January 2007... Week 1

Week 1

Nairobi Kenya & Marangu Tanzania

New Years Eve, Nairobi and we had been invited to a party. The hosts Rangie an ex overland truck driver and Anna-Mecke his partner were having a party at their new house not far from Indaba.

Rangie, a Kiwi whose every other word is a an expletive, had driven overland trucks in the 80s and had even ran Indaba for a while but now he made a good living importing spare parts for Skania trucks in Kenya.

The house was some way off being finished so thankfully the rain was holding off for the night and with the drink and food in plentiful supply the party was in full swing when we got there.

The inside being still a shell a fire had been lit outside and plenty of people were stood around it drinking. Henie had brought some fireworks he had found in town called Osama's Revenge each with portrait of Osama Bin Laden on the wrapper, only in Africa!

They were what we used to call bangers in Liverpool and these really went off with a bang, how safe they were was very much another story though. All was well until Thiemo another old overland truck driver started flinging them into the fire scattering all and sundry, then they nearly lived up to their name!

We left Rangie's at 3am, by then the joints were out so it was a bit like old times but it was also time for bed, we would be off to Marangu in Tanzania tomorrow on the first leg of our journey back to Malawi so we needed to spend the rest of New Years Day fuelling up and getting our fresh meat and last minute provisions.

On the 2nd we packed up Rupert and said our goodbyes to everyone at Indaba. We would be back in September but Henie & Lausanne were leaving in the spring to settle back in South Africa and David & Leticia would soon be going back to New Zealand so it was a final farewell. 

By 1.30pm we were back at the Namanga border post and once again things went less than smoothly. This time it was the Tanzanians turn as they hit us for $100 for another set of entry visa's. Our existing visa's still had a month to run but the immigration officials insisted they were no longer valid as we had left the country twice in the last two months which effectively invalidated them (see the notes on Visa's under preparation).

Finally at 5pm we reached Moshi and less than an hour later we were pulling into the Marangu Hotel, tired but happy to be there  and looking forward to seeing Fionnuala and co, party on again.

In November we had really enjoyed our stay at Marangu with it's stunning views of Kilimanjaro and lovely gardens. Being high the air was very fresh and clear plus everyone had been so kind and friendly, especially Fionnuala, one of the owners, who had even loaned us her smart card for the Kenyan national parks loaded with hundreds of US dollars, now it was time to give it back. 

Kili was covered by cloud when we arrived but as we took our bags to our room the clouds parted for just a moment to reveal a heavily snow cladded peak, much more snow than when we here in November.

We were told that the snow on the top was waist deep and recently climbers had been unable to reach the summit due to the abnormal bad weather conditions that had plagued us in the Serengeti. They still got their certificate for climbing the mountain but this must have still been a great disappointment as most had travelled thousands of miles and spent a great deal of money to make the climb.

Before going into dinner we popped into the bar to meet up with Fionnuala for a quick drink and to give her back the smart card.  We had been amazed back in November that she had trusted us, virtual strangers, to bring it back with the three hundred US dollars and the thousand Kenyan shillings still on it, a lovely lady. 

She was with a friend who was over from Zimbabwe for a holiday but was very pleased to see us and it was all we could do to break off to go eat before they closed the restaurant.

After dinner we went back to the bar, by now it was buzzing with tourists who had either just come down off the mountain and were still high on the adrenalin rush or who had just arrived and were waiting nervously to go up, maybe taking a last chance to get up some Dutch courage. 

Also there was Trudi and Roger, Trudi had come to Lake Chala in November with us and Fionnuala and we like her and Roger very much. Trudi is a Tanzanian born in the area and Roger is a Swiss who came to Tanzania after a bad car accident in Switzerland years ago.

Around 1am fatigue finally set in and we headed off to bed, we had planned to carry on Southwards through Tanzania the next day but Fee had persuaded us to stay another night with the kind offer of a complimentary room, she must have thought we looked like we needed a rest after the trials of the Mara and the Serengeti and she was right!    

However, two days later we had no choice but to leave Marangu, time was getting on and we had a long way to go before reaching Lake Malawi where we would need a good week to clean and pack up Rupert before flying out. 

Our next stop was Iringa the hill town in the South, in pure driving terms this is one of the longest legs we do in Africa,  driving almost the whole length of Tanzania in a day, 550 miles mostly on roads which would be classed as B roads in the UK.

In places it is a very pretty drive as you climb steeply through the mountains but it is also very tiring and there is virtually nowhere to stop or get fuel once you leave Marangu until you reach Morogoro 350 miles away. On the way you dodge trucks, donkeys, goats, chickens, walkers and cyclists, an 11 hour non stop drive which taxes both car and driver.

The day started with torrential rain yet again, bad enough for us with the long drive ahead but even worse for the poor sods who we due to start their ascent of Kili today. As we were saying our goodbye's to Fionnuala, Desmond one of her brothers and a co-owner was rushing about organising the multitude of porters and the guides who ensure the tourists get up and down the  mountain in one piece.

Marangu a large village about 30 km or so West of Moshi is steeped in Kilimanjaro history and Fionnuala's family have been involved in organising climbs from the hotel for 60 years or so. A large number of families in the area rely on their husbands and sons income as porters and guides so of course the competition to be included in any climb is fierce.

Each morning they hang around the entrance hoping to be picked as the list of names are pinned up for who will go on the next climb, there is no dole in Tanzania so this is very important stuff but it all seems to work well and fairly.  

Despite the weather the journey went well and by 3.30pm we had reached Morogoro, we had been driving solidly for six and half hours but still had 300kms to go and this is the worst bit as we joined the main highway to and from Dar es Salaam. Here the traffic increases tenfold as first you traverse the Mikumi National Park then climb slowly through the mountains on a narrow road that twists and turns with sheer drops on one side.

Up to now we had seen a Monitor Lizard, a Black Mamba and a Chameleon cross the road in front of us, stopping to pick up the Chameleon to save him from being run over. We would be mad to go near the Mamba but they move like lightning anyway so they are usually safe, the Chameleon however takes forever to cross so often gets nailed so we always stop and pick them up if we see them, the Africans on the other hand are afraid of them believing they bring bad luck so leave them to their fate.

At 7.35pm, ten and a half hours after leaving Marangu we reached Riverside Camp just outside Iringa, by now it was pitch black and pouring with rain, Africa certainly wasn't letting us have an easy end to the trip.

Riverside is owned and run by Will, a white Tanzanian and Amanda, a Scouser. It had been a while since we had passed through here on our way North, then Will had been very friendly and helpful but now he seemed quite grumpy, we put it down to mood swings, it would be another year before we found out the real reason.

On our first visit we had stayed in a chalet, the price differential between that and camping was so small it was a no brainer. This time all the chalets were taken so we stayed in one of the tented Banda's. Basically a permanent tent set under a thatched roof, with mains power and a small kitchen area it worked well as a substitute and at $US15 was slightly cheaper to boot.

Next day knackered after the long drive we decided to stay another night at Riverside which would allow us to go into Iringa to check emails, do the website and refuel for the onward journey to Mbeya.

It is 300 miles from Iringa to Mbeya give or take, all on good tar road, the journey was uneventful save for being flagged down at a police roadblock where we were asked where we were going, where we had been and did we have a gift?

It took just four and a half hours to reach Mbeya, by African standards just a skip and a hop. Unsurprisingly it was cloudy and raining heavily when we got there so we just hoped we would not have to camp.

Our stop here would be Utengule a country house hotel in the hills about 10 miles to the West of Mbeya. We had stayed here twice before, once after coming up from Malawi and then after going to Katavi NP. We had befriended Francis the manager and his wife Fionnuala, but that had been in October, three months ago, now as we hadn't been able to contact them we didn't know if they were still there and what sort of reception we would receive.

We needn't have worried, Francis met us like old friends, keen to hear what we had been up to in the last three months. Even better we got our favourite cottage number five, only thing was they had taken away the fridge but we easily got round that by hooking up the mains to our fridges in Rupert so we were set.

When we hit Mbeya we always stay a few nights as it's the best place to get Rupert checked over and any jobs done before moving on so it's important we have a nice place to relax in after a day in the garage. Utengule is that place, situated on a coffee plantation high in the hills to the west of the town it is peaceful, has a nice pool and a good restaurant.

We tend to mostly cook for ourselves in the cottage as this is away from the main hotel and very private although we always have at least one dinner at the hotel with Francis and Fionnuala. 

This first night as we sat on the stoop with our G&T's watching the sun go down, a storm was gathering over the hills to the west, the direction towards Lake Tanganyika and Katavi.  We had last looked out on that same view three months ago not realising then how tough our journey to Katavi would be, at least on this visit we had a far easier journey ahead of us or so we hoped.

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