Reflections on our trip

First of all we should have called this blog Tanzania4Tea and Tomatoes! I was amazed at how many people were selling buckets of tomatoes alongside the road and they were really delicious.

In four and a half weeks we have traveled 13 000km through eight countries. The trip has given me a bigger picture of this wonderful continent of Africa. Here in South Africa we have limited knowledge about the people and activities north of us. Over the years many of us have built up misconceptions. Before we left many people told us that we were going to have a big problem with police road blocks and corruption. In fact everyone who stopped us was polite and friendly. There was only one determinedly corrupt border policeman at Nyamapanda border post in Zimbabwe. In fact other travelers we met told us they'd had problems with the same policeman and a few others. For this reason we returned via Botswana and not Zimbabwe. We heard a Zimbabwean on the radio wondering what had happened to all the World Cup tourists who should have been coming to Zimbabwe. Word gets around and people aren't prepared to be ripped off. Until Zimbabwe get their act together and stop treating tourists and visitors in this way they won't prosper as a tourist destination.

Things I will miss about the countries visited?

• Loads of fresh produce in Tanzania. 
• The wonderful friendly and welcoming people we met in all the countries we visited.
• Waking up each morning with a sense of expectation about what we will see and do. 
• The wonderful game reserves. 
• Scenery
• Mt Kilimanjaro, Victoria Falls, Botswana's wide open spaces. 

Things I won't miss?

• Potholes! 
• Wild bus drivers
• Money changers at borders

Things I appreciate about being back in SA?

• Being at home - always welcome after a trip. 
• Fellow South Africans
• Enjoying the World Cup Final 
• Understanding the currency. 
• My internet connection. 

The trip was awesome - a once in a lifetime experience. I am so glad we did it. It was really great to connect with Brock again and of course meet Delphi for the first time. Thank you Lord for the resources and the opportunity to do this trip. 

Saturday 10 July - Home to Port Elizabeth

We thought the last leg of our journey from Pietermaritzburg to Port Elizabeth would be a breeze even though it's a ten hour trip. We know the road well and after some of the roads we've traveled in the last month we were sure it would be easy.... but it did seem to take forever. I guess the anticipation of getting home makes the time drag.

 I wanted to take a photo of this little church near Kokstad on our way north last month but there was too much traffic. Today I had my opportunity. I just love the bright colours and the contrasts.

The trip was uneventful and we arrived as it was getting dark. Our dogs were amazed to see us. I guess when you're over ninety in doggy years the memory isn't a strong point. They thought we were never coming home again and they want to know what we've done with the house sitter. After a few minutes they did show some excitement and we were sniffed over to get the news from all over Africa. My trainers must be particularly interesting because I've worn them every day.

We found our house in excellent order, clean, neat and welcoming. Thank you Edwin for doing such a great job of taking care of things this end. It's wonderful to have one's own bathroom, bed, kitchen..... Life's good and we are feeling so blessed all over again.

We were in time to watch the third place play off between Germany and Uruguay which was actually taking place here in PE - of course we watched on TV. After all the lovely warm weather we have had up north we're going to have to acclimatize to the PE winter again. In fact there's lots we're going to have to get used to again - such as work...... But we have a new appreciation of South Africa for her climate, infrastructure, the wonderful people. It's going to take us a few weeks to get back into the swing of things but we are so grateful for the wonderful adventure we have had and that the Lord has brought us safely through eight countries and 13 000km. Wow!!! I will write a reflection on our experience as a final blog entry.

Friday 9 July - Rest day in Pietermaritzburg

The first thing we thought as we woke up this morning is that we didn't have to jump out of bed and prepare to take off for the next stopover. This was our way of getting our early morning exercise - especially when we had to take down the tent, fold up the stretchers and pack the car. We became very efficient in our routine but we're glad it's over for now - until the next camping trip.

Nicholas was on form and kept us entertained.

One of the chores we did was take a huge bag of dirty clothes to the local laundromat so we would at least go home with clean clothes. When you have to move on every day it's not always possible to keep up with the laundry. We became very casual about wearing less than clean outer clothes and concentrated on keeping up to date with washing the underwear. My jeans and cargo pants were capable of walking on their own by the time they had a good wash.

In the afternoon we were able to spend time with Janet in Hillcrest. Unfortunately Matthew was learning for an exam on Saturday so he wasn't able to join us. I'm actually starting to get excited about going home tomorrow.

Thursday 8 July - Vaalwater to Pietermaritzburg

We left the BnB early and soon found ourselves on the N1. Freeways!!! I had almost forgotten such things exist.

In Port Elizabeth we have the Bridge Shopping Centre over Langenhoven Drive. Here they have a Steers restaurant over the freeway! We had our breakfast at this Petroport north of Pretoria. We sat in the restaurant and looked down on the freeway below us. Such fun and worlds away from some of the places we have visited further north.

We arrived in Pietermaritzburg in the early afternoon and enjoyed time with Nicholas and Linda. It's amazing how much he's grown and changed in just four weeks.

I can't believe we're back in SA. The time has just flown by. It wasn't so long ago that Gareth took a photo of us leaving their house on our way north. What a wonderful month. I'm so glad we took on this adventure.

Wednesday 7 July - Back in RSA

We left the Elephant Sands lodge determined to do our best to get back there one day. It really is a great place to unwind and have fun. There was a large crowd of people there traveling from RSA to Chobe. They were also over-nighting and a jolly time was had by all!! Of course there was the soccer match and the elephant came back to the swimming pool to have his last drink of the day. Some of us wondered if we'd had too much to drink when we saw him.... Great entertainment.

The journey south went well. One of the guys at the lodge told us about the Parr's Halt border post. We went for it and it really was a great border to go through for the last crossing - sort of restores one's faith in border employees. Clean, organised, no trucks, no hustlers.... We then drove to Vaalwater where once again we prayed we'd find something suitable before dark and here we are in a lovely warm comfortable CLEAN room for the night. I also have my phone connected via my own sim card and it's working as a modem and no worries. We decided not to camp tonight as it takes too long to pack up in the morning and we want to make an early start for our long day ahead.

I was thinking as we drove, "Would I do this again?" Most definitely. It's been an awesome adventure and it's opened my eyes to so many aspects of our continent. One of the really interesting things has been watching the trucking community. There are thousands of truckers moving around from country to country. If we thought we have problems at the border they have it much worse. They can sit at a border post for days waiting for their truck to be checked  by customs and to get everything in order. They are a strong community together and we've noticed how they support one another. Then of course they have some abominable roads to contend with - such as in Northern Zambia. It's amazing how helpful they are too. If one takes the trouble to watch and learn the signals they give to any motorist behind them overtaking is simple. I had no fears of overtaking one or two trucks at a time. They are a great bunch of people.

We live on a wonderful continent with such amazing people who survive against all odds at times. I am proud to be an African and this trip has given me a new insight into our neighbours. It's been an education of its own. I'm so glad we did it.

Tuesday 6 July - Livingstone to Elephant Sands

What an amazing day. Even at the end of our holiday things get better and better. We came through the border into Botswana without much of a problem.  The photo is of the ferry across the Zambezi River.  At Kazangulu on the Botswana side of the river we counted 63 big trucks waiting to get through customs. Some of those truckers wait there for days. What a life!

The road south was pretty good most of the way until we reached a place where there was some road re-construction. However, the detour was a better road than some that we've traveled on lately. We had decided to travel as far at Nata and overnight there. The Bradt guide gave us two options that appealed to us. The one, Elephant Sands Lodge is about 50 km before Nata and the other one is 10km south. We took a turn into Elephant Sands and the first thing we saw was an elephant slurping up the water in the swimming pool! This was definitely the place for us!!

We pitched our tent and went across to the lodge and met Bruce, the local microlight pilot who does flips over the pans in the area. We decided to treat ourselves to a flip for our anniversary. Mark went up first and he took the photos. When they came back it was my turn. I overcame my nervousness and thoroughly enjoyed my flight. How magnificent to get an aerial view of the bush, the pans and the animals. I saw literally hundreds of elephant. Wow! Also some buffalo, giraffe, impala and a warthog. But seeing the bush and the pans is an awesome sight. Each of us enjoyed a twenty minute flight and I must say I was relieved when we both landed safely.

As we were walking back to the lodge Mark said he heard a thump noise. We went across to the lodge and bought a beer each. A few minutes later a young guy came in and said, "I'm fine! we're both fine but the microlight isn't so good." What do you mean? The microlight just crash landed at the end of the runway!!! Oh my. What a shock but what a joy that no one was injured. Another miracle....

And here's a shot of the damage a few minutes after my flight. Eish!! I've always been a nervous flier. If this had happened while I was on it I would have died of heart attack!!!!

Monday 5 July - Monze to Livingstone

We managed to make an early start.Today is Heroes Day in Zambia and tomorrow is Unity Day.We had a clear run south on a great road with very little traffic - possibly because of the holiday. There was a marked absence of trucks on the road so we had none of the angst of overtaking the heavies. The road deteriorated on the last 80km before Livingstone but unlike in the north they are actually working on the roads so there is hope.

Livingstone is a pretty place with a colonial feel about it. Unfortunately because of the holiday we couldn't change dollars to Pula for our trip to Botswana tomorrow but we had a great visit to the Falls. It's my first ever visit and it is an awesome sight. I can't believe how much water flows over the edge. We walked onto the bridge and watched a young girl do a bungi jump. Awesome but I'm glad I'm "too old" for that sort of thing. :-)

There were hundreds of people at the Falls and we enjoyed the cosmopolitan atmosphere. It really was worth the visit.

We also managed to book into a lovely campsite about 2km from the Falls at a place called Maramba Lodge. It's part of a lodge and although it's a long walk to the ablution block we're sure to have a peaceful and secure night in our tent - although there is a sign near our site saying, "Beware of the hippos". I don't think I'll be venturing to the facilities after dark - there's lots of shrubs near our tent and I do have my little stool with the hole in it. That has been used a lot on those long trips.

Our holiday definitely has a "winding down" feel about it but we still have tomorrow night in Botswana and Wednesday night somewhere in SA before we arrive back at Nicholas' house. Wednesday is our 37th wedding anniversary so we'll have to celebrate with a great meal somewhere - no tuna and couscous that night! A trip like this - a whole month in a confined space together all day every day has reminded us that we have a good marriage and a great friendship (except when Mark is telling me how to drive or I am tired and grumpy). We can appreciate one another for who we are and we are both grateful for our marriage. Thank you Lord!

Sunday 4 July - Mpika to Monze

Another long day in the car.... We are getting accustomed to spending most of our lives in the Jeep now. We know where everything is and we can pack and unpack pretty quickly.

The road improved as we moved south and we arrived in Lusaka shortly after lunch. The Bradt guide told us about two different shopping malls. We chose Arcades and what a pleasant surprise it was! It could be a mall in any suburb in South Africa. Best of all was the fact that it has a Super Spar - just like good old Knowles in Pinetown. We even knew where to find stuff because the layout is similar. We had a delicious sub for lunch and bought samoosas to eat for supper later. Best of all we found an ATM that accepted our cards and we were able to draw Zambian Kwacha and fill up with fuel.

Lusaka is a great city. It's fairly clean and well organised and the streets are very attractive with lots of trees.We had chosen to go to a campsite just north of Lusaka called Cane Break.We followed the road but must have missed the sign - or it has closed down since our Bradt guide was published in 2008. The sun was setting and we had no idea where to go - again! We said a prayer and looked at the Bradt guide again. I turned back a page and we discovered "the best camp site between Lusaka and Livingstone" was about 30km down the road. It's called The Moorings and it's on a beautiful farm. How did we miss that? The phone number didn't work but we drove in and had no trouble getting a place. Wow!

About an hour later two SA vehicles pulling trailers arrived. They are from Gauteng and had gone up to Serengeti in a group of ten vehicles. It sounds as if travelling in a big group has its problems and the group had split up. These two families were heading home via Botswana. They had heard so many stories of corruption at the Zimbabwe border that the decided to take the Bot route. Our own hassles with the Zim border police at Nyamapanda convinced us that we should do the same. Neither of us has been to Botswana and it had been part of our original plan. Mark did some research and discovered that in fact there was only 10km difference between two alternate routes so we're going to go for it.

Tomorrow it's off to Livingstone and then to the ferry across the Zambezi into Botswana on Tuesday. Zambia didn't get off to a great start with us but the roads in the south of the country are a great improvement and we enjoyed our second day.

Saturday 3 July - Mbeya to Mpika

After a wonderful night's sleep we set out for the border with Tanzania. The minute we pulled into the queue the hustling started. Mark managed to find a reliable guy to show him through the ropes. As I've said before every border is different. This time one had to move from one area to another in a haphazard fashion. After we'd cleared immigration and customs I sat in the car whilst Mark went to pay Third Party, road tax, carbon tax and various other amounts. When he  went to pay the road tax the guy asked for $30. After Mark received his receipt he saw it was for $20! Another rip off.


Whilst I was waiting in the car I was approached by a guy who asked what part of the Eastern Cape we are from. He is a Kenyan running his own business in Umtata for the last 10 years. He was a passenger on a bus waiting to be cleared through customs. We stood at the side of the road and had a wonderful discussion about the state of the continent. We were joined by a mother and son from Dar who were also catching the bus. We had fun speaking Zulu and Xhosa and generally chatting.

After 2 hours Mark finally returned and we were able to get going. We really didn't know what to expect and in fact we had to travel over 500km before we came to a town where we could draw some money and start looking for accommodation. The road was a total nightmare - worse than anything we've seen before. The potholes were craters!!! We saw at least two overturned trucks. Well, the 3 ATM's didn't accept Master Card and we couldn't find anyone to change our dollars. Pray! It was getting late when Mark opened the Bradt guide again and read about a compound just 2km down a side road. It used to be a village for people working on the TanZam highway but now it is used to house government officials and NGO's. We went over there and found a comfortable rondavel for $30.  Whew! Thank you again Lord. We met some great people there and had a good rest.

Friday 2 July - Iringa to Mbeya

Our last night in Tanzania tonight. Quite sad really but we still have Zambia and the Vic Falls to look forward to.

We went back to Iringa from our campsite - two hours on a mostly corrugated road. The villages we passed through were remote from "civilization". It takes two hours to get to Iringa but the Park was well worth the visit.

In Iringa we visited the information centre and book store for a late breakfast and some internet time. Whilst we were there three young USA girls came in and told us they are there for three weeks on an adventure mission. WE were able to give them some of our remaining Bibles to give out at their mission. Our load is definitely getting lighter. 

We had a happy trip from Iringa. I did most of the driving to give Mark a break after the rough roads yesterday. All was going well until we had a "puncha" (the Tanzanian version of puncture). My wonderful husband changed it quickly and we were on the road again. Apart from the tension over the tyre situation we did a lot of teasing about who has the most traffic fines. I am very careful not to get another fine because at the moment the score is 2 all. Mark is hoping I'll get one more so he can gloat.

We checked out our Bradt guide and decided to phone ahead to a guest house in Mbeya for the night. Setting up the tent and taking it down in the morning takes a while and tomorrow we have a border to cross so we decided to take the easy route and go to a guest house. We have passed many guest houses all the way along the Tanzam highway and many of them are right on the road. One has visions of sleeping in a hot room with big trucks roaring past all night - and believe me there are MANY trucks on the road. We arrived in Mbeya at rush hour and my heart sank. Surely this place won't be on that busy road. Well we got hopelessly lost and ended up on the far side of town without seeing any of our landmarks. We stopped at a garage and one of these wonderful, kind and helpful Tanzanians offered to drive ahead of us and show us the way. We went all the way back and took a side road and then another left and we landed up at Peace Guest House. What a wonderful surprise to find such a beautiful guest house in this busy town. It has a very high standard at only R300 bed and breakfast for both of us. TV, Aircon, fridge, shower and loo en suite.... Wow! Sheer luxury.

So here we are. We've just watched Netherlands knock Brazil out of the running. Mark is fixing the "puncha" outside and we can look forward to a peaceful night's sleep after a long and busy day.  We're starting to look south towards home but we're still enjoying our travels. I think that a trip like this when we spend most of our time together in the car is a real test of our relationship. So far we're holding up...

Tomorrow it's the Zambian border. We pray there won't be any corrupt border police there.

Thursday 1 July - Ruaha National Park

The camp we stayed at overnight is actually outside the park. We had another 30 km to travel to the gate - some of it on very corrugated roads.

The Park is truly beautiful. The Ruaha River runs through it and along the river it is lush and green. The area is teeming with wildlife. We could easily see crocodiles, hippo, nyala, impala, giraffe and so many birds. It was like the Garden of Eden. Mark especially enjoyed seeing birds we don't see further south, like a touraco that he was delighted to spot. The hippos were especially amusing as they peeped at us from the water or lay around like great mounds of blubber. The zebra and giraffe have different markings to the ones we are used to. I couldn't resist this rear end shot of a zeb. Excuse my butt!

We had not seen any lion so we decided to take a road away from the river. It took us into very dry bushveld and the road began to deteriorate. We saw very little game in the area and as the road became worse we began to feel very isolated. There was no cell contact in the area, the road was in a shocking state and we realised that if we were to break down there it may be a couple of days before anyone found us. It was a very tense hour or so and we made our way back to the main river road. We think that every visitor entering Ruaha without a trained guide should be given a two way radio or a chip of some sort so that they can be tracked.

When we rejoined the main road with great relief we went to a view site where we had a lovely view of the animals below and then Mark said, "We have to see lions!" A few minutes later we were driving along a road and he shouted, "There's a lion! It was down at the river bank and we couldn't get any closer but we watched for a couple of minutes. Then Mark looked to his right and there was another lioness about 40m away watching him! We drove up to another point hoping to get a clearer view but it didn't work so we returned to where we had first seen them. Within a short while we saw eight lions making their way down to the river and crossing at a shallow ford. Then we realised they were sneaking up on a couple of warthog grazing on the opposite bank. The lions were very organised and spread themselves out so that the prey could be cut off if he decided to run in either direction. Suddenly they sprang into action. The two warthogs ran in different directions and the lions pursued just one of them. They disappeared behind some bushes but we heard the poor little warthog squealing like a stuck pig (!) as the lions closed in for the kill. How tragic, but what a thrill to have witnessed this. It was certainly worth the trip to Ruaha along some very rough roads.

Our Bradt guide had said the camping was very basic with one long drop loo and no water - bring your own - and that's why we had chosen to camp at the private camp outside the Park. However, when we saw the camp on the banks of the river we were quite sorry we hadn't decided to live dangerously. One doesn't have to move, just pull up a chair outside the tent and have an uninterrupted view of the game on the river. Well, maybe next time. We did see one couple from Gauteng in the campsite and they had one of those well-equipped off road trailers with all the necessities of life - even a solar panel! What luxury!

And so back to our campsite for one more night and then south west tomorrow as we make for the Zambian border.

We have been very impressed by the Tanzanian people. They are friendly, helpful and very welcoming. Most of the 40 million people are poor by our standards but they are extremely enterprising. The campsite we stayed in is a great example. The family have built up a well run facility with a couple of sites for tents but quite a number of clean, comfortable chalets/ dormitories and they can cater for big groups. They have a dining room and a pub. I admire their entrepreneurship. Generally people are getting on with making a living any way they can. The nation has a wonderful unity. Apparently President Nyerere did away with tribal leaders and concentrated on uniting all Tanzanians as a nation. Fifty years down the track it appears to have worked. Well done, Tanzanians. Oh and one other comment: There is no such thing as an obese Tanzanian (or Malawian). There are no big chain store supermarkets selling junk food or processed stuff. People eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and of course meat. They are hard working, healthy and they mostly use bicycles for transport. There are mini bus taxis but they are much better drivers than ours in SA.

Yes, Tanzania has been a great experience. Well worth the visit.