'Karibu Sana!' and 'Pole Pole!' in Tanzania

· Thursday, 15th of May, Karonga to Mbeya in Tanzania

Kirsty read about the ‘Malawisaurus’ which has been found near Karonga and is keen to go and check out the dinosaur exhibition at the local museum. A one-eyed guide describes to us how the dinosaurs got extinct and explains the evolution of man. The replica of a ‘Malawisaurus’ skeleton is pretty impressive and so is the original of a huge recently found petrified thigh bone which is just laying there at the foot of the skeleton, exposed and unprotected against visitors touching it! Our guide mentions that it has been found in one piece, but when archeology students were trying to turn it around, it broke. ‘They were trying to glue it together using plaster of Paris, yet with no avail…’ says our guide slowly. Kirsty and I just look at each other, both raising our eyebrows in disbelief!

After exiting the Malawian immigration, we change money with the ‘guys from the street’. After we notice that they initially want to rip us off by giving us all 2000 Tanzanian Shilling notes instead of 20 000 ones (!), Kirsty counts all the notes painstakingly by laying them out on the ground! Entering the Tanzanian side is easy but takes a bit longer since I am purchasing the ‘Comesa’ Third Party Insurance which is valid for quite a few African countries I will still visit.

We make our way to Mbeya following my friends Kevin and Philippa’s recommendation to spend some time at Utengule Coffee Lodge where the manager Francis welcomes us. Francis also knows the Land Rover workshop which Kevin told me about and organizes right away a booking for my Landy tomorrow morning at 8 am sharp (the owner Ariel is Swiss)! Anse badly needed some tlc after the bad roads she’s tackled in Mozambique! We stay in one of Utengule’s nice rooms and treat ourselves with a dinner at their restaurant.

· Friday, 16th of May, Mbeya

I drive to the Mbalizi Land Rover workshop in time to be there at 8 am (I thought!) only to realize that I was an hour late, since Tanzanian time is actually one hour ahead of South African time! Regardless of my delay, the team who’d been assigned to Anse lead by the foreman Emmanuel (Ema) takes care of her immediately.

I get my spare parts out of the bottom of Anse’s ‘bakkie’ for the mechanics to make use of them, only to find out that more than half of them are wet and some of the carton packaging have already disintegrated! I am upset about the damage, but it seems like apart from some corrosion the parts seem still usable. It baffles me though how the water got into the bakkie and where from? I fear that one of my water tanks under the wheel arch might be leaking…

They do a 60 000km service while I watch their every move in order to learn as much as I can. At tea time (10 o’clock) Ema invites me for a cup of hot sweet tea which he scoops out of a huge aluminum can. He also gives me one of his fried buns which remind me of vetkoek in South Africa and we sit down in the courtyard with all the other mechanics.

Ema explains to me that this workshop is actually part of a mission which not only founded this pretty impressive car workshop with technical schooling facilities but also a woodwork training center and a hospital down the road. The manager Ariel, who I meet later, says that the mission gets supported by donations from Switzerland but has been pretty much self sustaining for the past couple of years.

After tea the work on Anse continues. The radius arm bushes in front need to be replaced but getting the nuts loose turns out to be quite a task. Once the radius arm had been taken off, the mechanics tried to push the old bushes out, but they were so tight that they didn’t move! So they set them alight with a torch to burn the rubber out and then hack sawed the bushes to remove them. Quite a technique, but it works! For the service the mechanics used all my own spare parts and filters and replaced also the rear shocks with the spare ones I carried with me.

While they are busy on the car I go check out the local market which is only a few hundred meters away. I manage to buy a new starter pack for my cell phone and two local guys take me around to find a new metal oil lantern (our old plastic one had been leaking). I sit down at a local joint for lunch which consisted of some pretty chewy meat in broth, lots of rice, half an avocado and a banana. It’s a wholesome meal and even though I was skeptical eating local chow, my stomach takes it well.

I get my car back around 6 pm and head back to Utengule where Kirsty had a relaxed day.

Before dinner I still unpack all the damp spare parts from the Landy and Francis allows me to lay them out to dry inside one of the houses which they rent out.

· Saturday, 17th of May, Mbeya


We go ‘shopping’ in Mbeya town, which is about a 30 minute drive from the lodge. As we go up the hill to find the pharmacy, I remember this road from my last trip, when my cylinder gasket was changed at the CMC Land Rover Dealership during a heavy downpour, while Kevin (weakened by Malaria) and Philippa were patiently waiting in their Defender in front of the workshop.

Thanks to the GPS we also find the local supermarket which is hidden behind a fuel station and has a surprisingly good selection despite its limited space.

Around 3 pm Kirsty and I walk from the Lodge to the Utengule Coffee Farm where Francis has organized a tour with Swiss farm manager Thomas. The path to get to the farm winds right through the coffee plantation and we can see that some of the coffee cherries are already red and ready to be harvested. Thomas gives us a very detailed and interesting insight into the coffee business. He talks about farming, auctioning and coffee roasting, with coffee cherries and beans laid out on the table showing them in their different stages (from the freshly harvested cherry to the roasted bean).

And here are only some of the facts I remember: The coffee cherries get harvested using the ‘selective picking’ method, meaning only the ripest (red) cherries get plucked off the bush. Using lots of water, the cherries then get washed into a de-pulping machine (they are still using the same machinery they used some 30 years ago) which uses rough rotating discs to break the outer skin, thereby taking most of the pulp off. The remaining slimy part of the pulp which sticks to the bean gets removed during a
4-day fermentation process in huge basins. Then the beans get dried on trays in the open air where they take on a light beige color. At this stage the coffee is called parchment coffee, named after the translucent husk that still surrounds the precious bean. Once the parchment beans reach the correct dryness they get sent to a contracting mill specializing only in de-husking. The green beans then get sorted into various grades of different sizes and quality and that is the stage at which the coffee gets dispatched from the farm, either on the way to a buyer (a roastery) or to a coffee auction which is monitored by the international coffee board. The coffee gets evaluated by taking samples out of each lot, which then get roasted in a sample roaster and cupped by coffee tasters.

Thomas also answers my question about the rumor that espresso supposed to be healthier than percolated coffee. He said that the caffeine content of espresso is considerably lower than the one in percolated coffee since the percolated water is given more time to absorb the caffeine. The stronger taste of espresso is not caused by caffeine but is mainly due to the fact that extremely hot steam is pushed through the ground coffee quickly at very high pressure, thereby releasing all the oils (which make the brown foam on top of an espresso) and aromas that are not set free by boiling water in a percolator.

For convenience but also because there was an important ‘delegation’ of German coffee roasters arriving at the lodge tomorrow who would occupy our room, we move to the house where I had already laid my car spare parts out to dry.

· Sunday, 18th of May, Mbeya

This being another great tip from Kevin and Philippa, we drive to Ngosi Crater about 60 km south of Mbeya where we negotiate a price with the local guides to take us to the crater rim.

The following hike, winding its way through the lushest jungle I have ever walked truly amazes me! I get totally absorbed by the beauty of this dense piece of rain forest where behind every bend another incredible display unfolds. Walking through this bewildering array of plant life some of which I’ve never seen before overwhelm me! I am so excited and I want to look at everything! I want to look at everything twice because looking at it from a different angle might reveal another surprise! My eyes struggle to take it all in at once because they don’t know what to focus on first! And I can’t stop taking photos, always rushing to catch up to Kirsty and our guide Nathanael like that last baby ant in one of Walt Disney’s cartoons!

- Gigantic wild banana trees with massive leaves towering above us. Almost intimidating, giving us an impression of being insignificant, minute.

- Ferns in all its forms and shapes: From the most fragile and delicate ones (which I’ve only ever seen at the florist before) to the prehistoric looking tree ferns which compel us to review the perspective of time and evolution.

- Moss so thick that a down filled pillow couldn’t be more comfortable to lie on!

- Magnified shadows in motion, created by insects crawling over sun drenched leaves.

- Green! In a million different shades. One more luminous than the other, constantly changing and creating new hues as the foliage moves in the humid air.

- New leaves reaching for light. Each in their own unique way. Some uncurl in a timid struggle, gaining strength as they develop, some unwind steadily from their neatly furled up hibernation while others open up more assertively like two hands finally revealing their long kept treasure to their best friend.


And while the struggle for light goes on up there, relentlessly fuelling the growth, decomposition and decay take over on the dark moist ground with some of the foliage partially disintegrating, leaving merely a fragile network of veins.

A perfectly composed array of natural colors, textures, patterns, shadows, shapes which really blew my mind! (Guess you gathered that by now J!?)

A loud American woman (we hear her before we se her) and her Rasta guide catch up with us and we get talking for a while. She seems like a real globetrotter, been everywhere, done everything but still hasn’t satisfied her travel bug.

By the time we reach the crater rim which offers formidable views over the crater lake, I am on such a high that I have to get rid of some of my adrenaline by running down the steep path to the crater lake, taking a dip and running up again.

We were glad that we came early as on our way back we passed crowds of noisy Iringa students (some of them in high heels!, diminishing our hopes of seeing any of the shy colobus monkeys.


· Monday, 19th of May, Mbeya

On our way to the crater yesterday, a truck driver waved erratically at us, pointing at the back of our Landy. After a quick inspection I saw that, through the constant movement on the bumpy roads, my gas bottle holder had torn the rain gutter which it rests on and was dangerously shaking around.

I want to take advantage of having a good workshop close by and drive to Mbalizi first thing in the morning to have the gas bottle holder bracket reinforced.

This seemingly small repair job turns into an absolute nightmare to such an extend that I don’t even feel like writing an essay about it! In brief: The bracket got shoddily repaired after being sawn off too short, welded back together again and then weakly refitted onto my Landy, thereby drilling a couple of unnecessary holes into the chassis! Ouuuch, that hurts!!! That lengthy procedure took the whole flippin’ day and cost way too much money which I’d much rather have spent on diesel!

But hey Volker, what are you complaining about??? The thing is back on and works again!!! #@!$!...growl, mphhh! I will compile a gas bottle holder bracket strength assessment 20 000 km down the road for youJ !!!

At one stage during the repair, I really lost it! Rather than venting my anger with the mechanics, who were only trying their best, I went for a walk at the nearby market where I had a heaped plate of fries for 400 Tanzanian Shillings (~ 30 US cents). That improved my mood a bit but I needed something more radical to get me back on track. So I thought, if I have already lost my marbles today, I might as well loose my hair! And off I went to one of the market’s barber shops, with music blaring inside. ‘Jambo!’ ‘Karibu sana!’ Pointing to my hair and doing like a scissors with my fingers I ask: ‘Hair cut?’ ‘Karibu, karibu sana!’ I get the response, inviting me to sit down in the hairdresser’s chair. Looking at the owner’s ‘haircut’ (his head is just shaved off) I am a bit suspicious…to have my hair cut is fine but I’d still like some of it left on my head, please! ‘So long!’ I indicate the desired length with my fingers while my eyes scan around, spotting the trimming machine but none of the adapters that adjust the length. ‘No!’ comes the answer from the owner, pointing at his non existent hair while he’s shaking his head. Shaved? No thanks! ‘Asante sana! Bye bye!’ and gone I am and trying my luck at another barber shop down the ‘road’! ‘Jambo! Habari gain?’ ‘Saf! Karibu!’ I get the response. I got cleverer now and do my sign language thing again: ‘Hair cut? Number 4? (rather be safe I thought!)’ I get a nod from the owner and off comes my hair to much amusement of the other waiting customers! A bit of methylated spirits around my ears and neck and off I go neatly trimmed and 700 Shillings (~ 65 US cents) later.

Wish my repair was that sort of value for money! Had a stiff drink on the gas bottle holder repair that night!

· Tuesday, 20th of May, Mbeya

We have another rest day and load the car for tomorrow’s departure, starting with the finally dried out spare parts.

· Wednesday, 21st of May, bush camp outside Sumbawanga

Aiming for Katavi NP, we drive on the beautifully tarred road via Tunduma to Sumbawanga. The chaotic and pretty dirty town Tunduma, congested with trucks waiting to cross the border into Zambia reminds me of my last trip when I parted from Kevin and Philippa to head back to Cape Town while they carried on north to Kipili.
In Sumbawanga (which translates from Kiswahili to ‘Throw your witchcraft away’ which is aimed at the many refugees who settled here, annoying the locals by practicing their native country’s rituals) we stop to replenish our fresh food supplies at the well stocked local market. After unsuccessfully looking around for a suitable camp site, we decide to push on and find an idyllic bush camping spot with views just outside Sumbawanga. Kirsty doesn’t feel well that night and suffers from stomach cramps.

· Thursday, 22nd of May, Katavi NP

In the morning I get ‘trapped’ by bypassing locals… They decide (like so often on this trip) to interrupt their walk right in front of me, just to stare at Kirsty who is packing up the Landy, curiously watching her every move while I am squatting with my pants down, trying desperately to look camouflaged behind some scattered sunflowers right next to their path!

The road to Katavi NP is a tough and long haul but we are lucky that it’s dry all the way! Some sections are even being graded as we drive through and we arrive at the NP headquarters the early afternoon. The campsite is pretty deserted and after a short rest we go for game drive along the Katavi River. While we try to enjoy the views, smells and sounds of the bush, the swarms of tsetse flies make it impossible to keep the side windows open, hitting against them like rain drops! I have experienced these annoying buggars before, but definitely not as extreme and aggressive as these Katavi thoroughbreds! This only left us with driving around with windows and vents closed and the aircon on full blast – definitely a first for me! We spot hippos, zebras, waterbuck, giraffe and warthog and can hear, hyenas at night.

· Friday, 23rd of May, Katavi NP

We drive through Sitalike village and go for another game drive south east of the head quarters towards one of the ranger posts where we park off on the edge of the Katavi flood plain to just watch, listen and take in the bush! Amongst various other game, Kirsty spots a waran lizard and we also see a doglike creature which has the furry appearance and size of a wolf with dark side stripes like a jackal! (I’ve never seen anything like it. We think it might be a cross between jackal and a domestic dog??? Please let us know if you know more! You’ll find a photo on Kirsty’s blog.) On the way back we explore a track past our camp site where we spot elephants.

We cooking up a delicious meal that night: The instantly so-christened ‘Katavi Plains Pie’ made with a crust of puff pastry and a vegetable curry filling inside, baked to perfection in my cast iron pot! Hmmmm, yummy!

At night we hear distressed sounding noises of elephant as well as people’s voices. It makes us wonder if there’s poaching going on…

· Saturday, 24th of May, Katavi NP

Going for another game drive, we this time drive along the Katavi River all the way to the end of the plain. We try to carry on after crossing a dry river bed from where the vegetation abruptly changes to dense grass that is so tall that it not only surpasses Anse’s roof rack but also completely obstructs the view onto the track. We decide not to venture any further but with deep ditches on either side of the track and virtually no visibility, it makes the u-turn challenging.

On the way back along the river we spot an impressive herd of buffalo (maybe 300-400 of them) which moves out of sight quickly in one collective black mass leaving behind only a dusty cloud above the dry grass while their grunting and stomping sounds of their hooves fade away in the distance. A bit further on we bump into a few more of them, trying to catch up to their herd on our approach, bolting through the dense bush and galloping across the dirt road right in front of us. An awesome scene!

Apart from heaps of hippos, of which most of them have left the water to laze in the hot midday sun, we also observe a spotted hyena of note! Unlike most of his elusive fellows I have experienced so far, this docile character just remains standing on the edge of the river where he was obviously about to drink. But for the next 15 minutes this amusing creature doesn’t move an inch from its position, just standing there, docile, passive, bored rigid as if he’d been sedated! Occasionally giving us a lethargic look, only to remain standing exactly where he was! Kirsty and I come to the conclusion that this hyena is most definitely into drugs! We finally give up on him, loosing our patience and leaving him to recover.

· Sunday, 25th of May bush camp between Mpanda and Rukoma

We are intrigued about Mahale Mountains NP, infamous for being one of the few remaining places where wild chimpanzees can be tracked. It is a very inaccessible park, which can be reached only by plane or by boat from Lake Tanganyika as there are no roads leading to the park. The suggested route described in most guide books is usually via Kigoma in the north, from where one can organize a local boat which takes apparently 12-14 hours or a speedboat which takes around 3 hours at a huge cost! We are struggling to get any information about alternative routes and since Kigoma is out of our way, we opt to tackle the road to Katumbi, a village that on our map seems to be the closest one to the park. Little do we know that this road doesn’t even exist all the way to Katumbi!

From Katavi we head north to Mpanda Ndogo, where we struggle for quite a while to find the turn off west towards Lake Tanganyika since its position is marked wrongly in our map and also doesn’t show on the GPS. We finally reach it and off we go on an initially pretty good dirt road which leads through a few spread-out villages. We find a good place for bush camping, but realize soon that we are on a cattle route when our dinner preparation gets briefly interrupted by an invading herd of cows!

· Monday, 26th of May, Mahale NP

After preparing our backpacks with clothing, tent and some food for the anticipated stay in Mahale, we leave our bush camp a bit later than usual. We carry on westwards passing through tiny villages, where some of the locals give us such bewildered looks making us think that they’ve possibly never seen a white person in their lives! It makes us feel a bit awkward as we drive down this seemingly never ending track but at the same time also excited, being able to explore such a remote area. Kirsty and I have a good refreshing laugh when driving past one of the local mud huts which had in bold white letters written on its wooden door: ‘THIS IS A DOOR!’

After descending a steep pass with jagged gravel and a few muddy sections further on, we see a car coming towards us! Some geologists in a Land Cruiser who are exploring the area for precious metals have set up a camp 20 km further down the road and are helpful in giving us advice. They tell us that at the next fork there is a security guard next to their broken down caterpillar who speaks English and could assist us with further directions from the locals. We take the right fork, following the tracks of the caterpillar and can already see it a few hundred meters further. By the time we reach the security guard, we have already attracted a huge crowd of people following us like a swarm of bees. While we are trying to get directions to Mahale from the security guard standing on my side of the window, the many noisy and curious faces, popping in through Kirsty’s window make talk difficult. As if sent from heaven, one guy who picked up our conversation says enthusiastically in his broken English: ‘Mahale? I know! I guide you!’ Kirsty and I look at each other and it doesn’t take long for us to agree that local guidance would be the best way forward from here.

The friendly man introduces himself as Immanuel and after agreeing to a price, he jumps on Anse’s roof and shouts: ‘Let’s go!’ As we leave the caterpillar, the crowd of people and the ‘good’ road behind, we feel happy with our decision and a bit more confident that we might somehow get there! At this stage, mainly through the language gap, we still haven’t got a clue how far this road takes us and how we will carry on from wherever it will get us, but somehow Immanuel’s enthusiasm combined with our gut feel that he’ll get us there lift our spirit.

The track leads down the side of a valley and soon narrows down to the mere width of our Landy. Staring at Priscilla (our GPS) reminds us vividly that we are now definitely making uncharted tracks as her pointer burns our bumpy new route into the screen! Slowing down whenever we pass overhanging trees to make sure Immanuel doesn’t get wiped off Anse’s roof, we arrive at the top of a steep gully. The progress on the descent is slow. Negotiating the tight and badly eroded track, winding its way down to a river crossing doesn’t leave much room for maneuvers but leaves me sweating, often walking a section and listening to Immanuel’s advice before tackling it.

The river is not even knee deep and easy to cross even though going up the steep bank on the other side needs full throttle in low range first gear to get Anse and me up there (by then Kirsty and Immanuel had preferred to walk). After the river crossing we leave the ravine behind us and the track becomes flatter. It’s narrowing down to a mere path though so that one wheel is always hidden in deep grass and making it also difficult to let locals pass who carry heavy goods on foot and by bicycle. After maybe another 10 km following that path through cultivated maize fields and rice patches we finally reach the village Rukoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika around 3 pm\!

We are happy that we made it to the lake but also feel a bit like intruders here, disturbing the peace of the local community. Immanuel is known everywhere and assures us that the locals are happy to welcome us. He also makes us understand that we can either hire a local boat here or carry on the track to the next village on the lake further south. Driving further was definitely out of the question for us so we opt for hiring a boat from the locals.
We get introduced to Bahati, the skipper of the boat and his crew. The following negotiations going backwards and forwards between us and them to settle on a price rob us of our last bit of energy that we have left in us after getting all this far! There is a moment when we are wondering what we would do if they don’t come down with the price? Turn around and go back??? Feeling vulnerable and exhausted Kirsty and I sit down inside Anse, closing both doors just to escape the negotiations, mute the noise and retreat from the curious kids for a while. When Immanuel approaches us again, acting in his role of a mediator, we stick firmly to our first offer of $170 and after some discussion amongst the boat people, the skipper agrees! We are relieved! Mahale is getting a little bit closer!

Immanuel agrees to stay with Anse and we park her right next to his friend’s mud hut in a fenced in area with chicken running around. We can be lucky that we packed our backpacks this morning because it’s getting late and we have to hurry up getting on to the boat.

Kirsty and I get onto the big wooden boat with a Yamaha out boarder engine. ‘Looks fairly trustworthy, and with the skipper having 3 crew with him, they can always paddle us to the shore if the engine breaks down!’ goes through my mind. I just get a bit skeptical when I see the guys trying to start the engine… the original rope which usually has a plastic handle to pull on had obviously long gone! It was now replaced with what was left of the remaining strands from a disintegrated cord (which reminds me of my German friend Michael who would call it aptly ‘Kuhband’!), shortened by many mending knots, making starting difficult. Being just a loose piece of well, Kuhband which the skipper had pulled out of his pocket, it had to be wound around the reel after each unsuccessful pull! Like we have experienced so many times in Africa: It might not have been approved by ISO 9000 or the TÜV, the most important thing is: IT WORKS!!! (eventually!)

So after the boys siphon a few times on the fuel pipe, tilt the pretty empty canister to gather the remaining fuel and pull the Kuhband innumerous times, we are finally ‘making trees’ (means moving)! We stop in three villages on our way, where each time the crew disappears with the near empty fuel canister only to bring it back barely filled. My guess is that the crew probably had to bump as much fuel as they could get from whomever they got it from by persuading that person that they would get compensated for it on the crew’s return trip once we’d been paying them. Interesting concept, again: IT WORKS!!! (only in Africa!)

After a 3 hour boat ride with spectacular views of the Mahale Mountains on our left and the coast of the DRC across the lake on the horizon, we finally arrived at the Mahale Head Quarters where we registered and got our permits. Another speedy boat ride into the sunset with the National Park’s own ‘fiber’ gets us 6 km further up the lake shore to the start point of the tracking excursions and the bandas (very basic quarters with bathroom). After the meticulous caretaker Ishmael arrives with the keys, we put down the packs into our banda and cook a simple dinner from our provisions on a kerosene stove in the communal kitchen.

We have to pinch ourselves: We’ve made it to Mahale!!!

· Tuesday, 27th of May, Mahale NP

With our field guide Frederic we go and venture out into the dense, beautiful jungle for our first tracking excursion. After 10 minutes walk from the camp we pass some lemon trees (which usually don’t occur there but were conveniently planted there by some people living in the Mahale Mountains before they were declared a National Park) and by looking at the scattered pieces of lemon peel Frederic can tell that the chimps had just been here yesterday! He leads us on a maze of paths over numerous streams to some of their favorite hiding places, but all we can find is old poos and the occasional nest up in the trees which the chimps build out of twigs for the night. We spot a few groups of red tail monkeys who amaze us with their incredible climbing and jumping abilities and also catch a glimpse of the elusive kolobus monkeys. After more than 4 hours walking through the leafy forest without a chimp in sight we return to the camp and relax on the beach. I manage to do some yoga on the National Park’s boat jetty.

When we were preparing our backpacks we didn’t quite know what to expect at the National Park, so we had packed the tent and mattresses which we actually didn’t need now because we were staying in a banda. When it came to our food provisions, however, we thought that maybe there is a restaurant or a shop available in the park, so we only packed the bare minimum provisions. There are no facilities in the park itself apart from the private lodges so after yesterday’s dinner we are only left with some rice, a can of tuna and some snacks!

During the hike I had told Frederic about our predicament, asking him if he couldn’t organize some fish from the locals for us and he said he would try to make a plan. Just after the ‘fiber’ boat arrives from the head quarters, a local guy who turns out to be the cook for an American research team walks into the communal kitchen holding a 2kg fish in his hand which he swiftly guts, fillets and grills for us over coals! Happy with a few Shillings and the head of the fish he runs off as quickly as he appeared and leaves us with the very welcome addition to our diet that night!

· Wednesday, 28th of May, Mahale NP

At 8 am we meet Frederic again to set out to another excursion. This time we venture a bit higher into the mountains and use different trails. We sit down and listen numerous times but each time we get up again to carry on walking, Frederic sighs and says: ‘Mountains are very quiet today!’
We spot red tail monkeys again and a duiker, but somehow that doesn’t quite do it for us! Getting back to camp after another disappointing 4 ½ hour tracking excursion, Frederic suggests that we meet a bit earlier tomorrow and head up high into the mountains which would require up to 8 hours of hiking!

We relax at the sandy beach, looking over Lake Tanganyika to the DRC where the sun sets behind red glowing mountain ranges.

We are pretty down, not only because of the hiding chimps but also because there’s no fish today (the ‘fiber’ didn’t come) and we are just left with some rice for tonight’s dinner of which we save half to take along for tomorrow’s long hike! At least we have taken our water filter with us which comes in very handy now.

· Thursday, 29th of May, bush camp outside Immanuel’s village

We meet our guide Frederic this time at 7:30 and head up the path that leads up the mountain. The route is steep but we make good progress at a steady pace. After about 2 hours walking our guide distances himself while we remain quietly (well, trying to! [huh huh huh ha ha ha, itch itch] J) at one spot so that he can just concentrate of listening to the sounds of the jungle to figure out where those wanted primates could be hiding – with no avail (Maybe we were just giggling too much when a branch cracked loudly after Kirsty sat down on it).

‘What’s your suggestion?’ I asked Frederic when he returned disappointedly from his listening session. He sighed and simply responded ‘We keep on walking!’ And further up we ascended again on a root streaked path which numerous times had to be cleared by Frederic’s machete strikes.

At one stage we hear a monkey shout close by and Frederic says: ‘It’s them!’ We walk a bit further to where we think the noise came from and then remain still for a few minutes. We can see the trees moving from the jumping action going on up there and Frederic has a closer look. But soon he comes back with a disappointed look on his face: ‘Red Tail!’ So on we go heading further up the mountain and Kirsty and I are starting to wonder what the point is at this stage…

We’d tried to track them now for three days! Frederic mentioned to us at the very beginning of the tracking that the food supplies for the chimps are scarce at the moment and that the huge group of 60 chimps splits up and scatters throughout the forest. So as I am walking, I ask myself, what are the chances really of spotting them in this dense, vast, mountainous and (apart from two paths heading into the higher regions) mostly inaccessible jungle? But then I remembered that our skipper’s name who had been steering us in the local boat from Rukoma to Mahale was ‘Bahati’ which is Swahili for ‘Good Luck’ and I thought that he’d been a good omen for this adventure so far, so surely his good energy would direct us to the chimpanzees!

About 20 minutes later after about 3 ½ hours of walking, we can hear a quite different sound and Fred says with a smile: ‘That’s them!’ We walk on with anticipation but don’t hear anything again for quite a while. Frustration sets in again and I am close to loosing faith in Fred’s tracking abilities, which I must admit is really not a fair thought after the amount of effort he put into finding them for us! He gave his best and had been going out of his way by even setting out again to find them at the end of yesterday’s tracking excursion.

The expectation and anticipation of spotting them has almost faded away and we are almost at the point where we would head down the mountain again, when Frederic unexpectedly walks in on them! The deafening silence that seemed so frustrating a second ago was pierced by the scary but at the same time exciting shrieks and alarming screams by the group of chimpanzees which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere! There wasn’t a chimp in sight, but their screams were so loud that they couldn’t be further than 25 meters away from us hiding in the maze of leaves! It was the weirdest moment! Like eeriness, excitement, fright, primitive rawness, anticipation and relief all together – we had finally found them!!!

As by Fred previously instructed, we put our white mouth masks on which supposed to prevent human viruses to be transmitted to the primates and then move slowly towards them. It’s awesome to see them! They are so similar to us humans in their gestures and motions and in their way they use their hands, but when it comes to their screams (which start quietly with ‘huh huh huh’ but then increase tremendously in volume with every member of the group joining in and ending up with a ferocious ‘ha ha ha’ while beating their hands fiercely on the ground) their animalistic instincts are definitely taking over. We see about 6 of them and watch two of them closely while they are grooming each other meticulously. Our favorite is definitely the little 3 month old baby which plays around in the branches not too far from its mother! It’s a real cutie and funny to watch his clumsy moves, dangling cheerful upside down from a tree or biting mum’s toes with a mischievous look on his light colored face. This experience definitely lets all the efforts that it took us of getting to see them evaporate into thin air! Thanks to Frederic’s patience and perseverance in tracking them!

As if they had known that our official viewing time of one hour came to an end, the chimps move on past us into a real dense and inaccessible ravine. One of them even gave me a look walking by only half a meter away. Satisfied (well sort of, there’s always the urge to see them for a bit longer!) with our unforgettable encounter we start the descent back to camp. On hour way down we bump into the Japanese researcher, a fairly young chap from Hiroshima who is on his way up the mountain with two guides to track the chimps.

A bumpy but speedy boat ride on the National Park owned ‘fiber’ gets us an hour later safely back to the village of Rukoma again, where our smiling, faithful guide and car guard Immanuel welcomes us happily with a warm handshake and a: ‘I love to see you!’ We are relieved that we find Anse as we left her, mainly owed to Immanuel’s devotion, sleeping each night on her roof as we found out later!!!

Shortly after leaving the small village Rukoma we bump into one of the weirdest sight! 4 Americans and their local guide walking towards us on the narrow grass lined path! Perplex, intrigued to how they made it here and at the same time (after what we had gone through) also happy to see this eclectic mix of white, Asian and black faces, we lean out of our windows and shout from the distance like typically the locals notice us: ‘Hey! Mzungu!!!’ We stop and have a quick chat with them. It turns out that they are all students traveling (partly by bicycle) for a month in Africa. Their guide takes them from house to house, giving them the opportunity to chat to some locals! We are utterly impressed with these intrepid fellows!

Sitting on the roof or at times clinging onto my back ladder whenever there are low trees to bypass, giving us route instructions like: ‘Lefty, lefty! Righty, righty! Okay, let’s go!’ Immanuel guides us safely back up the scary road which isn’t even a road. And Anse – even though her bones are sometimes squeaking from the hard work load at the steep gradient – tackles every obstacle with amazing confidence! We drop Immanuel off at ‘his’ village where he gets greeted happily by his family and remunerate him for his services and his honesty partly with cash and also with some of my clothes and shoes which I had decided to give away.


Even though the sun is almost setting, we still drive a few kilometers back towards Mpanda to get away from the populated villages where we find a quiet bush camping spot right next to the road. Two geologists who are busy exploring the area for nickel and platinum drive past in their Toyota Land Cruiser and offer us to stay in their camp 10 kilometers back the road, but as much as we would have loved to have some interesting company, we prefer to have some tracks made towards Mpanda. We cook the most delicious burgers I have eaten in a while (the patties even survived our Mahale stay in the disconnected freezer!) and Mzungu Volker tries very unsuccessfully to light a fire with bamboo stalks which grow at the roadside…

· Friday, 30th of May, bush camp outside Sumbawanga

Today turns out to be one of the longest driving days so far. We leave our roadside camping spot and hit the long road back to Mpanda and then further on to the Katavi NP Head Quarters where we fill up Diesel again. Even though we could stay overnight at the National Park’s campsite we decide to drive on. Maybe some 100 km of the road just outside Katavi is being freshly graded and we make good progress on the smooth surface, pushing on until we reach the same bush camping spot just outside Sumbawanga where we last pitched our rooftop tent 10 days ago. A 12 hour driving day, but at least it saves us one day, which means one more chance of having a delicious cappuccino at Utengule Coffee Lodge J !

· Saturday, 31st of May, outside Sumbawanga to Mbeya

We leave our bush camping spot just after sunrise and browse not much later the market of Sumbawanga for fresh produce. The next 225 km are grueling dirt road and at one stage, just 30 km outside Tunduma I am throwing a tantrum and am swearing at the roads because after all this driving they are now really getting to me!!! I just stop Anse right there and Kirsty gets me out of my frustration by quickly making a bowl of tuna salad and pushing it into my hands. I am glad that she’s figured out by now that feeding me will most definitely get me out of any bad mood J !

All recharged again after the badly needed pit stop we carry on to Tunduma where the much anticipated tar road awaits us! The last 88 km to Mbeya are pure bliss and soon we take residence again in the familiar and comforting surroundings of the Utengule Coffee Lodge. It feels really great coming back to a place where we can feel at ease! After the first hot shower in two weeks and badly needed grooming (that beard hat to come off!) we treat ourselves to a delicious three course dinner next to the cozy fireplace. I can’t resist indulging in a double espresso with Amarula and cream as a nightcap, but not without paying the consequences…The delicious potion turns into a daycap for me! Despite the exhaustion kicking in from the past few days I am wide awake and jumping around like a wind-up Duracell Chimp in the Mahale jungle while Kirsty has already been sent to the land of dreams and Nutella rivers for hours…

· Sunday, 1st of June, Mbeya
We enjoy a day of rest at the Utengule Coffee Lodge. To my annoyance I find dampness again on some of the spare parts which I keep in Anse’s bakkie and try to figure out where the water gets in.

· Monday, 2nd of June, Mbeya

I go for a run in the morning and then drive to the (by now familiar) Land Rover workshop to give Anse the much needed tlc after the bad roads on our way to Mahale. At the workshop things started a bit slower than usual as there is a big meeting involving all the workshop foremen. The Suiss national and missionary Ariel had handed his responsibilities as a General Manager to his dad who will be taking over his position as from June 1st. After 12 years at Mbalizi mission, Ariel and his family will go back to Switzerland so their son can benefit from a better education there.

While the workshop team works on Anse (bushes need replacing) I make use of the time as much as I can by sitting down under a tree close to the missionary’s houses to read my much neglected book and write some of my diary. For lunch I pop in at a chips joint at the local market where I fill my tummy for 400 Tanzanian Shillings (about 30 US cents). As so often, procedures take a lot longer than estimated at the workshop and I only get my car back at 5:30 pm. I still drive to the supermarket in Mbeya to fill up our stocks (especially our Nutella and chocolate supplies) and finally get back to Utengule at sunset where Kirsty whips up a wholesome pasta meal.

· Tuesday, 3rd of June, Mbeya

To our annoyance we are not allowed to wash a load of laundry in the lodge’s washing machine, so we are forced to do the much dreaded chore by hand which takes always too long. According to Kirsty, I spend the rest of the day ‘wippstert-ing’ (=pottering) around. Drying and repacking the spare parts, cleaning and packing the car, replacing some of the silicone in the inside of the fridge and putting the camping stuff (which was still buried in my backpack since Mahale) back to its designated boxes. And trying to figure out from where the water seeps into Anse’s bottom. We have an average dinner at the lodge and I hit the sack pretty early after a busy day.

· Wednesday, 4th of June, Mbeya

When I come back from a great run this morning, I can barely hear the battery alarm beeping from inside Anse, but it triggers loud alarm bells in my head! Even though I had put the switch so that the fridge only draws from the auxiliary battery, both batteries turn out to be completely flat overnight and I didn’t manage to start the car! After charging the batteries for a while with the help of the solar panel I manage to start the engine, but uneasy about that incident, I drive to the Mbalizi workshop to have my batteries checked.

While they charge the main battery, which takes about two hours, I drive into Mbeya town to do some grocery shopping at the local market and to exchange some more Shillings. Back at Mbalizi, I get the battery back fully charged at no charge J.

While Kirsty is at the last stretch reading her massive book ‘Shantaram’ I get on writing my much neglected diary.

· Thursday, 5th of June, Tungamalenga camp site outside Ruaha NP

We leave Utengule at 7:30 and head north east towards Iringa. Passing through the unappealing little town of Makambako reminds me of the trip I did with my friends Kevin and Philippa 3 ½ years ago when we had to stay in the dreadful B&B there with a generator roaring next to our bedrooms the whole night! One of today’s major highlights happened on the road when Kirsty finally finished reading all 932 pages of her book ‘Shantaram’ which we celebrated with a loud honk of Anse’s horn!

The road from Iringa towards Ruaha NP has recently been graded and allows a fairly pleasant drive. Where the road splits, just 60 km outside the NP, we decide to take the left fork which passes numerous villages and pitch 20 km further our rooftop tent at the Tungamalenga camp site (which turns out to be quite a noisy spot in the heart of the village).

· Friday, 6th of June, Ruaha NP

Yesterday we didn’t want to enter the park on purpose in the afternoon so that we can get the most out of the National Park’s expensive permit which is always valid for 24 hours from the time of entry.

Instead we head into the park in the morning which would enable us to leave the park in the morning of our last day again, just in time before the permit’s expiry.

We have not even reached the entry gate of the park yet, as we get welcomed by a delegation of four lionesses walking next to the gravel road! One of them, seemingly the oldest one is truly humongous!

After this impressive welcome we register to get our permits, sit for a while next to the Ruaha River Bridge to watch hippos and some huge crocodiles laze in the sun and then drive to our campsite. I have been here 3 ½ years ago with Kev and Phil and it seems like the camp site is still pretty much the same: Right on the riverside next to a big tree overlooking one of the Great Ruaha River bends, with no facilities except a pitiful long drop which nobody dares to use anyway. Heaps of good firewood has been provided, which is a big bonus (with an abundance of wildlife around especially at night) and new toilets and showers for the camper’s use have just been completed at the nearby bandas.

As we have our tent on the roof, we mark our camping spot with some firewood (it’s weekend) and head out for a game drive. Being just the end of the rainy season, we are lucky to find the long grass dried out and already collapsed, making game viewing a bit easier. We have some close encounters with elephants and spot zebra, giraffe, impala, springbok, buffalo, hippos, crocs.

Some game rangers driving a Chinese couple around give us a hint where we can see some lions parked off under an acacia tree across a dry river bed. If it wasn’t for their tip we would have never noticed them!

During our dinner we get checked out by a curious genet, a small catlike animal and at night we can hear lions far away from the other side of the river.


· Saturday, 7th of June, Ruaha NP

We explore the western side of the park along the Ruaha River and then head north where we climb up the steep ladder to a look-out built into a baobab tree. The bush is very dense here which makes game spotting challenging, so we move on to the north towards a palm tree lined dry river bed where a sole buffalo skull adds to the eeriness.

Kirsty has made up her mind to fly back to Cape Town from the Ruaha NP airstrip rather than from Dar Es Salaam. Having been on board for the past three months now and after finally spotting lions and having close to encounters with elephants she’s got out of this trip what she wanted and is ready to move on to her next adventures in Europe (after spending some time in Cape Town). Leaving from a quiet National Park also seems more appealing than from the hustle and bustle in Dar.

So she enquires for flights at the headquarters and she gets booked on the 11 am flight to Dar on Monday (we think!).

· Sunday, 8th of June, Ruaha NP

As marked on the park’s map, there is a road on the other side of the Ruaha River and as we heard lion at night from that direction, I am keen to go and explore that section. We get up early and drive all the way to the gate to take the indicated turn off, but we can’t find it. At the gate we enquire about this road, but it turns out that the road is a private road and only accessible to park rangers as it lies in the game management area. A bit peeved about having lost precious game viewing time, we turn back and head into other areas close to the river.

Rather than driving around we decide to pick a beautiful spot on the river, park off there for a while, laze in my hammock, cook some lunch and watch what’s going on around us. Somehow game viewing always proves to be more rewarding this way! We feel more in tune with nature and notice all the small things going on around us. The passengers of two game viewing vehicles couldn’t have found this very amusing when they drive past us, intensely looking for game, only to spot some spaghetti eating Wazungus , waving with smirking faces out of their hammock and raising their drinks towards them!

Kirsty prepares her departure and we start packing some of her stuff. The midday sun is intense and soon we are exhausted from moving boxes. Even sitting down on a log in the shade at the confluence picnic site where a dry river joins the Ruaha can’t seem to cool us down.

On the way back to our camp site we still spot an impressive male kudu on the other side of the river and two minute dikdiks.

· Monday, 9th of June, Ruaha NP to Tungamalenga

Kirsty’s flight supposed to be at 11 am and after a short game drive, we arrive at the ‘departure hall’ (hut with a grass roof!) way before the time, only to spend the next two hours waiting for the plane! Eventually two planes land shortly after each other, but it turns out that the one going straight onwards to Dar, steered by a lady pilot, a Wippsterter of note (In comparison to her I’m pretty much a sedated hyena!) turns out to be full! As frustrated as we are (both our park’s permits are about to expire and Kirsty still hadn’t left!), watching this crazy hyperactive woman buzzing around like a firecracker while she’s (take a deep breath!) running to change into another plane, moving baggage by herself, doing paperwork, gathering her next passengers and instructing them where to sit (to even out the weight), checking the plane thereby hitting her head on the wing (ouch!), cursing while trying to start an old battered Jeep which needs to be moved close to the refueling tank since the tank’s electric pump runs off the car’s battery and in between all of this trying to help Kirsty by radioing another pilot, is quite amusing! ‘Top Gun’ is a yawn versus this! After four attempts of starting the engine (thank god Kirsty didn’t sit in that plane!) she eventually takes off again, not without keeping on radioing the other pilot who is leaving for Dar from Dodoma and could re-route to pick up Kirsty on his way. The last message we get from her on the radio is: ‘Wait at the airstrip!’

There’s no plane in sight and Kirsty and I go to the National Park’s Head Quarters to find out what’s going on. We get hold of the Chief Warden John who does his best to help us. We learn that if there are requests for flights by park visitors, the bookings get done out of goodwill by one of the private lodges which in Kirsty’s case had enquired for her flight but had not booked it. John kindly arranges another flight booking for tomorrow by phoning the airline directly from his private mobile phone and contacts the gate to let them know that we can exit the park without buying another permit (by now ours have already expired and we don’t want to stay another day inside the park). He also reduces the permit fee for tomorrow’s entry to a car permit, which is due only for me to drop off Kirsty at the National Park’s airstrip.

So after a pretty wasted day which we could have spent game viewing, we finally exit the park without a problem and stay overnight outside the park in Tungamalanga, this time at the clean Chogela Campsite which is run by the switched-on Rastafarian Chogela himself.

· Tuesday, 10th of June, Tungamalenga

Today marks the end of Kirsty’s overlanding Africa experience and after being glued to each other’s hips for three months, going through highs and lows together it feels quite weird going our separate ways. I can only say that it’s been really great traveling with her and carrying on my trip on my own will be quite an adjustment.

After a quick breakfast we make our way back to the park to the (by now very familiar) ‘airport building’. This time the plane arrives on time and soon, I wave Kirsty good-bye as the plane takes to the air heading for Dar.

I drive off with an empty passenger seat next to me and mixed feelings in my stomach – a new chapter of my trip is about to start!

Finally going north via Malawi!

· Wednesday, 7th of May, Cuamba to Monkey Bay in Malawi

At 4:30 am Anse’s car alarm goes off again! Subsequently we are offloading the entire car after another restless night and I spot the furry passenger while he’s jumping from the back to the front section of the car. We put the whole car upside down but reluctantly give up the hunt and load Anse again after we haven’t managed to get hold of him. We get three rat traps from a hardware store in Cuamba that morning and drive west to Mandimba where we change some dollars into some Malawi Kwatchas ‘on the black market’ and then finally cross into Malawi!

The Mocambiquean officials at Chiponde border post give us a bit of a hard time because of our hand scribbled paper which we got from the immigration officer in Quionga after our failed attempt to cross the Rovuma River into Tanzania about a week ago. But after about 20 minutes of arguing and explaining our whereabouts of the last couple of days between Mocimboa da Praia and Mandimba, we get an exit stamp not on (since there was the one from Quionga already) but next to our visa and are released! The Malawian side was a piece of cake and Yipeee! We are finally out of Mozambique and on to further ventures up this way north!

We drive another 2 hours or so and get to the ‘Fat Monkeys’ camp in Monkey Bay right on the lake in the early afternoon.


· Thursday, 8th of May, Monkey Bay

After the last few driving days we take it easy and I update my diary.
The mouse traps I laid out at over night were not successful. Instead the piece of banana which I put on one is gone! Seems to be a clever furry buggar!

A hoard of jolly pot-smoking South African backpackers ‘invades’ the campsite and it’s annoying in a funny way to listen to them: ‘Jeez man! Hey bru! Howzit China!? Is it??? No way!!! Is lekker! Lank kief dude! Don’t talk kak boet! Schweet my bru!’…..Sounds lank familiar!

Since the packet of long life cream we bought in Nampula looked a bit abused, I decide to sacrifice some of our chocolate to make a mousse. Tastes not quite the same as made from fresh cream, but is definitely rich and enjoyable!

In the late afternoon I set out three mouse traps inside our Landy again, this time I tie pieces of banana to them with a string! We are quietly sitting in front of the camp fire after dinner, enjoying one of the awesome sunsets when we suddenly hear ‘WHACK!’ the trap being triggered! We finally got the mouse! And it wasn’t a small one either! Finally quiet nights again with the car alarm on, if only the backpackers would find their way into their tents (sigh)!

· Friday, 9th of May, Monkey Bay

We hire a double kayak and set out to two of the islands. When passing the first one, we spot an otter swimming along its shore, first time ever I have seen one in the wild! We push on to the other island which is maybe 6 km across the lake from our camp. It’s an island with a private lodge and we think we could maybe pop in at their bar for a drink! After about
1 ½ hours of paddling over the choppy waters we finally arrive at the island’s beach from where we can spot already the tented camp. Instead of a warm welcome, however, we get turned away by the not so friendly manageress by telling us that this is a private island and that we not supposed to be here and that we were not supposed to have crossed the lake without a guide in the first place! Even though we obviously annoyed her with our presence, she sends a kayak guide with us who sympathizes with us and sneakily takes us to another part of the island so that we can at least have our lunch in peace! The guide accompanies us back to the first island where we go for a swim at a beach, protected by ‘Don’t make a poo here!’ signs (seriously!) before heading back to Fat Monkeys Camp on our own.

· Saturday, 10th of May, Makuzi Beach

On good mostly tarred roads we make our way north to Makuzi Beach where we stay at a tranquil and secluded camp site right on Lake Malawi. This place is truly a little piece of paradise with manicured terraced lawns, lushly framed by well maintained shrubs and plants, a sheltered bay with private sandy beach guarded by a little island formed by massive smooth boulders about 2 km off the lake shore.

After a refreshing swim I invite Kirsty for dinner at the lodge’s restaurant, dress code: Smart casual! Feels weird to put on civilized clothes (talking of a pair of jeans here!) for a change ;-)

· Sunday, 11th of May, Makuzi Beach

We spend a quiet day at the camp. The tranquil surroundings encourage me to get into a good yoga session, saluting the sun as the first rays glance over the distant Mozambiquean horizon.

Well, being someone that according to Kirsty is always ‘wippstert-ing’1) around that was maybe a bit too much relaxing for the day, so in the late afternoon I urge some exercise and swim out to the nearby island and back while Kirsty accompanies me in a kayak.

1) I told Kirsty once that for all our family’s kayaks, my dad had chosen names in my German hometown’s local dialect. Our long, slender double sea kayak he had named according to the always restlessly up and down bopping bird ‘Wippstert’ (in English: wagtail). Since then, Kirsty adopted that word and used it whenever I was ‘pottering’ around. K&P: I can see you both smirking there!

· Monday, 12th of May, Makuzi Beach to Nyika NP

We had been warned that the road to Nyika NP was long and quite muddy but although there were some rough bits we found it to be okay, making use of all the diversions to avoid the last marshy patches of the rainy season. While we wait for the park official at the closed boom gate, I chat to a German tour group who we had seen at Makuzi Beach already. The track to the National Park runs along the Zambian border, sometimes venturing a few meters into the neighboring territory without us realizing it since there are no visible indications of a frontier.

The Nyika Plateau is beautiful and reminds us with its green undulating hills of mountain ranges in the Alps. At this altitude, the climate is a lot cooler than down at Lake Malawi and we enjoy the crisp fresh air. We drive to the reception building to pay for our camp site where two dozen of the park’s staff hang around waiting. We learn from the park warden that the park manager, a Mzungu (Swahili for white person) who had been managing the National Park and living there with his family for 14 years has been denied renewal of his lease and was asked to leave only a few days ago. His wife and children drove away today with the furniture while he is tying up loose ends and having a last meeting with the staff waiting outside. Only then we realize that we saw earlier on two removal trucks and a woman with two kids in a Land Cruiser driving out of the park! Of those 200 people who had been employed by him, only 18 will be taken over by the National Parks Board!

Already now the horse riding and guided walks through the park are not offered anymore and while we drive to the camp site we are just wondering what the future of this once neatly run park will be?
The camp site looks deserted and feels a bit eerie with several crows following our every move, opportunistically lurking around to grab from us whatever edible they might get their beak on. The views are awesome though and not only are we soon enjoying a roaring camp fire which warms up the atmosphere, but we also get some company by four other happy campers, two Scandinavian and one Dutch girl with their local guide who arrive in a Defender Tdi after dusk.
· Tuesday, 13th of May, Nyika NP

We go for a game drive and spot zebras, roan antelopes and bushbuck. Not much to see about the ‘highest population of leopards in Africa’ as our guide book promised... we are not surprised driving through this vast reserve!

As mentioned by the park warden, we also got to see how the German taxpayer’s money gets spent: 10 beautifully constructed (German precision workmanship being used to its full potential there, jawohl ;-) were gleaming off the hill as we drove past, no access allowed by the public, all with what must be amazing vistas yet standing there empty! And all of these were built as a present by the German Government to the president of Malawi! Was about to drive up there and steal a look to recuperate my Pfennig spent on this project J !

We drive to the highest peak which is marked with a trig beacon to enjoy the endless views from there.

· Wednesday, 14th of May, Nyika NP to Karonga

Unexpectedly the way north via Chisenga to Karonga turns out to be a long slog (We previously had been told the road was tarred, but it wasn’t)! We were however rewarded with the most amazing views which unfolded in front of us coming down the Nyika Plateau.

In order for us to cross into Tanzania early the next day, we overnight in Karonga, about 50 km outside the border at a shoddy camp site. After seeing the pretty filthy camper’s ablutions, the manager offers us to use the bath rooms in one of their rooms which were equally bad…
At least our yummy burgers for dinner make up for the not so great surroundings!