Back to the developed world, after our remote adventure called Mozambique. The river border crossing was a hell of an experience, but still very pleasant. When we crossed the river we asked the boats man if there were any accidents with cars crossing on the three small boats in the past. “None” they replied. But in Tanzania a white travel agency guy said that there were boats sinking with cars on it in the past. So good that we made it with our Beast. Good roads (with the occasional %$#& speed bump), full markets and stores full of products lacking in Mozambique were waiting for us.
Still 2 weeks left of our 2 months journey until our internship started on the first of September in M a g o, Kenya.
We were traveling with our German friend Martin who was traveling across Africa with his motorbike and after relaxing in a nice guesthouse we moved on to a place called Kilwa Masoko.
Close to this small village there were some islands which we visited the next day. Many old ruins from the ages of the Sultans and Portuguese were scattered over the island. Hardly any tourists visit these Unesco World Heritage sites as it is not on many mass tourists’ lists. A night out with Martin ended in a nice bar with a stage with sing and dance performances from local artists, really nice to see.
Zanzibar was next on our program, this island 70 km offshore of Tanzania with some form of independence from the mainland is the highlight of many tourists itinerary, and so we had also some expectation of being amazing.
Took of early in the morning and soon we were lost in the chaos of Dar es Salaam. Near the southern beaches we found a guesthouse/restaurant where we could park our car for 2 euro a day, as we were not able to get the car on the island.
Finally bought a ferry ticket for the 16:00 o’clock boat to Zanzibar. After 2 hours we arrived in Stone Town, Zanzibar where a dozen touts were waiting for us. Everyone trying to sell a ride to their hotel or a tour on the island. Zanzibar is known for these people who annoy tourists all over the island.
After a night in a hotel near the docks we started thinking about our car and the place where we parked it on the mainland. Before we parked it we checked some other places where parking was more expensive but we decided to park at the place which looked more remote but cheaper.
As Beast is our most valuable possession we decided to park the car in a safer place. This took me a whole day, 2 hours back on the ferry then a taxi then another short ride on another ferry then a tuktuk and after parking the car at a resort, a taxi, ferry, taxi and the big ferry back to Zanzibar. Maybe a waste of money but better safe then sorry. Linda spent her day on the island visiting sites in Stone Town.
Zanzibar is known for its culture, white beaches and clear blue water. In the north, packed with hotels and resorts, we found a bungalow close to the beach for a reasonable price. In the 3 days we stayed here we visited a turtle aquarium where you could swim with huge turtles and spent days swimming in the sea.
As this is a major attraction in Africa we thought that the development of the island would be progressive. The opposite is true. After talking to some people we found out that the President of the island (which is the vice president of Tanzania) is as corrupt as can be and one of the richest persons in Africa.
Many villages don’t have enough water pumps, garbage is found everywhere, education facilities are hardly found and many people are illiterate. This all to keep the population dumb and any form of political resistance is crushed by the police. The opposition is said to have won the last elections but major fraud helped the current president to stay for another term. These situations are not uncommon in Africa and we heard about these scandals in several countries on the continent.
Zanzibar was nice but not amazing, this came mainly through our expectations. Better to have none as I did with Africa so then there can never be disappointment.
After a few days on Zanzibar we took the cheaper night ferry back which took 9 hours instead of 2 with the fast one, sometimes woken up by people throwing up onboard. Our beloved Beast waiting for us in Dar es Salaam and that morning we left to the Usambara mountains to the small village of Lushoto. The roads in Tanzania are well tarred but close to villages, speed bumps sometimes appear without warning which is extremely annoying. At a certain point Joost was stopped again by police for speeding, driving 76 were 30 was allowed. Ai! as we thought but the fine was just 20.000 shilling (which is just about 10 euro!) and as I got a look in the officer’s ticket/fine book all the people stopped were given a 20.000 shilling fine didn’t matter if you were a resident or tourist or if you were driving 5 km or 70 km to fast.
After a night camping we were recommended to do a hike around the villages and in the rainforest nearby.
A really nice walk and we saw that day 2 cameleons, really nice rare animals with their freak eyes looking at every direction. We slept in a small banda (type of bungalow) on a viewpoint just on the cliff of a huge mountain.
Driving further to Moshi, where our plans were to spend the night there just to see the highest mountain of Africa, Kilimanjaro in the distance. As it was to cloudy to see the mountain we moved to Arusha 80 km further to a nicer campsite. Arusha is the Safari capital of Tanzania and many tours can be booked here to different parks in the region. As we thought Zanzibar was bad with people who bother you, Arusha is worse.
The back of our car already has many stickers of countries where we have been and we found a new one in Arusha. We changed the sticker “I have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro” into “I have NOT climbed Mount Kilimanjaro because it costs US $ 1000” This ridiculous price for entering a park and climbing it yourself is considered by many tourist not worth to pay.
Crossing into Kenya, stopping in Nairobi just to get some Kenyan Shilling and driving further to Naivasha.
A few National parks were nearby and we decided to visit Hells Gate NP. This year the Kenya Wildlife Service raised their prices for all the national parks in the country. For $ 25,- per person per day we could enter the park. The first half of the park looked really nice with huge cliffs and many animals. Buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, antelopes could be seen everywhere. The second half of the park had some geysers but as we wanted to see them we noticed suddenly in the middle of the park a huge power station getting the electricity out of the hot steam. That night we slept in the park on a beautiful viewpoint on a mountain overlooking the savanna.
On our last day we wanted to relax and spent our day at a campsite with swimming pool before driving to M a g o, our home for the next 6 months.
As we already experienced in southern Kenya the extreme drought, crossing the equator and arriving in M a g o and surroundings everything looks green here. As it is on about 1400 m above sea level it has a nice climate of +/- 25 degrees every day and hardly any mosquitoes are found.
Arrived on the school compound of M a g o Polytechnic / Guesthouse we met the volunteers Renske and Pepijn our supervisors for our internship time here.
As Linda and I both study Tourism Management we got a task to promote and write a marketing plan for the guest house in Kenya and Europe. The school is specifically for the poorest students in the region and many courses can be followed like: carpentry, masonry, sewing, mechanics, hospitality and computer skills. The guest house acts also as a hotel school for the students studying on the compound.
All the money that is generated in the guesthouse goes to the school and the students. And as there are hardly any guests staying we are brought in to change that.
We are staying in of the luxurious rooms and currently have the whole guesthouse for us alone incl. the giant restaurant kitchen and we are welcomed by 7 small puppies born a few days before we arrived.
The first week we spent finding our way in the region, arranging phone numbers and internet and looking at the facilities we have to promote. This week school starts here after a week of holidays, and we slowly get to know all the staff members.
We are really looking forward to our stay here and making a change in the lives of this community and showing my parents around who are visiting us in less then 3 weeks.
So travelling through 7 countries and driving more then 10.000 km from Cape Town our car did amazing with only 1 flat tyre. We experienced so many amazing things and saw incredible places. Now our time here we will be seeing Kenya’s attractions and in our free time Uganda, the gorillas in Rwanda and probably Ethiopia. And there is a change that we have to drive back to South Africa in March to sell our car.
Some counters of indication
Dead dogs along the road: 20
Dogs peeing against our beast: 7
Albinos: we stopped counting but at least a few dozen
Linda scarred from animals: 14
People asking 'You sleep in the back of the car?': 9
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.nl/jcopray
Hope you all enjoyed our adventures, in a few weeks I will write again about our progress here.
Greets from
Claus, Clark, Yawn and Hast (these are the names people pronounce for Joost)
Belinda, Lucinda, Cinda (for Linda)
Hilarious!!
For contacting us:
My Kenya number is 00254 733211727. Linda’s 00254 733211733 (her birthday is the 12th this month)
And the post address:
M a g o Youth Polytechnic School / Guesthouse
P.O. Box 1
50325 M a g o
Kenya
