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!

   

Day 46 - Tsavo West, Kenya

We woke up quite early and had a quick breakfast as we knew we would soon be invaded again. We asked Steve to go to the village and pay our little guard and bade a fond farewell to Solomon; giving him strict instruction that we couldn't leave Andrea there because what would we do with her second hand shoes?

Solomon would not let us go that easily and caught a lift back to the camp with Steve to say goodbye. We were pretty glad he did as he was such an outstanding individual, we exchanged goodbyes, swopped addresses and promised to come back one day when he was made the chief or better still when he found wife no 3 he would invite us to the wedding.

We did a few hours game viewing back in Amboseli and stopped at the lodge there to send the photos via the wifi and have some tea and cake like proper tourists. We were however looking so scruffy that we were a bit surprised when they let us in. It is interesting to note that one of the largest lodges in Amboseli has closed down so the cattle grazing might be having an effect - who knows.

 We had spent some time the night before pouring over the maps as our plan was to leave Amboseli enter Tanzania and go to Manyara. This meant a 300 kilometer drive there and 300 Km’s back and this was just too much driving for two days at Manyara so, we thought of going in the opposite direction and head out to Tsavo West, only 100 Kms there and less back to Moshi which was our next destination on our way to Dar.

None of us had ever been there so it would be a new place to explore. I did however remember from last time when we were in Tsavo East that there had been a bit of trouble in the reserve and a few tourists had gotten shot..... No! said Ernest that is nonsense. Oh well let's go and see!

So we set off going West instead of East where normal people go!

We left Amboseli and drove on one of our dirt roads that was not too bad and had gone about 30 Kms when all of a sudden we came across a lodge called Amboseli Lodge.... How come was there a lodge so far out of the actual reserve? So we stopped to enquire why, only to find it used to be inside the reserve but with the encroachment of the  Masai and their cattle they had had to move the gate 30 Km s. That really confirmed our fears about the reserves future.

Another 25 Kms of reasonable road and we were stopped with a boom blocking the road manned by the Army. We could go no further unless we took an armed Askari with us. Some tourists had been attacked on this road all be it a long time ago and no tourists were allowed through without an armed guard.

So for the (lost count) number of times I could say I told you so! So we put the Askari with Kim together with his AK47 and set off for Tsavo West. The Askari, whose name was Elliot, insisted that Kim was last in the convoy of cars, he reckoned, if the convoy got hit, he could then move in and shoot the terrorists. Kim was telling us later that he only had 34 rounds in the gun and it was on automatic so one pull of the trigger and zip all the bullets would be gone and we would be defenseless, so he made him take it off automatic and onto single shot... Not that he thought that there was any danger whatsoever. Apparently the last person killed was 10 years ago so we were hardly in any danger, I am sure the Government put the system in place and has just forgotten that the whole system is still in place and they are now just really giving someone a job.

We wanted to stop for some lunch along the way but we were told by Elliot that we weren't allowed to stop and could only stop once we were in the reserve.... All very dramatic but unnecessary I am sure.

The first section of the countryside was terribly overgrazed with the usual huge flocks of sheep, thin cows and goats. Heaven knows what they were eating because there is not a blade of grass or a leaf left on any tree. The tragedy is that it has been so devastated that there aren't any seeds left to reseed the area when it rains.

Then suddenly there was thick grass and beautiful vegetation and we knew we had entered the reserve. The difference was just so startling it was a shock. It seemed obvious that there is some strict policy about not allowing any livestock in this reserve or maybe it is just too far away from any of the settlements for them to get the cattle there.

The landscape was really the prettiest we have seen on our whole trip. There were several little volcanic hills, lots of vegetation and beautiful trees. Then, we hit an area that was just a black volcanic flow of cold molten lava. What a sight, just black gnarled rocks as far as the eye could see with small very green trees popping up amongst the rock. You could just imagine the flow of endless lava creeping over the land as it spread out from the volcano and it is still all there exactly as it flowed a few hundred years ago. It has been dated back to between 100 and 500 years ago so quite a recent volcanic eruption unlike Kilimanjaro which was a couple of million years ago.

We got to the gate, paid our usual fortune, dropped off our Askari and went off to find the camp site. Although it was not right on top of the lava flow there were still big lumps of rocks lying everywhere so it is quite rough on the cars as you bump down the road.  The campsite was of the usual shocking standards. I just don't know how they can unashamedly charge what they do yet not keep up any standards of cleanliness or workability, it is so evident that there is no management whatsoever and they just don't care.

 In all our travels through Kenya, we have not come across one other fellow camper, this is such a change from the past as there were always other guys that we met or saw in the campsites. Now the only guys you see are people that are staying in the lodges and are being transported in those mini busses by local tour operators. The only reason we could do this trip in reasonable comfort is because of the facilities in The Queen that make us so self-contained. The ablution blocks were just not confrontable but there were outside taps and plenty of water and with our big hippo that is fortunately all we need.

We settled in for a great night in the wild, having already seen a fair amount of game on the way in, so we looked forward to hearing hyena and jackal which is so synonymous with the bush.

After dinner Kim went off to the other side of The Queen to get hot water from the outside shower in order to wash the dishes... Ernest, always alert to an opportunity to give someone a fright or play a trick, crept around the truck from the other side and crept up to Kim who couldn't hear him because of the running water. Ernest made a noise like a wild animal right behind him. Kim's reaction was instantaneous, in fact the reaction time of a wild cat, he swung around and threw the hot water over Ernest in a flash. It was so fast that Ernest never even had time to duck. Oh wow at last someone had got him back and it took us at least ten minutes to stop laughing as Ernest appeared looking like a drowned rat.... A warm one at that. Kim had said afterwards, he wasn't sure what was behind him but his only weapon was the water and Ernest got the full bowl, quite sharp really. I think he was as surprised as Ernest was when he saw the drowned rat standing behind him.

Sooooo now the game is on!