So now you know everything. The last six months of our lives had not just been full of African travels, they had also been full of UniMogs. In our last African post we left you with me in tears feeling like the world was coming to an end because we were not just leaving Africa but also leaving Henry – our lives were going to change in every way with a new continent and a new home.
But there was a long way to go before we could start on that journey. We had a lot to do.
Our first task was to get us and Henry from Kenya to Namibia – a road trip of over 5,000km. That would mean back-tracking through the countries we had travelled over the last six months but this time we would be doing it in two weeks.
There were a lot of positives to our plan. Firstly, it kept us in Africa for longer. Secondly, it meant a return to Namibia and seeing old friends again. But there was also a benefit in that we knew where the good places were to stay, the good roads to drive and where to avoid. It would be a lot easier this time around.
This was my planning map – the green flags were where we were going to stay each night. The red hearts are the homes our our friends who we were hoping to visit.
But the downside of all this was going to be 14 days of nothing but drive, eat, sleep, repeat. It would be relentless. We were going to make the most of it by revisiting campsites we had enjoyed on the way up and we knew to drive through Malawi and enter Zambia in the south rather than face the challenges and drudgery of the Great Northern Road again.
But there was nothing we could do to change the fact that we would be driving over 400km a day every day – crossing tropical forests, passing through the sub-tropical savannahs and finally entering desert country again. And we had an absolute deadline with our flights already booked out of Windhoek.
It felt like a colossal mountain to climb.
But before we set off on our mammoth journey we had one final iconic African adventure to complete. It was now well into the dry season, the perfect time for animal spotting, and we were about to re-enter Tanzania. Finally the time had come to see the awe-inspiring Serengeti.
Expectations and excitement were high.
We had bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast at our last campsite in Kenya then headed for the Tanzanian border. It was a surprisingly easy crossing and before we knew it we were back in familiar territory. We headed for the town of Tanga, which we had bypassed last time, and filled up on data, cash and shopping – including some much needed mosquito spray which we had been struggling to find for weeks.
It was a two and a half hour drive from Tanga to the place we had chosen to stay that night but when we arrived at the small town we had trouble locating the guest house itself. It was getting late by now and we were tired so when we saw a sign for a different lodging place we went in to have a look
It was lovely – clean and comfortable
The hosts were very friendly and Henry was safely locked in behind security gates. We took it as a win!
We were hungry but too tired to cook so I bought some street food which was delicious but not exactly healthy
And we ate junk food in bed all evening.
The next morning I did my training in the small but very green garden whilst James gave our hosts a guided tour of Henry
We had booked a five day trip to Taranguire, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater with a ´budget´ tour guide who offered camping trips at a fraction of the cost of most safari companies. Because Tanzania charges foreign visitors such high rates for everything this orgaised trip worked out at around about the same price as a self-drive but with the added benefit of someone else doing all the work.
The tour was due to start in four days time in Arusha which was only 300km away so we had plenty of time to get there. On the way, we decided to revisit a couple of places we had been to before, the first of which was to be the Maisha Khalisi Eco Lodge where we had had our first sight of Kilimanjaro.
As we drove along the Tanzanian roads everywhere seemed much drier and less green than it had when we left over two months ago. I liked it better, with the soft waving yellow grasses and never-ending views over the plains
I also noticed the unique architecture in Tanzania that had struck me last time we were here. Most of the houses were very modern in design with striking metal roofs
They make the country seem far more affluent than many in this region and there were a lot of other rather grand-looking buildings under construction along the way
When we arrived at the eco-lodge the owner, Maksin, warmly welcomed us back. It was like coming home, everything seemed so familiar
This time we were unable to use a room for the toilet and shower as they were full so we had to make do with the part-finished ablutions block under the main building which only had cold showers and was a long walk from the campsite.
But for the chance to glimpse Kilimanjaro one last time we didn´t mind a little inconvenience.
We cooked a very ambitious hunters chicken for lunch
Then treated ourselves to pizza, curry and a bottle of wine at the restaurant for dinner
Just as we were finishing our food Maksin called over – ´she´s out´! We rushed up to the balcony and the mountain was looking magnificent
I had promised myself not to take any more photos of her but I just couldn´t help myself!
We stayed with Maksin and the team for two nights and did very little other than write the blog, tend to Henry, eat a lot and admire the view
We had planned to stay a third night but after a very cold shower on the second morning I stubbed my toe getting out and lost my flip flop on the uneven path back to the campsite. When I got back to Henry I was more than a little cold and frustrated and suggested that we move on – James was happy to agree.
We decided to decamp to Twiga, the campsite owned by the British couple Paul and Erika who we had got on so well with last time. Just as we were packing up to leave, our lovely German friends from the Source of the Nile turned up – we had recommended this place to them some weeks ago and it was another amazing coincidence that we were there at the same time yet again.
We said our goodbyes to Maksin, who promised to prioritise completing the campsite showers, and headed off for Twiga.
As soon as we arrived we felt much more relaxed. The place was, as always, absolutely spotless and immaculately maintained. Paul and Erika were delighted to see us and we got big hugs.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and cooking BBQ chicken and passed a wonderful evening with them over a couple of glasses of wine
So far, the end of the world had not been so bad!
Today was the big day – we were due to meet our tour guide in Arusha and get ready for the start of the Serengeti trip. The tour company were putting us up in a hotel that night ready for an early start in the morning and had kindly offered to allow us to park Henry at the owner´s house whilst we were gone.
It took a long time for us to pack – everything we could possibly need on our trip had to be remembered and fitted into as small a bag as we could manage so that it was easy to carry around with us. But eventually we were ready.
We said our goodbyes to Paul and Erika then headed into Arusha with big grins on our faces. We had been to many, many national parks in our lives but the Serengeti stands alone, unmatched by anything else in shear size, beauty and the amount of wildlife it contains.
We stopped at the supermarket in Arusha to buy gin and nuts then met up with Mohammed, the founder and owner of the tour company. They are small enough to still have that personal touch but big enough to be well organised and knowledgeable and as soon as we met him we were very pleased with our choice.
We went to their office to pay for the tour then settled Henry in at Mohammed´s house where he was safely parked up behind locked security gates
Mohammed then dropped us off at the Senator Hotel in town which was surprisingly nice.
Dinner was at a local restaurant which was a little disappointing but it was not food we were here for! We slept soundly that night and were up early for a solid breakfast
By 7am we were ready and waiting in reception for our guide, Simba, to collect us.
There is no way that I can cram a five-day trip to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater into a normal blog post like this so, as you would expect, it has a post all to itself – coming next!
But safe to say that by the time we arrived back at the Senator Hotel a few days later we had huge smiles on our faces and felt a renewed spirit of wonder at all that is wild Africa.
We were reunited with Henry the next morning and one of Mohammed´s staff helped us to buy a rucksack from the street sellers in town. We were preparing for our flights back to the UK where we would need to carry practically everything we own with us, leaving Henry all but empty. A rucksack was only the first of many purchases we would need in order to get everything back safely – but it was a good start.
We went back to our usual supermarket to stock up our cupboards and the same guy who had bought us bags full of fruit and veg three months ago recognised Henry and happily went off to do the same again this time. When he returned with armfuls of fresh, ripe fruit we paid him what he wanted and promised to be back in two years time to take advantage of his services again. I have no doubt that he will still be there and will still remember us!
But then we were ready and there was only one thing left to do – drive to Namibia! We settled into Henry, set our sat nav and grinned at each other. We may have been on our way out of this beautiful continent but we were about to see more of it in two weeks than most people see in a lifetime.
With our positive heads on and a determination to enjoy every last second we had here, we raised our eyes to the horizon and set off
We drove straight past the wild camp where we had stayed last time and carried on past two potential hotels as we pressed on further and further, long into the late afternoon, feeling almost as though gravity was pulling us south
Eventually we stopped at a disused quarry where we spent a perfect night with a lovely view, a cool breeze, no people and no mosquitoes
This was probably going to be our last wild camp in Africa, our last wild camp in Henry…at least for a few years
Unfortunately the paradise was broken the next morning as we discovered that the site was full of ticks and we both found them crawling all over us. We were finding ticks on our clothes and in Henry´s footwells for most of the next day.
We drove onwards, falling ever towards the south
We passed through Tanzania´s political capital, Dodoma, which is really just a small town – chosen for its central location despite being so remote that there were only dirt roads and no mobile signal for miles around
The landscape was breathtaking
With my favourite baobab trees everywhere around us
Tanzania was not making it easy for us to leave!
By the middle of the afternoon we had arrived in Iringa and headed straight for Mama Iringa´s – one of our favourite places in Tanzania
We spent the afternoon doing admin and looking after Henry before bingeing on the best pizza, ice cream and wine in living memory
We slept well that night
I was up before dawn and training in the cool, tick-free courtyard as the sun came up. Breakfast was fresh avocado and banana and the call to prayer was echoing all around us. We both had a hot shower and stood close to Henry, drinking tea and thinking how good life was.
Our next stop was the town of Mbeya and Paul´s place. Paul had welcomed us and treated us like family when we first arrived in Tanzania five months ago and his welcome was no less warm this time around. He now had a proper toilet and shower built for campers in his garden and had cut down part of the hedge so that we could drive straight in.
Two ladies from the Tanzanian High Commission were also staying that evening and the five of us went back to the tandoori chicken street restaurant we had visited before for another helping of delicious chicken and chips. The conversation was fascinating and we managed to get another few rounds of pool in before bed.
We had planned to spend two nights with Paul before crossing into Malawi in order to see the two things we had missed out on last time due to the weather – Lake Ngosi and the highest trunk road in Tanzania, both of which had been obscured in clouds during the wet season.
So the next day we headed off up the twisting mountain roads towards the highest point, hoping for better luck this time.
The clouds behaved themselves and we got a good, if slightly hazy, view across the plains
Things had been going well so far but Henry was not joining in the fun. He had developed a leak in his clutch master cylinder and it was looking a bit worrying. He had been struggling up the mountain roads and James was too worried about him to enjoy the drive. We drove back to Paul´s rather deflated, there was no way we were going to get to Lake Ngosi with Henry like this and how on earth were we going to get to Namibia?
So instead we went back into town and bought some clutch fluid along with a syringe to drip it into the cylinder with – at least if could keep the fluid level topped up we might not lose the clutch completely.
We bought samosas and cakes for lunch and cash and fuel for the onwards journey. That evening I beat James at pool and he wiped the floor with the others at darts.
But we had to face facts, Henry needed urgent attention and our road trip could come to a very abrupt end if we didn´t deal with it. As we drove towards the Malawi border the next day I called Shanu, our helpful mechanic in Dar es Salaam. I also called Rudolf from the campsite in Lilongwe in Malawi and a mechanic called Mike who had been recommended in Mbeya. We hoped that between all our contacts we could find a new master cylinder somewhere.
As we drew closer to the border we had found two choices – pay an eye-watering amount for a new one in Malawi or return to Mbeya to buy one at a more reasonable price in Tanzania. Neither option was appealing.
Eventually Rudolf in Lilongwe saved us – he found a contact in Lilongwe who would sell us an after-market master cylinder for a very reasonable price and have it shipped overnight to Mzuzu where we were due to arrive the next day. We couldn´t believe our luck, our plans were back on track.
Crossing the border into Malawi was about the most stressful morning I had had in a very long time. Not only was I dealing with all the legal and cultural requirements that come with an international border crossing, I was also on the phone to Rudolf, Rudolf´s friendly supplier and the courier company all at the same time, trying to get logistics sorted out and payments made. But after two or three hours everything was settled – all three of us were officially stamped out of Tanzania and into Malawi and our new master cylinder was packaged up and ready to be delivered
Once safely in Malawi we headed straight for the nearest Airtel shop where the lovely people quickly managed to sort out which of our large collection of SIM cards was the right one for Malawi and filled it up with data
Cash was slightly tricker to come by and ended up being very expensive but after trying three different cash machines and standing in long queues I wasn´t going to worry about a few pounds worth of fees!
By the end of that day we were comfortably settled into the La Rondavelle campsite on the banks of Lake Malawi with our kind, Belgian hosts who again welcomed us back with smiles and hugs
And we could breath again
We treated ourselves to yet another wonderful dinner with our lovely hosts who even brought me extra camembert on toast for desert as the portion I had had for my starter had been cut too thin! We basked in the warm breeze under a beautiful full moon and slept soundly that night as the sun slowly went down over the Lake
The clocks go back an hour between Tanzania and Malawi so I was up very early the next day, training as the sun rose and exchanging greetings with the locals as they walked past. We were given a 10% loyalty discount on our campsite bill and got cuddles from the owner´s dogs and cats. If only life could stay like this forever, I never wanted this road trip to end.
The roads from the Lake to Mzuzu were terrible – much worse than the last time we were here, the floods having washed away most of the infrastructure and work to make the repairs only just beginning. Some people never made it to where they were going…
As we drove the mountain roads we bumped along pot-holes, got stuck behind slow-moving lorries and were coughing on dust through the road works
But it only lasted half an hour or so before we were out of the mountains and at the police checkpoint on the other side.
The officer at the barrier checked our paperwork and wanted to chat about our travels. He was fascinated to hear all our stories and wanted to know more and more. But eventually his boss put a stop to it by rolling his eyes, lifting the barrier and pointedly waving us through.
By the time we arrived in Mzuzu our parcel was already there. The courier office was closed for lunch so we stopped at a local supermarket whilst we waited. The supermarket was full of very familiar, South African brands which we hadn´t seen for a very long time – it all felt so familiar.
Once the courier office reopened I went in to collect our parcel. The place was packed full of customers and staff and initially appeared chaotic. But after watching for a few minutes I worked the system out and collecting our new master cylinder turned out to be a very simple job.
The package seemed to be in one piece
And when we eagerly opened it up, everything inside looked good – it was the right part at least!
We were staying at the same campsite as the last time we were here, run by an Italian couple and with a restaurant that served possibly the best truffle pizza we had ever tasted. In fact I had been looking forward to this truffle pizza for about two weeks. When we finally got to the restaurant and were served our dinner it did not disappoint
We met up with our friendly little cat again who came for a tickle but otherwise was not quite so friendly – I think she knew we were only passing through this time
That afternoon James cleaned out our water pipes as our filtered water had been tasting a bit off. The state and the smell of them nearly made him sick. Lesson learnt – even filtered water pipes need cleaning more than once every three years!
He also cleaned all the brake fluid off the foot mat that had leaked out of the master cylinder and refilled it with the syringe. We had made the decision not to try and change the cylinder ourselves unless we absolutely had to but rather had made an appointment to see Dan our mechanic in Lusaka, Zambia for him to do it. If the old one seized completely between here and there at least we had our new one now so it would be a crisis but not a disaster.
Whilst James was doing all that I was busy getting on the wrong side of something that I never saw. Whatever it was, it stung my hand before I could see it and the sting was incredibly painful. James came over to see what I had done and thought it might have been a splinter. But when he squeezed it to see whether anything would come out a burning pain overwhelmed me and I started running around the campsite shrieking for someone to cut my hand off! The staff looked at it later on and decided it was probably a wasp of some sort but it took about two weeks to settle down
Much as we had loved Malawi the first time around, and were enjoying revisiting the best places now, we were on a mission and after just two nights in the country we were due to be entering Zambia. It seemed as though our road trip was whistling past, Zambia was our last country before Namibia. But when we looked on the map we realised that the border was only the half way point – both Zambia and Namibia´s Caprivi Strip cover vast areas.
We had a long way to go the next day. A drive of over 400km is hard at any time but adding a difficult border crossing into the mix meant that we would be exhausted by the evening. We were up at 5am and leaving the campsite well before 8am. But not before the little cat had decided I was her best friend again…or at least my training mat was…
As we drove onwards, we soaked in the endlessly stunning views
Staring out of the window as the beauty of Malawi streaked by us in a flash
But all too soon the border loomed large in front of us. Crossing this border was a big milestone, Zambia is officially in Southern African and is also where the desert starts. East Africa – Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi – all were now behind us, emblazoned in our memories, locked away safely until we were able to return.
It had been ten months since we were last in Zambia and it seemed like a life-time ago. We had the distinct feeling that we were going back in time but also returning to a more familiar and much loved part of Africa. It was therefore with some excitement as well as a great deal of sadness that we approached the border and prepared ourselves for the next big leap…
The Sidetracked Sagas 