Tanzania to Tiwi, Kenya.

Saturday 14^th March

Tanzania to Kenya: 


 Departed Peponi Beach at 1020 am for the journey to Lunga Lunga (Border post), via Tanga. Had a drive around Tanga for 10 minutes & then carried on our way. 

Have to tell you that the picture above is actually a guy on a bicycle. Aaah, Africa.

Bicycles everywhere.

Just outside town, we got stopped by a cop. John has had stomach cramps for the last two days so he’s excused driving. We’ve both eaten the same things pretty much so I can only put it down to his choice of beer. I have Tusker, he has Kilimanjaro. Now though, I think he’ll change. Anyway, back to the cop, a smiling, toothless, not so charming man, thinking to himself, maybe I can make some money here! Wrong!! Drivers licence, insurance certificate, the first showing of the dodgy Comesa insurance card, fire extinguisher, warning triangles, all shown, and at this point I said to him that whatever he needed to see, we had it. With a joking smile of course! 

We were let on our way. We had 65 kms to the border & this was always a questionable road, as in, did it really exist. Well, it does, to an extent. It’s also very bad and Dusty was again thrown into the pit for almost 2 hours. It had razor sharp looking rocks jutting out at all angles, & holes, mud, you name it. We arrived at the border at about 1.30pm and quickly passed through the Tanzanian formalities. 

As we left their post I wondered where the Kenyan one was and it didn’t appear for at least 5 kms, maybe more. Had the usual hustlers trying to sell us dodgy US$ or Kenyan shillings. Went to the immigration officer, got our passports stamped. We handed over $50 each for our single entry visa. I like that term, ‘single entry’. It spells money for the government. My last Kenyan visa is still valid until April but because I’ve left Kenya, I need to pay another $50, to get back in.

Next, I went to the police desk where he wrote all the vehicle details in his book, and my passport details too. Then went to customs where I handed over the carnet and it took this man at least 30 minutes to fill out a simple box. Each letter seemed to take an age, eyes squinting, definitely a candidate for specsavers if ever I saw one. During that time, a pack of 6 large bottles of mineral water was delivered to the customs office and placed on the floor. No, said my man, eyesight improving rapidly, put it behind the door! He’s obviously not going to share that with anyone. 

I’m still waiting. Deep down I know I’m going to be hit for more money for something. Sure enough, the question was asked, what is your engine size? I was tempted to say 800cc but somehow I didn’t think I’d get away with that on a Land Rover, although there are times it really feels like it. So, I came clean to an extent, but reduced it to 2.4, a most unusual sized Rover engine, 100ccs less. I just had to do it for devilment. That’ll be $100 please for 3 months. Please pay at the cashier next door and come back here afterwards. So, off to the cashier, who gave me a tax disc style receipt, with the expiry date of the 11^th June. 

Hey, why can’t I have the 14^th.  It’s the 14^th today. No, it’s 30 day periods, not calendar months, he informs me. But I need the 14^th of June because that is when I plan to leave Kenya next, not the 11^th. Can’t we fix it?? Well, he said, perhaps it can just be an obvious error and he took it back and turned the 11^th into the 14^th. 

It saved me having to look for a blue pen to do the exact same thing, later. Now, here was a man worthy of a gift but I didn’t have anything to hand, so he was out of luck. We park the vehicle as far away as possible from customs posts, that way they are less likely to walk over and have a look.

The whole process took about 90 minutes & we set off for Tiwi Beach, about 10 kms south of Mombasa. This was only a 1 hour journey and we already had a place in mind, courtesy of two campers we met at Peponi Beach. This place is called Twiga Lodge & campsite so we elected to take a room each, directly overlooking the most beautiful beach. 

The setting is fantastic, the room just OK, although John cannot lock his door from the inside. What? You want to be able to lock both sides! 



Now, we’ve actually completed the coast to coast part of this trip & packed in 7610 kms of driving. Tomorrow, it’ll be 4 weeks to the day that we left Somerset West. And some people wonder why I don’t read more on this journey!!!  A chance would be a fine thing. If I’m not driving, I might be napping, mapping, plotting, blogging, or just plain soaking up the scenery, which is my favourite.

We had a couple of beers and a snack at the beach bar when we arrived. John is still suffering from stomach cramps. Then we had a 1 hour nap in our rooms and after that, drove to Diani beach, about 6kms south of here, for dinner. Found a lovely Italian restaurant &  we had pizza & pasta. Now, I’m updating the blog and about ready for bed.