Monday, 15 September 2014

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 bodys 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 nights sleep we had had for ages.
 
Signing off, Until tomorrow!

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