Dar Es Salaam to Tanga:
We're going to head up the coast today and stay at Tanga.
That should get us within half a day of the Kenya border so we can cross
tomorrow or the next day, depending on what we find along the way. We should
cross at the Lunga Lunga crossing so I hope Lunga Lunga doesn't turn into Linga
Longa , as can happen in Africa.
The Heritage hotel here in Dar Es Salaam is very comfortable and we both
had a good nights sleep. Having free internet in the room was a real bonus so
it allowed us to catch up with emails and update the blog from the comfort of
the room, as opposed to an internet cafe. It was a bit slow though, so more
pictures will come later.
We're due to arrive in Nanyuki, on the equator, in one week’s
time. Now we just have to deal with the rest of the road blocks between here
& Kenya
and apparently the police are everywhere (according to the guide books), with
their hairdryers (speed cameras) slung around their neck. It's an easy way for
them to make money.
We'll be back in touch when we can, hopefully no poorer from
any fines.
Thursday
Update: We
headed along the coastline to Bagamoyo, a distance of approximately 60 kms. It
took quite some time but we felt we were OK as it wasn’t going to be a very
long journey today, maybe 5 hours in total. The traffic was crazy again;
typical of a large city in Africa, and it was
very slow going. As we got close to Bagamoyo we went to visit a crocodile farm.
It really wasn’t very nice and we discovered they farm the crocodiles for their
skins. Well, I guess it wouldn’t be for pets! They showed us one croc, mid
size, and said it was worth $500. It seemed a small amount for such an amazing
creature. They had crocs there ranging from a few months old to 45 years. The
different sizes were kept together and the attendant was quite happy to jump
into the tanks containing the very young to a few years old. I noticed he
stopped when he got to the bigger tanks though and just threw in a rock to get
their attention. John held a couple of small crocs for a photo call.
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| From Dust and Diesel |
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| From Dust and Diesel Overland Trip Part 1 |
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| From Dust and Diesel Overland Trip Part 1 |
Unfortunately,
due to a slight nick on one of my fingers, I felt it best not to hold one.
Well, that’s my story anyway. Yuk, no way!
After
that slight detour, we headed in to Bagamoyo, a sleepy coastal town and
according to the guidebook, ‘Cape to Cairo’
not a very friendly one either. We didn’t stop. At that point, it looked like
the coastal road ran out so we had to head inland to the A14, a distance of 60
kms.
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| From Dust and Diesel Overland Trip Part 1 |
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Now though, we found ourselves on
the most awful road and it lasted the full distance to the tar, 60 kms away. It
was a dirt road and the book advised not to take it if it had recently rained.
It had, and there were deep puddles in places but it was a straight line to
where we wanted to go. It had huge potholes. Well it’s probably not right to
call them potholes because the road just disappeared into holes, at various
angles for mile after mile. It was one of the roughest roads we’ve been on and
by the time we reached the tar, we had been given a good shaking, not to
mention the slipping & sliding.
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Poor old dusty has been
subjected to nothing short of torture on this trip; sand, gravel, swamp, holes,
corrugated. You name it & dusty went there, valiantly. So, the 5 hour
journey was now looking more like 7 or 8 hours, again! And a few truck wrecks of
course!
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| From Dust and Diesel |
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Although
we’d set out for Tanga, we didn’t go there. Now, that’s hardly a surprise to
those who’ve been following us closely. We decided that Pangani, a small
coastal town, 35kms south of Tanga, looked worthy of yet another diversion. It
meant that we got to a point where we had a 30km sign for Tanga & a 45 km
sign for Pangani & said, "lets do it". The light was going again
so it was pedal to the metal. That didn’t last long because now we were on a
road that was part gravel, part corrugated and part red dirt, at various stages
of the 45kms. It also passed through village after village and it was a heavily
populated road so we were back to 30-40 kms per hour.
We
arrived in Pangani in the dark and the one thing we’ve found is that trying to
find someplace to stay when it’s dark, is not easy. You have no real bearings
and everyone was constantly flashing us because they felt our dipped lights
were too bright. I guess Dusty is sitting low at the rear so we will have to
adjust the lights again.
We
went to the Safari Lodge in town & asked the owner if he had a room. He
looked shocked at this request, clearly the first in some time and went off to
look for a key. I don’t actually believe he even knew where they were. This
didn’t bode well & as we were walking down the corridor, we saw cockroaches
running around. The room was basic, really basic, & we’d already decided
the place wasn’t for us. Also, it was already occupied, by more cockroaches. So
much for the Safari Lodge, a grand name, but little else.
We
drove out of town a bit & came to another grand sounding name, ‘something’
Beach Resort. In we went, lights blazing, & almost caused heart failure for
the owners who were sitting on the verandah, in the dark. Do you have any
rooms? Yes! Can we see them? Yes! Oh, a slight improvement on the Safari Lodge
but triple the price. Hmmm, don’t think so. When I mentioned the price at the
Safari Lodge she told me that her dad owned it. Ah hah, a monopoly is operating
in this town. Time to move on!
There
was a place called Peponi Beach lodge that was recommended in the Cape to Cairo book, it was 15 kms
away on a corrugated road and that was going to be a bit of torture drive,
especially in the dark. Fortunately, there was no housing at all on this
stretch of road so I adopted the corrugated style of driving, at 80-100
kms an hour with all lights on, throwing dust and dirt in all directions and
the Old Man Emu shock absorbers probably screaming in agony. We got there in
record time & wondered what awaited us. It also looked in darkness as we
drove down the track to it but a good sign was the security guard at the
gate. There must be someone home.
We
parked up, no sign of any other vehicles but right now, no matter what it was
like, we were going to stay. It also had camping so we could pitch and then
cook for ourselves, if the worst came to the worst. Well, lo & behold,
there must have been about 12 people in the restaurant. We’d only been there
about 10 seconds at this stage but the first words out of my mouth after hello,
was 2 beers please. Denys, the owner, arrived just after we ordered the beer
and he could give us 2 bandas, a chalet style hut. He wanted us to see them, a
good sign, & told us to order dinner first as the kitchen was about to
close.
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It
was getting late, already 8.30. We were delighted with the rooms, and the
price. We went back to get Dusty & park it near our rooms. This was where
all the vehicles were. We’d ordered 2 pepper steaks and he said they’d take a
while, but as long as the beer was cold and food was on its way, we were happy.
Our bandas were right by the beach as well.
Finally,
watered and fed, we fell into our respective bandas, not from over imbibing I
hasten to add, just tiredness. Big bed, ceiling fan on & oodles of space,
led to a great nights sleep. Oh, and not a traffic cop in sight all day.
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