Farewell Tanzania

After leaving three people on Zanzibar we picked up another two in Dar Es Salaam, a Swiss couple about our age.  They are with us until Victoria Falls. The next three days were basically driving days, though we did do another game drive in Mkumi National Park.  This park is a little strange in that the main highway goes through the middle of it. So on our drive to our overnight stop, we went through the park and saw giraffes, elephants and various antelope.  Next morning we had an 'actual’ game drive and saw the same animals, though much closer. We also saw a 2 ½ to 3 metre Rock python slither across the road. There were lots of monkeys around and they were very interested in keeping an eye on the snake.  They got quite close and kept watch until it had headed off into the bush. The game drive finished around 11:00 (had started at 6:30) when we returned to camp for an early lunch before another 5 hours on the road.

Life on the road can be a little tedious - and slow - but we play cards, read, sleep and look out the windows.  The villages are always interesting and young children are always waving and smiling at us. Many of the houses are in pretty poor shape and quite a few looked like they have been abandoned rather than rebuilt. Our destination for the night was an old farmhouse where the stables had been converted to rooms ( with no bathrooms) and a new kitchen/meals area has been built around the old building - leaving the previous wall remains in place.  It was very nice and we had a lovely candlelit dinner. Internet has been variable in most campsites and this one was no exception. There was a note saying they use satellite internet and as it is expensive they limit it to 1GB for the day - and turn it off at 7:00pm regardless. With 3 Overland trucks pulling in that night, I was able to get emails, check footy scores and then it was done. Oh well we move on.

Moving on this time meant a 5:30am start, so we were awake at 3:45 to break down the tents, eat breakfast and wash dishes.  The drive to our next stop on Lake Malawi was expected to take 12-14 hours, depending on border crossing delays and the number of trucks on the road.  Not sure how our driver does it, as we all get a chance to sleep on the truck. The scenery as we approached the border was very hilly and quite spectacular.  Very different to other parts of Tanzania. This area is part of the Rift Valley which extends as far as Jordan to the North. We stopped in the Valley of the Boabs where there were 50 or more Boabs trees.  The border crossing took about 2 ½ hours. We all got through pretty quickly but our driver had to pay road tolls for Malawi and the cashier had just gone to lunch. Of course there was nobody else to take over so we just had to wait.

Our stop for the night has a beautiful outlook over Lake Malawi and we have pitched our tents in a great spot. No internet at all here though so no blog updates, email , F1 results etc etc.  Still we aren't here for the internet, so have just been enjoying the view and watching the moon rise over the lake. (Lake Malawi is about 580 kilometres miles long and 75km wide at its widest point wide)

We spent only one night here though before moving to a different campsite a couple of hundred kms further South, still on Lake Malawi. We pitched our tents facing the water and then did some washing and caught up on the Internet.  We have two days here where we are free to do as little or as much as we want. There are several activities to choose from, so we did a walking tour into the village and will do a waterfall walk tomorrow (4 hours).  The village walk was interesting and quite fun. Many of the local children joined us as we walked and held our hands. At various points the guide would ask them to leave us, but other kids would join us later. We took many photos with them and it was refreshing that they didn’t ask for any money.  The tour took us through the marketplace and to the school, where the Principal spoke to us (It is school holidays but many of the teachers were still there). The school has 1500 children - or learners - in grades from 1 to 8,with the biggest class holding 220 students! We gave a monetary donation at the end, and also some pens and a ball we had brought from Australia. Next stop was the hospital where one of two physicians spoke to us about the work they do - vaccinations, maternity, HIV testing and minor surgeries.  Any major cases are sent to the 'mother’ hospital 90 Kms away, but with only 1 ambulance servicing 5 satellite hospitals it can be a bit hit and miss. The doctors suggested a plan to the locals and now they all make contributions towards a taxi if patients need to be transported. Lauren in particular was interested in the various medicines being used - very similar to Australia - and they have suggested she come back to work in the future where the village chief will provide her with a house (with electricity). She is interested but I doubt it will happen.  Again we left a monetary donation, it wasn’t compulsory but they did bring out a donation tin. We had previously met some British nurses who were volunteering in a Tanzanian hospital and they told stories of 3 women to a bed after child birth. This hospital didn’t seem quite that bad but certainly wasn’t to western standards. Having said that though the doctor was pleased to tell us that their HIV rates has dropped from 18% to 8% and their maternity survival rate is improving considerably as well, so things are looking up.

Boab Valley

Sunrise over Lake Malawi

Our second campsite