly as Steve and Andrea had their watches still set to SA time and were just getting up as we were standing at the taxi ready to leave. I must admit they were up in a flash and after Andrea had had her..... Wait for it.....Coffee!!! they were ready to go with the final departure time being 7 o'clock. We were only due to take off at 10.30 so there wasn't really too much of a problem as I doubt the plane would have left without us. There were 7 of us in the 10 seater plane.... Plus we had allowed 3 hours to get there... Still it was nice to rub it in a bit!

Anyway we started off with three in one taxi, Ernest, Kim and I and the others with Lucas, the taxi driver that had taken them to the Zanzibar ferry and back again so by now he was their real mate. We drove straight into the crush of the early morning traffic with our driver adding “ie” to nearly every word he uttered. "we are going to go left ie here and right ie there". Most of the locals speak quite good English but they almost sing the extra "ie" onto everything they say which is very amusing to listen to.

So the journey began, you could almost write a whole book on just getting to the airport in peak hour traffic which lasts from 6 in the morning to 12 at night, 7 days a week. Have you ever seen four cars abreast fit into a two lane road... Well, they manage to do that with easy in Dar. There are cars going in every direction and as Kim so aptly put it" right of way is determined solely by the level of intimidation. When you get to a cross road, you just have to ease your way in so that nobody can get past you anymore and then you just shut your eyes and go. On top of it you have these dam motorbikes. Our driver was telling us that there are a minimum of 6 deaths a day in Dar from motorbike accidents. Nobody wears a crash helmet and they just weave in and out of the cars with anything up to 4 passengers at a time... Kids too, who sit there quite oblivious to the fact that they come within inches of certain death every few minutes.

We sat at one traffic light for a full 20 minutes... We thought that at this rate we should have left yesterday!!!  When we eventually did get through that particular traffic light we understood why... There was a lady standing in the middle of the intersection with a bright red baton. She was waving it in the air like she was the Queen waving at her subjects, who the hell knew whose turn it was to go was a complete mystery. After that the traffic began to flow again and we passed some very smart shopping centre with all the SA shops in it like Mr. Price, Woolworth's (not food of course) and Game, just sticking out like a fish out of water.

Then came the short”ie” cut“ie” and we turned off the main road... Our driver said if we didn't take the short cut it would take us another three hours to get to the airport...pays to go with a local.

Now the fun began, we went into holes in the road that were so bad that the pavement, which still existed in patches, was higher than the roof of the car. I kid you not. Can you imagine how long it takes for a hole to get that deep and what it is going to take to get it repaired? I am sure when it rains you would need a snorkel on your car and on each passenger just to get to work. Needless to say the houses down the side of the hole were in the most appalling condition with some of them having no doors or windows, just dirty pieces of material strung across the cavities.

We crossed on a bridge built in better times over a river which is now being used as a rubbish dump. Everyone just hurls all their refuse over the edge and I suppose waits for rain to wash the whole lot out to sea and then they can start dumping again! At no time during this journey did the cars, trucks and motor bikes ease up, just this constant flow and jostling to see who could get into and out of the whole first. It appears many people knew of the short”ie” cut”ie”.

Then we hit the area which is known as the meat quarter. In all my travels I have yet to see anything that tested my confront more. There are herds of goats just standing in patches waiting to someone to come and buy them and then slaughter them right then and there. It is enough to  make you a vegetarian for life. Then a little further on there are rows and rows of fires where you can buy or braai your meat and the crush of people all milling around is too much to confront. I felt myself wanting to slip into my own little world and hum a little tune of Doris Day's  " please please don't eat the daisies ". There was one intersection where we were completely grid locked with every bus, taxi, car and bike trying to push through. Everyone hooting and swearing. Eventually some guy hopped out of his car and started to direct the traffic and thankfully it moved again before I went into a swoon!

We popped out of our short cut and onto the main road again and arrived at the airport at 9 o’clock... One and a half hours before departure. I however got the BB award of the day as I had been nagging everyone about their passports and not to forget them... And guess what! I mistakenly brought two of Ernest's passports and not mine, so I instantly became Ernest Corbett the second and can you believe it, I got through on that and didn't have to go back via the shortie cutie to fetch my passport. Hurrah for Africa!

Our flight left on time, the plane was a caravan and forty minutes later we arrived at Azura Selous.

We had a wonderful greeting at the airstrip with all the bells and whistles of a five star lodge. You step out of the plane and back into a modern Karen Blixen’s “Out of Africa".

We can get used to this!

Day 51 -54 : Mediterraneo, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

We had the daunting job today of finding the hotel that Lisa had booked for us for the two nights where we were going to stay together and then to decide what the other guys should do - go and find the campsite or just stay with us in the hotel until they went to Zanzibar. Ken and Rouvierre were due to fly in from Nairobi and were meeting us at this same hotel.

So off we went; first we hit the pole coming out of the parking lot and bent it - what a good start. Then we had to go "out" the "in" side, instead of out the out which created another traffic jam and then we tried to follow the directions that Lisa had SMS'd us to try and find this place. Apparently 12 Kms out of Dar. Let me tell you, nothing is easy in Dar especially in The Queen! It is a minefield and on top of everything none of the streets have names, so it was a real case of hit and miss. Half the roads are just mud patches or swamped in water, (the road past the president's house was about two foot deep in mud and water) so we just had to drive on approximate miles to know when to turn and even that was a little inaccurate. At least we were going in the right direction. Towards the end we realized we had either missed the turn or we were completely wrong and just as we were about to turn around and start again, not a pleasant thought, we saw the sign....

Mediterraneo… Oh my gosh, a little "homemade" sign that looked like the rest of the signs in Dar. By this time Ernest was moaning and saying he was going back to the Serena and it took me all my intention to get him to at least look at the hotel. We eventually found the place, again looking through some bushes into the parking lot - it looked a bit dodgy so I jumped out the car before Ernest could leave, to go and have a look.

What a surprise, it was the cutest place and as you walked in there is this little peaceful haven set in a gorgeous garden of tropical plants, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were these little rooms, all with really cute verandas off each room with bright cushions and white walls and set right on the beach. What a relief, I could have kissed the receptionist sitting smiling in her thatched hut at the entrance to the lodge. It has a real Mediterranean look and is obviously well run and cared for.

So now to try and get The Queen into the parking lot... I didn't even go out and watch. I just thought to hell with it, they must just make a plan. So we decided no more driving around looking for any campsites or anything else, we were just staying put. Ernest and I were going to be there for 4 days and Andrea, Kim, Steve and Rouvierre were going to go to Zanzibar for two nights. Ken, who was still a little white and weak from his opp would stay with us, rest and build up some strength as we still had far to go before reaching home.

The hotel has a delightful restaurant that is right on the beach and these quaint little sitting areas which overlook the beach and the chairs are made of old dugout boats with great big cushions. Very comfortable and just the place Ken needed to fully recover from his ordeal.

Lisa and Warwick arrived that evening bringing a suitcase full of supplies with them as my Woolies stuff was running out...."Hurray for Woolies!" That is a little private joke that I will let you in on. Ernest has been reading a wonderful book given to him by his daughter in Law, Jacqui. The title is " the Fabre book of Exploration" and it is very appropriate for what we are doing at the moment( we like to think that we have something in common with those early explorers, little different however with our big truck and deep freezes, Woolies sauces etc etc.) every night he reads some amusing thing out of the book to us and the one that has got us going on this private joke is a quote from Samuel Baker's book ( one of our Safari Lodge explorers) where he describes meeting up with two other explorers, Grant and Speke. His remark in the book is so typical of an English gentleman. He says that he was so excited to meet with them, as these were the first white men that he had seen for 18 months and shouted out  "hurrah for England" and in the ensuing greeting they fired off a shot which mistakenly killed one of his donkeys. So now  amongst the group if there is anything  pleasurable it is accompanied by the exclamation "hurrah" in a very English accent of course.

We settled in for our four days of rest while the others left for their adventure on Zanzibar, I must say I was a little envious as I have never been to Zanzibar but at the same time quite relieved that we didn't have to go anywhere. It was a good opportunity to Re-charge our batteries, and the best of all we could spend a few days with Lisa and Warwick just catching up with all that had happened at home and just spending time walking on the beach and watching the activities of the many fishermen and their boats.

The hotel was run by two Italian brothers and it was so interesting to really get their story and how they had landed up in a place like Dar. In brief, their father was Somalian and their mother Italian. They had lost everything when the war broke out in Somalia and the rebels had raised their very successful business of Crawfish exporting to the ground and they had had to flee. Africa sure is tough on its producers. So they came to Dar and started again and their little beach hotel is a real proof of their creativity in this chaos of a city.

Ken's strength grew day by day and on the last day we even went out in his car to fix a puncher in his tire and do a little exploring. We found another resort about 10 Kms down the road and had lunch there. It was very smart but not nearly as nice as our little spot so we were really pleased that Lisa had found this little oasis which we can always run to if we ever came back to Dar.

Until next time!

Day 50 – Finally … Dar Es Salaam

We needed to get an early start as we had an extra 65 Ks to go because of our detour of the night before. We were not sure what the road ahead would be like but we were hoping it would be off the same standard that we had had yesterday.

So we came down the mountain, much faster than we went up and this time I must admit I wasn't quite as nervous. Firstly, because we were now going down so we were on the inside of the mountain road and also because I wasn't looking straight down into the precipice. We were all quite disappointed to reach the end so soon but also very glad we had decided on the sudden change of plan and gone on our detour.

Back to the main road and off to Dar... The first part up to Serenga was a wide easy road and we made great progress, we were headed for a little restaurant at Serenga where we always had       “Chicken in the basket". Ernest and I had been talking about this “chicken in the basket" since the beginning of the trip and we were looking forward to showing the guys what a great place it was and how you could get a great local meal. This is where we had planned to spend the night had we not gone to Lushutu, as they also had a little camping ground just behind the restaurant... Well, again the old saying of nothing is predictable in Africa applies!

We stopped, all hopped out very enthusiastically only to find a dirty, dilapidated place where they had a few very old dried out pieces of chicken that looked like it was cooked three days ago and no chips!!  No chips! That was a disaster! We also checked out the old camping ground and found that too was nonexistent. Shew that was a lucky break! We could have landed up with nowhere to stay the night before if we hadn't made our snap decision to stop at Lushutu... The gods were looking after us at last!

So we decided to push on and find somewhere else to eat our long awaited breakfast. The best place we could find was about a kilometer down the road, it looked a lot cleaner but when I looked at the food, I just couldn't bring myself to eat the chicken. So Andrea, Ernest and myself had an omelet, figured that was the best thing to have that was not contaminated. Kim and Steve tucked into the chicken and rice - oh dear I could hardly stay at the table let alone watch them tuck in with relish!

So with breakfast done we set off for the last stretch to Dar. It is a very hilly section, a very narrow road and although the tar is in good nick, the sides of the road are built up and there are huge drops on either side of the road. You go past truck after truck lying on their sides down at the bottom of the ravines and needless to say it is quite nerve racking. I think Ernest and I came the closest we have ever been to a divorce and in the end I got up and sat in the back seat of The Queen so that I didn't have to watch the road or talk to him.

Anyway he just drove on, taking no notice of my antics and we arrived at the cross roads where you turn onto the great north road and the whole convoy were slowed down to a crawl because of the pressure of all the trucks trying to get to Dar... On a Saturday afternoon tooo…   

  

We took two hours to do 30 Ks, oh my gosh talk about a crawl all the way in to the city. We just don't understand the meaning of the words nose to tail and it is really no use trying to pass or anything as it is a solid line of trucks all the way.

Little by little we inched our way into the city and went straight for the ferry which is the only way to get to the camp site on the other side of the harbor. We first drove around in circles and eventually landed up in the queue to get onto the ferry., only to be told that The Queen was too big and they would not let us on. We argued for about twenty minutes that we had been in the same ferry several times before with no problem but the guy was adamant that he would not let us on. By this time every body’s tempers were really flaring and I thought someone was going to hit someone which is not a good idea in Africa.

Eventually we gave up and left to find the nearest hotel and book in. Ernest said he was not prepared to drive around Dar in The Queen and try and find another way to the campsites which are all situated out of town on the other side of the harbor. So Serena hotel in the middle of town was it. By that time I knew the best plan of action was not to argue but just go with the flow. I must admit we all flopped into a very comfortable bed and had the best night’s sleep we had had for ages. 

Day 49 – En-route Dar Es Salaam

So our route down to Dar Es Salaam began today! It was not too far and we had two days to get there so there was no need for us to leave too early.

We had breakfast planned with some friends so we had a long leisurely breakfast and looked at a whole lot of semi-precious stones that one of the guys had as part of his collection. Tanzania is full of these stones; tanzanite, green garnets, amethyst, and lots of others that I have forgotten the names of. He even had a pink tanzanite which I didn't know existed but was simply the most beautiful stone. All the girls had a wonderful time admiring these gorgeous pieces of adornment; girls are always such suckers for these things and can't resist them.

So we eventually had to tear ourselves away as we were in danger of going nowhere at that rate and we did have about 200 K’s to go.

The road out of Moshi was fantastic, we couldn't believe our luck, this time we had arrived at the end of the upgrade and the road was wide, newly tarred and there were only a few patches where we had to go off onto the dirt and then back up again.

In fact we made such good progress that we were driving past the turn off to Lushutu at 3 o'clock with only 60 Ks to go before our goal town of Serenga where we planned to spend the night. It would have been too early so on the spur of the moment we changed our plans and decided to take a slight detour and spend the night at Lushutu instead of Serenga.

Lushutu was the old capital of Tanganyika when the country was under German rule before and during the First World War. It is a town that was established high up in the mountains, away from any Malaria and the climate was obviously more like that of Europe. It has a high rainfall, is a very cool place and is quite unique in its position and climatic conditions and soils.

So it was a case of a quick U turn and off we went up the mountain…

Wow, it is a really scary experience for the passengers of any car to go up that pass....plus the driver of course, but at least the driver has the steering wheel to hang onto which is not the case for the passengers. And driving with Ernest is a challenge at the best of times as he doesn't really slow down much for anyone especially at the exclamations of his wife!

The road winds back and forth with at least thirty blind corners and an unprotected drop on the side of 1000 foot or more which, believe me, looks a lot more from hight vantage point of The Queen window. Going up you have the drop on the passenger’s side, just so you understand why my palms started perspiring and my feet almost went through the floorboards from breaking. The busses come down that hill like they are on a highway and it is surprising that you don't see more wrecks at the bottom of the hill, not that you could see the bottom, it is just too far down. Anyway to stop my dramatization, it is the most spectacular pass I have ever been on and you just climb and climb and climb to the top. You go up 1100 meters in 13 kilometers. It was a German built road built way back when and is really in very good order despite the obvious wear and tear, at a perfect gradient and the views are quite spectacular. We did stop and try and take photos but they just don't show how steep it is or how wonderful the views are.

It took us over an hour to get to the top but it is really worth the effort. When you think you have reached the top you come around the corner and there is suddenly just this mass of people, all selling their goods, fruit, potatoes onions, tomatoes and little shops selling everything else that you can think of... What a place! At this point you think you have reached the top but oh no there was still at least another 5 or so Ks till reaching the camp site. We had an interesting and unusual experience at this point which I will mention... we’re going merrily along when suddenly we got hit by a stone thrown by one of the little buggers standing by the side of the road. Ernest will never tolerate that so he stopped the Queen, got everyone to back up and he was out the car in a flash chasing the little buggers who had thrown the stone. It was a circus and reminded me of the buffaloes in Amboseli who had taken fright at The Queen and stampeded away with an elephant in toe. So there was Ernest, shouting away and about 10 little boys and their mother all running hell for leather away from us. I just never got my camera out in time but it would have been a great picture. I am sure it will be a long time before they even think of throwing another stone at a passing car.

We had previously stayed at a campsite called “the Lawns” and we knew it was the only place where The Queen would fit so off we went to find the place. Unfortunately, he had built a few extra rooms etc and so we weren't able to get The Queen up onto the lawns as it was too steep and Ernest was too scared to try and take The Queen up such a steep incline. So we had to park in their parking lot and camp right there. Ernest and Steve managed to position The Queen right next to a little shelter that they had built and we fitted snugly into place and had a great evening sitting under the shelter around a fire with our coats on as it is pretty cold up in those mountains. The worst part of Lushutu is that I am sure it is the noisiest place on planet earth. Plus it was Friday night so there was a party going on that lasted till the early hours of the morning. Luckily for Ernest and I, our tent had somehow leaked when we were parked in the rain at Moshi and we were forced to sleep inside The Queen. Poor old Kim, Andrea and Steve looked pretty blurry eyed the next morning and we hadn't heard a thing... Good old wet tent comes in handy sometimes.

Signing out!

Day 48:Serena Hotel, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

We needed to get an early start as we had an extra 65 Kms to go because of our detour of the night before. We were not sure what the road ahead would be like but we were hoping it would be of the same standard that we had had yesterday. So we came down the mountain, much faster than we went up and this time I must admit I wasn't quite as nervous. Firstly, because we were now going down so we were on the inside of the mountain road and also because I wasn't looking straight down into the precipice. We were all quite disappointed to reach the end so soon but also very glad we had decided on the sudden change of plan and gone on our detour.

 

Back to the main road and off to Dar... The first part up to Serenga was a wide easy road and we made great progress, we were headed for a little restaurant at Serenga where we always had “Chicken in the basket". Ernest and I had been talking about this “chicken in the basket" since the beginning of the trip and we were looking forward to showing the guys what a great place it was and how you could get a great local meal. This is where we had planned to spend the night had we not gone to Lushutu, as they also had a little camping ground just behind the restaurant... Well, again the old saying of nothing is predictable in Africa applies! We stopped, all hopped out very enthusiastically only to find a dirty, dilapidated place where they had a few very old dried out pieces of chicken that looked like it was cooked three days ago and no chips!!  No chips! That was a disaster! We also checked out the old camping ground and found that too was nonexistent. Shew that was a lucky break! We could have landed up with nowhere to stay the night before if we hadn't made our snap decision to stop at Lushutu... The gods were looking after us at last!

So we decided to push on and find somewhere else to eat our long awaited breakfast. The best place we could find was about a kilometer down the road, it looked a lot cleaner but when I looked at the food, I just couldn't bring myself to eat the chicken. So Andrea, Ernest and myself had an omelet, figured that was the best thing to have that was not contaminated. Kim and Steve tucked into the chicken and rice - oh dear I could hardly stay at the table let alone watch them tuck in with relish!

So with breakfast done we set off for the last stretch to Dar. It is a very hilly section, a very narrow road and although the tar is in good nick, the sides of the road are built up and there are huge drops on either side of the road. You go past truck after truck lying on their sides down at the bottom of the ravines and needless to say it is quite nerve racking. I think Ernest and I came the closest we have ever been to a divorce and in the end I got up and sat in the back seat of The Queen so that I didn't have to watch the road or talk to him.

Anyway he just drove on, taking no notice of my antics and we arrived at the cross roads where you turn onto the great north road and the whole convoy were slowed down to a crawl because of the pressure of all the trucks trying to get to Dar... On a Saturday afternoon tooo…  

We took two hours to do 30 Kms, oh my gosh talk about a crawl all the way in to the city. We just don't understand the meaning of the words nose to tail and it is really no use trying to pass or anything as it is a solid line of trucks all the way.

Little by little we inched our way into the city and went straight for the ferry which is the only way to get to the camp site on the other side of the harbor. We first drove around in circles and eventually landed up in the queue to get onto the ferry., only to be told that The Queen was too big and they would not let us on. We argued for about twenty minutes that we had been in the same ferry several times before with no problem but the guy was adamant that he would not let us on. By this time every body’s tempers were really flaring and I thought someone was going to hit someone which is not a good idea in Africa. Eventually we gave up and left to find the nearest hotel and book in. Ernest said he was not prepared to drive around Dar in The Queen and try and find another way to the campsites which are all situated out of town on the other side of the harbor. So Serena hotel in the middle of town was it. By that time I knew the best plan of action was not to argue but just go with the flow. I must admit we all flopped into a very comfortable bed and had the best night’s sleep we had had for ages.

 

Signing off, Until tomorrow!

Day 47: Lushutu en Route Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

So our route down to Dar Es Salaam began today! It was not too far and we had two days to get there so there was no need for us to leave too early.

We had breakfast planned with some friends so we had a long leisurely breakfast and looked at a whole lot of semi-precious stones that one of the guys had as part of his collection. Tanzania is full of these stones; tanzanite, green garnets, amethyst, and lots of others that I have forgotten the names of. He even had a pink tanzanite which I didn't know existed but was simply the most beautiful stone. All the girls had a wonderful time admiring these gorgeous pieces of adornment; girls are always such suckers for these things and can't resist them. So we eventually had to tear ourselves away as we were in danger of going nowhere at that rate and we did have about 200 Kms to go.

The road out of Moshi was fantastic, we couldn't believe our luck, this time we had arrived at the end of the upgrade and the road was wide, newly tarred and there were only a few patches where we had to go off onto the dirt and then back up again. In fact we made such good progress that we were driving past the turn off to Lushutu at 3 o'clock with only 60 Kms to go before our goal town of Serenga where we planned to spend the night. It would have been too early so on the spur of the moment we changed our plans and decided to take a slight detour and spend the night at Lushutu instead of Serenga.

Lushutu was the old capital of Tanganyika when the country was under German rule before and during the First World War. It is a town that was established high up in the mountains, away from any Malaria and the climate was obviously more like that of Europe. It has a high rainfall, is a very cool place and is quite unique in its position and climatic conditions and soils. So it was a case of a quick U turn and off we went up the mountain…

Wow, it is a really scary experience for the passengers of any car to go up that pass....plus the driver of course, but at least the driver has the steering wheel to hang onto which is not the case for the passengers. And driving with Ernest is a challenge at the best of times as he doesn't really slow down much for anyone especially at the exclamations of his wife!

 

 

The road winds back and forth with at least thirty blind corners and an unprotected drop on the side of 1000 foot or more which, believe me, looks a lot more from hight vantage point of The Queen window. Going up you have the drop on the passenger’s side, just so you understand why my palms started perspiring and my feet almost went through the floorboards from breaking. The busses come down that hill like they are on a highway and it is surprising that you don't see more wrecks at the bottom of the hill, not that you could see the bottom, it is just too far down. Anyway to stop my dramatization, it is the most spectacular pass I have ever been on and you just climb and climb and climb to the top. You go up 1100 meters in 13 kilometers. It was a German built road built way back when and is really in very good order despite the obvious wear and tear, at a perfect gradient and the views are quite spectacular. We did stop and try and take photos but they just don't show how steep it is or how wonderful the views are.

It took us over an hour to get to the top but it is really worth the effort. When you think you have reached the top you come around the corner and there is suddenly just this mass of people, all selling their goods, fruit, potatoes onions, tomatoes and little shops selling everything else that you can think of...

 

 What a place! At this point you think you have reached the top but oh no there was still at least another 5 or so Kms till reaching the camp site.

 

 

We had an interesting and unusual experience at this point which I will mention... we’re going merrily along when suddenly we got hit by a stone thrown by one of the little buggers standing by the side of the road. Ernest will never tolerate that so he stopped the Queen, got everyone to back up and he was out the car in a flash chasing the little buggers who had thrown the stone. It was a circus and reminded me of the buffaloes in Amboseli who had taken fright at The Queen and stampeded away with an elephant in toe. So there was Ernest, shouting away and about 10 little boys and their mother all running hell for leather away from us. I just never got my camera out in time but it would have been a great picture. I am sure it will be a long time before they even think of throwing another stone at a passing car.

We had previously stayed at a campsite called “the Lawns” and we knew it was the only place where The Queen would fit so off we went to find the place. Unfortunately, he had built a few extra rooms etc and so we weren't able to get The Queen up onto the lawns as it was too steep and Ernest was too scared to try and take The Queen up such a steep incline. So we had to park in their parking lot and camp right there. Ernest and Steve managed to position The Queen right next to a little shelter that they had built and we fitted snugly into place and had a great evening sitting under the shelter around a fire with our coats on as it is pretty cold up in those mountains.

 

                                Campsite at Lushutu

 

The worst part of Lushutu is that I am sure it is the noisiest place on planet earth. Plus it was Friday night so there was a party going on that lasted till the early hours of the morning. Luckily for Ernest and I, our tent had somehow leaked when we were parked in the rain at Moshi and we were forced to sleep inside The Queen. Poor old Kim, Andrea and Steve looked pretty blurry eyed the next morning and we hadn't heard a thing... Good old wet tent comes in handy sometimes.

Look forward to reading your comments! Signing off!