Day 44 – Ngala Beach to Norman Carr Cottage – Monkey Bay, MalawiAnother Beautiful

Another Beautiful day in Africa

Was this Bridge passed fit for use after this incident

Now that was history!!

This was where Livingstone made his umbrella presentation to the Chief  a magnificent Fig Tree

We leave Ngala at a civilised time but the big girls want to visit a pottery shop in Dedza, which ultimately takes 80kms out of our direct route, but before I tell you about that I decide we must find a couple of trees in Kota Kota one where Livingstone met with some chief and presented him with an umbrella and another……

We have tried to find this place on our last visit to Malawi without any luck in fact we thought the trees had been cut down and once again we have the same problem, but a very nice young man stops and asks us if we are looking for Livingstone's Tree and offers to show us where it is. Well there is no way in hell we would have found this going by directions and a map in Bradt. Have included some photo’s on this Blog of this exciting event!

We then press on to Dedza and I have never seen a road like this rising up over 1000m we have a switch back road that conservatively had over 25 hairpin bends in fact by the time we get to the top we all feel sick.

The pottery is very nice but quite pricey and ideally one needs to give them your own design and then they ship it to you, we decide to give it a miss, but we do enjoy their cheese cake and apple pie.

We now have to go down the same road, but before that we get caught for speeding, another R150 fine. The trip down does not give us the same sick feeling and we ultimately get to Norman Carr around 04h30pm and Claudia arranges to go on the sunset cruise starting at 05h00pm with Sinead.

We have decided to go through Mozambique, but will play it by ear as the Mozambique Embassy here says that the unrest has calmed down and if there are any problems they will put us in a convoy.

We had an enjoyable evening with Taffy and Jenny who are the ultimate in hosts as were Chris and Sandy at Ngala, two places one must stay in Malawi.

Day 43 – Sangilo Sanctuary to Ngala Beach near Dwangwa, Malawi

Sinead with one of her many faces

Abnormal Loads

It will take a lot of this to kill me

We were all awake early watching the sun rise over Lake Malawi, which immediately puts one in a good frame of mind. Lake Malawi follows the contours of the Great Rift Valley for 585kms and is up to 100kms wide in parts and represents 15% of Malawi surface area. We were told that they have found oil in the lake and a British company has the rights, suddenly Tanzania is very interested in their portion of the lake, hopefully both countries will enjoy the fruits of such a discovery, but we know what happens when oil is found.

Our journey today went from lake level at around 500m above sea level to over 1280m at Mzuzu a very picturesque road, we seem to make a habit of wanting to change currency on a pay day so we had a fairly long wait at the bank, we would not have needed Malawi Kwacha if not for the price of petrol which stands at +/- R22 per litre, so I guess we should stop moaning about fuel prices in RSA.

We travel through Rubber plantations, tea and coffee a lot of it with small growers and it is very green here.

We arrive at Ngala Beach at 02h30pm to be greeted by the owners Sandy and Chris 3 dogs and 2 cats so Sinead is in woo, woo heaven. Denise and I stayed here in 2011 and we followed Sandy and Chris’s trip from Cape to Cairo in a 1962 Volvo sedan with several other classic/antique car enthusiasts and it is very nice to catch up with them and their experiences that were not told on their blog.

We have a relaxing afternoon and a wonderful 3 course dinner, their oxtail was divine. Tomorrow we hope to find out the situation in Mozambique, Chris thinks they are running convoys, but we will see what the art of the possible is and perhaps come through the Zimbabwe, Mutare border post,

Day 42 – Mbeya to Sangilo Sactuary near Karonga, Malawi

Sangilo Sanctuary Our rooms - Malawi

View from the Beach

Sinead now accepts the Lake

We got off to a reasonably early start also knowing that we were going to get back our lost hour once we got to Malawi.

The journey down through the Southern Highlands and the Tukuyu area was without incident and although we were stopped by the Police four or five times we managed to avoid the dreaded hairdryer that they use for speed traps.

We travelled back through Mbeya and we were glad it was a Sunday as it was a lot quieter than the day before. The one hour to the border is a myth and it took us close on 2 hours to do the 111kms. The 2 hours at the border was also a myth as we were cleared and ready to go in 45 minutes, perhaps we were lucky, but that was the end of our luck as it took over 2 more hours to cross into Malawi.

They were digging up half of the Malawi entry road and the other half was occupied by the tandem truck that was waiting to be loaded with the rubble that was being dug up. I asked security if we could go through the exit gate and got an adamant No! We had to wait for the trucks in front of us to go over the weigh bridge and then there was 4 second hand vehicles imported from China and Japan via the Emirates and the customs official was checking engine and chassis numbers against the documentation and on some they could not find the numbers, what a farce. I even went to see my new friend at the Road Toll office a Mr. Mc Bum, (he says he is not of Scots descent) but he could do nothing so we went over a couple of hours later patiently!! Awaiting our turn. The only charge at this border was US$51 road toll.

The lack of vehicles on the road was a bit of a mystery, but we were not complaining, they do not have “hair dryers” (Speed Traps) they do have police road blocks who with one exception waved us through. The exception wanted to see our Insurance, which was found to be in order (COMESA) and this is after an insurance con man selling insurance at the border told us that Malawi no longer accepted the COMESA insurance, seems the Nigerians are not the only ones in the conning game.

We get to Sangilo Sanctuary our over night stop at 03h00pm and it is rustic but nice, right on the edge of Lake Malawi, but some of these Eco Lodges take power saving to the limit and after dusk you can only read by torch light, the last I remember of that night was Denise reading with a headlight on.  

Day 41 – Iringa to Mbeya

Denise's Lion

All this Game spotting is both boring and tiring

Some of the game combinations were very photogenic

We get away at around 09h00am and Denise and I are determined that we do not get fined for speeding and as a result we get to Mbeya at 02h00pm not bad at an average of 55kmph but we were stopped at 5 police checks that had police radar units, the locals call them “hairdryers” and at least another 3 checks where they ask for “help” short for money, insurance, pass the time of day and I am convinced Sinead got us through two of them with her charm and personality.

These incidents contribute hugely to the time to travel as well as the many villages en route, where even if you want to go faster you cannot, due to people, motorbikes, cars, cyclists and above all trucks, trucks and more trucks.

Blind Rise, Blind Corner; what the hell

The road is not too bad, but we are pleased to get this leg of our journey over as it does become a bit stressful.

Denise has had a bite on her arm a couple of days ago that could be anything it is inflamed, swollen and hot too the touch and it is now very itchy, other than that she is well, we have all had our share of mosquito bites, tse tse fly bites and other bites that could be sand fleas, or some other creepy crawly.

Tanzania is still the cleanest country we have had the pleasure of visiting on our trip to date, but what we can say is that the people everywhere have been very friendly and most helpful with very few exceptions.

We are very proud to tell you that we have kept to our timetable up to now and Malawi should be a breeze. We are told here at Utengule Coffee Farm Lodge in Mbeya that it will take us an hour to get to the border, 2 hours to cross and I estimate another hour to the first of three stops in Malawi.

I hope to ascertain what the situation is like in Mozambique over the next couple of days, we will not take any chances if there is one iota of doubt and our fall back is return via Zambia and Botswana or Zambia and Zimbabwe, and still arrive back home on 4th September.

Happy birthday Dot we trust you had a great one and may there be many, many more to come.  

Wheat ready for harvest outside Mbeya

Day 40 – Mikumi to Iringa

Some of the lovely scenery in this part of the world

It is wall to wall trucks

We have an uneventful trip from Mikumi to Iringa and get to Iringa in the Southern Highlands (1800m above sea level) at 2h00pm. I need to get some Tanzanian shillings for Petrol as we have done the trip from Dar es Salaam via Selous and the infamous shortcut on a tank and a half of fuel and whilst I am at the bank the girls are slowly following me down the road as I have to go from bank to bank to exchange dollars.

When I get back to them they tell me a lady is harassing them for parking money and sure enough back comes this wisp of a girl no more than 5 foot tall demanding 1000shs I tell her there is no sign indicating there is a parking fee and with that she grabs me by the wrist and starts hauling me down the road and across it to read a large notice in official Kiswahili that I can only make out half and I am still not convinced it tells me there is a general parking fee.

When I tell her so she storms off after the car with this antiquated wheel lock that probably weighs as much as she does, Denise sees her coming and drives off before she can attach it driving over the contraption and almost driving over the parking attendant and I am getting the low down on the parking regulations of Iringa from an amused onlooker. Now it is getting serious, except for the onlookers who are enjoying the show and having a good laugh, she then gets out her phone and tells me she is ringing her higher authority, I then relent and pay the fee probably R4 for which I can park anywhere in Iringa for the whole day.

We do some window shopping and on arrival back at the car our lady is trying to lock a truck’s wheel the occupants of which want to start a pavement promotion and they are also enjoying watching their driver trying to convince our very zealous attendant that he does not have to pay. One thing you can say for her is she takes her job very seriously and I would certainly pay her a performance bonus.

This embarrassing moment was not captured in photo image as the girls were too busy laughing at me being hauled down the road and by the way I was not even the driver.

We arrive at the Old Farmhouse (Kisolanza Farm) have a glass of wine before their excellent dinner that we all thoroughly enjoy and I would always recommend this ideal stop over whether you are camping or want a chalet.   

Day 39 – Mikumi/Udzungwa Mountains

6 Males in a collaborative group after consuming an adult Wildebeest

It is such a pain getting down to drink from my dizzy height

Udzungwe Forest

Some exceptional scenery in the Selous Reserve

We are in two minds whether to go back into the Mikumi Game Park or do something different and decided on the Uduzungwa National Park, which is a Mountain park that has some eleven species of monkey including the Red Colobus,  Sanje Mangabey, Matundu dwarf Galago, Mountain Dwarf Galago and the recently discovered monkey the Rungwecebus Kipunji, these five species are not found anywhere else in the world except in the tropical rain forest of the Udzungwe, 400 species of butterfly and a huge variety of flora with trees soaring 30 metres.

We could not do a huge hike because of Sinead, who has grown and put on weight since we left, but we trekked up some 4kms to see three small waterfalls, the butterflies were stunning and we spotted the Red Colobos Monkey, which looks like it has a ginger wig on its head. You have to do a few days hike if you want to get high up in the rain forest area, but we do get a feel for the place and it was nice to do a walk instead of being cooped up in a car all day. Claudia spotted a tree frog that was no bigger than my little fingers nail, we did get told its name, but like a lot of the trees we got the Latin version.

We had a very enjoyable day that was altogether different and we are pleased with our decision.

We also take the opportunity of meeting the locals, we could have sold Sinead four times over, we bought some exotic fruit to try one tastes like custard and banana mixed, the other like a leachy yogurt. Claudia bought some material from a little seamstress and Denise bought a small ceramic stove, ideal for a potjie. We had some good laughs and Sinead was in top form.

We also passed two South African cars from Pinetown and Johannesburg that shows that a lot of people do this sort of trip on their own.

Tomorrow we travel to Iringa where we will stay at the Old Farm House again for one night.

Mathew we were thinking about you on your birthday and hope you had a lovely time and got lots of interesting presents.

I will hopefully be able to send you some photo’s as I post the next blogs, but I cannot bank on it in darkest Africa.

Hiking with Mom is such a boring business

Day 38 – Selous to Mikumi

We get away from Selous River Camp at close on 08h00am and say farewell to Belinda and Jason the Camp Managers who have looked after us very well. We have to go through the Selous Reserve to get to our next destination and we are told that there is a short cut and at the gate I get some directions from a driver who is making the same trip and tells us to follow him, but we want to go and find the elusive perhaps mythical wild dogs so decline.

Well we do not get to see any type of dog, but Claudia spots a female lion right in front of the car, we found it unusual for this female to be on her own and within minutes Denise spots the male, both animals magnificent specimens. We see a fair amount of game but still below expectations, perhaps we are spoilt.

I am telling Denise which road to take using the compass as a guide when suddenly we run out of road and have to return down our tracks and we eventually exit the Reserve at 2h00pm, but with my shortcut in mind I do not see a problem in getting to Mikumi by around 5h00pm.

On arriving at the village where our shortcut starts and after asking several people, giving panado to a lady who looked very sick, giving jelly sweets to a dozen kids we get on a track that could not be termed a road, but we are assured that the track does indeed take us to Mikumi. After a few kilometres we find that we are running next to the Tanzam railway line so we bash on, the road track becomes a cattle track, sometimes almost disappears and we think we see what are another car tracks, then we think they may just be the couple of motor cycles that have past us going in the other direction, it is too late to turn back and the railway must go somewhere.

3 hours later we drive into a ranger post, now for the last hour we have not seen man or beast, just tse tse fllies that invade the car whenever we open a window or a door and these little creatures have a very stingy bite. The Ranger in charge wants us to register our details and in the usual Swahili fashion tells us it is only 35kms to the gate, 60kms later we drive into another rangers post and have to register again and he also tells us that another 30kms on a good road we will see the park HQ and a hotel were we exit the park and pay for the day.

Another hour passes and it is getting dark and we see no sign of human habitation and we hit the mountains, Denise tells me there is a hell of a drop on her side and we are going up and down steep inclines and declines and it is getting darker, suddenly we spot some lights and it is just before 07h00pm then the lights start moving and we think there are cars coming towards us and out of the dark appears a boom that is unmanned and we go through and there is the main road and we are a few kms out of Mikumi town and we have not seen the HQ or the Hotel.

The drive into Mikumi through the Mikumi National Park is a little hair raising with the heavy vehicles, speed bumps designed to slow trucks down and save animal life, we have a truck coming towards us with lights on full beam and there right on the side of the road is a couple of zebra and we miss their backsides by a whisker.

Are we glad to reach Tan Swiss Lodge where we are greeted and asked if we want to order dinner and it will be ready when we have had a shower and freshened up. It is definitely double brandy time, but we made it in 5 hours and although we saved 200kms it probably took us the same time; the difference in going the longer route is at least we would know where we are. So if nothing else we set a record for being lost in two parks the Selous and Mikumi in one day. We think the misunderstanding was that the persons who told us about the shortcut thought we were going to Mikumi National Park and not Mikumi Town.

The outcome is that Denise has boycotted all further shortcuts.

Have some great photo's will post at a venue which has a faster connection. 

Day 36 & 37 – Selous Game Reserve

Day 36

We kick off day 36 with an early morning boat trip down the Rufiji River which is 400metres wide at the camp site, sorry, mud hut and it is still 300kms from the sea. The river must be spectacular sight in full flood probably 600metres wide and another 10 metres deep.

On our boat trip we expected to see lots of birds but it is surprisingly sparse in terms of bird life which consisted king fishers, fish eagle, open billed storks, egrets and a few others, but in no great numbers.

We spot a dead hippo from where we are staying and when we get close on the boat we see it is being devoured by crocodiles and it looks like it will be consumed before we leave.

As a matter of interest you can cross the river in a dug out canoe for the princely sum of KShs 100 which is +/- R0.70

The Selous River Camp is a series of mud huts with an outside bar and dining room under thatched coconut fronds. There is no electricity apart from a generator that operates from 18h00 to 22h00 and is primarily for charging camera batteries and the like, its paraffin lamps, candles and solar lamps and thank goodness we had a solar powered fan the first night which was sweltering hot and humid, we definitely know and feel that we are in Africa.

The second part of our day is taken up with a game drive in the Selous Game Reserve.

The reserve is larger than Swaziland and the Serengeti, but it is a bit of a misnomer as 80% of the Reserve south of the Rufiji is cut up into hunting concessions.

Although we saw a fair amount of game it does not come close to the Kruger nor does it live up to its reputation. My impression and perception was that there is a fair amount of mis management of the resource and the game was very shy and timid, could be put down to the hunting concessions in the South, but my guess is that there is still a fair amount of poaching in the photographic areas as with Tsavo.

To back up my point we see some buffalo and lion and no problem to our guide he goes off road to within 2 to 10 metres from the animals and this a driver/guide who supposedly is trained in conservation. The poaching history of these parks which they claim is under control is not, here are some statistics:-

Parks                         1970’s           1990’s             2010 Claimed

Tsavo West

Rhino                         6000                 10                   150 (In a Sanctuary guarded 24/7)

Elephant                    30000             6000                 12000

Selous

Rhino                           3000                20                   150 (Special permit to enter area) Elephant                   110000           25000                 60000 (We saw one in a whole days game drive with a guide)

We have driven these parks extensively and the visible numbers do not match the stats and I had top notch spotters. Other endangered species such as wild dog, puku and sable antelope in the Selous are not seen with any frequency.

We had a bone rattling, kidney hammering day but it was a little more rewarding than Tsavo West and a full days activity.

We have another boat trip up the Rufiji another full days game drive and a walking session in the park lined up for the next two days, however we decide that we would unlikely to see anything we had not already seen and opt for the day in the camp relaxing before we head north for Mikumi.

Day 37

We spend the day in camp, tidying up the car, catching up on this blog drinking ice cold shandies and eating, so nothing to report.               

Day 35 – Dar es Salaam to Selous Game Reserve

Breakfast is only served from 08h00 so we only get away at 09h00am and I am expecting the tar road to end just south of where we stayed, but it turns out to be paved all the way to Lindi/Mtwara over 400kms. We make good time to the Selous turn off and if were not for a 40kms stretch at the end where one could not exceed 20kmph we would have been at the camp a lot earlier. We get a very nice welcome from Belinda and Jason who manage the Selous River Camp and we decline any activities for the rest of the day.

We get allocated our mud hut and are impressed with what one can achieve with local building materials. We have a great meal for lunch followed by a very nice Dinner and we crash early in 30 degree heat and 100% humidity. 

Having trouble downloading photos, will do so at another destination. 

Day 34 - Mkoma Bay to Dar es Salaam

Sunrise at aptly named Sunrise Beach Resort - Dar es Salaam

Granny with Granddaughter  who loves water but not the sea

Day 34

We get away by 07h30 after arranging an early breakfast and the road up to Muheza is very good sand road and we make good time and we are contemplating a lunch time arrival, but how wrong we are.

The road to Dar from Muheza is a pretty good tar and after I have completed 200kms Denise takes the wheel and we experience the might of the Tanzania police when we are pulled over again. This time Denise was purported to have been exceeding the speed limit of 50kmph allegedly travelling at 69kmph, which she vigorously denies, but to no avail. We have figured it out; you cannot win, although there is a pattern to where the speed limit changes you cannot bank on it and whether it is deliberate or not we will never know, one thing is certain they are definitely looking for a pay off and we have resisted. What we do know is that Denise was not speeding as we could not have gone over their bumps at that speed and in fact it is hell going over at 30kmph, but what can you do.

Eventually we get to the outskirts of Dar and it looks like a city under siege as they are constructing a Rapid Bus Transit Service, which entails dedicated lanes, I guess it took us 2 hours to get to the Likoni Ferry with buses coming down the wrong side of the road, motor cycles travelling this way and that way and the Dala Dala’s (Tuk Tuk’s) putting their and their passengers lives at risk.

That was not the end of our long day, we wait another 2 hours to get on the ferry so our 12 0’clock arrival went out to 4 O’clock arrival at Sunrise Holiday Resort and after checking in we have three different curries and all of them were delicious. We are only here for one night, but it was more than adequate.      

Day 32 and 33 Mombasa to Pangani & Mkoma Bay, Pangani

Day 32

We get away from the Kenya Bay Beach Hotel before 08h00am, but that is where the timeous start ends, it takes us one and a half hours to get to the new Nyali Bridge a distance of not more than 10kms the strange thing is, when you reach the bridge you cannot fathom why there was a hold up.

We are getting the feel for Mombasa by now and we find our way to Likoni Ferry in quick time, my impression of Mombasa Island today is one of a city bursting at the seems, very dirty, but vibrant with a lot of entrepreneurship evident in the street side businesses. Clearly since I lived there in the 60’s it has expanded in all directions particularly up the North Coast towards Bamburi. One thing that has not changed is the heat coupled with the humidity, we are lucky this is the cooler time of the year!!

I forgot to tell you that the Mombasa Club is still up and running and clearly from what our guide told us about three times is still seen as the last outpost of the British Colonial Regime.

The ferry crossing was a breeze and the road is pretty good down past Diani Beach and other landmarks I had forgotten about like the large sisal estates in this part of the country. We arrive at the border post at Horohoro which is a comparatively quiet crossing; either that or we are getting the hang of it. You first clear customs then 6kms down the road you clear immigration, wish they were all like this.

The road to Tanga is great and as a result I pick up the first speeding fine of the trip Tz Shs 30,000 (R150) doing 75kmph in a 50kmph zone at the end of the village I overtook a bus and they zapped me, not before they indicated that “kitu kidogo” meaning a small thing and also a bribe in fact his words were “what can you do for me”

We are all too aware that the condition of the road from Tanga to Pangani is an unknown so we push through without delay having been told it would take 2 hours. It was not a great road, but we managed to do it in an hour for 45kms.

Once again the access road to the Mkoma Bay Tented Lodge leads one to think what have we booked in to, only to be pleasantly surprised and we managed to get Claudia and Sinead their own tent at no extra cost, the food is good and the beach fantastic very long and deserted. I must say I was very glad we took the coastal road as my GPS coordinates would have taken us south of the Pangani River and we would have to come north again over the Pangani River on a small ferry and probably would have taken us an extra 2 hours.

Day 33

This is our rest day and we decide that chilling is ideal in this perfect setting so we catch a few rays, lounge about, have fish and chips for lunch, a swim in the sea and relax. Talking of the sea Sinead is petrified of the sea, and does not want to anywhere near the waves, that are very small along this coast as there is a reef, but you can only imagine what it looks like to a small child, my guess is that it is overpowering.

The food here is good and I am sure we have all put on a couple of kilo’s. We are off to Dar es Salaam tomorrow so we get to bed reasonably early as we want to make an early start.

Days 30 & 31 – Tsavo – Mombasa

One of the Many Scenic views in Tsavo West

Our Guide with Claudia, Sinead and Denise down one of the Narrow Alleys of Old Mombasa

People, Tuk Tuk's and Cars

Fort Jesus - Mombasa

Pavement Vegetable and Fruit Sellers in Old Mombasa

The Old Jail at Fort Jesus - No Denise is not in Jail

Day 30

We managed to get away from Kitani Banda’s by 07h30 and I have to say for Severin Group to be associated with these Banda’s is a disgrace, but the main camp was very nice as was the food and there they looked after us very well. It just showed us how much web site photos can be photo shopped.

I said how disappointed we were with the game viewing, in fact we saw more around our camp than out in the Park itself and I would not recommend this Park from a game perspective. The scenery on the other hand was superb and to our surprise on our last evening we saw Kilimanjaro being less than 50kms from the base and it brought back memories of our ascent in 2006.

Telephone Technicians Nightmare

We wanted to go down to Lake Jipe on our last full day there, however the map and the

 sign posts saw us  going down a road that eventually petered out forcing us to return the same way and other a couple of wildlife sightings we had a pretty barren day. We do not know how lucky we are to have a Kruger National Park.

Red Elephants of Tsavo

I n the morning of Day 30 we head for the Coast, but we have to traverse some 60 odd kms to get to our exit point at Tsavo Gate, again we see very little, but we did get a sighting of the Tsavo Red Elephants so named because they are generally covered in the red dust, which dominates Tsavo West. 

Kilimanjaro from Severin Lodge in Tsavo West not the well known Christmas Pudding Look

I cannot describe the driving in Kenya and I guess you have to live here to understand the unwritten rules of the road. There are so many trucks on the road from Mombasa and not surprising when one considers that it is the gateway to the inland of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Northern and Western Tanzania, the DRC and the Southern Sudan, why the importers and exporters do not use the Rail system I do not know.

The Nairobi to Mombasa road is in a good condition having been recently rehabilitated. Solid Yellow lines mean nothing along with blind rises and blind corners. It seems you just go and if another vehicle is coming head on, the truck or vehicle next to you allows you to squeeze in, it is really scary and then I finally click on to the correct behaviour my passengers have no nails to chew and their brakes have been on more than mine and there are holes in the floor boards. Driving in Africa is not for the faint hearted.

We take an hour to do the last 20kms along which it seems to be a constant truck stop, then we have to find our way through Mombasa just after their siesta time and it is chaotic and it is a mystery as to how we eventually ended up at Bamburi and the Kenya Bay Beach Hotel, our base for the next two days. The accommodation is good and we have a relaxing afternoon with Sinead enjoying the water in the kiddie’s pool.

If you want to avoid hawkers you do not go to the beach, there are more shops on the beach than on the main road. We go down the beach and pick out an Italian Restaurant (Roberto’s) for dinner, which turns out to be very good.

The next day we plan on going into Mombasa to see the outside curio market I remember from my days here in the 60’s and see some other sights.

Day 31

Today we bravely set off for Mombasa at around 08h30am. We realise that it is the rush hour, but we underestimated the effect that one bridge across the Mtwapa Creek has on the traffic, I am told that the old floating Nyali bridge was sold to Zambia and now they want it back due to the amount of North Coast traffic that needs to get to Mombasa Island and beyond, which is causing major traffic jams. There is nothing better to help you regain your ancient bearings than getting lost on a few occasions.

Have you ever been lost in Africa north of the Limpopo and asked for directions from the local populace, do not get me wrong they give you the right directions, but there is just too much information, a police woman gave us directions this morning that took 5 minutes and a bank teller gave me directions that took 30 seconds only when we got on the shortened narrative of the directions did we start seeing all her land marks.

Another tip never ask how far it is, you get the chin up in the air in the general direction and the words “mbale kidogo” meaning small distance and do not ask how many kilometres.

We arrive at Fort Jesus and have a conducted tour of this ancient Fort occupied over time by the Arabs, Portuguese and British, and it is very interesting. We then go through the “Old Mombasa Town” a labyrinth of narrow roads, 200 year old buildings, dark shops, pavement green groceries, a vegetable and fruit market and shops selling spices, teas and coffees. 

 In the main dirty, badly maintained and at times catches some very pungent smells not least was a garbage dump and I ask you does this sound familiar “the municipality only has capacity to upload 400tons of garbage a day and the greater Mombasa generates 7000 tons” at least that is what our guide told us and if you were to see the garbage everywhere it does lend credence to his claim. 

It has been a hot day with temperatures in the lower 30’s, but very humid and we are glad to find the Tamarind Restaurant which Denise and I have had some memorable meals, not least their famous Crab Claws deep fried in crumbs, Prawn Masala and Prawns Piri Piri a lunch fit for a King and a cold White Cap Pilsner that goes down without touching the sides. 

The Ladies at Tamarind Restaurant

View up Mtwapa Creek from the Restaurant

Back at our hotel where Sinead gets a well earned sleep and I do the blog before going for a long walk on the Beach, we say for exercise, but really it was to help digest our rich seafood lunch.

Tomorrow we start our journey home crossing back into Tanzania on the Mombasa to Tanga coastal road then on to Pangani and the Mkoma Bay Tented Camp also on the seaside.     

Day 28 & 29 Tsavo West National Park - Kenya

Up Close and Personal with "Lucy"

My Body Will Never be the Same Again

Some shots of us at the Giraffe Centre above.

Underwater View of Fish at Mzima Springs - Tsavo West

We got away from Limuru at 09h00 and being a Sunday we managed to get to and through Nairobi in an hour, must have set some sort of record. Other than the hair raising overtaking that is employed in Kenya where solid yellow lines are ignored with impunity we made good time to Mtito Andei where we turned off into the Tsavo West National Park.

In short I am very disappointed with the game in this park, which in the 60's on a trip from Nairobi to Mombasa the children would at the start guess how many Elephant we would see  and it was anything between 100 and 200 and that is on the main road that bisects the park by 1974 it would be in single numbers, well it does not appear to have recovered as we have seen more from our accommodation than we have seen in the Park. Granted the bush is very thick and the Park is huge, but I do not think we have got value for money on this one.

The saving grace is the scenery and although we have not seen Kilimanjaro the other mountains in the area and the lava flows, trees, palms and bird life on the river banks have made up for the lack of game.

We leave for Mombasa tomorrow and are looking forward to some time chilling with a cold Tusker (Beer) on the beach.

Day 27 & 28 Nairobi - Kenya

Rock Formations at Hell's Gate - Naivasha

Natural Steam Wells in the Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley

Kentmere Club - Tigoni/Limuru

Crazy driving in Kenya

Resident Hornbill at Kitani Banda - Tsavo West

After a hard days work game spotting in Tsavo cold water was the solution

We spend a day in Nairobi with the first priority was to get the car washed, two days later it needs another thorough valet inside and out, you cannot imagine the dust we have encountered and it gets in everywhere and each time you open the car doors to get something it transfers to your clothes and every orifice. At the end of the day depending on where you have traveled the shower or bath water is either grey, orange or red the latter is the colour of the dust in Tsavo.

We then do some essential shopping as at our next stop we will be doing some self catering, we then head off to see the Giraffe Centre where Sinead can feed the giraffes, being a weekend the place was packed, but we enjoyed the look on her face when the giraffe stuck out his black tongue to take one pellet at a time from her hand.

Nairobi CBD is very dirty, but recently I went around Hillbrow and that was none too clean either. The traffic is chronic and the roads have not changed in 50 years, but in that time the traffic density has increased 10,000 fold at least. On a six lane highway you have circles and on the circles you have robots and standing around interfering with the whole process you have traffic cops, to say it is confusion would be an understatement of note especially for a visitor and I had some notion as to where I was going and I was confused.

We survived and we found our way back to Kentmere Club winding our way down Muthaiga Road, which should be called Embassy Road, through some lovely forest up Banana Hill, through Tigoni to our gentlemen's club, which was not bad, but could do with a fair amount of TLC.

Tomorrow we head for Tsavo West National Park where we stay for two nights.   

Day - 26 Naivasha to Kentmere Club in Limuru, Kenya

Could not resist this image of the vastness

Claudia spotted this 5 minutes after we had been sitting out side the car having lunch

Part of a group of 6 hyenas where there was a competition for the Alpha female position

Wildebeest on the march

In the middle of the Mara and my two best spotters sleep on the job

This was not carved into the tree a Dassie hide hole

You cannot see it but Sinead had mud spotted on her face, disapproving Granny

Did not see a lot of Buffalo

Not sure which Eagle this is Claudia is good at inventing names

To round off Day 25 when we spent the morning in the Masai Mara doing the Eastern portion and we were lucky to see Cheetah a lot of Hyena as well as thousands of Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Eland and others. We head for the Selekani Gate as that has the best exit road.

The road after the gate is very dusty and in some places deep sand and heavily corrugated and we had our first and hopefully last near miss when the car hit deep sand and careered off the road and on correction went to the other side and back again before I managed to bring it back under control, my passengers were brilliant and very quiet including Sinead, whilst I was repeating “hold on

That is Mums tail baby ended up holding onto

Some of the many photo's of the marvelous wild life in the Mara above 

, hold on tight” Sinead knows that when any driver says this she must hold onto her seat or if out of the seat hang onto Claudia, which she got a lot of practice doing as when we approached towns and villages they have put humps in the road, mostly unmarked and some very large and dangerously steep.

After that piece of drama all went well until we got to Naivasha and we were unable to find our next stop at the Hexagon Farm, luckily we had a number and they sent someone to show us the way.

The Hexagon Farm where all the buildings are a geometric hexagon shape, very ugly and clearly previously owned by a white farmer after all a black farmer would not dream of building hexagon shaped buildings. Sad to say the farm is looking very worse for wear, but Sinead liked the goats, chickens and bunny rabbits as well as a solitary Turkey who thinks he is a chicken and is constantly trying to unseat the resident cockerel.

We were disappointed especially with the food, which when it eventually arrived was only just edible and the breakfast not much better, but it was only a one night stay to break the journey.

Naivasha is the centre of Kenya’s flower industry, which is a thriving industry with flowers flown out to destinations around the globe every night.

The state of Naivasha town is disgraceful and if you think South African municipalities are bad believe you me we do not know how lucky we are.

The bed at the Hexagon farm must also be in a Hexagon shape as it was terribly uncomfortable.

This morning we head off to Hells Gate National park very close to where we were staying and although the game consisted of Zebra, Impala, Giraffe and Wart Hogs the rock and geology of the area was fascinating and there are many hot geysers that they are utilising to supplement power into their grid. They are all over the place gushing steam. We were there early but as we were leaving there was crowds waiting to enter walking, cycling and driving, in fact there is a thriving mountain bike hire business in and outside the park.

Frome there we head off to Limuru where we are staying at the Kentmere Club and I must try and look up the history of the place which seems to be a colonial Gentlemen’s Club for the farmers in the Tigoni, Limuru and Banana Hill areas in times gone by, it has gone a little downhill since those days. It is in a beautiful setting with gardens that are well maintained, but this area has ideal conditions that if you put your finger in the ground it would grow, there is tea, coffee, flowers and vegetables being grown commercially.

Future Anti Poaching Ranger

It is very misty and raining when we arrive and we immediately lit the fire in our room. We are at 1900m altitude so the nights and mornings will be very cool. We have a reasonable meal and the bed is 1000 time better than the Hexagon farm bed. I spent hours trying to send the blogs , but the photo’s were taking ages to download so I aborted the exercise at 10h30, but will try and send some Masai Mara photo’s at a future venue.