Tanzania Part I (by/por J)

The entrance into Tanzania was through the new bridge. Customs was easy and we headed into Lindi and forgot for the next month about 3rd party insurance for the car. In Lindi, we had a standard fish/chicken late lunch and failed to get a room in the place we wanted due to Miss Lindi competition. We also failed to get a room or campsite in many other places and finally camped on the parking lot of an iffy hotel. Next morning we had our first Chiapati, which is something indian, similar to a wheat  Masokoa, arrived late, set up camp  and started cleaning the mess of our new companion, Tino. A mouse that managed to get into the back of our truck in the other sub-standard place we stayed at before leaving Mozambique. The name Tino is the short form of Clandestino, as we did not declared him in immigration. Our first night in Kilwa Masoko ended with a dinner with a Dutch couple we met in the camp: Inge and Evo. We had an interesting long conversation accompanied by good drinks. Next morning we headed towards Selous to try and pass a mud bottleneck 100 km north. We failed and had to come back to the same camp to find not only the dutch but the Swiss family (Fancisca, Peter and the girls Hanna, Leoni and Malu). This time he dinner was livelier with a few more drinks. It was very interesting t hear, compare and learn from other ways of travel. The next morning the 3 families took  dhow and headed to an island in-front of Kilwa Kisiwani. One of these islands that part of the Omani Sultanate with Portuguese taking over later. Mosques, churches, and palaces from different centuries were all there. The following day we said our goodbyes to the dutch and headed north to Selous following the swiss until the detour. The bottleneck was gone. Arriving to Selous was no big deal road wise. We camped outside in a small place in front of the river. Changed a flat, had a sundowner and dinner. The sounds during the night and the following morning were beautiful, the best ones of the trip so far and probably the best ones to come. The Selous Game Reserve felt big probably due to the lack of tourism. We drove for the whole day and sw probably 3 or 4 other cars. We had a siesta in front of  hippo lake and pushed the 4x4 to the limits in non-existing road sections. We left the reserve a bit later than planned due to the decreasing road conditions. We were lucky enough to find the guy in charge of  new place 20 km outside the north gate and stayed there. It was in the top of a hill with serious night climbing on low speed 4x4. The views next morning were amazing and we started heading to Dar es Salam. The road form he park and to the main tar road was the worst in the whole trip. The views were nice though. We made it to DAR a few hours before sunset, had dinner in an ethiopian place and next morning headed out to Zanzibar on the ferry. We decided to stay in stone town which is a melting pot of cultures. The hotel we chose used to be the house were slaves were freed and our room with windows with no glass at the top was flanked by a mosque, a hindi temple and a church, therefore the early mornings on the sunday we woke up there were far from quiet, but very religious. With our faith renovated, we rented a vespa and headed to the beach. Avoiding getting run over by the dala-dala’s was our adrenaline rush for the month.  The beach (Pangwe) was very nice and very alone. We enjoyed that. We came back, did some haggling with the sellers and had dinner sitting in the floor and listening to typical Zanzibari music. Our time there was short and we headed back to Dar next morning. Our next stop was Peponi, in which we got stuck on a ditch in rain and sticky mud. We arrived at night due to n accident on the road outside Dar. Peponi was rainy but beautiful. We did some brais (BBQ’s) and did some maintenance on the truck and found out that our companion Tino had been quite hungry in Dar when we left the car parked for a few days and had to resort to eating our halls pills which maybe left not only his throat smooth and numb, but maybe the whole of his tiny body. Tino decided to leave this mode of transport and abandoned ship in northern tanzania or probbly in Rwanda. Bck to our trip, we headed a few days later towards the Serengeti. On the way there we found the Dutch and ended up watching the 1st Mexico game, dinning and camping with them. We also met  a couple from South Africa (Mike and Tracy) and had more than one drink with them We got some advice as to how and were to ‘do’ the following parks, so we headed to a place just outside Ngorongoro to spend the night there and ‘attack’ the park the following morning. Ngorongoro is one of the biggest calderas (collapsed volcano) in the world. In this part of the world, it means an interesting mix of vistas and high concentrations of animals. To reach it, one first needs to drive up the rim through thick fog with the occasional buffalo crossing with not much notice and then down into the crater. As one descends from the clouds the appreciation of the whole crater with its features becomes clear. After a half day driving around the crater and watching the fauna we headed to Serengeti NP to camp in the middle of the park. Campsites in Tanzania are non-gated, therefore very close encounters with animals are usual.  We only heard the lions and hyenas close by during the night. Serengetis vast plains dotted with granite kopjes (little rock islands) is a contrast to previous parks we had been into. It resembles the Namib desert, however with plenty animals on the move for food. We had two unexpected encounters with elephants and cheetahs. We saw the sunrise with a vast plain with giraffes, hyenas and jackals on the plains and we drove in different parts of the park until arriving to the wildebeest and zebra migration that takes place in the grumeti river before heading into the Masai in Kenya. We exited the Serengeti and headed to Lake Victoria rounding it from the bottom and crossing an inlet of water using a ferry and drove towards Biharamulo were we camped in an old german fort and shared stories, gin&tonics, music and movies with the Mr.&Mrs. Smith (british though). James and Pols (he ex-UK army she ex intellience) were heading in the opposite direction as we were so we exchanged as well tips. Next day we went into Rwanda via the Rusumu falls.

Mozambique (Por/by J)

Mozambique. Ah Mozambique. Comenzamos desde el sur sur en Punta de Oro y recorrimos hasta el norte en la Isla de Ibo. Y que playas! Y que gente! Lo difuso del turismo en este alargado pais permitio una apreciacion de la naturaleza aun mejor. Cruzamos la frontera de Sudfrica a Mozambique y de pavimento a arena profunda. Unos 15 o 20 km despues llegamos. Estar en un lugar de habla portguesa fue familiar. En nuestra primer parada nadamos con delfines y no hicimos mucho mas que descansar. Luego a Maputo. El camino agreste. La ciudad OK. El nombre antes de la indepencdencia: Lorenzo Mrques o LM. De costa y con malecon. Congestionada. Mozambique tiene poco mas de 900 mil km2. En algun momento durante los 90’s fue uno de los 3 paises mas pobres del mundo. Tambien es un pais que en algun momento encabezaba l lista de recepcion de ayuda de gobiernos exteriores y de ONGs. Paises Nordicos y EEUU principalmente. Hay una mezcla de indios, arabes,  portugueses y por supuesto Negros y mezclas varias.

Seguimos nuestro camino [pr la costa a Barra/Tofo. Acampamos en el Faro. Denis cocina camarones y pescados al carbon muy buenos. El sonido del mar durante la noche fuerte. Las estrellas sin luna espectaculares. Saliendo de Barra via Inhambane con destino a Vilanculos, conocimos unos sudfricanos que tienen un programa en l tele de pesca y nos recomendaron ir a Pomene. Seguimos el consejo de otros vijeros como muy regularmente uno hace en este tipo de viajes. Despues de 250km de pabimento, terraceria y arena y unas vistas espectaculares con el sol poniendose, llegamos. No se veia nada pues era ya noche. No se vei mucho. Montmos la tienda de piso en la arena y al Bar. Primera Cuba Libre del viaje para mi y tipotinto/Sprite para Analaura. Al dia siguiente al despertarnos vimos donde estabamos. Al frente, playa perfecta de 6 o 7 km de largo. Detras un estuario de agua semidulce. En est larga playa experimentamos correr con los ojos cerrados. Padre. Hicimos moto, kayak y extendimos nuestra parada algunos dias como tambien uno suele hacer. Flexibilidad! Nos alejamos de la costa via Inhassoro hacia el parque nacional de Gorongosa. Dentro, unas vistas espectaculares, sin embrgo no muchos animales. Razon: Guerra entre partidos de derecha e izquierda. Los unos se acuartelaron en el parque, y los otros los bombardeaba a ellos y a los animales. Los unos mataban animales para comer o para vender y comprar armas y asi sigue la historia. Elefantes antes: mas de 1500. Despues, menos de 10. Zebras: de +10 mil a menos de 10! (si DIEZ) Hienas: de 500+ a ZERO. Aqui no solo es culpa de los militares embriagados de poder, sino de la manera en que los Portugueses se fueron y lo que hicieron para preparar, y bueno, tambien de como los portugueses llegaron, pero eso es siglos atras.  Muy esperanzador es ver lo que agencias actuales mozambicanas con ayuda de un estadounidense (Greg Carr) estan haciendo para reconstruir este pedazo de planeta tierra y su habiat. Ver www.gorongosa.net. Tambien aqui en Gorongosa conocimos a 3 parejas de sudafricanos que nos invitarn a cenar 2 noches seguidas. Tambien conocimos a Nicholas, reportero frances viajando de NY a NY via sud-america, africa y asia. Compartimos historias, preguntas, comida, chiles y cognacs. De ahi seguimos a una zona de montanas: Gurue. Plantaciones de te espectaulares. Por error acabamos en una fabrica de te y el indio encargado nos dio un tourcito bastante informativo. Ya sabemos que la diferencia entre elte verde y el negro radica en el proceso y no en las hojas utilizdas. El primero no se fermenta y el ultimo si. Tambien sabemos la definicion de cucharadita o tea spoon en ingles. Despues de Gurue fuimos de vuleta a la costa: Isla de Mozambique. Pequena de tamano pero con un gran concntracion de historia y culturas. Dos cosas que quedaron grabadas en mi cabeza son 1) el cento de acopio de esclavos y 2) el fuerte portugues. La primera de mucha relevancia en nuestro viaje por Africa del Este respecto al trafico de esclavos comenzando por los arabes y  continuado por los amigos eurpeos de aquellas epocas. Brutal en ambos casos. La segundo que sirvio para repeler ataques principlmente de parte de los holandeses. Fue efectivo. La historia de todo el sur y este de africa pudo haber sido muy distinta de no haber sido por este fuerte. De Ilhia fuimos a Pemba. Ya desde el sur, mas en el centro y mucho mas en en norte la influencia arabe es notable. En Pemba acampamos en un lugar con unos cambios de marea de notarse. Muchas risas, buena comida y nuevos amigos. Los amigos de Schlumberger, los suizos con todo e hijas, los canadienses de Zambia y los sudafricanos ‘optimistas blancos’ viajando en motocicletas chinas y durmiemdo en hamacas. No ibamos a salir de Mozambque sin pasar por una de las famosas islas de los archipielgos. Nos decidimos por las Quirimbas al norte y escogimos Isla de Ibo. Muy interesante, otra vez mezcla negra/arabe/portuguesa. Lugar muy especial. Un dia desayunamos en un banco de arena a la mitad del mar. Nosotos y una pareja de recien casados sudafricana en su luna de miel. Luna llena en la isla y caminar por sus callles y ruinas escuchando voces y risas de las persons y ninos que aprovechasn esta luz natural para socializar mas de lo normal, ya que no hay elecricidad en esta isla. Nuestros dias en mozambique llegban a su fin. Salimos por el puente nuevo  150 km dentro de la costa. Las peores carreteras hasta el momento fueron las del norte de mozambique, pero no sabiamos lo que nos esperaba ee Tanzania. Ahora ya eramos 3 en la camioneta...

Mozambique. Ah Mozambique. We started from the south south at Punta d’Ouro and went up to the north in Ibo Island. And the beaches! And the people! Tourist numbers in this elongated country allow for a better appreciation of the nature. We crossed the border with SOuth Africa nd went from tarmac to deep sand. 15-20 km later we arrive. Hearing portuguese felt familiar. On this first stop we swam with dolphins and did not much more than relax. Then off to Maputo. Rough road, OK city. Congested Before independence the name use to be Lourenco Marques or LM. Mozambique has a bit more than 900 thousand sq km. Sometime during the 90’s was amongst the poorest countries in the world. It s also a country that tops the lists of foreign aid, both from governments (mainly US and Nordic countries) and NGOs.  There is a mix of Indians, Arabs, Portuguese, Black and of course varied mixes.

We continued our way through the coast into Barra/Tofo. Camped in the lighthouse owned by Denis, a good cook with awesome BBQed seafood. The sound of the sea was loud. The stars on the sky bright with no moonlight. A few days later we left barra on our way to Vilanculos, but on a stopover in Inhambane we met these South Africans that run a fishing TV show. They mentioned very good things about a place called Pomene, and so we followed their recommendation as one sometimes does in this type of trips. After 250 km of tarmac, gravel and sand, and with spectacular sundown views we arrived. We could not see much as it was night already so we headed to the Bar. Me I had my first cuba libre of the trip and Analaura had her tipotinto/sprite. Next morning we realized were we had slept. To the front the perfect beach 6 or 7 km long and to the back an estuary. On this long beach we jogged  with closed eyes. Cool. We did quad bikes and Kayak and extended our stay a few days as one also does on this trips. We left the coast via Inhassoro and into Gorongosa national park. In it some spectacular views but few animals. Just after independence, the two main parties , left and right, fought for power. The one headquartered in the park while the other bombed them and the animals in it. The one killed animals for food and money for weapons and so the story goes. Elephants before: 1500+, after less than 10; Zebras: from 10,000+ to less than 10 (TEN). Hienas: from 1500+ to ZERO, NONE, CAPUT.  Not only the military, crazy for power,  is to blame. The way the Portuguese left and the due diligence or lack of for power transfer can explain a bit. Also the way of how they [Portuguese] arrived might throw some clues, but that was long time ago. It is nevertheless a uplifting what some Mozambican agencies with help of Philantropist from the US (Greg Carr) are doing to reconstruct this piece of planet earth and its habitat. Look at www.gorongosa.net. Here in Gorongosa we also met 3 SOuth African couples that invited us for dinner two nights in a row. We also met Nicholas, the french reporter traveling from NY to NY via South America, Africa and Asia. We shared stories, questions, food, chiles and cognacs. From there we continued to a higher zone: Gurue. With spectacular tea plantations. By mistake we ended up in a tea factory and the manager gave us a tour. We now understand what is the meaning of a teaspoon and that the difference between normal tea and green tea falls in the process and not the type of leaves. After Gurue we went back to the coast to Mozambique Island. Small but with a big culture and history concentration.  Two things that stick to my mind are 1) slave holding post and 2) Portuguese fort. The first one relevant throughout our trip in East Africa regarding the horrors of slave trading started by the arabs and then continued by the european friends of those times. Brutal. The second one, the fort, served the purpose to defend the island against attacks mainly Dutch and in a lesser extent Omani. It was effective. Without this fort, the story could have been much different in the whole of Southern and East Africa.

From There we went to Pemba. Arab influence in this part is notable. But it starts in the south. We camped in a place with substantial tide changes. We had many laughs, good food and made new friends. SLB friends, the Swiss, the Canadians and the optimist white south afircans traveling in very ceap chinese motorcycles and sleeping in hammocs. We could not leave Mozambique without stopping by one of the famous islands in the archipielagos. So we decided for Ibo Islands which is part of the Quirimbas. Another interesting mix: black/portuguese/arab. A very special place. One morning breakfast was on a sand bank served for us and a South African couple on honeymoon. At night there was full moon so we ventured to the streets and ruins gearing voices, laughs and people who socialize more than usual thanks to the additional natural light. Our time in Mozambique was reaching an end. We left the country through a new bridge 150 km inland. The worst roads thus far were those of northern Mozambique, but we had not seen what was awaiting us in Tanzania. And this time there were three of us in the car...