Goodboons' Blog

Scarlet is back on the road.

2010-04-18T13:17:00.000+02:00

Scarlet was sold in December 2009 and is back on the road.
We wish her new owners a fantastic journey !

When did the Goodboons come back to town ?

2009-10-13T09:31:00.000+02:00

En francais plus bas...

Dear all,

It has been a long time since our last news...
A very long time...

Of course, a lot of you have heard from us since - most of you probably - but not all of you. So, please accept our apologies and let us bring you up to date.

Well, to start with, we are back in Cape Town !We got back on a sunny winter day, June 29th, after exactly 7 months on the road, and over 32000km on the clock.It has been a fantastic journey !

We have posted a map with our completed route under the "route" theme.

And we still plan to do posts on the rest of the trip since we left you in Uganda in May.
Some of the highlights were:

- Uganda's beautiful landscapes, friendly people, such variety in such a small country and such peaceful wild National Parks when compared to the rest of East Africa.

- Eastern Tanzania - the road down the length of Lake Tanganyika, bush camping in National Parks, and long bumpy days...

- Malawi and its wonderful Lake.Zambia : the Flat Dogs Camp, feeding hippo biscuits to the hippos, 2nd puncture of the trip (and 3rd, and 4th...), being recognized by Goodboons blog's fans in the street, misty Victoria Falls, and Tiger fishing in the Zambezi...

- In Botswana's we had floods in the desert, long sandy tracks and fantasic tarred roads and officials welcoming us home.

- We found South Africa as stunningly beautiful as ever, despite being so cold (we arrived for a freezing but sunny Johannesburg winter week) and, we had great pleasure in seeing friends and family again !
One of our reasons for the lack of news on the blog, is that we had something to hide - and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide...

The secret was kept until we got back to Johannesburg: we are expecting a little boy for November!

Most of you know by now, but for those who don't we would like to share the happy news and let you know that we are overjoyed.

As a result, we have also decided to sell our 4x4, Scarlet. Three of us wont fit in the single cab.
Here is the link for anyone who may be interested: http://capetown.gumtree.co.za/c-Cars-Vehicles-Motorbikes-Parts-cars-R35K-Hilux-Raider-1991-2-2-petrol-4x4-W0QQAdIdZ158490978

Much love to all,

Caro, Steve, & "miniboon"

Cher tous,

Voila bien longtemps que nous n avons pas donne de nouvelles...
Tres longtemps...

Biensur, beaucoup d entre vous ont eu de nos nouvelles depuis - la plupart probablement - mais pas tous. Alors, s'il vous plait, acceptez nos excuses, et permettez-nous de vous raconter...

Eh bien, pour commencer, nous sommes de retour au Cap !
Nous sommes rentres sous un soleil hivernal, le 29 juin, 7 mois jour pour jour apres notre depart, et avec quelques 32000km de plus au compteur. Quelle aventure nous avons vecue !

Nous avons complete la carte de la route que nous avons suivie, et l avons postee sous le theme "route".

On a aussi l intention de rediger d autres "posts" pour vous raconter le reste du voyage depuis l Ouganda, ou nous vous avons laisse en mai.
En voici un avant-gout:

- Les paysages magnifiques de l Ouganda, la gentillesse des gens, petit pays mais grande variete, et des parcs nationaux tellement paisibles quand on les compare avec ceux d Afrique de l Est.

- L est de la Tanzanie - la route vers le sud le long du lac Tanganyika, le camping sauvage dans les parcs nationaux, et les longues journees cahoteuses...

- La Zambie : le Flat Dogs Camp, les "biscuits pour hippos", la deuxieme crevaison du voyage (et la 3e, et la 4e...), les fans du Goodboons'blog qui nous ont reconnus dans la rue, les brumes des chutes Victoria, et la peche au tigre dans le Zambeze...

- Le Malawi et son lac !

- Au Botswana : les inondations dans le desert, les longues pistes de sable et les fabuleuses routes goudronnees, ainsi que des douaniers qui nous ont souhaite "Welcome Home".

- Nous avons retrouve l Afrique du sud toujours aussi belle, malgre un froid tenace. Nous sommes rentres a Johannesburg pour une semaine hivernale glaciale mais ensoleillee ; et nous y avons retrouve famille et amis avec plaisir !

Si nous n avons pas beaucoup mis le blog a jour depuis Avril, c est que nous avions quelquechose a cacher - et que cela devenait de plus en plus difficile a cacher...

Le secret a ete garde jusqu a Johannesburg : nous attendons un petit garcon pour novembre !

La plupart d entre vous sont deja au courant, mais pour ceux qui ne l etaient pas nous souhaitons partager la bonne nouvelle et vous dire que nous sommes ravis.

Du coup, nous avons aussi decide de vendre Scarlet, notre 4x4. On n y tient pas a trois !
Voici le lien vers notre petite annonce, si vous connaissez quelqu un que ca interesse: http://capetown.gumtree.co.za/c-Cars-Vehicles-Motorbikes-Parts-cars-R35K-Hilux-Raider-1991-2-2-petrol-4x4-W0QQAdIdZ158490978

Bises a chacune et chacun,

Caro, Steve, & "miniboon"

Hilux Raider (1991) 2.2 petrol 4x4 - For sale.

2009-10-13T09:05:00.000+02:00

Scarlet - our faithful Hilux Raider (1991) 2.2 petrol 4x4 - is for sale.
As you know from this blog, it has just returned from an Africa overland safari.

It was a fantastic vehicle to have.

Diff lock. Single cab.

320 000km.
Mechanics renewed before departure – good condition.

Includes custom aluminium canopy, fridge-freezer, battery system, roof-top tent, awning, 2nd fuel tank, water tank, shelving, steel boxes, spares, camping and recovery equipment.

ZAR 90,000

Call Steve : +27 84 447 5544

(See more pictures under the "Scarlet" theme, and generally on the whole blog ; and see the reason why we have to sell it on our "Home page").

We are back in Cape Town (South Africa) !

2009-07-11T21:56:00.000+02:00

Hello there,

We left Cape Town on November 29, 2008. Exactly 7 months and over 32000km later, we are back at home. We arrived on June 29, 2009. It has been a fantastic adventure !

Hum... Let's see. We've left you in Uganda. I think it was around mid-May... Just give us a few weeks to settle back, see friends, go back to work, and sort out pictures... We'll update this blog as soon as possible. In the mean time you can browse through past posts by using the themes' key words in the right column or the monthly archives.

As an appetizer, here is the route we have been following. More details on where we have been can be found under the "Route" themes' key word.

Border crossing Kenya/Uganda in Malaba.

2009-05-15T18:19:00.000+02:00

Arriving at the Malaba border post was quite an experience: in less time than it takes to write about it we were surrounded by a crowd of people, shouting to us not to speak to anyone, showing us badges and telling us to follow them… We eventually realised that these guys were “facilitating agents” and were there to guide us through the border’s formalities. It was rather amusing/annoying: we had been crossing borders for the past 5 months without any help. Eventually we realised that we wouldn’t have peace less we chose one of them to be our guide. And so, Moses became our “agent”. We weren’t to regret his help in parting the sea.

Exiting Kenya went quite easily, except that we almost got heavily fined for not having paid road tax (20 USD) when we entered the country. It took us some time to explain that we had come from Lake Turkana, where there is no border post, and that no-one had told us about road tax in Nairobi when we went to Times Tower to have our Carnet de Passage stamped. We were quite happy to pay the road tax but felt we shouldn’t pay the fine. Fortunately we remembered the name of the customs boss we had dealt with in Nairobi, and fortunately the border officials were nice to us and ended up letting us go. No doubt Moses’s polite patience in dealing with them helped a lot.

Knowing that we would have to pay the Ugandan road tax in Ugandan shillings, we changed the Kenyan shillings we still had. The exchange rate offered t us by the agents was fair . We got USh26 for KSh1.

Moses then took us to the Ugandan side of the border, where we easily got a 2 month visa for USD50 each.

Getting the carne stamped was another story: First we had to get to a copy machine to get a copy of an official form. Moses paid for the copy. Then we had to fill the form and take it to some official who was to confirm the amount entered on the form. The official wasn’t in his office, but Moses had his phone number and managed to find him at the front gate. With that we then had to go to the bank (there is one at the border) to pay the tax and get a receipt. It was a whole complex process, probably to prevent corruption. Without Moses we would have been lost. Eventually we went through Customs, passed the queue (again with Moses help) and had our CDP stamped. We were finally and officially in Uganda.

Moses had made it clear that he was working as an independent agent. We gave him USh10,000 for his help. He seemed happy with that.

First impressions of Uganda.

2009-05-15T18:16:00.000+02:00

We were impressed by the quality of the roads. They are excellent, and where there is roadwork the diversions are clear and good.

What struck us when we arrived was how green, hilly, and productive the countryside looks.
But, what will stay with us the most is the people’s kindness, helpfulness, and their smiles. Uganda is diverse and beautiful: stunning National Parks, thrilling rapids, unique birds, mysterious Chimpanzees and Gorillas, snowy mountains (the Rwenzoris), and active volcanos, tree-climbing lions, crater lakes and Lake Victoria. It is no wonder that this is where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip chose to spend their honeymoon 60 years ago.

There are a few cell phone networks available, but Zain, which we used in Kenya and Tanzania is also present in Uganda. We are thus still using the sim card we bought a few months ago.

On 05 May 2009, the exchange rate was more or less:
- Ksh 1 (one Kenyan shilling) to Ush 26 (26 Ugandan shilling)
- USD 1 to Ush 2000
- ZAR 1 to Ush 200

And here are some prices:
- Ush 1700 to 4000 for a beer (supermarket to bar)
- Ush 700 to 1500 for a bottle of Coca Cola (local to Mzungu)
- Ush 1000 for a mango (Mzungu price?)
- Ush 1500 for a dozen bananas
- Ush 2100 to 2400 for 1l of petrol depending on dist from Kampala.

The Source of the White Nile

2009-05-15T16:38:00.000+02:00

Jinja, where the White Nile leaves Lake Victoria, was to be our first stop in Uganda. It sells itself as the “Adventure Capital of Africa” and apart from offering probably the best commercial white water rafting in the world, it also offers: quad biking, bungee jumping, horse riding and kayaking. But, we didn’t do any of that - we chilled in the shade and went bird watching instead… Man, am I kicking myself now!

The Source of the Nile

Bird watching is better than white-water (Murchison Falls)

From Jinja we went to Murchison Falls National Park, lower down on the White Nile. The park is a vibrant mix of forest, bush and grassland. Of course we visited the falls and then we spent a day chimpanzee tracking in the Budongo forest.

Murchison Falls

It was magical to experience these creatures in their own environment. We were amazed how they can disappear – we smelled them first when they were only 5m from us and all around us. Our guide, Cypriano, was very knowledgeable and has been working with this particular group of 87 individuals for the last seventeen years. We learned that they only pick fruit from the trees as it becomes ripe (whereas baboons pick everything and throw the unripe fruit down) and can feed off the same few trees for a few weeks. They also hunt monkeys and small antelope closing in on them from all sides. They also strip grass and use it to fish termites out of their nests; and they retreat to the wardens’ village when there is a lion/leopard threatening them.

Deep Thought

The good news is that this particular forest habitat and its chimp population have been expanding over the last few years.

Chimp Tracking in Budongo Forest

Scarlet's Anatomy

2009-05-15T14:30:00.000+02:00

The Kitchen and Diningroom

Steve's side

Caro's side

The Recovery Compartment

What to pack?

2009-05-15T12:33:00.000+02:00

Two lists of things we:

1. Should have left in the garage:

Surfboards – a good starting point for many conversations, but not worth the hassle of off-loading every time we stopped for the night, loading them on again the next morning and then having to stop every so often to re-tie them. Maybe it would have been different if we had found some waves…

Cooler box – we used it for storage where another black box would have been better.

Egg holder – doesn’t work unless eggs are hard boiled!

2. Found really useful:

Snatch-strap – the best thing since the hi-lift jack (if you are travelling as two vehicles).

Awning – lovely in the rain.

Vacuum cleaner – some sanity when the dust becomes too much!

Tools – often the know-how is there but the tools aren’t. Spares for Toyota seem to be available everywhere. Fortunately we haven’t had to replace anything other than a wheel bearing thus far.

Fridge – what a pleasure! To think that we had even discussed whether it was worth the money...

Fan - hanging in our tent as a ceiling fan. It saved our lives on many hot nights! (Thanks for the idea, Gideon)

Fire lighters – Good old, Blitz. Charcoal is more easily available that firewood in most places.

Wash basins – Two big plastic basins for washing food, clothes, dishes and bodies.

Potjie – Our cast iron cooking pot.

Bleach – we took 1 litre of 12% Sodium Hypochlorite (NaHOCL) which we used to clean all our drinking water and fruit & veg. We use 3 drops for 10 litres of drinking water.

Spot light and binoculars – for checking out all the creatures hanging around our camp,day and night (Thanks, Pat & B).

Our latest news...

2009-04-30T15:18:00.000+02:00

We have just come back from 2 days in the Masai Mara National Park. We overheard someone saying that it is the best time of year to go: there has been a bit of rain, the grass is electric green and animals are numerous. So, we decided to postpone the Rift Valley lakes for a bit, and treated ourselves!

It was fantastic. There were very few safari vehicles in the park. The roads weren’t too muddy yet, and we saw many birds and animals roaming the seemingly endless plains.

Giraffes on the horizon

Mother and daughter

Simba wakes…

… getting up…

… Even the King of the Jungle needs to shit!

Sometimes watching the tourists is just as much fun

On the way back, we took a back road which had a lot of sharp rocks. We had our first puncture in 5 months!

Border crossing in Omorate (Ethiopia/Kenya)

2009-04-30T15:00:00.000+02:00

Having entered Ethiopia through the main border of Moyale, we decided to go back down to Kenya through the Omo valley and Lake Turkana. It was a very worthwhile adventure, but it was not too straightforward…

There is a border post in Omorate on the Ethiopian side, but no customs office as yet. This means you can leave Ethiopia officially, but your car can’t. We had to go to the customs department in Awasa, on our way to Arba Minch, to have our Carnet de Passage stamped there.

From Omorate we had to backtrack a short distance before taking a sandy track south towards Banya Fort and the Kenyan border. There is a police checkpoint on the Ethiopian side to check your passports as you leave. From here, it was sandy, rocky and muddy tracks until Maralal, some 500km south. We were travelling with the Amazing Swiss (Marc and Roman) in Wolfi, their Mitsubishi minibus. We pulled each other out of the mud a few times, bush-camped a few more, and made it to Maralal without having felt threatened or having had any major problems with the cars. We were both carrying 180l of fuel when we left Jinka for Omorate. We found fuel “out of the barrel’ in Loiyangalani and Barsaloi, at exorbitant prices.

There is no border post on the Kenyan side. We had arranged our Kenyan visas in Addis before leaving. We reported to the Loiyangalani Police Station to announce our arrival in Kenya, where we learned that we were illegal immigrants and that you are not supposed to cross the border anywhere other that Moyale. The police officer was nice enough though, and didn’t send us back to Moyale, which would have been a real mission. After phoning his senior in Nairobi, he let us continue to Nairobi where we completed the Immigration and Customs formalities.

The immigration ran smoothly, but the CDP wasn’t as easy. We had to go to the Customs Department is located in the Times tower. We were sent to the 12th floor, then the 9th floor, then the 10th floor, then the 4th floor… Only to find out that the right person to stamp the CDP really was on the 10th floor. The problem was that the new official in charge had never heard of CDP. It took a bit of time to find his predecessor (who now works on the 1st floor) so he could explain to his colleague what was required. Patience prevailed and we eventually got our CDP stamped. After a morning of bureaucratic fun, we were finally legal - one week after crossing the border!

The road to Maralal

2009-04-29T10:33:00.009+02:00

It was a scenic drive down the length of Lake Turkana, across the Chalbi Desert and then up to Maralal. The going was slow: Wolfi, the Mitsubishi bus, struggled a bit with her lower ground clearance…

Lake Turkana, also called The Jade Sea

The Swiss road building effort in Northern Kenya.

A leaking fuel tank

Crossing the Chalbi Desert

We spent one night bush-camping in the desert and another at Katanga community campsite.

Lunchstop before Maralal

Lone Tree Camp, Chalbi Desert

Katanga Community Campsite...

...with room service.

Caro at Thomson's Falls, our last stop before Nairobi.

Sibiloi National Park, Northern Kenya

2009-04-29T09:43:00.011+02:00

This park situated on the north eastern side of Lake Turkana is the least visited of Kenya’s parks. It is remote and roads are rough…

A dry riverbed - not!

Stuck again.

Bushcamping back in Kenya

A few million years ago the water level in Lake Turkana was 100m higher than it is now. The climate was different too - a lush forest teaming with wildlife. Today, the exposed sediments at Sibiloi are a fossil hunter’s dream: giant tortoises, warthogs, crocodiles and wildebeest; early hominid ancestors; and petrified forests. The landscape is dry and uninhabited. We saw some wildlife: Generuk, Topi, Grant's Gazelle and crocs...

Shall we go for a swim?

We spent a night at Koobi Fora camp before tackling the road south…

Lake Turkana from Koobi Fora

Chilling

Makki Village and the Mursi, Mago National Park

2009-04-29T08:44:00.018+02:00

The Mursi tribe live in what is now the Mago National Park, some two or three hours drive from Jinka. They are best known for their lip-plates which to women insert into an incision in their lower lips. They are nomadic pastoralists and have a fearsome reputation amongst the other tribes of the South Omo Valley.

Mursi herdsmen

River crossing to Maki Village

We had heard that there was tension between the Government, who charge visitors to enter the Mago National Park, and the Mursi who don’t receive any benefit from the revenue generated for the park. The result is that the Mursi will demand a payment from the visitor over and above the ‘official’ price paid at the park entrance. The Government and Mursi representatives were negotiating a settlement while we were there.

The Amazing Swiss with a Mursi woman and child

Young mothers

Curious but shy

Oli Seraili's first wife in her hut - each wife has her own

Her son..

We spent one night at Makki Village before driving south to the park headquarters. We had intended to continue south through the park to Omorate, but a heavy storm came through and we were advised that the roads would be impassable. We decided instead to backtrack to Jinka and take the less adventurous road south…

Our camp under the trees at Makki Village

Scouting roads under water

Stuck

Made it back to the main road!

To Jinka and the South Omo Valley

2009-04-29T07:44:00.008+02:00

The road to Jinka passes through the village of Kai Afer. We heard that the following day was market day. People from Banna and Tsamai tribes would be travelling to the market from thoughout the district: an opportunity to trade and socialise.

The Amazing Swiss, keen for a chicken potjie at Rocky Hill Campsite, Jinka

The following day the road to the Kai Afer was busy with people and livestock on their way to the market.

Scarlet, drawing some attention

One of the young men referred to as a ‘bull jumper’ was at the market to find a bride. We later learned that a ‘bull jumper’ literally jumps over a series of bulls as an initiation rite, before he is allowed to marry. A man may marry any number of wives provide he can afford to buy her - each wife is a fixed price of 38 cows.

A 'bull-jumper', his status indicated by the feathers in his head dress.

The woman wear a calabash on there head, which also doubles as an eating/drinking vessel. Most woman wear goat skin garments studded with cowrie shells. The shells are traded with people to the south, ultimately coming from the Kenyan coast.

High Street Fashion

Shopaholics

Mallrats

South to the Omo Valley

2009-04-29T07:03:00.012+02:00

We met up with the Amazing Swiss (Marc and Roman) again at Wim’s Holland House in Addis Abeba. We agreed to travel to Nairobi together via the Omo Valley and Lake Turkana, mainly for the security offered by travelling as two vehicles but also because they seemed like pretty cool guys.

Our farewell coffee ceremony at Wim's Holland House

We stocked up with food for the next two weeks, bought some extra jerry cans and then we hit the road south. We stopped at Lake Langano for one night before reaching Arba Minch.

Our campsite in Arba Minch - a spectacular view when it wasn't raining!

We visited the Dorze tribe high up in the mountains above the town. They are most well known for their “elephant houses” constructed entirely of bamboo and false banana tree leaves. The houses are built very tall, but shrink with time because the bases are continuously eaten by termites. After twenty years the house is replaced. We were shown how they spin cotton into thread and use it to weave the traditional scarves and gabis (capes).

Our first elephant house!

Steve trying to weave - man's work

Caro trying to spin cotton - woman's work

We were also shown how to prepare bread from the stems of the false banana stems - traditional fruit bearing banana trees do not grow at this altitude. First the stems are grated to produce a pulp, which is wrapped in banana leaves and buried. It is allowed to ferment underground for three to six months before it is recovered. The pulp, which now has the consistency of bread dough is then flattened, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked on an open fire. Delicious!

The bread making process

Everything made from false banana and bamboo

Marc duelling with a local - his shield made from hippo hide.

More details on where we have been

2009-04-28T18:00:00.000+02:00

102 - 29 June09: Cape Town (Home!). Good tarred road.

101 - 23/29 June09: George (Rivendale, “the HQ”). Excellent tarred road.

100 - 22/23 June09: Smithfield (Pula House, 5 stars guest house : so much to celebrate !). Excellent tarred road.

99 - 16/22 June09: Johannesburg (Steve’s parents’ house). Excellent tarred road.

SOUTH AFRICA

98 - 15/16 June09: Gaborone (Mokolodi Nature Reserve’s campsite). Excellent tarred road.

97 - 14/15 June09: Serowe (Khama Rhino Sanctuary’s campsite). Good tarred road from Rakops to Serowe. We tried to go to Kubu Island in the western Makgadigadi Pans, but the road was flooded there and we didn’t make it much further than…

96 - 13/14 June09: Rakops (The Motel’s campsite). The road from Moremi to Maun was a good dirt road. From Maun to the Makgadigadi Pans Game Reserve is a good tarred road but we decided to follow the good dirt road south of it towards Orapa’s mines.

95 - 12/13 June09: Moremi National Park (“Tse Tse Vlei Buch camp”). It was a sandy and muddy road throughout the Southern part of Chobe National Park and towards Moremi NP. It had rained very heavily on the region over the past two or three days and the muddy patches were particularly bad. A tour guide we met in the park recommended an alternative route to reach Moremi from the Chobe southern gate; it made it possible for us to get there before dark. We hadn’t prebooked our entrance ticket for Moremi and therefore opted to stay outside the park: we bush-camped in a beautiful Mopane forest along the main road.

94 - 11/12 June09: Chobe National Park (“The watherhole Bush camp”). Good tarred road between Mambova and Kasane, with a well-organized ferry to cross the Zambezi at the border. Sandy road in the Chobe National Park. The sand can be thick and deep at times. It’s 4x4 driving, but the tracks are relatively easy to follow. We bush-camped near a waterhole a few km south of Kachikau: along the section of the road that is outside the park.

BOTSWANA

93 - 08/11 June09: Mambova (Mambova Fishing Lodge). Good tarred road to the Mambova turn off, then good dirt road to the Fishing Lodge.

92 - 07/08 June09: Livingstone (Green Tree Lodge campsite). Good tarred road to Livingstone.

91 - 06/07 June09: Sinazongwe (Houseboat Company’s campsite, on Lake Kariba). Good tarred road to Sinzongwe.

90 - 05/06 June09: Kafue Gorge (Otter Bay camp). Good tarred road to Kafue and beyond to the Zimbabwean border despite a few bad potholes here and there. The road remains good until the last turn off to Otter Bay; it then becomes a 4x4 track.

89 - 04/05 June09: Petauke (Zulu’s kraal campsite). From the Park it is best to go back to Chipata and the main road. The National road is a very good tarred road.

88 - 01/04 June09: South Luangwa National Park (Flatdogs camp). Fairly good dirt road from Chipata to the Park (we could drive at about 60km/h).

87 - 31May / 01June09: Chipata (Dean’s Hill View campsite). Good dirt road from Ntchisi Forest Reserve to Ntchisi, then excellent tarred road via Mponela, Madisi, and Chikoti to Mchinji’s border post. There are a few more potholes on the Zambian side, but the road seems to be looked after section after section.

ZAMBIA

86 - 30/31 May09: Ntchisi Forest Reserve (Bush camp). Excellent tarred road along the lake passed Chia Lagoon, then dirt road, sometimes bumpy, to Ntchisi Forest Reserve via Mwansambo.

85 - 29/30 May09: Ngala Beach Lodge campsite, North of Dwangwa. Excellent tarred road along the lake from Kande Beach turn off to Ngala Beach.

84 - 28/29 May09: Kande Beach restcamp, South of Chinteche. Excellent tarred road along the lake from Nkhata Bay to Kande Beach turn off, then good dirt road.

83 - 27/28 May09: Nkhata Bay (Njaya Lodge campsite). Good tarred road from the Matema turn off to Nkhata Bay, and bumpy dirt road to the lodge.

MALAWI

82 - 24/27 May09: Matema (Lakeshore resort campsite, on Lake Nyasa). From our bush camp to the border town of Tunduma the road was still dirt and corrugated, but became a good tarred road in Tunduma. The tarred road is very good to Mbeya and Kyela, where we turned off on a slightly rocky and - at times - muddy dirt road to Matema.

81 - 23/24 May09: Bush camp between Sumbawanga and Tunduma in Southern Tanzania. From Kativi to our bush camp, the sand slowly gives way to a harder dirt road, which becomes quite corrugated, as more trucks use the road south of Sumbawanga.

80 - 22/23 May09: Katavi National Park (Bush Camp near the lake). From Kasulu to Mpanda it’s still a fairly good dirt road (although a bit slower than before Kasulu). It becomes quite sandy (and - we can imagine – difficult in the rainy season), especially through the Kativi National Park, where speed is limited anyways.

79 - 21/22 May09: Kasulu (Kasulu Motel). The dirt road improves around Biharamulo to Kibondo and finally Kasulu, but it’s still a long day’s drive for just about 300km.

78 - 20/21 May09: Bush camp between Bukoba and Biharamulo on South West Lake Victoria. Good tarred road from Masaka (U) to Bukoba (T). South of Bukoba the road is still tarred for a while and offers stunning vies onto Lake Victoria. It becomes quite suddenly dirt around Kemondo Bay or Muleba though: obvious plans to continue the tarred road seem to have been abandoned long ago, and the dirt road is quite bumpy. We can imagine that it gets very muddy and slippery when it rains.

TANZANIA

77 - 19/20 May09: Lake Nabugabo (Holiday Resort campsite, near Masaka). Pot-holed tarred road from Kabale to Masaka, then small dirt road to the resort.

76 - 17/19 May09: Lake Bunyoni (Overlanders campsite). We took the windy mountainous and rural dirt road from Ishasha, passed the Bwindi reserve (famous for its gorillas), to Lake Bunyoni. It was long but very scenic, and – we think – very worth it.

75 - 16/17 May09: Ishasha (Queen Elisabeth National Park’s campsite). Good tarred road from Kasese to the turn off to Ishasha, then good dirt road to Ishasha.

74 - 09/16 May09: Kasese (Nick’s home, then KCCL’s guest house – Nick, Rob, Anthea: Thanks a million for your hospitality, it has been a most welcome resting spot!). We took the dirt going from the Murchinson Falls NP to Kyanjojo, just before Fort Portal. It took us the whole day to do 200km because a storm hit us and the road became very muddy and slow going. We have no regrets though, because the road took us through beautiful landscapes and peaceful villages. We have heard that there is now a tarred road leading to Fort Portal more easily, but we are not sure where it is.

73 - 07/09 May09: Murchinsons Falls National Park (Red Chilli Rest camp in the park, and UCOTA Women’s group camp before the park’s gate). We enjoyed the very good tarred road from Jinja to Kampala, where we cursed the traffic for an hour. From Kampala the drive to Masindi then went smoothly. From Masindi there is a good dirt road to the park’s southern entrance.

72 - 05/07 May09: Jinja (Nile Explorers’ Adventure Camp, near the Bujagali Falls). Uganda seems to have great roads. It was a tarred road from Eldoret to Jinja, but the Kenyan side is potholed and “furrowed”.

UGANDA

71 - Rift valley Lakes: 01/02 May: Lake Nakuru (Kembu campsite) – 02/03 May09: Lake Bogoria (Fig Tree bush camp) – 03/04 May09: Lake Baringo (Roberts Camp) – 04/05 May09: Eldoret (Naiberi Camp). It was mostly tarred roads, fairly good. We only had a dirt road to Lake Bogoria’s South gate, and had to use 4x4 on the last (beautiful) 2km through the forest to Fig Tree camp. The road from Lake Baringo up and down the mountain to Eldoret is very scenic.

70 - 27 Apr09/to date: back to Nairobi (Jungle Junction). There are very sharp rocks (our first puncture) but the dirt road is fairly good with some muddy sections from Talek Gate to Narok; then it’s tarred to Nairobi. Fortunately for us the rains are late this year.

69 - 25/27 Apr09: to Masai Mara National Park (Olperr Elongo campsite, near the Sekonani Gate and Aruba campsite, near Talek gate). There is a fairly good tarred road from Lake Navaisha to Sekonani gate via Narok; however we chose to take a back road through the mountains from Crater Lake to Narok. This was a very bad, bumpy and dusty dirt road, which would have been impracticable had it been raining. It took us the best part of day to do less than 100km, and the stresses on the car caused damage to our second fuel tank.

68 - 24/25 Apr09: to Lake Navaisha (Fisherman’s campsite). Good tarred road.

67 - 19/24 Apr09: to Nairobi (Jungle Junction and Xan and Vanessa’s home).

Good tarred road.

66 - 18/19 Apr09: to Nyahururu (Thompson Falls Lodge campsite). Bad rocky dirt road until Rumuruti, then good tarred road to Nyahururu. It was our first tarred road since Shashemene, 13 days ago!

65 - 17/18 Apr09: to Maralal (Yale Camel Club campsite).

64 - 16/17 Apr09: to Kurungu (Kisungu Community campsite).

63 - 15/16 Apr09: on the road between Sibiloi National Park and Loiyanganali, Southern Lake Turkana. Bush camp under a lone acacia tree.

62 - 14/15 Apr09: to Sibiloi National Park (Koobi Fora camp).

61 - 13/14 Apr09: on the road between Omorate (Ethiopia) and Sibiloi National Park (Kenya/Lake Turkana). Bush camp on the side of the road.

KENYA

60 - 08/10 Apr09: to Jinka (Omo Valley first base – Rocky Hill campsite) Tarred down to Konso, then good dirt to Jinka. - 10/11 Apr09: to Makki (Mursi tribe): Fairly good dirt road. - 11/12 Apr09: to Mago National Park Head Quarters: Rocky dirt road from Makki to the HQ’s turn off, then very muddy and slippery road to the HQ. We would have battled with only a single vehicle. We were travelling with two Swiss guys in a Mitsubishi minibus. We got stuck in turns and had to pull each other out of the mud (it had rained heavily the previous night). - 12/13 Apr09: back to Jinka (Rocky Hill campsite).

59 - 06/08 Apr09: to Arba Minch (Bekele Mola Hotel campsite). Good tarred road to Shashemene, then still tarred to Arba Minch but with patches of bad potholes and detours, as part of the road is under reconstruction.

58 - 05/06 Apr09: to Lake Langano (Bekele Mola Hotel’s campsite). Good tarred road but lots of traffic - a lot of trucks, especially along the first stretch on the road to Harer, as well as pedestrians and animals.

57 - 31 March/05 April09: back to Addis Abeba (Wim’s Holland House campsite). Good tarred road down the Blue Nile River’s valley and back up to Addis.

56 - 29/31 March09: to Bahir Dar (Ghion Hotel campsite). Good tarred road around Lake Tana.

55 - 27/29 March09: to Gonder (Belegez Pension). Fairly good dirt road from Debark to Gonder. It gets quite rocky and corrugated on the last few kilometres into Gondar, but you are almost there!

54 - 23/27 March09: to Simen Mountain National Park (hiking and camping). Fairly good dirt road from Axum to Debark, although mountainous and slow. It’s a very scenic road, up and down high passes (we went down more than 1000m, then back up 800m again, two or three times!). The last stretch, up the Wolkefit Pass, is really stunning. It winds its way up along a mountain road built by the Italians, offering truly spectacular views.

53 - 21/23 March09: to Axum (Abinet Hotel then Africa Hotel - cheaper and nicer). Good tarred road to Adwa through Tigray’s beautiful landscape, then slow dirt (tarred under construction) to Axum.

52 - 20/21 March09: to Mekele (Arbe Yohannes Hotel). We took the good and quiet dirt road directly North of Lalibela to Sekota, then turned East to Korem where we met the good tarred road (look out for pedestrians and animals) to Mekele. It seems possible to continue on the good dirt road from Sekota all the way to Axum, but we weren’t sure about it so didn’t take a chance. It was a whole day’s drive.

51 - 17/20 March09: to Lalibela (The Asheten Hotel). Good tarred road until Weldiya (but with lots of pedestrians and animals to look out for), then bad dirt-road (under construction and at times muddy and slippery in the rain) over a high pass. It took us the whole day to drive from Kemise to Lalibela. Watch out for kids throwing stones up the high pass.

50 - 16/17 March09: to Kemise/Karakore (Oasis Hotel). Bad tarred road (narrow and full of potholes) from Addis until the Mussolini Tunnel, then good tarred road but lots of pedestrians and animals through many villages. It took us the whole day from Addis.

49 - 10/16 March09: to Addis Abeba (Wim’s Holland House Campsite). Good tarred road.

48 - 09/10 March09: to Lake Ziway (The Tourist Hotel). Dirt road (tarred road under construction) from Dinsho to Shashemene, then good tarred road to Ziway.

47 - 01/09 March09: to Dinsho. Bale Mountains National Park campsites. It was 50km and a two hours drive from Adaba to the village of Dinsho, on the same dirt road as the previous day. We arrived around lunch time, and organised a guide, horses, and food, for a 6 days trek in the mountains which we were able to start the next day.

46 - 28 Feb09/01 March09: to Adaba. Assefa Hailu Hotel. Good tarred road from Yabello to Shashemene through fertile densely populated hills We stopped in Awasa for lunch and money: it was the first ATM we found in Ethiopia. We had changed some Kenyan Shillings on the black-market in Moyale. At Shashemene we took the dirt road heading East towards the Bale Mountains National Park. The 100km or so to Adaba took us the best part of the afternoon as the road is under construction and it was raining. The detours are slow going and there are many pedestrians on the road, as well as many Chinese construction trucks. Interesting highland landscapes though.

45 - 27/28 Feb09: to Yabello. Yabello Motel’s backyard. The Ethiopian road from Moyale to Addis Abeba is tarred and good. It meanders up and down through wonderful landscapes which reminded us a bit of the Northern Cape (in South Africa) in the evening light. We left Takaba mid-morning, completed the border formalities just after lunch, and arrived in Yabello at dusk.

ETHIOPIA

44 - 25/27 Feb09: to Takaba. Action Against Hunger (Action contre la Faim)’s base. In our opinion the road from Marsabit to Moyale (Ethiopian border) was a bit better than the section from Isiolo to Marsabit: there were more rocks, but it wasn’t as corrugated. The flat desert landscape of black rocks and yellow grass, punctuated by a passing camel caravans is fantastic in the morning light. We filled up with petrol in Moyale and headed East to Takaba on a good sandy road through small villages. After rain some sections of black cotton soil can become a bit tricky, as we experienced on the way back. We left Marsabit in the early morning and arrived in Takaba at night fall. Petrol is cheaper in Marsabit that Moyale (Kenyan Side). On the Ethiopian side of Moyale, there are numerous petrol stations selling fuel at roughly half the price as the ‘from the barrel’ outlets on the Kenyan side.

43 - 23/25 Feb09: to Marsabit. Henry’s campsite. The road between Isiolo and Marsabit must be the worst we have been on so far. It is very corrugated and dusty, with a lot of road works and unclear detours. It is very slow going, and the landscape isn’t the most interesting - dry bush mostly. We were told that the road works had started 5 years ago and we had assumed it would be tarred by now… maybe in another five years. We had to stay in Marsabit for an extra night to do some repairs on Scarlet as a result of all the jarring.

42 - 22/23 Feb09: to Isiolo. The Range Hotel campsite. Good tarred road around Mount Kenya, through high fertile lands planted with banana trees, coffee, tea, avo and mango trees. There are two roads from Nairobi to Isiolo. We chose the Eastern one which is supposed to be better and quieter than the western route. We passed second highest mountain of Africa on our left as we drove through the towns of Embu and Meru. It was hidden in the clouds.

41 - 16/22 Feb09: to Nairobi. Jungle Junction. The Mombasa-Nairobi road from Manyani Gate was an excellent tarred road for the first 200km. However, the last 100km before Nairobi were horrible! The road is under repair and the deviation is bumpy, dusty, and very busy, with an incredible number of trucks. Hopefully, the roadworks will be completed soon!

40 - 15/16 Feb09: to Tsavo National Park. It is a bumpy dirt road from Malindi to the Sala Gate, and into the park. We entered the park at midday, then slept outside the park at Voi (Red Elephant Lodge campsite). We then re-entered the park the next morning then exited at midday through the Manyani Gate.

39 - 14/15 Feb09: back to Malindi. Silversands Campsite. Here we organised our COMESA car insurance and took advantage of the fact that Malindi is a favourite Italian holiday resort to treat ourselves to pizzas and ice creams!

38 - 11/14 Feb09: to Mokowe, from where the ferries for Lamu depart. The road is tarred until the turn off at Garsen, then it’s a very corrugated dirt road. We arrived in Mokowe at sunset and decided to spend the night in the harbour’s very busy parking lot. The next morning, we took the big passenger ferry and 30minutes later we were in Lamu. We had been recommended the Stone House Hotel in the old town. It was beautiful and they offered us a fair price. We really enjoyed our stay in Lamu.

37 - 10/11 Feb09: to Watamu, A Rocha Kenya campsite. It’s a good tarred road from Diani to Watamu. However, we decided to avoid Mombasa and visit the countryside instead. So we drove through the Shimba Hills and Kaloleni, before joining the main road at Kilifi. The Shimba Hills area is beautiful and it was nice to drive through small villages again, but we didn’t have a map and got a bit lost. From Kaloleni to Kilifi the road was under repair and the deviations were very dusty and bumpy.

36 - 08/10 Feb09: to Diani /Tiwi Beach (Kenya), Twiga campsite. It is a bumpy dirt road from Peponi to the border, and then a good tarred road to Diani. The border crossing formalities were straight forward. We declined an offer for a car insurance, which we found too expensive and decided to risk being fined by the police instead. Fortunately for us, every road block at which we were stopped over the following few days, the police thought our car’s license on the windscreen was our insurance, and we got away with it… In retrospect, we should have got a COMESA insurance in Tanzania or in Mozambique, to cover us in most of the countries we are planning to visit. We arranged this later in Malindi.

KENYA

35 - 07/08 Feb09. We are back at Peponi for a good night’s rest, before saying goodbye to our new friends, and carry on North.

34 - 03/07 Feb09: to Zanzibar. It took us 3h30 to go across from Pangani to Kendwa Rocks (northern part of the island), on Wahid’s motorized dhow. Although we got a bit sea-sick, we recommend Wahid’s captainship and reliability. His phone number is: +255-784-489193. He charged us 120 USD for the dhow, which we shared with Mike, Sarah, and another traveller met at Peponi, making the trip affordable. On Zanzibar, we stayed for three nights in the fascinating Stone Town, at the Bottom’s Up guest house (mid-range: 25USD/night, including breakfast on a pleasant terrace on top of the building). We also spent one night on the east coast, at Paje, in one of the Kinazi Upepo Hotel’s wooden hut. This was 50USD/night including breakfast. The coast was splendid, with turquoise-blue water and white sand, but we were disappointed by the hotel’s restaurant which we found expensive for the quality of food offered.

33 - 31 Jan09 /03 Feb09: to Peponi campsite, on the coast, between Tanga and Pangani. The road is tarred from Lushoto to Tanga, and then it’s a relatively good dirt road to Peponi. It’s a very comfortable campsite, with a nice restaurant, affordable and with good quality services. It seems popular with independent travellers and it is there that we met our first “overlanders”: Michael and Sarah. They are South Africans and are on their way to Cape Town from England. They have been on the road for the past four months, and it’s great to exchange impressions and tips. We decide to go to Zanzibar together.

32 - 29/31 Jan09: to Lushoto (Irente Farm camp). Good tarred road from Moshi to Lushoto, with a very scenic road in the mountain between Mombo and Lushoto.

31 - 17/29 Jan 09: to Moshi. It’s a very good tarred road from Karatu (close to the Ngorongoro entrance), through Arusha to Moshi. However, the Tanzanian drivers are a real danger. There are also a lot of police check points along this stretch of road. It is safer to drive slowly. We meet up with our “honeymooning” friends: Bruno and Zia. Fred and Caro generously host us at their house in TPC, the big sugarcane plantation south of Moshi. From there we have our first clear sighting of Mount Kilimanjaro (otherwise often covered by clouds)! It is to be our base for the next twelve days or so while we explore some of the stunning parks nearby: Ngorongoro (2 nights at Simba public campsite), Serengeti (1 night at Seronera Nyani public campsite), West Kili (2 nights at Ndarakwai private campsite). We extend our stay by 2 or 3 days after Bruno and Zia’s departure, as Scarlet needs a good service after the long bumpy road north.

30 - 16/17 Jan 09: to Karatu. We followed the main road to Arusha and then took small dirt road out west and the southern end of lake Manayra. It took us up a steep scenic drive through the forest, up the mountains above Lake Manyara, to Mbulu. There we got fresh water from one of the wells. The road then descended into another valley to Karatu. There was a fine red dust everywhere. At the crossroad into Karatu we bumped into Andre, a South African expat, who, recognizing our Cape Town number plate, started chatting and eventually invited us for a beer. When he found out we didn’t know where to spend the night, he offered us to stay for dinner and the night at his house. What a treat, how lucky we are! Thank you, Andre and Lyall.

29 - 15/16 Jan 09: to Kondoa. We camped in the bush (it is now called the Masai Steppe) a few kms North of Dodoma. We were still on the same corrugated dirt and gravel road, which now seems to be climbing up onto a plateau.

28 - 14/15 Jan 09: to Dodoma, Tanzania’s capital. From Iringa we drove straight North, along the “short cut” to Dodoma. It’s shorter on paper, but the dirt and gravel road is so corrugated (read “bumpy”) that we have to drive at 40km/h or less or will shake Scarlet to pieces. The landscape is different from all that we have seen before: flatter, dryer, redder and dustier, with cultivated fields in amoungst the baobab forests. We drove through small villages and enjoy the scenery. Along the road we pass cattle and Masais in their red or blue blankets. We decided to camp in the bush before we reach the city, and pulled off the road in what we thought was an isolated area. Soon we heard voices nearby. When they saw us near their 3 cows they looked as worried about our presence as we were about theirs. Eventually we all smiled, and each went about our own business of settling down for the night.

27 - 13/14 Jan 09: to Iringa. We camped at the Old Farm House in Kisolanza, some 40km south of Iringa. From Songea it is a good scenic tarred road up and down hills to Njombe, then the main Mbeya-Dar es Salam national road to Iringa.

26 - 12/13 Jan 09: to Songea (Tanzania). We crossed the border at Congresso/Matchedje on the new bridge, although it is not officially opened yet. All the paper work on the Tanzanian side has to be done at Songea, 102km further. It’s tarred between Lichinga and Unango then it’s a good dirt road all along. We spent the night at the Paraminho Abbey, a few kms outside Songea.

TANZANIA

25 - 11/12 Jan 09: to Lichinga. We did some shopping and stayed at the Sociedad Internacional Misionaria for the night. (Keith and Bronwyn are missionaries and introduced us)

24 - 07/11 Jan 09: to Meponda (west of Lichinga, on the shore of Lago Niassa/ Lake Malawi). We camped under a huge baobab tree on Keith, Bronwyn and Zoe’s beach. From our last camp in the bush, the track remained very bad until Nungo, a few km before Marrupa. From Nungo to Marrupa it became a very good dirt road. From Marrupa to Lichinga we drove on one of the best tarred road we had seen in Mozambique so far. It winds its way through a stunning landscape of high plateaux and granite domes. It was bizarre: totally void of traffic. From Lichinga to Meponda there is a good gravel road down to the lake, through a beautiful forest.

23 - 06/07 Jan 09: Niassa area. We camped in the bush, half way between Montepues and Marrupa. The road was just a very bad track, a footpath in places. It would have been totally impracticable had it rained more over the past few days. We drove at average speed of 30km/h, and it took us a whole (long) day to do less than 300km.

22 - 05/06 Jan 09: Quirimbas National Park, inland. We camped in the bush between Meluco and Montepues. Fairly good track from Tanganyang.

21 - 04/05 Jan 09: Ibo Island (Mbili Mituri “2 trees” Guest house). It took us about 2 and a half hour to do a bit more than 80km on the coastal road (dirt) from Pemba to Tanganyanga. We were lucky. That road would have been impracticable had it rained more over the past few days.
20 - 31 Dec 2008 to 04 Jan 2009: to Pemba (Pemba Dive + Bush Camp). Our GPS (Africa T4) and our maps (Michelin 2003, and Getaway Magazine Nov 2008) disagree: the GPS shows a road from Memba to Pemba, the maps show that there is no crossing at the Lurio River. We decide to trust the GPS: if there is no bridge, the maps both show an alternative road inland from Lurio to Namapa, which is on the main road. At Lurio we find out that, not only there is no bridge over the Rio Lurio, but also that the direct road from Lurio to Namapa doesn’t exist anymore! We have to back track to Nampuecha and from there to Namapa and Pemba. We drove for 12 hours – a long day but it was an interesting experience.

19 - 30/31 Dec 08: to Memba, we camped in a small fishing village at Praia Micuta. We took the good coastal dirt road through Matibane, Nacala and Minguri, and wove our way through cashew nut trees, mango trees, baobabs, villages and their cassava fields.

18 - 28/30 Dec 08: to Ilha de Mocambique (Casuarina Campsite, by the bridge). A short and easy drive on a good road.

17 - 27/28 Dec 08: to Nampula (Camping Montes Nairucu): Again, it took us more than 9 hours to do about 500km although the tarred road was mostly good except for a few potholes sections. The road seemed to be under some form of renewal.

16 - 26/27 Dec 08: to Zalala Beach, near Quelimane. Good tarred road all the way. It must have been built in the 5 past years but already shows signs of deterioration. We cross the Zambezi on a ferry at Caia. It takes us the whole day to do 500km.

15 - 25/26 Dec 08: to Gorongosa National Park, Chitengo Campsite. Very good tarred road, with road markings all the way to the park and baobabs in the bushveld.

14 - 20/24 Dec 08: to Rio Azul Lodge - a stunning fly-fishing lodge on the Govuro River: a luxurious experience thanks to Andy, good fishing and a great rest. Good national road (EN1) from Vilanculos to Inhassoro (100km), then 30km on the beach (permit required) to the lodge a little bit further North.

13 - 16/20 Dec 08: to Vilanculos - Campsite (Josef & Tina’s). We meet Andy and Mark. It took us 4½h to do the 210km on the N1 which is relatively good but for a very bad stretch of about 50km with big deep potholes (and oncoming traffic of dodger trucks).

12 - 15/16 Dec 08: to Tofo - Campsite (Turtle Cove – very nice). Good national roads (EN1 then EN5 to Inhambane). We do 270km in 3 or 4 hrs.

11- 14/15 Dec 08: to Xai Xai - Bush camp near Sandrine and Ronny’s cabin. Good national road (EN1) until the Limpopo River, then the road is full of potholes for a few kms. It takes quite a lot of concentration to dodge the potholes zigzagging across the road, while at the same time keeping an alert eye on the incoming traffic which is doing the same thing. The area along the road is relatively densely populated: there are many dwellings scattered every few hundreds of meters, people walking back and forth, and stalls where people sell local products. We respect the speed limits (60km/h in across the villages, and 100km/h on the open road), don’t get fined, and do the 210km in about 4 hrs.

10 - 13/14 Dec 08: our 1st border crossing (at Ponta do Ouro): to Maputo (Mozambique) - We stay at Sandrine and Ronny’s. It’s a short section of good national road (N2) to the border, then a sandy 4x4 track followed by a bumpy dirt road to Boane, and eventually the relatively good national road (EN1) to Maputo. We left at 8am and arrived at 5pm. The border crossing itself took about 2 hours: it was busy (first day of the South Africans Christmas Holiday) and the friendly border officials took some time to find out what our Carnet de Passage was all about but eventually happily let us go through. We also got a fine for not wearing seatbelts (driving 20km/h on a sandy track) – and learnt quickly that the Mozambican police are very strict in all respects (and basically survive on the fines they issue).

MOZAMBIQUE

9 - 12/13 Dec 08: to Kosi Bay (KZN near the Mozambican border) - Campsite. Good sandy 4x4 track. The diff-lock is on, tyres are deflated. It’s all tropical coastal forest, cycads, birds, beautiful isolated beaches (Lala neck, Black Rock). A permit is required to drive on this road. The GPS really helped us find our way amongst a few confusing tracks.

8 - 11/12 Dec 08: to Mabibi beach (KZN) - Campsite. It’s our first adventure off the main roads along the R22, a good tarred road. We pass Muzi Pan (amazing bird life) and Mbazwana (last chance for an ATM) before our first real dirt and sand road along the shore of Lake Sibaya (the largest fresh water lake in Southern Africa).

7 - 10/11 Dec 08: to False Bay (St Lucia – KZN) – Very nice campsite. Good national road (N2).

6 - 08/10 Dec 08: to Durban (Kwazulu Natal) - We stay at Kristi and Jason’s. Good road (R61) and N2. Very scenic

5 - 07/08 Dec 08: to Mpande (Transkei) – Very nice campsite. Good national road then good local dirt road - about 250km in 4 or 5 hrs. Scenic drive.

4 - 06/07 Dec 08: to Chintsa (Eastern Cape) – Campsite. Good national and local roads.

3 - 05/06 Dec 08: George to Cape St Francis - Campsite. Good national road (N2).

2 - 29 Nov – 05 Dec 08: George - We stay with Pat and B at Rivendale.

1 - 29 Nov 08: we leave Cape Town (South Africa) to George. Good national road (N2) – 450 km in 4½h.

SOUTH AFRICA

Gondar and Bahir Dar

2009-04-23T14:18:00.010+02:00

Gondar was founded by the Emporer Fasilidas in 1635 and served as the capital for 250 years. We visited the Royal Enclosure with its 17th Century castles and palaces and the Church of Debre Birhan Selassie. The church is special in that it is rectangular (not round like all of the other Ethiopian churches and built to the same dimensions as King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem) with beautiful murals on the interior walls. Really worth a visit!

African Castles

Horses in ceremonial dress

Murals in the Church of Debre Birhan Selassie.

Angels looking down from the cieling of the Church of Debre Birhan Selassie.

Angel looking at the ceiling of the Church of Debre Birhan Selassie.

From Gondar we took the main road down to Bahir Dar on the southern end of Lake Tana. That afternoon we visited the Blue Nile Falls, where the waters of Lake Tana start their long journey down to the mouth of the Nile. The next morning we took a pleasant boat trip out to a few of the island monasteries.

The Blue Nile Falls

A priest showing us a Bible, handwritten on goatskin at St Mary's Church on Lake Tana

Little Bee-Eaters

Simien Mountains, Northern Ethiopia

2009-04-23T14:10:00.012+02:00

From Axum we drove south through rugged mountainous country to Debark, the starting point for treks into the Simien Mountains. We arranged our guide and scout at the Park Headquaters in Debark before driving the 35km up to the first camp at Sankader.

Simien Landscape

We saw our first spectacular views from the escarpment and our first troops of Gelada Baboons. This primate, endemic to Ethiopia, is unique in that it feeds predominantly on grass. It also has a harem-based social structure which is regarded to be the most complex of any animal other than humans. That evening, we were visited at the camp by a handsome Menelik’s Bushbuck (another species endemic to Ethiopia). It was also there that we met the ‘Amazing Swiss’, Marc and Roman, who we would end up travelling with for a few weeks.

Our first views from the escarpment

Caro and our Scout

We had planned a three day trek: one day from Sankader up to Gich, one from Gich up to Imet Gogo (3,926m) and back to Gitch, and the last day out to Sankader. We had decided not to climb the highest peak - Ras Dashen (4,700m) - as it is a 7 day round trip from Debark and we had been told that we would see most of the sights on the three day trip anyways. We were well acclimatized by now and found the trekking not very strenuous, walking for 5-6 hours each day.

Beakfast at Gitch Camp

View from Imet Gogo

Returning to Gitch camp before the storm

The Simien scenery is truly spectacular. We saw many Lammergeier’s soaring back and forth along the escarpment, dropping bones onto rocky patches to break them open before swooping down to eat the shards and marrow. The Gelada Baboons are very used to humans and it was interesting to sit close to them watching their antic and listening to their odd language of chirps and grunts. We had to look hard, but eventually we also found a lone male Walia Ibex on one of the steep escarpment edges. These Ibex are the rarest of Ethiopia’s endemic animals.

A troop of Gelada Baboons

Simien Circus - A cartwheel with a stick in your mouth

Axum, Northern Ethiopia

2009-04-23T14:05:00.005+02:00

We were surprised to discover that Axum is a fairly small town by Ethiopian standards. It was the capital of the ancient Axumite Empire, which peaked in the 3rd century AD and which was considered one of the four great civilisations of its time, along with the Romans, Persians and Egyptians. We visited the stelae erected by the ancient emperors, and some of their tombs. Not much else remains of this ancient civilisation which, is thought to have declined as a result of climate change and hostility from it neighbours.

The largest of the stelae - a single piece of granite

One of Axum’s churches, the St Mary of Zion, is believed by Ethiopians to house the Ark of the Covenant. This is also the subject of “The Sign and the Seal” by Graham Hancock, in which he adds credibility to the myth and, in our opinion, more interest and intrigue to anyone’s visit to Ethiopia.

An intersting read for anyone visiting Ethiopia

Petrol availability is limited between Axum and Gondar, so it is best to fill up at either end. We had a breakdown on route to the Simien Mountains thanks to some dirty fuel purchased “from the drum” in Lalibela. Fortunately it was just a simple case of cleaning out the fuel filter and we were back on the road…

A Typical Tigre Landscape

Lalibela: Rock hewn churches

2009-04-23T13:45:00.023+02:00

After our trek in the Bale Mountains, we spent a few days to relaxing at Wim’s Holland House in Addis Ababa. We took full advantage of the wonderful cafés selling fresh fruit juices, pastries and Ethiopian coffee before setting off on a circuit of northern Ethiopia. First stop: the famous rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

Coffee Shop in Addis

The road to Lalibela via Weldiya is under construction and passes through picturesque highland farms before it drops dramatically down the escarpment. The first 200km north of Addis are particularly dusty and potholed with many heavy slow moving vehicles. It took us two full days from Addis with a stop over in Karakore. Petrol (benzeen) becomes more scarce (expensive and poor quality) once you leave the main road north, so it is worth filling up in Weldiya before tackling the long steep climb up to Gashena. Diesel is more widely available en route and in Lalibela.

Highland landscape

The day before we left Addis, we had the opportunity to attend a lecture on the history of the Lalibela churches by some French archaeologists (at the Alliance Française). We learned that the churches had been built by the 11th century AD. The details on who built the churches and when, their purpose and the construction method are not known for sure and will be the subject of a EU funded research programme due to start later this year. Indeed, there is a lot of legend and speculation surrounding these monuments. We had also started reading “The Sign and the Seal” by Graham Hancock, who adds to the intrigue by suggesting that the Knights Templar may have been involved in their construction and linking it the search for the lost Ark of the Covenant ….

Whatever the true history might be, we really enjoyed exploring the hidden passages and chambers on our own, imagining different histories for these amazing living monuments.

A High Priest

Reflection

Sunday morning

Peace and Quiet

Hidden passages

A guardian at an entrance passage

A priest with his mummies

Worshippers

Entrance to St Georges Church

St Georges

Approaching St Georges

Blessings

Sorting Grain

Church Bell

Bible Study

Prayer

Local girls showing us an Ethiopian kitchen

Local boys giving us a football lesson

Bale Mountains National Park: Six Days Trekking

2009-04-23T12:58:00.022+02:00

The view from the Bale Mountain National Park headquarters at Dinsho

The Bale Mountains are situated about 8 hours drive south of Addis Ababa. They are the second highest range in Ethiopia with a highest elevation at around 4,200m. They are home to a number of endemic species, some of which we were fortunate enough to see during our stay: the Ethiopian wolf, the Mountain Nyala, the Abyssinia Catbird, the Abyssinian Ciskin, the Blue Winged Goose, the Wattled Ibis, the Rouget’s Rail, and the Spot-breasted Lapwing.

We hired a mandatory guide (US$12 per day) and two horse assistants (US$5 per day) and their horses (US$3.50) for the six day trek. Our guide Ahmed, only 21 years old, was exceptionally knowledgeable on the fauna and flora and very professional in his approach. Our two horse assistants, Mohammed and Jamal, would walk ahead each day with the horses and welcome us with a hot come of tea when we arrived at each camp. In the evening we would all share a campfire together.

Our horses with Mohammed and Jamal

Ahmed, our guide.

We saw eight Ethiopian wolves over the six days, the rarest canine in the world. Apparently almost 80% of the population in this region died in a rabies epidemic earlier this year. Fortunately conservationist managed to curb the epidemic by inoculating the remaining population.

Our first sighting of an Ethiopian Wolf

A Giant Lobelia

Our third camp at Raku

The view over Black Lake from Camp 4

Time for a shave?

The going was very gentle but the distances quite long, 18 to 22km per day. After 3 months of sitting in the car, it took us a few days to find our rhythm. There are a few herders living seasonally within the park, but mostly it is deserted and we only saw one other group of hikers, on our last day. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience and would recommend it over the Simien Mountains, which we visited a few weeks later.

Our last campsite

Caro and Black Lake

Lunch at a lake on the Sinyati Plateau

A frosty morning at Raku Camp

A herder's house on the plateau

Relaxing after a day's walk

Even if you are not planning a trek we would still recommend a visit to the park headquarters at Dinsho, and the high plateau. The park headquarters are located on a forested hill, remnants of the original vegetation. And if the beautiful trees aren’t enough of a reason for you to visit, the abundant wildlife living on the Dinsho Hill should be. The warthogs, Colobus monkeys, jackals, nyalas and other antilope, are numerous and not shy at all: a peaceful 30 minutes walk around the Dinsho Hill guarantees close range sightings.

A female Mountain Nyala

A Black-and-White Colobus Monkey

A young seasonal resident in the park

Sunrise over the Giant Lobelias

Ethiopian coffee??

Impressions of Ethiopia

2009-04-21T12:01:00.000+02:00

It isn’t easy to write about Ethiopia…and it isn’t easy to write about “first impressions” two weeks after coming back from a seven-week trip through the country…

Ethiopia is intense. It’s a fascinating country. It has a very old and rich history, and is home to a variety of people and languages. But the cultural shock is immense. We found that it is not an easy place to visit as an independent traveller.

We had heard the best and the worst about Ethiopia before our arrival. Most overlanders we had met hadn’t had much good to say about their journey; the roads were supposedly in a bad state and most felt unwelcome and hassled most of the time.

However, Ethiopia was one of our main goals for this trip. And our spirits were raised after reading the introduction to an old edition of The Bradt guide to Ethiopia by Philip Briggs.
Yes, there was hassling, yes there was shouting and screaming as you passed by or arrived in a village, and yes it sounded aggressive; but most of the time it was a matter of misunderstanding… According to Mr. Briggs, one had to keep an open mind, a sense of humour, and remember that there are good and bad people in Ethiopia, just like there are good and bad people everywhere in the world, and that the hassling or aggression we might encounter would be from a few individuals, and not a general characteristic of Ethiopians.

So, we entered Ethiopia, prepared to experience everything that would come our way with as open a mind as possible. We loved our first three weeks there. We loved the food: the tef pancake called “Injera” which is eaten with a variety of sauces and vegetables. We loved the people: those “Iou, iou” screams were a sign of the children’s excitement at seeing “Faranjis” – the equivalent of “Mzungus” (White men) in town. We even loved chatting and joking around with the three words of Amharic we had learnt whenever we were asked to “Give” something! We loved the tarred road, and the beautiful evening light which accompanied us from Moyale to Yabello on our first day in the country. We loved staying at the Bale Mountains National Park’s headquarters in Dinsho, as well as our 6 day trek there, with a wonderful guide and horse assistants. And we loved our first stay in Addis Abeba, its friendly people, coffee shops, fresh juices and pizzas.

Somehow, however the remaining four weeks wore us down completely. By the time we crossed the Kenyan border again around mid-April, we sighed with relief.
What got at us?
It wasn’t the lack of variety of the food on offer, although we didn’t enjoy Injera as much anymore. There was always the good old pasta and tomato sauce available...
It wasn’t the bad roads either. We are always up for an adventure. We are in no hurry and always drive slowly and carefully, and Scarlet did amazingly well.
It could have started with the kids throwing stones at our car. But kids are kids. Throwing stones at cars is a fun change from throwing stones at goats or cows. It’s difficult to blame them.
It could have been partly due to“cultural misunderstanding”. It’s not easy to control one’s instinctive reaction to what is perceived as aggression. The “Iou, iou” sounded like “You, you”, and the “Faranjis” shouted at us at every corner started to sound less and less like excitement, and more and more like unwelcoming screams…
It probably also was the frustration at not being able to have any “normal” relationship with anyone. It is exhausting to feel like people constantly want something out of you and at constantly being ripped off. Admittedly - and fortunately - there were many exceptions as well.
We began to feel a sadness that grew in us after seeing so many, many, many, people – not just individuals - holding their hands out or running after the car shouting “Give, give!” as we passed by.
And certainly the sadness grew each time we were taken for a ride by yet another person posing as someone who wanted to help.
Maybe it is just that we got tired of being on the road and lost our sense of humour. Who knows?! The best is always for you to go and see for yourself.

Now for some practical info:

Ethiopian time = Swahili time. That is: one o’clock in the morning is 7am, 6o’clock is 12am, one o’clock in the evening is 7pm, etc…

Ethiopians also use the Julian calendar, which is 7 years behind our calendar, with New Year on September 11. But that didn’t really affect us.

It really pays to learn a few words of Amharic. We would recommend that you carry a small guidebook with you. The most common words we have heard are:

“Ishee” is the equivalent of the Swahili “Sawa”. That is “OK”.

“Faranji” means “Foreigner”. It is applied to any white person. More or less the equivalent of the Swahili “Mzungu” although we couldn’t really figure out whether it was a respectful or derogatory term as it was often shouted at us with what sounded to us like an aggressive tone…

“Habbishat” means “Ethiopians”. We took to shouting it back at people when we started getting tired of the “Faranji Hysteria” (as Philip Briggs calls it in The Bradt guide to Ethiopia).

1 = and
2 = hulet
3 = sost
4 = arat
5 = amist
6 = sidist
7 = sabat
8 = simint
9 = zeten
10 = asir
11 = asir and
20 = haya
100 = meto
200 = hulet meto
1000 = shee

Exchange rate (in Feb/March 2009): Bir 10 = ZAR 10 = USD 1 (more or less)

Examples of costs (in Feb/March 2009):

1 coca-cola = Bir 4 to 5
1 injera with meat = Bir 13 to 20
Camping = Bir 20 to 25 per person
Hotel double room with shower = Bir 60 to 100
Diesel/Petrol = 65/75 Bir/l

We were warned repeatedly about the availability of petrol (benzeen) in Ethiopia – our car has a petrol engine. We were pleased to discover that it is available mostly everywhere, although the prices vary dramatically, particularly where it comes out of a barrel in someone’s backyard. The petrol stations do run out on occasion and so it is worth filling up whenever you find an official station with stock. We realised a good way of determining whether there was any petrol available in a town is to look out for motor bikes or tuk-tuks.

Driving in Ethiopia is an experience. Everywhere, the roads are shared with people and livestock, many of who are not familiar with road traffic and do something unexpected at the last instant. Our approach was to take it very slowly … It seems to have paid off.

Border crossing in Moyale (Kenya/Ethiopia)

2009-04-21T12:00:00.000+02:00

Moyale is the only official border post between Kenya and Ethiopia. As a result, customs officials are used to the Carnet de Passage and it is quick and easy to have it stamped on both sides of the border.

Passports are also stamped easily by immigration officials, as long as your Ethiopian visa has been obtained in advance. Visas cannot be organised at the border. They have to be obtained from the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi (or Khartoum, or elsewhere). We obtained ours in Nairobi and we got them after waiting for only one hour. You will need a copy of your passport, the original, an ID photo, and 20 USD. (It was more expensive for American passports holders). We were given a 3 month visa.

There are two sides to Moyale: Kenyan and Ethiopian. They are only a few hundred meters apart so all the admin work can be done fairly quickly.

Remember to start driving on the RIGHT side of the road on the Ethiopian side. We enjoyed the comfort of the tarred road after the long bumpy road from Isiolo! It is also worth noting that, fuel was quite a bit cheaper in Ethiopia than in Kenya.

There is no ATM in Moyale-Ethiopia, but you will probably be approached by people to change Kenyan shillings, US dollars or Euros, on the black market on both sides of the border. We changed just enough to fill-up our tank and get us through to Awasa, where we knew we could find an ATM.

There is no time difference between Ethiopia and Kenya. Ethiopian time is similar to Swahili time: 7am is the first hour of the day, 7pm is the first hour of the night, 12am is thus 6 o’clock, etc. Ethiopia works on a different calendar - I was a bit surprised when my passport was stamped with a date ending in ‘2001’.

PS: The Customs official will want to know which port of exit you are planning to use. This posed us a bit of problem. Our plan was to go back to Kenya after our visit of Ethiopia through the Omo Valley (famous for its tribes) in Southwest Ethiopia, and Lake Turkana in Northwest Kenya, rather than back through Moyale. We had heard it was possible: there is a road, and even a border post in Omorate on the Ethiopian side. Unfortunately, we were told by the Moyale customs official that there is no Customs office at the Omorate post, and that we had no choice but to come back through Moyale.

We did eventually come back to Kenya through Omorate. See more on the Border crossing Ethiopia/Kenya post.

An introduction to NGO life: Our stay with Action Against Hunger (Action contre la Faim) in Takaba

2009-04-20T17:07:00.009+02:00

We met up with Lani, an old friend based in Nairobi and working for AAH. She intoduced us to Franky on an evening out in Nairobi and he invited to visit one of the AAH bases at Takaba, in Northern Kenya.

Takaba is a remote village close to the border of Ethiopia and Somalia. It took us 4 hours to drive the 180km of dirt tracks from Moyale to Takaba. Most of the people in the area are pastoralists, living as nomads and surviving from their camels and goats. Takaba is a trading centre, and pastoralists from different tribes come from far and wide for trade.

The road to Takaba

We found the AAH base by GPS after dark thanks to Franky's map. We were welcomed by Franky, Polycarp and the rest of the team and offered a wonderful dinner. We learned that AAH is concerned primarily with improving food security. This includes educating the population on proper nutrition and hygiene, ensuring food supply chains are adequate and not disrupted and improving water security. Franky and Polycarp’s work is focussed on the water aspects and they showed us a number of projects the following day: two new boreholes and pipeline to feed Takaba with drinking water, refurbishment of shallow wells, building of earth dams to store surface runoff and use of biosand filters for water treatment.

A well under rehabilitation

Camels being watered at a new borehole

One of the large earth dams in Takaba

An educational poster near an earth dam.

It was great feeling like the first tourists to visit the area. We were welcomed by NGO’s and locals alike. We witnessed a thunderstorm in the desert and people dancing in the streets in the rain…

We were very impressed at the dedication of everyone on the AAH base, particularly working under such difficult conditions with limited resources. Well done, guys! And thanks again for a wonderful stay.

Our hosts, Franky (front) and Polycarp (behind).

Us with Takaba behind.

The road North

2009-04-20T17:00:00.002+02:00

We had heard a lot of bad things about the Moyale-Marsabit road in northern Kenya. It is known amongst overlanders as the worst stretch of road from Cape to Cairo. We had decided to take this main route north to Ethiopia and then to try and come back south through the Omo valley and Lake Turkana further to the west.

We left Nairobi and took the good tarred road to the east of Mount Kenya. The mountain was in the clouds as always but the road was very scenic, lined with lush forest and coffee and banana plantations. As the road heads away from Mt Kenya to Isiolo, the landscape changes dramatically, giving way to typical African acacia savanna. We spent the night at the Range Hotel campsite just before Isiolo. The asphalt ends very abruptly at Isiolo…

Into the Northern hemisphere...

It took us six hours to cover the jarring 250km to Marsabit on the deeply corrugated road. The road is thankfully under reconstruction with many dusty detours taking you through an increasingly barren landscape. We had to re-attach the bull-bar en route, because one of the brackets had cracked.

Steve fixing the bullbar - bloudraad and duct tape!

We arrived in Marsabit in the late afternoon, passing bands of Samburu warriors armed with spears and AK47’s from time to time, some of them looking very angry and serious. We spent the night at Henry’s campsite, where we learned that there had been a cattle theft earlier in the day and that the herder had been killed. Everyone was now waiting for the retribution killing before peace could return. Apparently Marsabit has always been a hotspot because it is at the junction of three different tribal lands and is also the only reliable source of water in the area. We were reassured that as foreigners we were definitely safe.

One of the few rivers we crossed - an Oasis

Acacia sunset at Henry's campsite

The next morning we headed into town to repair the bull-bar and a grease seal on the front left wheel. Fortunately we had a spare seal with us and we were done in three hours. We spent another relaxing night at Henry’s before heading for Takaba the next morning.

Repairs to Scarlet in Marsabit

Family portrait at Henry's Campsite, Marsabit

The road from Marsabit north is very rocky (for us, better that the corrugations on the previous stretch) and descends through a landscape of volcanic cones and craters down to the flat desert plains. Before long we were passing camel trains, shimmering in the distance…

Camels and rocks

Need some space?

And then a lot of Mzungu (White) cyclists with numbered vests? Ever heard of Tour d’Afrique? Its an annual cycle event from Cairo to Cape Town. There are sixty competitors and a number of support vehicles. Every day is a stage on the long road south.

Tour d'Afrique

Petrol/diesel gets more expensive in Kenya as one gets further from Nairobi. Petrol (Benzeen) is available in Moyale (from a drum) and Marsabit. Fuel is approx 25% cheaper in Ethiopia than Kenya. The road from Marsabit to Moyale took us roughly 5 hours.

Where will we be

2009-02-21T14:30:00.003+02:00

Our plans for the next few weeks : Ethiopia!

After a few days in Nairobi - which we spent resting, doing laundry, fixing odds and ends on the car : changing the tyres, checking the bearing, disconnecting the immobiliser... - we will be leaving Nairobi tomorrow to carry on north to Ethiopia where we expect to spend between 4 and 6 weeks before returning to Nairobi. We got a three-month visa, here in Nairobi, for USD20 each.

Disconnecting the immobiliser

The country is huge, the roads (we have heard) are slow going. We are keen to experience as much as we can of all its wonders.

Although Ethiopia was one of this journey’s main goals, it is also the place for which we knew the least about what to expect. Over the past few days we have been chatting to other travellers, and browsing through a few books, so now we have a slightly better idea of what is to come.
The country’s history is fascinating and its landscapes seem at times quite dramatic. What travellers tell us is that they have either loved or hated are the people. We are looking forward to live it for ourselves.

We have been told that internet connections are extremely slow and not really worth trying there, so don’t expect much news in the next month or two. We will try and update the blog again on our next visit to Nairobi.

Photos of Tanzania - Jan/Feb 2009

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We will put a gallery of full-size photos on Flickr as soon as we have a good enough internet connection.

Photos of Mozambique - Dec 2008 / Jan 2009

2009-02-20T18:02:00.006+02:00

We will put a gallery of full-size photos on Flickr as soon as we have a good enough internet connection.

Photos of South Africa's East coast - Dec 2008

2009-02-20T17:48:00.007+02:00

You can see a gallery of full-size photos on :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodboons/sets/72157614063608846/

The man-eaters of Tsavo National Park

2009-02-16T17:28:00.002+02:00

Tsavo Park reconciles us with East African National Parks. Although the staff at the Malindi’s Kenya Wildlife Office were neither pleasant our helpful, the rangers at Sala Gate were cheerful and welcoming. The park itself is well maintained and the game plentiful.

We arrived at noon and drove along the Galana River for a few hours, and even though it was midday we saw waterbuck by the dozen, elephant, impala, dik-diks, hippos, zebra, crocodiles, a Goliath Heron and an Egyptian Vulture. We stopped for a picnic of bread, cheese and tomatoes next to the river, being careful that there were no crocs, hippos or lions near us. We had been out of the car a few minutes when we heard a rumbling sound and saw dust rising about one hundred metres away… buffalo! Fortunately they were actually running away from us, and not towards us.

Lunch spot by the Galana river

40km of uneventful tracks took us south of the river to the Aruba dam where we soon spotted a lioness under a tree. As far as we know it could have been a lion. We are not sure because the male Tsavo lions do not have manes. It is said that their higher than average testosterone level causes them to be less hairy. It also makes them more aggressive than average, and the story “the man-eaters of Tsavo” known from the movie “Ghosts in the Darkness” illustrates the point. It tells of 2 lions that ate their way through 147 workers of the Ugandan railway at the beginning of the 20th century!

The Ugandan railway line on the edge of the Tsavo National Park : 147 of the workers who built it where eaten by 2 lions ("the man-eaters of Tsavo") at the beginning of the 20th century!

Of course, we stopped the engine to look at our lion at leisure. When she stood up for a stroll, we tried to start the car again to follow her…but the car wouldn’t start! Oh oh… it has happened before: the immobiliser. Simple enough to fix, but in order to do so Steve has to get out to open the bonnet and disconnect the battery. With the lion less than 20 meters away it is out of question….
The lioness finally taking a stroll... thus allowing Steve to get out of the car to fix the immobiliser

After sometime the lion walked a bit further away. Then two safari vehicles arrived from a nearby lodge. They were too busy watching the lion to imagine our situation and the lion busy watching them. Steve decided to get out of the car (with Caro keeping a worried watch over the landscape of tall yellow grasses) and fixed the car!

Quite an adrenaline rush!

The rest of the day was more peaceful, with the highlight being the sight of hundreds of red elephants and buffalo on the Kwanderi swamps and a giraffe scratching its ear.

Red elephants

Rush hour in Tsavo National Park

VIDEO of the giraffe scratching its ear

PHOTO of Steve removing the immobiliser in Nairobi.

Lamu

2009-02-14T12:00:00.002+02:00

Lamu’s remoteness is a huge part of its charm. The archipelago is close to the Somalian border and no cars are allowed on the islands. As a result the town is quiet, the streets very narrow, and there are donkeys everywhere; carrying materials and people in the same way it must have been for centuries.

We left Scarlet at the small but busy harbour of Mokowe. After spending the night we boarded the first small ferryboat departing in the morning, which took us across the Lamu Town in 30 minutes for Ksh50 each.

The small but busy harbour at Mokowe

We walked the streets slowly for hours, watching people going about their businesses, visiting beautifully refurbished old Swahili houses (now mostly hotels) and the interesting ethnological museum. We ate coconut rice, chipatis, pilau and fish curry in local canteens (where Caro was the only woman) and wondered about the quality of the tap water while relishing the conversations and atmosphere. What we enjoyed the most was siting for hours on the fort’s steps and watching town life on the main square.

VIDEO of people passing by on the main square.

Lamu's main square

View of the main square from the fort

The fort's entrance

Lamu's streets

Shella beach

One evening we went to the local cinema to watch a Bollywood movie. The pirate DVD was scratched and kept skipping during the first song. People started complaining loudly and eventually the disc was changed and the movie carried on. The seats weren’t very comfortable and people laughed out loud or commented on scenes while smoking their cigarettes. There were a few other women in the audience, although it is the afternoon screenings which are reserved for women.

We also met a local, really an expat from Yemen, who invited us for a drink followed by a visit to his shop. He was selling perfumes and bui-bui, the black robes and veils most Lamu women wear in public. He got Caro to try one on. The shop assistant was very helpful helping me put it on, but I wondered what she thought of the whole scene.

Caro's new clothes - the bui-bui

Our new friend then invited us to his house for a modest dinner of bread, honey and sweet tea. His home he shared with his aging mother and the two shop assistants. He spoke a lot, and although his English was far better than our Swahili or Arabic, we struggled to really understand each other. We gathered that he was busy refurbishing his house and transforming it into a hotel, which we believe will be very nice when finished. We suspect he may have been practicing his English with us, as well as advertising his future guest house. He had also quite obviously been chewing miraa, a legal narcotic, and was becoming very animated and obviously in for a long sleepless night. So when he invited Steve to share a miraa mastication session we had to use treasures of imagination and diplomacy to refuse politely. We felt bad refusing, as he had been so generous with us, but this miraa seems a bit hectic . It is a root chewed by many people in East Africa (mostly men it seems) and it seems to be quite a potent drug judging by our new friend’s glazed eyes and his strange stories of being transported to the White House and chatting with Barak Obama and a golden eagle…

We are amazed at how popular Barak Obama is in Tanzania and Kenya. There are stickers of him on every matatu (bus), prints of his portraits on women’s kangas (sarongs), etc. It seems that people’s expectations are huge, although we haven’t found out yet what these expectations are…

The Kenyan coast : Tiwi, Watamu, Malindi

2009-02-14T11:00:00.001+02:00

We enjoyed two days in the shady Twiga campsite at Tiwi beach. This gave us the chance to buy a new battery for our fridge (and computer), and to get used to Kenyan’s ways, currency, costs, and people.

Although the Kenyan coast is really stunning, but by now we are keen to move inland to some cooler weather. The tropical climate, hot and humid for our taste. First, we want to visit Lamu, an archipelago, just south of the Somalian border. It is another bastion of Swahili culture. It is smaller than Zanzibar and more isolated and cars are forbidden on the island. People use donkeys for transport….

En route from Diani/Tiwi beach to Lamu, we chose to bypass Mombasa, and drove instead through the Shimba Hills coastal forest.

We stopped over in Watamu for the night. There we visited a community project managed by A Rocha Kenya, which aims at preserving the Mida Creek estuary. This stunning mangrove is a stop-over to a large number of migratory birds. A Rocha (an NGO) educates the community about the potential for tourism and the economical benefit they can derive from maintaining its biodiversity. We enjoyed our visit very much and found the local guides to be very knowledgeable.

The second biggest town on the coast, after Mombasa, is Malindi. Maybe we were beached-out, but we didn’t find it anything special, apart from the fact that it has an Italian resort town. As you would expect, pizzerias and gelataria are common and we treated ourselves to a delicious Valentine’s dinner.

Potjie kos... Vis fang... Alles is lekker...

2009-02-10T16:32:00.000+02:00

3P Curry (Pangani Prawn Potjie Curry) - Tiwi Style

Tiwi beach

Ingredients (for a No. 2 potjie, 6 to 8 people):

3 Tsp of cooking oil
2 Tsp of Mrs Ball’s chutney (which you will have brought all the way from South Africa)
1 cup of chicken stock (if you’ve got a cube lying around in your food box)
Sugar, to taste

Bring back a few Spices from Zanzibar:

- 5 cardamoms
- 1 fresh ginger root
- 1 handful of fresh garlic
- Pili-pili (pepper) and salt
- 2 Tsp of curry powder
- 1 pinch of cinnamon powder
- 1 pinch of turmeric powder
- 1 fresh chili (which you could also have brought from Fred and Caro’s garden in Moshi)

Take Wahid’s dhow from Kendwa Rocks (on Zanzibar Northern coast) to Pangani, on the main land.

On Wahid's dhow, with Mike and Sarah

In Pangani, go to the local market. It is also the bus station. While you wait for the “dala-dala” (public taxi bus) that will take you back to Peponi campsite (where you have left your vehicle), buy the following:

- 8 medium onions
- 8 medium potatoes
- 8 tomatoes
- 1 large mango
- 1 small pineapple
- 1 coconut (drink the juice and keep the flesh)
- 4 big carrots
- 1 green pepper

Fresh fruits and vegetables from the market

Cut the veggies and coconut

Don’t worry if you do not find everything at Pangani’s market: “Hakuna matata!” (No problem!). You will find the rest along the road from Peponi (Tanzania) to Tiwi Beach (Kenya).

Once on board the “dala-dala”, notice the guy with the big yellow buckets: he is carrying fresh prawns to Tanga’s market. Pull out your Tupperware and buy 1kg of big fresh prawns.

Keep the prawns in your car’s fridge overnight (that is if your battery – unlike ours – is working). For your last dinner with new friends (Mike and Sarah), grill the Kingfish steaks which Wahid gave you. (The one he caught on the trip back from Zanzibar while you were struggling with sea-sickness, and gave to you to make you feel better. May he be blessed by Allah).

Have a good night’s rest at Peponi, then head for Tiwi Beach, Kenya the following morning. Consider the state of your fridge battery and prawns while dealing with border formalities in the hot sun.

On your first evening in Kenya, go for a swim, light a fire, and pour a whiskey.

Twiga campsite

Now get started with your potjiekos:

Fry the onions, garlic and ginger in the cooking oil.

Add the tomatoes, 1 cup of chicken stock, the mango and spices.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
Stir in the carrots, green pepper and potatoes.

Immediately after; layer the prawns, coconut and pineapple. Do not stir, but leave as a layer on top.

Close the pot.
Simmer for 1h30.
Add sugar to taste.

Have some more whiskey. Check out the bush-babies eating baobab flowers.

Take pictures of the resident hedge-hog.

Watch the full moon rise over the palm trees.

It's ready !

Bon appetit!

PS: It will keep for a day or two if you buy a new battery for your fridge in Ukunda.

First impressions of Kenya

2009-02-09T17:25:00.000+02:00

To be honest, our first impression of Kenya is that it doesn’t differ much from Tanzania, except for that more people seem to speak better English. Although Swahili is also the lingua franca, English seems much more widely used than in Tanzania.

The services are polite and efficient, the roads relatively good, and we are finding everything we need everywhere. There are a few cell phone networks available, but the same Zain which we used in Tanzania is also present in Kenya (as well as in Uganda).

On 13 February 2009, the exchange rate was:
- Ksh 1 (one Kenyan shilling) to Tsh 16.6 (16.6 Tanzanian shilling)
- USD 1 to Ksh 78
- ZAR 1 to Ksh 8
- About Euro 1 to Ksh 100

Shopping for food in the streets is much more affordable than at supermarkets (and your money goes to individuals rather than big businesses). Below are a few ideas of prices (in the streets of Nairobi)…
- Ksh 50 for 1 Kg of tomatoes or onions
- Ksh 70 for 1Kg of potatoes
- Ksh 10 for a mango
- Ksh 5 for a banana
- Ksh 75.8 for 1l of petrol (It was around Tsh 1340 in Tanzania, and between Mt 36 and 40 in Mozambique)

The temperatures vary greatly depending on where you are. Nairobi is 1770msl and much cooler that at the coast. Yesterday was the first day I wore socks since we left Cape Town!

Crossing the border from Tanzania to Kenya on the coast

2009-02-08T14:11:00.001+02:00

From Tanga it took us about two hours to drive to the border along a good gravel road.

The formalities went smoothly on both sides.

As a South African citizen Steve got a one month Kenyan visa for free, while Caro’s (French) 3-month visa cost USD50. These visas, like the Tanzanian’s and the Ugandan’s, are multiple-entry as long as one is only travelling between the above mentioned three countries.

Our only uncertainty was whether or not to buy the Third-party insurance offered us at the border post, as it seemed too expensive (USD50 for a month for Kenya only). We decided to investigate further in Mombasa, where we found a 4-month COMESA insurance for all the remaining countries we were to visit for KSh4000.

From the border it was another 2 hours scenic drive along a tarred road lined with palm trees to our campsite at Twiga Lodge.

Arbres a clous et autres merveilles... les epices de Zanzibar

2009-02-07T19:00:00.004+02:00

Savez-vous a quoi ressemble l’arbre a clous… de girofle? ou d’ou viennent la cannelle et le gingembre?

Moi j’aurais ete bien incapable de vous le dire. Quand j’ai besoin d’epices je vais chez le marchand et je les achete en petits sachets…

Mais a Zanzibar nous avons trouve une ferme qui fait pousser toutes sortes d’epices, et un guide pour nous expliquer quelle plante correspond a quelle saveur connue.

J’ai pris quelques photos:

Les clous de girofle (cloves) poussent dans les arbres

La racine de cette plante c’est le gingembre (ginger)

L’ecorce de cette arbre, si on la laisse secher au soleil, nous donne les batons de cannelle (cinnamon)

Voila une noix de muscade (nutmeg)

Et voila comment poussent les ananas (pineapple)

La vanille (vanilla), que vous connaissez surement, doit etre polinisee a la main car il n’y a pas de colibris (hummingbirds) sur Zanzibar

Le poivre (pepper) est aussi une plante grimpante

La cardamone (cardamom) pousse au sol

Le cacao (cocoa) est un fruit…

Le henne un arbre…

Et la citronnelle (lemon grass) une herbe…

A taste of Swahili culture on Zanzibar

2009-02-06T17:19:00.000+02:00

We spent our last few days in Tanzania on the coast, after a quick stop in the Usambara mountains, near Lushoto.

We stayed at Peponi campsite on the coast, a few kilometres south of Tanga. It felt like a holiday within the holiday (if there was any need for it!). We walked in the mangroves, strolled to the nearby village buy fresh vegetables, sailed “Pepi” (Peponi’s dhow) to a nearby reef and went snorkelling on a coral reef. We also spotted a palm-nut vulture, which got Steve really excited.

Even more exciting was that we met our first “overlanders”. Mike and Sarah have been driving south from London for the past four months. They are on their way home to South Africa, with their Land Rover, Mapenzi. We chatted and exchanged impressions and ideas. Together we decided to hire Wahid’s dhow and motor across from Pangani to Zanzibar.

Zanzibar: Legends of sultans; Swahili, Chinese, Indian and European traders; gold, ivory and spices, mysterious women silently sailing along narrow streets; and sadly, reality of the slave trade. Nowadays, visitors enjoy the white-sand beaches, and the buzzing narrow streets of Stone Town. We did just that, walking the streets of the old medieval city at dawn and sunset everyday, and travelling on crowded “matatus” (the local buses), immersing ourselves in the island’s unique blend of past and present.

Of course, we didn’t take enough pictures.

We left with the sound of the muezzin, the smell of cloves and a few images:
beautifully carved wooden doors, children diving off dhows in the harbour, haggling merchants calling to passers-by, women silently sailing along narrow streets...

Kilimanjaro

2009-02-02T17:17:00.000+02:00

It is often hidden in the clouds, but we were fortunate enough to have a few glimpses of its, now less snowy, cap during our stay in Moshi.

We were hoping to do more than admire it from the bottom and take a few days to actually climb it, but it wasn’t to be.

As we expected, access to the mountain is tightly controlled: all climbers have to have a guide and pay an entrance fee to the park. However, we found out that the total cost of such an exercise, for the 5 or 6 day trip would be around USD 2000 per person - far more than our budget would allow.

Our main mountain goal remains the “Mountains of the Moon”: that is, the Ruwenzoris, in Uganda. Probably around mid April 2009, for any of you keen to join…?

Encounter with a Masai in the Serengeti

2009-01-29T10:27:00.004+02:00

On our second day in the Ngorongoro/Serengeti National parks, we stopped in an apparently empty plain for lunch. An older Masai man materialised a few hundred meters away. He walked straight up to us and sat down on a nearby rock. He didn’t say a word. We prepared a rice salad, and gave him a plate, which he ate with gusto. He thanked us and then asked us for tea (chai) and sugar to bring back to his manyatta. We gave him some and Caro took the opportunity to make a short video of the exchange. He knew exactly what was going on and mimicked someone filming with an old-style video camera.

VIDEO

He also tried to exchange his stick for Steve’s Leatherman, and laughed heartily when Steve refused. Then he used car’s side mirror to check his teeth, hair, ears etc. He was a very good-humoured and we all had a great time together.

On safari with friends

2009-01-29T10:24:00.004+02:00

We have spent the past 12 days with friends from Cape Town. It has been wonderful.

We all met at TPC (20 km south of Moshi) on the Saturday and relaxed by the pool. On Sunday, Fred took us all for a walk in TPC’s forest to look for an elephant that had been spotted there the day before. While we were following his tracks along the path, we bumped into a group of men armed with machetes, spears, bows and arrows, looking very angry. Apparently, some Masai’s had stolen cattle from them, and they were out to find and punish them. Eventually we found the elephant, but we didn’t linger around too long as he wasn’t particularly happy to see us! We enjoyed cold beer and a braai, with Kilimanjaro as a backdrop.

Caro, Zia, Steve, Bruno and Fred following the elephant’s tracks

Unhappy elephant

Steve with Kili in the background

On monday we got ready for our safari:
Packing for our safari (journey) in front of Fred and Caro’s house

We had decided to spend 3 days in the famous Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks. We couldn’t afford more as they are very expensive: 50 USD/day each for the entrance fees + 30 USD/night each for the campsites + 200 USD/car to go into the crater. And in any case,Fred (who was working during the week) was waiting for us to go and spend a long weekend in a private reserve west of Kilimanjaro: Ndarakwai.

The parks were very dry. The annual rains were late. This was actually a blessing as it made the driving easier. We saw lots of animals: elephants and hyenas, some of them at night in the campsites; buffalos, elands, impalas, cheetahs, lions, hartebeests, warthogs, hippos, and lots of migrating zebras and wildebeests (gnus)! We also saw many birds, big and small: marabou storks, goshawks, eagles, superb starling, and many others of which I have forgotten the names! We were too busy admiring them all to take pictures, so here are a few images of animals (with a special thought for Pati’s imaginary menagerie :))

An elephant near Nyani (baboon) campsite

A marabou stork at Simba (lion) campsite

Lizards in the Serengeti

The first sight of the Ngorongoro crater is really awesome. It really is a very special part of the world. It was interesting to learn that colonial farmers were asked to leave the crater in the early 20th century, and the Masai’s signed away their right to live there in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. It was then turned into a Natural Conservancy and later a World Heritage Site.

View over the Ngorongoro crater

We camped on the crater’s rim, in the only public campsite. There are many other places to stay, but they are all either expensive lodges or private campsites. The atmosphere at Simba camp was peaceful and friendly. There was even toilet paper in the flushing loos (unlike the next day in the Serengeti); and hot water for the showers, which we really appreciated as it was freezing cold that evening: the crater rim culminates at 2500m.

3 pics at Simba camp on the Ngorongoro’s crater’s rim

Many Masais still live on the crater’s rim and along its slopes. We saw them the next day. They still follow a traditional lifestyle: they wear thin red or purple blankets, delicate beaded jewellery, and their cattle and goats (over)graze freely. Along the tourist route, many also try and make a living by selling jewellery or posing for photos.

Masais and cattle: between tradition and modernity

Masai man chatting to Bruno and Zia

Later that day, we took a less-travelled road and got lost. We ended up having to ask our way at a Masai village. Three young warriors quietly guided/herded us back on the right track. It was a strange and entertaining interaction.

On Ngorongoro’s slopes

That night we camped at Nyani public campsite in Seronera. Wednesday was spent in the Serengeti’s plains, of which I have too few pictures, but which others have photographed and filmed a hundred times better than we could ever do anyways.

A few images from the Serengeti:

After a last night back at Simba camp we drove back to Moshi. The next day we were off to Ndarakwai, a private reserve on the Western side of Kilimanjaro, close to the Kenyan border. It was a really beautiful place, and we enjoyed a secluded bush camp, away from the tourists’ route.

Tent and Zebra towel in the bush

We relaxed, went for a game walk with an armed “askari” (guard), and later for a drive. We admired Mount Meru in the distance, and erceted Scarlet’s awning to protect us from a refreshing rain. We cooked a potjies on the campfire, and staged the Kilimanjaro petanque tournament!

Thanks to Bruno and Zia for allowing us to gate crash their honeymoon. And thanks to Fred and Caro for hosting us so generously in their house on the sugarcane plantation (TPC) for longer than expected! It has been great sharing the past few days’ experiences with you in such a relaxing environment.

Tanzanian roads

2009-01-29T10:23:00.000+02:00

Tanzanian roads have been mostly good so far.

However, we find that the better the roads the worse the drivers seem to behave. Whether it’s heavily loaded buses or trucks, or with private cars, people here drive fast and in the middle of the road. When they see us coming from the opposite direction they put on their right indicator on (that’s the one in the middle of the road as Tanzanian drive on the left-hand side of the road) and flash their head lights.

From what we understand, the indicator is a message for the cars following them; to warn them not to overtake as we are coming. The flashing headlights seem to be for us - to let us know that they have no intention of moving from the middle of the road into their lane, and therefore we should pull off to the side of the road as much as we can. If a pothole appears in the road, then any early warning is ignored, and is up to you to dodge the pothole and the now swerving approaching vehicle.

There is also the constant flow of people, bicycles,dogs, donkeys and cattle on the edge of the road. The goats and sheep especially worry us, you never know for sure that they won’t decide to leap onto the road at the last minute. Children are very weary of cars and run away when they see us approaching. We drive slowly and as cautiously as possible.

The numerous police blocks seem quite efficient at controlling bus and truck drivers in the more densely populated areas (villages and small towns). We get stopped almost each time as well, probably due to our foreign number plate. Most of the time we just exchange lengthy salutations in KiSwahili: “Jambo… Jambo sana… Habari… Mzuri Sana...”. We are asked where we come from and where we are going. Sometimes we are asked to show driver’s license and car’s papers, but so far we have never been fined for anything. The police are either much less corrupt than we feared, or we must be doing something right!

Quelle heure est-il en Tanzanie?

2009-01-27T14:20:00.004+02:00

ou... quand deux heures en Swahili n’est pas ce que l’ on croit.

Hier, nous avons trouve l’explication a un petit mystere tanzanien:

Quand nous sommes arrives en Tanzanie, nous avons du passer par Songea pour officialiser notre entrée dans le pays. Mais l’apres-midi etait deja bien avancee, et la douane etait fermee. Avant d’aller trouver un endroit ou dormir, nous avons donc demande a quelle heure les bureaux ouvrent le matin.

On nous repondu: “saa mbili”.

“Mbili” c’est “deux”. Ca on en est surs. Mais deux heures du matin ou deux heures de l’apres-midi c’est un peu bizarre pour l’ouverture des bureaux… On a du mal comprendre. Quelques heures plus tard, la boulangerie nous repond pourtant la meme chose. Etrange…

En fait, nous avions bien compris. Les deux ouvraient bien a “deux heures”… mais “deux heures Swahili”.

En Swahili en effet, la logique veut que l’on compte les heures a partir de la premiere heure du jour ou de la nuit.

Ainsi, comme le soleil se leve a 6h (on n’est pas loin de l’ equateur), la premiere heure du jour c’est 7h. Inversement, et selon la meme logique, 8h du matin est la deuxieme heure du jour. Et donc "saa mbili", c'est 8h. Midi est “saa sita”: la sixieme heure du jour, etc. On recommence a partir de 6h du soir, heure a laquelle le soleil se couche.

C’est facile: il suffit de savoir compter jusqu’a 12.

Moja = 1
Mbili = 2
Tatu = 3
Nne = 4
Tano = 5
Sita = 6
Saba = 7
Tisa = 9
Kumi = 10
Kumi na moja = 11
Kumi na mbili = 12

Et meme les horloges suivent ce raisonnement : a midi, elles indiquent six heures...

First impressions of Tanzania - from Songea to Moshi

2009-01-18T08:32:00.004+02:00

Our first impression is one of development. It must be the contrast with Mozambique.
There is no border post (as yet) on the Tanzanian side of the Macatchedj, the new bridge over the Rovuma River, and the Mozambiquan border control is housed in grass huts. We have to do the Tanzanian paper work in Songea, the next big town, 102km further North.

For a few kilometres we drive through virgin bush. The first villages we see have brick houses:

Brick houses with corrugated roofs

People also have cows, dogs, and much more material goods than we have seen in the whole of Mozambique.

Cows and a broken bridge

Soon we also notice power lines along the road, as well as obvious signs of road maintenance. With the numerous small industries that seem to thrive in Songea, the picture is complete, the Tanzanian economy is way ahead of Mozambique’s.

We enjoy the local advertising style and spelling:

Fast and flesh

We thought we were back in English-speaking country, but everywhere Swahili (the local language) dominates. It is a beautiful language and we wish we understood and could speak a bit more. We are learning “Pole pole” (slowly slowly): “Karibu” (Welcome), “Asante sana” (Thank you very much), “Habari” (How are you?), “Mzuri” (Fine), “Wapi” (Where), and we can count to ten…

For bigger numbers we learn from the notes. The exchange rate is of 150 Tanzanian shilling (Tsh) for 1 rand (ZAR), that is about 1300 TSh to the USD.
The local cell phone networks have welcomed us. There is Tico, and Zain with its bright purple swirls.

So far we have only had one of the local beers. Not surprisingly, it is named after the Kilimanjaro. “It’s Kili time! Make the most of it.” says the advert. We follow the advice when we get to Moshi:

Our first clear view of Kilimajaro from Fred and Caro's house in Moshi. It is normally covered by clouds as you can see on the picture below:

Braaing in the bush after looking for a visiting elephant on TPC's land. With Fred, Caro, Bruno and Zia. And with Kilimanjaro in the background

Not only do the markets and shops offer more choice, but costs are also much lower than in Mozambique. A Coca-Cola costs us Tsh 500, a cabbage Tsh 400, an hour on the internet Tsh 1000. Our best surprise is the cost of petrol: it is closer to South African costs, under 10 ZAR a litre. In Mozambique it was between ZAR 15 and ZAR 20 a litre, much more than we had budgeted for.

By now we are used to shopping at local markets, washing our fruits and veggies in clean water before we eat them, as well wearing long pants and long sleeves shirts together with anti-mozzie spray in the evening to avoid getting malaria.

We were carrying water from Lake Niassa (Lake Malawi). We had filled our 60l tank straight from the lake one morning, and purified it with a few drops of chlorine. We ran out of water shortly after Kondoa so we filled up from a well in the mountains at Mbulu. We haven't had any tummy problems yet.

Waiting for our turn at the well near Mbulu

Otherwise, apart from the half-day stop in Songea to deal with the border crossing paperwork, we haven’t really had a chance to experience the Tanzanian culture yet. Generally people aren’t as smiley and friendly as in Mozambique, but they seem pretty relaxed nonetheless. Policemen haven’t cause and problems, although they always try their luck and cheekily ask: “What gift have we brought them from South Africa?” We just laugh with them and say that we’ve eaten all the Christmas cake. We would rather sit and wait rather than offer any bribes, and so far it’s been fine.

From Iringa we took the “bumpy” road North to Arusha through Dodoma and the Masai Steppe. This has allowed us to drive through isolated villages and to meet a few people along the road. To me, the most striking cultural experience so far, has been our timid encounters with a few Masai men. They are very tall and very beautiful. They also have a strange intensity about them. They walk fast in long loping steps, some occasionally ride a bicycle, and young boys herd cattle. They all carry sticks, long knives, and they all wear a blue or purple cloth/dress (different from the traditional red). We re amazed that they survive in this dry thornbush environment and look forward to learning more about them.

Below are a few pictures taken on the road between the border and Moshi:

The road opening onto the Masai Steppe

Tying up the surfboards on the bumpy road through Dodoma

Helping out fellow travellers on the road

On the road from Dodoma

Camping in the bush on the Masai Steppe

The mountain road to Mbulu

In Karatu, a fellow South African, Andre, hosted us. The two Masai men working for him were intrigued by our surf boards

Border crossing from Mozambique to Tanzania in Songea

2009-01-13T10:20:00.001+02:00

The border post at the new bridge in Congresso had not been officially opened yet. The immigration officers on the Mozambiquan side were working out of straw huts, while new offices were being built. However, crossing the border from Mozambique into Tanzania went easily. They stamped our passports, and suggested we leave them our unused Mozambican airtime, before letting us go without no further searching of Scarlet.

On the other side of the bridge a Tanzanian official working out of an isolated snack-bar, wrote down our names, passport and license plate numbers. We were told to report to immigration Songea, 102km away.

We arrived in Songea after 4pm. What we thought was the immigration office was closed. “When will it open?” we asked. “Saa Mbili.” we were told. Impossible we thought, and checked with someone else – same answer. This was our first introduction to Swahili time – 7am is the first hour of the day, 8am the second etc etc. We spent the night at a Catholic abbey about 20km out of town.

The next morning we drove back into Songea to report to the immigration immigration office. We found it eventually, located in the Ministry of Finance’s buildings. The officials were friendly enough. We completed our forms and were told to go and pay the 50 US$ visa fee (each) at one of the local banks. They would stamp our passports when we brought back the deposit receipts.
We had to admit that this is a very good system to prevent corruption. Although, walking across town in the heat and queuing there for an hour to pay the fee, didn’t really seem worth it.
We got our receipts, and went back for our stamps. You can normally get a multiple-entry 3 months visa for 50 USD, but the officer told us he didn’t have the authority for the multiple-entry, and gave us a 1-month single-entry visa instead.

We’ve now been busy for 2 hours and haven’t had breakfast yet, but we need to go through customs first. The customs officer normally works out of the Post Office. We found the Post Office but the officer was on holiday and we were directed to the TRA (Tanzanian Revenue Authority) instead and another long queue. No-one there really knew what to do with our Carnet de Passage (CDP). After we had waited for almost an hour, someone from the car licensing department came over with the necessary forms, a wad of carbon paper for several copies, and a box of stamps, and proceeded to register our car.

We were then told to go to the bank again (a different one) to pay a 25 USD fuel levy before we could have our CDP stamped. So off we went, queued patiently, paid, and eventually got a receipt, and our stamp.

The whole process had taken us over 5 hours and we were about to happily get something to eat and drink and be back on the road, when the officer who stamped our CDP asked to see the car, which was still parked at the Ministry of Finance! We fetched the car and reported for our inspection. Fortunately this only took a few minutes, and by 12 o’clock we were on our way to Iringa and the Old Farm House campsite, our patience tested to the limit.

Hippos and crocs on Lago Niassa (Lake Malawi)

2009-01-11T11:30:00.002+02:00

When we first arrived at Lago Niassa, we basked in its peace and beauty. Little could we imagine that a few days later we would be joining a hunt for hippo and crocodiles.

It just so happened that the government had approached Keith, and asked him to help rid the village (Meponda) of a hippo that was causing extensive damage to people’s crops. And this was the weekend that he and his neighbours (Warrick, an ex-hunting lodge manager, and his father, also Keith) had chosen to go on the hunt.

We joined in the Friday night festivities to get into the swing of things. We all jumped on the boat and motored along the lakeshore looking for crocodiles. We spotted one amongst the reeds. It was small (about 1m) and our hosts leapt fearlessly from the boat to apprehend the little guy barehanded. Somehow, the snorkelling we had enjoyed earlier that afternoon felt like much more of a dangerous adventure than what we had thought it to be.

Then on Saturday afternoon, men, women and children, all jumped on the boat again. This time we were going to drive down the river mouth and look for the hippo so that the men would know where to find him in the evening. It had rained over the past few weeks and the river was brown with mud. It was difficult to spot a hippo in those conditions, but the reeds and river banks showed evidence of the hippo’s presence. We travelled as far as we could up the river, asking local fishermen on their tiny dug-out canoes if they had seen the hippo.

Yes they had. Some said there were 5 hippos. Others said there were 30… Eventually one motioned for us to go back towards the river mouth. He had just seen a hippo in the river!

We started carefully back down the river, looking for eyes or bubbles in the water, when suddenly the boat hit something big! The jerk shook the boat quite strongly and Steve fell over board in the muddy water. We all held our breath as he re-emerged. We were expecting the hippo’s charge. Steve couldn’t decide whether to swim or run back to the boat, but somehow made it back on board. Then we realised that we had just hit a big log.

It lasted for just a few seconds but we all got a serious fright. One of the girls soon started singing and the mood lifted. They sang the song again for us as we parted, and we recorded it:

VIDEO of the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frtu11EIozY

The “smoke” in the background is actually swarms of lake flies which hatch periodically from the lake. The locals catch them in nets and eat them.

Lago Niassa / Lake Malawi

2009-01-11T11:28:00.003+02:00

After the rather difficult drive through Northern Mozambique, we have found a piece of paradise on the shore of Lake Niassa, better know as Lake Malawi. Its waters are fresh, pure and transparent.

We are staying in Meponda, a small fishermen’s village. Keith and Bronwyn have generously let us set camp under their baobab. What was to be a one night stop has become a five day holiday within a holiday. We kayaked, snorkelled, water-skied, and went crocodile and hippo hunting!

Thanks a million to all of you there!

Bronwyn, Keith, Zoe and "Dog"

Abubakar / Daniel

Lazaro Water-skiing with new friends

And the place in images :

The road from Montepues to Lichinga

2009-01-07T11:26:00.004+02:00

We left the Mozambican coast at Ibo and ventured inland to the west. Our goal was to drive across Northern Mozambique to Lago Niassa (Lake Malawi) before the rains make the road impracticable. There we could rest there before heading North to Sanga and across the new bridge to Tanzania.

But first we had to get to Marrupa! It was to be quite an adventure: two full days to do 500km, a slow difficult road, dodgy wooden bridges, two breakdowns, and two nights in the bush in very isolated areas.

General view of the main road

Detail of the main road Dodgy bridges (Caro scouting one of them)

Curious villagers (Scarlet is an attraction)

Warning: elephants crossing Cooking in the bush

Caro shot some videos en route:

One to give you an idea of what the main road across northern Mozambique is like (approx 300km between Montepues and Marrupa) …and we were lucky that it was relatively dry!

VIDEO of the road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY7bqOVYYXU

… And one about what happens when a branch jumps up of the road and lodges itself under the car.
Fortunately there was no serious damage to the brakes or fuel lines, tanks etc.

VIDEO of the breakdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgvDMVfJ9M

Fortunately, once we got out of the forest at Marrupa, we found the best tarred road yet in Mozambique! It took us straight to Lichinga across stunning landscapes of high plateaux.

Images from the high plateaux

Ibo Island and the Quirimbas National Park

2009-01-05T11:20:00.005+02:00

The Quirimbas Archipelago lies some 80km North of Pemba. We had heard that Ibo Island was worth a visit. Some people encouraged us to fly there, but we decided to give the road a try. We found it to be very practicable when dry, although had it have rained we probably wouldn’t have gone through.

A bus stop (“paragem”) on the road to Quissinga

“Take the road to Tanganyanga, and carry on across the salt pan straight to the baobab on the beach,” we were told. “There you will find a barraca where your car will be safe. Someone will be able to help you hire a dhow to get across to the island.”
It was as we had been told…

The baobab on the beach

…and we hired a motor boat to go across to the island. Only to find out later that there is a ferry, called a chiapa, that would have cost us a tenth of the price! So we learn.

Like Ilha de Mocambique, Ibo used to be an important trading post in the Indian Ocean, and a main governing base for Mozambique in colonial time. The Indians, Chinese, Arabs and Portuguese established themselves on the island over the centuries. They traded cashew nuts, gold, ivory and slaves from the mainland. When the Portuguese left, the buildings were left to themselves.

Ibo’s streets

Ibo aroused our interest and curiosity about Mozambique’s past and present more than any other place we had visited so far. A local teenager, Abu, became our guide and told us a bit about his homeland and his people.

Abu Making lime to restore the Fortaleza

Cowries on the governor’s house

It is a stunning area. The archipelago is virtually unspoilt, and it must be a pleasure to sail through the area. The Quirimbas National Park has been set up to protect and manage its biodiversity and history.

The mainland part of the park is also beautiful. The next day we drove east from Quissinga through the park. We filled our water tank at one of the villages, and camped in the bush.

Villagers Child Bush bath

Londo (last day in Pemba)

2009-01-04T09:18:00.001+02:00

We spent a few days in Pemba, relaxing at Brenda and Rudy’s Pemba Dive + Bush Camp.
We enjoyed its stunning private beach on the bay…

Pemba Dive + Bush Camp private beach

…and the mud bath in the mangrove!

Mud bath

It is a favourite hangout for the local expats. And we met interesting characters. Also, it wasn’t long before we met Guy and Kerryn, who we found out to be friends of friends. They invited us to spend a day with them on Franz’s dhow. We sailed to Londo across the bay and spent the day fishing, snorkelling and exploring.

Franz’s dhow On Franz’s dhow Captao Pemba Bay

Where can we cross the border to Tanzania?

2009-01-02T12:52:00.002+02:00

Pemba – 02 Jan 2009

Our original plan was to either cross at Mtwara, on the coast, or in the Niassa Park somewhere if it was possible. It sounds like we arrived at the wrong season: the North of the country is already under water. We are told that driving through the Niassa Park will be impossible.

Crossing the border at Mtwara on the coast would depend on the Ruvuma River which might already be in flood. We also discovered that the ferry sank 6 months ago. Apparently to cross the river you now have to put your vehicle on dhows lashed together… It sounds a bit risky! And expensive…we are told that it can cost between 500 USD and 2000 USD.

Fortunately, last night a Swiss couple arrived at our campsite. They came from Tanzania and had tried 4 different crossings before they finally discovered a way. The route they tell us about doesn’t show on any of our maps! But they have saved the GPS coordinates and will share them with us! This route will take us all the way across to Lichinga, on Lake Niassa, and then up North to the Ruvuma river, to where a new bridge has been built and opened for traffic just 2 months ago. We will cross the border there and have our passports stamped in Tanzania at Songea before we carry on up to Arusha.

We are hoping to arrive in Arusha around the 17th of January and meet up with the honeymooners Bruno and Zia. (Guys, we will be thinking of you on the 09th!)

Cashew nuts and mangos

2009-01-01T02:00:00.001+02:00

Pemba – 01 Jan 2009

It has been a week since we left Rio Azul. Time feels different when we are on the road. Each day is so full of new experiences that it feels like months have gone by already…

We have just found out that I cannot do anything with the pictures we took in RAW format with our Canon G9. There seems to be a problem with the software (EOS utility) and we can’t download them from the camera. We had to cut and paste them across from the camera, and the computer can’t seem to recognise them as image files. The result is that they can’t be reformatted or downsized to be put on the blog… If anyone has got any idea of what can be done, please let us know. In the meantime we will shoot in large file format (jpg).

Today we are in Pemba, a tourist centre on the Mozambican coast. We arrived last night, after a long day’s drive from Memba (200km in 12 hours). We had planned to drive up the coast from Memba to Pemba, but had to turn around at Lurio. Both our GPS and our maps and showed a river crossing and alternative route inland to meet the main road should the rivercrossing not be possible. Both of these no longer exist. The road to Lurio was a motorbike track with several interesting river crossings.

We were welcomed for New Year to join in on a huge braai the Pemba Dive Bush Camp! The campsite’s owner had organized to celebrate the New Year with other expats, friends and clients…cold beer, bond fire and fireworks… perfect!

Since leaving Ilha de Mocambique and the main roads we have been in extremely rural, remote and poor areas of Mozambique. We would drive for hours on coastal dirt roads, through villages of clay and straw huts, where the most elaborate possession would be a bicycle or a radio, but where most people only had a wooden bed frame, a few clay pots, a hoe to work the cassava fields, a long stick to collect the mangos, and the clothes on their back.

Everywhere people were friendly, and waved with smiles as we passed by. On one night we even stayed in one of the villages and spent our time with the children there. No privacy, but quite an experience. Many of the children showed signs of malnutrition and we felt obliged to shared our supper: potatoes and onions roasted in the potjie.

It has always been easy to find water to drink. There are many wells and water pumps everywhere. We filled our 60 litre tank and added a few drops of chlorine for good measure. The water is brackish as we have been on the coast. We are getting used to the taste, and Caro even suggested putting salt in her coffee from now on.

The main crops are mangos and cashew nuts. We have also been eating fresh Portuguese bread and sometimes eggs and avocados. And we still have our own supplies of coffee, sugar, powdered milk, etc, which are all luxury products here and very expensive.

From Rio Azul to Ilha de Mocambique was an unexpectedly good drive - albeit quite slow - on the National road. We stopped in formal campsites that were rather empty. We experienced our first heavy rains in the Gorongosa National Park. We had to fix a hole in the tent’s cover but were pleased that the tent when erectis completely waterproof. The sun soon came back…

Ilha de Mocambique was a picturesque and relaxing stop.

Now, our plan is to relax, shop for the next leg of the trip to Ibo Island and then to Tanzania….

2M, la biere mozambicaine au nom d' un President de la Republique francaise!

2009-01-01T01:00:00.001+02:00

Il y a trois bieres locales au Mozambique: la Manica, la Laurentina, et la 2M. La 2M merite un petit post dans la langue de Moliere.

Elle tient son nom de Marshall Mac-Mahon, qui – comme son nom ne l’indique pas – etait Francais. Il etait meme President de la Republique francaise. La Troisieme, je crois.

A l’epoque ou les Europeens se partageaient l’Afrique comme on se partage un gateau, les Portugais et les Anglais ne trouvaient pas de frontiere logique entre leur colonies a l’est de l’Afrique australe. Le President Mac-Mahon regla la dispute, marquant l’ histoire et la geographie du Mozambique d’ un trait de crayon sur la carte: au Nord de cette ligne se tiendrait la colonie portugaise, l’ actuel Mozambique; au Sud, la colonie anglaise, l’ actuel Afrique du sud.

Qui a decide de lui dedie une biere en souvenir? Ca je n’ ai pas trouve l’ explication…

Rio Azul

2008-12-25T12:00:00.002+02:00

Rainbow

Mark

Steve

Sunset at "The Point"

Boats on the estuary

Andy

Fishing in the waves

Andy coming home in the sunset

Steve motoring in the estuary

Locals smoking fish

Silhouettes

Luxury

Rio Azul is a South African owned and run lodge on the Govuro River Estuary, about 30km north of Inhassoro. It is marketed primarily as fishing lodge, although its pristine natural surroundings and luxurious facilities make it ideal for anyone looking to get away from it all.

There is a small local population living around the estuary who subsists mainly by fishing. They seem to use a combination of traditional fish traps and fishing from dhows (simple elegant wooden boats) and dug-out canoes using nets or handlines. Fortunately, pressure on the fisheries is limited at this stage and the angling is still excellent.

We arrived in late afternoon and went down to “The Point” with our fly rods. There was a slight on shore breeze, and although the surf was small it was not easy to get the line out more than a couple of meters. Off to my right a spray of minnows broke the surface and then a few seconds later came the hit. It wasn’t a very heavy take at first, just a dead weight at the end of the line. Then he ran… and I really experienced need for backing (excess line to allow fish to run) for the first time in my fly-fishing career. I managed to land it on the beach after a few minutes: a small Kingfish about 30cm long more specifically known as a GT (Giant Travally). I removed my fly from this powerful broad bodied predator and returned him to the waves. I didn’t know it yet, but the excitement I had just experienced, and would be looking for again over the next few days, was to become known as “GT Fever” by everyone at the lodge.

Pretty soon we all had it. There were many other species caught over the next few days: rock cod, Kingfish and Queenfish of different varieties, Snappers, Garfish.

Much of our time was spent exploring the many mangrove lines channels of the estuary in the “Tinnies”, small powered aluminium boats. We also took a trip out to BD Island, about half an hour out of the estuary to fish some deeper water.

Mark and Andy flew out on Christmas Eve back to Joburg and we stayed to enjoy a wonderful Christmas dinner (yes, ham and turkey) and to soak up the luxury for one more day before we headed north up towards Gorongosa.

Many thanks to Pam, Craig, Innocent, Nick and Mat and everyone else at the lodge for a really fantastic stay!

Their website is http://www.rioazul-lodge.com/

Beyond the Tropic of Capricorn

2008-12-20T12:00:00.005+02:00

Today is our last day at Vilanculos. We have been there for four days with Steve’s dad, Andy, and his brother, Mark . They flew in from Johannesburg to spend a week with us sampling the local beers between fishing outings.

Andy & Mark enjoying a 2M (Mac-Mahon… One of the local beers)

In Tofo we camped under some palm trees. Hearing the coconuts fall loudly at night made us realise that it would be better for Scarlet (and us) to avoid camping in the firing zone in the future. We opted for a big Flamboyant tree (Vlamboom) at our next camp, which provided a good shade on the rare occasion that it wasn’t raining. We were very pleased to have the awning shelter our dining room from the frequent showers.

Camping under the Vlamboom at Josef and Tina’s

Our days here have been relaxing. It has been good to stay in the same place for a while, and we enjoyed our first real interactions with local people. We are pleasantly surprised to feel so accepted by the Mozambicans. We are foreigners, tourists, Mlungu (white-men)… so wealthy in comparison to many of the locals. Prices are sometimes raised for us but we do not feel ripped-off or harassed. The people are polite, self-confident, gentle and full of good humour.

“Welcome to the land of smiles”, says the Mozambican Tourism Board at the border. We agree.

Smiles

We played cards, dice, petanque, and frisbee (or rather, Mark’s incredible flying ring – the aerobie) on the beach with local kids. We walked the streets and beaches, some badly damaged by a hurricane two years ago. We bought fish at the market, cooked potjies, played soccer and took a dhow trip to the island. Steve even had a haircut.

Steve gets a haircut
Cleaning the fish at the market

Playing soccer Hands game

Sales on the beach Boy and dhow Dhows on the beach

Vilanculos beach street

Vilanculos main street

On route from Tofo we stopped to buy mangos in a village. It’s mango season and mangoes seem to mature faster than people can eat them. We ended up with a sack of mangos for next to nothing. The whole experience was very colourful. I wish I could have taken a picture, but the women didn’t want me to. Maybe next time... I would like to share their smiles, and the beautiful variety of their sarongs.

I am amazed at what the women carry on their heads. I have started a list. C’est un inventaire a la Prevert. I’ll have to write a post on it sometime soon…

In Vilanculos, we had our first brief encounter with other travellers: two French couples on motorbikes and sidecars. They left France (Bouche-du-Rhone) in April 2008 and had driven across Russia then down the Americas. They were now starting their trip back up though Africa. Their website is http://www.passagers-du-monde.fr/

Magaruque Island

2008-12-19T12:00:00.003+02:00

Magaruque is a small island, just 11km off the coast of Vilanculos. It is part of the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park and has a nice long reef just off the beach. It’s the perfect place to spend a day snorkelling and fishing.

We sign up with one of the two or three dhow companies in town. Dolphin Dhow, treat us to a wonderful day on the island. It is not cheap, but we agree that its worth it. They provide a good lunch of crab and calamari curry, fresh fruit, salads and drinks. The snorkelling equipment is included and their dhows are equipped with motors and life jackets.

Below are a few pictures we took at Magaruque.

Andy & Mark on the dhow

Dhow and grey sky The boys getting ready for the first fish of the holiday

Andy fly-fishing at Magaruque

Andy caught a Kingfish

Crabs in the rain
Snorkelling Star fish and Sea cucumber

1st impressions of Mozambique - from Maputo to Tofo

2008-12-16T12:00:00.005+02:00

Our first contact with Mozambique is physical - literally. After a few kms of smooth sandy tracks we hit a hard bumpy road. I am thankful I have packed sports bras.

Bumpy road to Boane

There is so much to learn when one enters a new country.
It’s a new language: “Bons Dias”, “Boa Tarde”, “ Obrigado/a”, “Fas favor”, “Es tu a pedir”…
It’s also a new currency. The toll gate exchanged our rands at 1 rand (ZAR) = 2.23 meticales (Mt) but the backpacker’s in Maputo gave us ZAR 1 = Mt 2.4

And it’s a new cell phone network. But this one isn’t hard to find about! MCell’s blue and yellow adorns most buildings in the rural areas and is advertised on most billboards (when it’s not Vodacom’s blue and white). They also sent us a roaming message just a few kms after we crossed the border (so did MTN: welcoming us to Swaziland!). We easily find a simcard. Unfortunately our 3G modem doesn’t seem to work on it. We will have to rely on internet cafes to get connected.

Yellow MCel-sponsored buildings everywhere

The local beers are the Laurentina, the Manica, and the 2M (Mac-Mahon). They are good!

A beer costs between Mt 25 and Mt 40 depending on the place. We find the cost of life very high in general; higher than in Cape Town. We pick our friends brains’ for tips on the cost of things as we are a bit worried that people noticing us as newcomers will overcharge us. But so it is: Mt 50 for 5 l of water, Mt 25 for a kilo of tomatoes, Mt 5 to Mt 10 for the car guards…

We also need to get used to washing fruits and veggies in clean water before we eat them, as well as to wearing long pants and long sleeves shirts together with anti-mosquitoes spray in the evening… we don’t want to get malaria.

It is really great is to be getting slowly acquainted with a new culture:

Sandrine and Ronny have welcomed us into their home. Thank you! It’s great to see them again after three years. Julian and Siphiso have changed a lot. I am sorry I didn’t think of taking pictures. Their sister, Violette, is now six months old. She arrived home when she was just six weeks old and is totally adorable.

Violette

We have a diner of fresh crabs and they tell us about their life here. It’s so different from South Africa. We can feel it already. It is difficult to describe, but basically there seems to be much more social mixity, and the Mozambicans are self-confident and seem happy with themselves.

The culture is a rich mix of African, Portuguese and Arabic. For example, Sandrine and Ronny’s house is right next to much poorer looking buildings. They have a guard but don’t seem too concerned about security. They say there is no violent crime.

After dinner they take us to a club where we listen to cool local jazzy music. We seem to be the only foreigners (and whites) but no one pays special attention to us. There is a great atmosphere, almost Latin. I imagine Brazil to be quite similar.
It’s chilled out yet elegant, urban and modern yet it feels like a well-established culture.

We know too little of the country’s history to make much comment. The communist influence is visible in the avenue’s names: Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Mao Tse Tung… So is the liberation struggle: 24 de Julhio, Eduardo Mondlane…

These are early days and we are still feeling a huge distance with the people. I am reluctant to take photos: I don’t feel quite safe enough to take the camera out in the streets yet, and in any case it doesn’t seem right to point it into people’s faces. I prefer just to enjoy their huge smiles and friendliness.

Below are just a few first images:

Mon 15/12 – Tofo. Unfortunately and, despite our great expectations, there is again no surf to be had her. Instead, we do some maintenance and relaxation at the Turtle Cove, a stylish and very nice campsite with swimming pool and yoga lounge.

Steve doing some daily maintenance on Scarlet.

The Turtle Cove’s campsite’s yoga lounge.

Our first baobab, near Inhambane

Sun 14/12 - On the road between Maputo and Xai Xai

Sat 13/12 – Maputo Costa do Sol

Our 1st border crossing: Ponta do Ouro, into Mozambique

2008-12-13T12:00:00.003+02:00

We woke up early: our noisy neighbours were getting ready to go fishing on the Kosi Bay estuary. The day is overcast and a welcome respite after the last few days. At 8am we are ready to head to the border post a few kms away.

At 9am the border is already very busy. Cars are queuing for over a km of road at least. It is Saturday, the first day of the Christmas holidays. Hundreds of South Africans are going to the coast. It looks like the great trek: a migration of fully kitted 4x4 with trailers, tents, boats, jet-skis, quad bikes… In front of us a group of students in a fancy Land Cruiser with a trailer have cracked open the beers. They are not the only ones...

We eventually get to the border (2hrs) and everything goes smoothly. The staff are friendly and helpful and it is well organised. We don’t take photos around the border as it probably isn’t allowed.

Steve gets a 1 month visa for ZAR 17 on his South African passport. Mine (French)costs ZAR 172. It is less than what I was expecting from the information I had gathered from the Embassy. It’s a pleasant surprise. The compulsory car insurance costs ZAR 150, and we don’t have to pay for a temporary import permit for our vehicle thanks to the Carnet de Passage (CDP).

The border post officials didn’t know about the CDP, and it took them quite some time to figure it out with them. but eventually they were very happy that we had such an official document with us. Steve was very patient, and I walked around, observing with amusement the “great summer migration” and looking for a discreet spot without snakes or mines to go to the loo.

We have done about 3,000km since we left Cape Town 2 weeks ago.

Once in Mozambique we have the choice between 3 sandy tracks. They are all 4x4 only. We are told that the one on the left will take us to Maputo. The GPS confirms: keep left all the way to Boane and you will be fine.

From the Transkei to Kwazulu Natal: our last week in South Africa

2008-12-12T12:00:00.005+02:00

Our last night in South Africa is at the Kosi Bay rest camp. Once again, and despite the fact that the holiday season has started and we haven’t made any bookings, we have been lucky to find a campsite.
Tomorrow we will cross the nearby border post of Ponta do Ouro into Mozambique. I have just had a hot shower and Steve is preparing a potjie - the last of our farewell party chicken (let’s hope it wont make us sick). We are wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts as we have entered a malaria endemic area.
It is hard to believe that we were in South Africa over the past few days. It has been hot, humid, and overcast. It feels very tropical. We are slowly getting used to being constantly damp.
The roads have been good and very scenic; tarred roads wandering through the Transkei’s green hills, the national road bordered by sugar cane or eucalyptus plantations, or the sandy coastal 4x4 tracks we have been following since Mabibi Beach.

Fri 12/12 – From Mabibi to Kosi Bay along the coastal 4x4 sandy tracks:

Thur 11/12 – From St Lucia to Mabibi Beach is our first real trip off the main roads. We pass Muzi Pan and its amazingly rich bird life and then onto Lake Sibaya, the largest fresh water lake in Southern Africa. Our camp is in the coastal forest on top of the dunes at Mabibi.
It is a full moon night, the beach is remote. That night we are fortunate to witness a 1,2m long loggerhead turtle lay her hundred eggs.

In the morning Steve does a bit of DIY blacksmithing to fix our tent’s poles. They need to be bent more sharply so the flysheet won’t blow away in the wind.

Wed 10/12 – It was a peaceful drive St Lucia. We arrived at dusk and found the False Bay Caravan Park totally empty, except for a herd of zebra, a warthog and her baby, a lone male nyala and a pelican. It was only when we went to the office to pay the next morning that we discovered that the campsite was actually closed because of a severe draught and insufficient drinking water for campers.

Tues 9 and Wed 10/12 - Kristi, Jason, and baby Hudson welcome us at their home in Durban. We are invited to a fantastic braai at Jason’s parents. Thank you! Congratulations to Jason on his 30th and to Hudson for his first rollover.

Our hopes for a surf in Durban were high… But the ocean was flat…

Never the less, we had a great time visiting the Ushaka Marine World!

Mon 8/12 - “Nature” woke us up at dawn so we could pay him for the campsite. We helped three young boys collect rubbish around the camp. We drop it at Lusikisiki on our way North:

We left Mpande Bay and took the scenic route to Durban, passing by the Transkei’s turquoise round huts on the hills, and through a few small but busy towns with a strong African feel:

On the road to Durban we stop to visit Oribi Gorge:

Into Africa

2008-12-07T21:00:00.013+02:00

Today, we crossed into the Transkei, home to the Xhosa people. To us it feels like another country.

From Chintsa we followed the N2 again up to Umtata (Mthatha), then the R61 (newly resurfaced) towards Port St Johns. The road was very scenic, with villages scattered on green hillsides along the way. We didn’t see much industry. It’s all subsistence farming, with a few crops and cattle. Some of the women wear white clay on their faces (homemade sunscreen?) and we notice a few groups of painted young men wearing blankets. We suppose that they are being initiated and we can see their temporary straw huts on the outskirts of the villages. Sunday must be laundry day as all the fences are covered in colourful pieces of clothes.

The scenic R61.

Pat recommended that we visit Mpande, a place he had visited 10 years ago. It wasn’t easy to find. It doesn’t appear on our Michelin map (which covers the whole of Southern and Central Africa). We use our GPS for the first time. It works, and we find Mpande where its always been, a small village and an isolated beach.

It’s beautiful and wild. Three lifeguards all dressed in matching yellow outfits and hats sitting under a tree! We wonder who sponsors or trains them. It seems totally out of character when there is not a single other person on the beach.

Behind the beach there seem to be a few campsites. There are taps (no drinking water), horses grazing, and young boys picking fruits in the trees. The lifeguards tell us that to camp here we must speak to “Nature”. A young girl dressed in pink is sent to the village to fetch him. It turns out that “Nature” is an old man with a knobkierrie (stick with a heavy knob at the hitting end) and is the Nature Conservation Ranger for this stretch of coast. He tells us that we need to get a permit in Umtata (80km back, on dirt road) if we want to camp here. Eventually, he agrees to let us stay for the night on condition that we hire a guard for the night. We arranged for Ronnie to guard our camp for fifty rand that night.

Our camp at Mpande.

Two young men from the village come by as we are setting camp for dinner. They speak English with a strong surfer accent (“Hey bru, no ways dude”). They tell us that this camp used to be thriving when it was run by Nature Conservation. Unfortunately, the community got jealous and asked for the land back. Now, nobody seems to be in charge, and “The Kraal” backpackers on the other side of the village gets all the business.

We noticed a few holiday houses overlooking the beach. Tom-tom told us that white people could buy a piece of land here for a crate of beer, a bottle of brandy and 2000 rands. It seems that some of the old campers may have opted for their own house on the hill instead…

Boy carrying wood at Mpande.

Steve at Chintsa.

Sat (6/12) - We are thinking of Melissa and Tiaan who are getting married today.
Chintsa is slightly north of East London. It is almost the Transkei, although we haven’t passed the Kei River yet. Since we passed Grahamstown and crossed the Fish Fiver, which used to be the old frontier between white and black South Africa, it has started to feel very much like rural Africa. Nabome and cabbage trees cover the hills around us. The first round huts have appeared under the big blue sky. Women sell pineapples on the side of the road. Tonight we use mosquito lotion for the first time, even though there is no risk of malaria yet. We are still eating quiche and soup leftovers from the farewell party a week ago.

Caro at Cape St Francis.

Fri (5/12) - After an easy trip along the N2 we turned at the lively town of Humansdorp and arrived in Cape St Francis to check out the surf, where we had enjoyed it so much the last time we were there. There were no waves, but we had a great time walking along the beach to the light house, and swimming in an almost warm ocean. Our campsite was just behind this lovely beach, amongst white walled thatched-roof houses. The caravaners started to arrive en masse the following morning, the start of Christmas holidays…

Pat and B at Rivendale.

"Petanque" tournament at Rivendale.

Thur (4/12) - We staged a successful “petanque” tournament at Rivendale, and managed to get in a surf at Vic Bay before it was time to head north into Africa.

We are on the road!

2008-12-04T11:00:00.001+02:00

We left Cape Town at 4pm on Saturday (29/11) in a light drizzle. Packing took us a little bit longer than expected, but so far we haven’t found that we forgot anything.

Four hours and 450km later we are at Rivendale, Pat and B’s farm just outside George. It was an easy drive on the good South African national roads. This was just as well as we were quite tired after a week of hard work and late nights.

We have been here for 5 days. Farm life has slowed our progress down to an average of 50km and four coffees per day. We have been making final preparations in between helping out around the farm and relaxing with Pat and B.

We decided to install another leaf spring to the rear of the car which is sagging a bit under the load.

Friday should see us heading for Cape St Francis. We will then slowly make our way up the coast, with the idea of reaching Mozambique and Maputo around December 12.

Steve enjoying farm life.

Cloudy skies over the farmlands around George. In the background, the Outeniqua Mountains.

On Tuesday (02/12) we took a drive to Victoria Bay (no surfing, unfortunately) and had tea in Wilderness with Helen and Hugo. Ten years ago they welcomed Caro in their home for her first Christmas in South Africa and we have remained friends. Helen grew up in Uganda and Kenya, and we will be sending her smiles from there.

On Monday (01/12) the sky cleared and we were fortunate enough to witness Jupiter and Venus aligned with the moon for a few hours. We agreed that in ancient times this would have been seen as a special omen. The next day we saw this article in the local paper.

1 week to go !

2008-11-21T09:00:00.000+02:00

We've talked about it for four years...
We've said we were leaving soon...
Some of our friends thought that we had gone and come back...
Others thought we would never leave...

Our departure date is set !
We will be leaving Cape Town on November 29, 2008.

All we need now is a Farewell Party.
It will be at home, on the 25th, after work.
Pop open the champagne, let's celebrate !
Then watch this space for our news.

Namibia - Route D707 - Oct 2008

2008-11-11T12:03:00.003+02:00

South West Namibia.
On route to hike the Namib Naukluft Trail.
Our plan aborted because of a car accident...
but it remained an amazing trip with stunning landscapes.

You can see the full-size pictures of our trip to Namibia on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodboons/sets/72157608811978953

Namibia - Route D707 with Madonna - Oct 2008

2008-11-11T11:00:00.001+02:00

Our very first video - test...

Botswana - Kgalagadi - April 2008

2008-11-10T12:00:00.001+02:00

This Transfrontier National Park shares a border with Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.
We camped in the wild, and tested Scarlet's sand driving.
There were amazing birds, snakes, and even a herd of Elands.

You can see the full-size pictures of our trip to the Kgalagadi on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodboons/sets/72157608309848829

South Africa - Richtersveld - May 2007

2008-11-09T12:00:00.002+02:00

The Orange River.
South Africa / Namibia border.
Camping and fly fishing in the desert wilderness.

You can see the full-size pictures of our trip to the Richtersveld on :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodboons/sets/72157608671063642

South Africa - Searching for the San man

2008-11-08T12:00:00.004+02:00

The Cederberg is home to the richest heritage of San rock art in the world. It is also one of our favourite places close to home.
Steve's article was published by SA4x4 in February 2007.
Rock Art in the Cederberg

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Travel cederberg rock art

Mountaineering in Peru's Cordillera Blanca

2008-11-08T11:30:00.000+02:00

This is a short article we wrote for first Ascent about our trip to Peru's Cordillera Blanca in July 2006. We intended to climb a few summits there : Yanapaccha, Artesonraju, and Huascaran.
first Ascent had given us some gear that performed very well.
It was published in first Ascent Newsletter in October 2006.
http://www.firstascent.co.za/old-site/newsletter_oct2006.htm

We are proud to say that some of our pics were also used later on for marketing purposes.
Here Steve appears on the 2007 calendar :)
http://www.firstascent.co.za/old-site/newsletter_aug07.htm

Namibia - Sossusvlei - August 2005

2008-11-07T12:00:00.009+02:00

One of our first trips with Scarlet.
Sossusvlei is one of Namibia's most picturesque spots. It's best to be in the dunes at sunrise or sunset, with soft light and amazing shadows.

You can see the full-size pictures of our trip to Sossusvlei on :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodboons/sets/72157608785955285

Namibia - The Tirasberg Conservancy

2008-11-07T11:00:00.007+02:00

Steve wrote this article after our first visit to the Tirasberg Conservancy in August 2005. We discovered it on our way to Sossusvlei after a hike down the Fish River Canyon. We took the route D707 and fell in love with its magical landscape.
We have already gone back (in October 2008), and will go back again !
The article was published by SA4x4 in May 2006.

Tiras

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How did it all start ?

2008-11-06T23:59:00.001+02:00

We explored the Garden Route as a secret couple one weekend in 2003.
It seemed so easy to just keep driving north until the credit cards maxed out;
the perfect thing to do ...

We agreed in a Mexican volcanoe to go back to South Africa together and enjoy more trips, sleeping in the back of the bakkie.

It took us a while to get organised. We refurbished a house... and then a second one. Started a business. Working, saving, parties, holidays, family, mechanics, camping, weddings, gardens... until at last ... aaah!

"Un voyage se passe de motifs. Il ne tarde pas a prouver qu'il se suffit a lui-meme. On croit qu'on va faire un voyage, mais bientot c'est lui qui vous fait, ou vous defait." - Nicolas Bouvier (L' usage du monde)

Getting Scarlet ready

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Customised aluminium canopy
Long range fuel tank (60l)
Water tank (60l)
Fridge (Engel 40L)
Roof-top tent (Howling Moon 1.2m)
Awning (Howling Moon)
New Engine (4Y 2.2litre petrol)
Recondition gearbox, differentials
New radiator
Electronic distributor
Service carburettor, alternator
Gas stove (LPG)
Extra leaf springs rear and new shocks all round
Spare wheels x 2
New seats and covers
Fuel jerry's x 2 and bracket
Inverter and second battery
Hi-lift jack and lifting points
Tools and spares

What did we pack ?

2008-11-06T21:00:00.002+02:00

Basic camping and personal equipment.
Mountain gear.
Spares and tools.
Surfboards.
Credit cards to withdraw local currency.
Cash in US dollars for visas and parks.
Scans and certified copies of our documents.
Cameras, laptop and Ipod.
Binoculars.
First Aid kit.
A few books.

If you are interested we can email you our detailed check-lists.
They are in Excel format.

Budget

2008-11-06T20:00:00.001+02:00

This has been quite difficult to plan.
We visited a number of other travellers' websites to get and idea of costs, but they never really mentioned their expenses.
To complicate things a bit further, the exchange rates with the Euro and the USD have been rather unstable lately.

At this stage we estimate ZAR15,000 per month to be sufficient.
That's €1,200 per month, more or less.

Needless to say that doesn't include some expenses we will still have at home, such as bond repayment, insurances, social security, etc

We have a record of our preparation expenses. We will also be keeping a record of our expenses as we go. Don't hesitate to ask if you want some more detail.

Intended route

2008-11-05T12:00:00.010+02:00

We will be leaving Cape Town at the end of November 2008.
And we will be travelling for 6 months, more or less.

The intention - plans might change - is to follow the East Coast of Africa through Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya, before visiting Ethiopia, and maybe Erithrea and Sudan.

We will then come back to South Africa following a more inland route across Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and maybe Botswana, Angola, and Namibia.

We will try and post a new map on this blog regularly showing where we are and where we have been.

Scarlet

2008-11-04T12:00:00.003+02:00

She's a Toyota Hilux (1991) 2.2l petrol engine.
She is a 4wd with a front diff lock.
Oh, and she is red and tired of being referred to as 'the fire engine'!

"Have you ever seen a burnt down Hilux on the side of the road ?", Jaque, our mechanic, once asked.

Would you like to know why ?
Watch this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhoOkMccPZo

We chose an earlier model Hilux because they are renowned for being tough, simple and reliable. They are foundly widely throughout Africa , and we should have no problems (touch wood) finding mechanics with the spares and knowhow. And we needed a bakkie/pick-up for all the home renovation leading up to the trip !

Contact us

2008-11-03T12:03:00.012+02:00

You can contact us on our personal email addresses, if you know them.
We will be checking them every now and then.
Otherwise, email us at : goodboons(at)gmail.com
You will need to replace (at) by @

About Steve

2008-11-03T12:02:00.010+02:00

Steve is 31. He is South African.
He grew up in Namibia and Zimbabwe, at the back of his geologist parents' Landrover, until they settled in Johannesburg.
He spent a few years in England, but missed the African weather, people and landscapes, and came back.
He now lives in Cape Town, where he works as a civil engineer - when he is not surfing, travelling, rock-climbing, or fly-fishing in various part of the world.

Steve chose and found the car, designed its canopy, equipped it, learnt to drive it on any roads (or lack thereof), and is responsible for keeping the engine running.
He has some idea of what to expect along the way - he's done the trip twice before as far as Uganda - and is teaching Caro to enjoy "Africa time". He takes stunning photos, he can name most of the birds we happen to see, and prepares the best potjies ever.

About Caro

2008-11-03T12:01:00.014+02:00

Caro is 31. She is French.
She also lived in Mexico and Canada for a few years.
She travelled extensively as a journalist before her job brought her to South Africa. She got friendly with a local and never left...
Now she runs her own business in Cape Town : Kunjani Student Placement Agency. She also teaches History and Geography at the French school.

Caro is responsible for the paperwork and turning Scarlet into a home : she got a bit carried away making check-lists for just about everything, organized our equipment and documents, and this blog.
She loves not knowing what to expect along the way, campfires under African skies, peaceful early mornings with a cup of coffee, hiking, surfing, and eating Steve's potjies.

Schwerthelm

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Schwerthelm is our cat.
He doesn't like travelling,
but it's nice to have a picture of him here.

Alberto Boonzilla

2008-11-03T11:00:00.001+02:00

Alberto Boonzilla used to be on Caro's key ring.

He likes travelling, so we brought him along, as our mascot.

Goodboons ?

2008-11-02T12:00:00.007+02:00

It's another case of "lost in translation":

One day we had been watching a troop of baboons cavorting off the side the the road. After watching their antics for some time Caro said: "They're not so bad. Why do they call them badboons?"

Ever since then, "goodboons and badboons" have been a part of our lives.

Badboons ?

Goodboons ?

Mark Twain

2008-11-01T12:01:00.011+02:00

He was an American writer, most noted for his novels The adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain was born in Missouri, 2 weeks after the closest approach to Earth of Halley’s comet in 1935.
He worked as a printer’s apprentice, and later as a steamboat pilot, a miner and a journalist ; and died in Connecticut, a day after another close approach of Halley’s comet in 1910.

Read more about Mark Twain on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
and find some of his most famous quotations on: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mark_Twain

Baboons in Profile, Nakuru 2007 - by Nick Brandt

2008-11-01T12:00:00.006+02:00

We have just discovered this stunning photo of baboons.
It is unusual to see Black & White photos of the African wildlife, and Nick Brandt has a very unique way of capturing the moment.
You might enjoy having a look at his gallery :
http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/photography/brandt/brandt.html