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!
Eh, couldn't the men's arms be twisted into buying you ladies a semi-precious stone each...?!
ReplyDeleteTut tut....