Month: March 2014

Remote and isolated. Ruggedly beautiful. Peace and tranquillity. Busy market towns. Scary busses. Terrible roads.

All of this is true for western Tanzania and Lake Tanganyika.

For the past two weeks this is what Chris and I have seen and experienced. It is a truly beautiful area, nowhere else have we felt like we are driving through the scenery of a David Attenborough documentary. 🙂

Along our route, we stopped off at Kasanga and the Liega Beach Lodge, where we spent our time camping on the beach, snorkelling and living the usual carefree beach existence. From our camp we could see straight across the crystal clear waters to the highlands of the DRC with vast cloud banks piled on top of them and we knew that the next storm was going to come through sooner rather than later…

We also visited the second highest waterfall in Africa. The Kalambo Falls are situated on the border between Zambia and Tanzania and are almost unknown. To see them, you have to get permission from the local headman to enter his lands, you sign the entry book, get a receipt for your entrance fee and then make your way along overgrown paths to the falls.

They are spectacular. The Kalambo River drops down 235m into a lush green gorge. Walking right up to the edge, you have to hold on to the surrounding trees if you want to see the bottom of the falls and into the gorge. There are no fences, no booms, no signs warning you that if you are stupid and fall, that the only thing that will stop you is the ground 235m below you. It was a great experience, appreciated all the more after being shepherded at Victoria Falls and its likes.

From here we once again headed north along an extremely bad road. On all of our five maps, the road from Sumbawanga to Uvinza is a main road and tarred. Not so. Although the Chinese are starting to build what will one day be a great road, at the moment it is a small, rutted, muddy, sticky, slippery road used by all vehicles traveling north or south. The amount of accidents involving large buses or trucks was really scary and considering the way they barrel down this road at full speed, it doesn’t surprise either. Chris and I made it through though, with nothing to show except our tired and stressed selves.

The bad roads did throw up one minor inconvenience though. On the rough roads two of our eight roof rack brackets snapped. We fixed the first in Kasanga, but the second time it happened, we were halfway through Katavi National Park and decided to fix it before we carried on.

We pulled over on to a wider section of dry road, got out the good old Pratley Steel Putty and fixed the bracket. Not trusting it to hold, we decided to wait for it to dry and thus enjoyed a very relaxed day on the main road of the National Park. Needless to say we must have been quite a sight. Two mzungus (white men) sitting in the shade of an awning, eating lunch with the safety triangles out in the middle of a game reserve. We had a great time waving at all the trucks and buses hooting their way past us. 🙂

A few hours later we were on our way again. Not 2 km down the road we spotted a huge male lion, comfortably resting in the shade of the road… Not what we wanted to see so close to where we had been sitting! However it turned out that our delay proved to be a waste of time, as another kilometer down the road, the same bracket we had just repaired broke apart again. Oh well…

During our long and slow process on this road north, we had been listening to the epic adventures of Dr. Livingstone and Stanley in the audio book version of “Into Africa”. Enchanted by this fascinating tale, we were happy that Ujiji was on our route and that we would see the famous spot where Stanley found Dr. Livingstone and uttered: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume” in 1871.

Having spent a few days recuperating on our private beach (yes really J) at Jackobsen Beach, we picked a rainy morning and headed to Ujiji. Considering how famous both Dr. Livingstone and Stanley are and the importance of what they achieved, it was surprising that it is almost impossible to find any reference of them in Tanzania. Even in Ujiji it was extremely difficult to find the museum erected in their memory. After much asking we did find it. A small fenced in building under a large mango tree. The entrance fee was extortionate at TZSH 20,000.00, about US$ 13.00, for a building that you can walk through in five minutes and a mango tree which you can see from the road!

Needless to say we did not go in. Even though this might sound drastic, we did not see why we should pay that amount of money to enter a derelict building, which shows a few artists’ impressions of the famous scene and a few plaques with facts and figures. It was a real shame.

Considering the time that we have spent in Tanzania so far, it is quite surprising that  neither Chris nor I can seem to make our mind up whether we like Tanzania or not. The people can be friendly and helpful, but they aren’t always thus. The scenery is spectacular, but the roads that lead you through it are so bad, that you cannot afford to lose your concentration to look at it. It has some of the best and most famous national parks / game reserves in the world, but they expect you to pay well over US$ 100.00 a day for the privilege of driving through them. Never mind actually wanting to spend a night camping in one!

All in all it is a pity. We so much wanted to love Tanzania, but it’s very difficult to do so.

Having left Malawi behind us, we made tracks to the Tanzanian border worrying about this notorious border crossing and what it would bring. Surprisingly we made it through relatively easily. Our passports were stamped, the car’s carnet was signed and sealed and all that was left was the third party insurance.

Imagine our surprise when we get to the insurance company and they offer us COMESA third party insurance! We explained to them that Chris and I are South Africans and that our car is also registered in SA and that we had tried to buy COMESA insurance in both Zambia and Malawi, but had been turned down in both countries.

According to the Tanzanian insurance company all of that is irrelevant though, as in Tanzania cars registered in RSA are still viable for the COMESA insurance.

So guess what, after my little tirade in Zambia, Chris and I are now the proud owners of the coveted COMESA third party insurance.

I’ll tell you one thing though, it’s a very small piece of paper for so much hassle and I really hope that this is the last time that Chris and I have to fight our way through the insurance fiasco. Only time will tell…

Mushroom Farm Eco Lodge is situated on the Nyika Plateau and probably has the best views in Malawi. Perched on the escarpment, it overlooks Lake Malawi and on a clear day offers you views of both Mozambique and Tanzania as well.

14 years ago Micky Wild started the lodge after discovering the amazing possibilities for  adventure sports on the plateau. The camp started out as a base camp from where they used to abseil down the Manchewe falls and Chombe peak.  As things got busier, Mick set up what we now know as the Mushroom Farm.

The Mushroom Farm has now been taken over by Cameron and Maddy, a brother and sister team. Together with the help of Naomi and James, they have their own plans for the future of the Eco Lodge and have already started implementing changes in both the farm as well as the local community. They started the Women’s Group and encourage them to market the coffee produced on the plateau through a coffee shop, which is just being constructed, allowing the local ladies an opportunity to showcase their skills and giving them a place to get together.

Having spent a week with Cameron, Naomi, James, Efreda and the ladies, we got to know them all well. Learning about the plans for the future, discussing recipes for the local produce, drinking the delicious coffee and generally absorbing the vibe of “Life on the Edge” 🙂

This all sounds very complacent though. But don’t worry, we didn’t just spend our time chatting, we were active as well. We proved that the Mushroom Farm actually produces lots of delicious mushrooms, even finding Chanterelles! And yes, they were delicious in a creamy sauce with Semmelknödel 🙂

Chris took Cameron and James abseiling down Chombe peak, in what he calls “the best abseil he’s ever done”. He went mountain biking, hiking and even slack lined across the little stream running through camp.

The plateau is also home to a town called Livingstonia, named after the famous scottish  explorer, Dr. David Livingstone. A lovely town with tree lined avenues, a large university  

and  even a cathedral it is home to some very friendly and interesting characters that we got to know during our stay. Kennedy showed Chris around the plateau, taking him to see the caves hidden behind the Manchewe Falls, which were used as hiding places from the slavers. With a good knowledge of the plateau,the surrounds and it’s history, Kennedy made our stay all the better.

While Chris was off being active, I spent my time getting to know the youngsters of Mushroom Farm. While we were staying there, Naomi and James presented Cameron with an early birthday present. Named “Chipati”, this little puppy was soon everybodys favourite. Being a cat lover though, I never neglected my cats. Momma Cat (yes, that’s her name) had three beautiful kittens that had just opened their eyes the week before and last year’s kitten (named Kitten) was my favourite. We all had a great time with the little ones, deciding who gets to keep what and where Chipati and Kitten get to spend the night…

Thank you guys for all the great memories! Keep the ideas coming and we’ll see you on the way back!

P.S.: keep the climbing gear handy 😉