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| Baobabs Everywhere |
Day 16
It is a very long drive from Iringa to Dodoma and the road
is hell and we are more off road than on it, courtesy of the Chinese and as a
result it takes us 7 hours to do the 400kms at an average of +/- 33kmph with
very little in the way of stops. As we get closer to Dodoma and Kongwa we see
some baobabs and Claudia wants to take some photo’s and I tell her we will see
a lot more later on, well even I could not recall the amount of baobabs that
grew in this area, there are thousands and in some places it looks like a
forest of Baobabs, big and small.
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| This was a Bridge |
We arrive at St Phillips Theological College where we will
be staying at their Westgate Hostel and as we arrive we are debating whether or
not we will have to try and get something to eat when we smell delicious
chicken aromas courtesy of Howa the local cook. We can taste the dust, it seems
to be in every orifice and Sinead looks like a street child from Bombay with
her clothes covered in dust that has ground into her shirt and trousers by her
sitting and crawling in it, thank goodness it had not rained as I remember how
my mother complained of trying to wash this dust and mud out of our clothes.
We now know why all the trips taken to Ngorongoro and
Serengeti go almost all or all the way to Dar
es Salaam before travelling up to Arusha it amounts to
nearly twice the distance, but it is on good tarred roads. One thing they do
not need in Tanzania is speed camera’s because in every village the road has on
average a series of three small bumps in a row and then a car killer massive
hump on entry and exit and I am sure it has saved countless lives in the
villages and towns, but it certainly slows your journey down. Speed limit
generally is 120kmph but 50kmph and 30kmph in towns.
You do go through many road blocks and police checks but in
80% of the cases we were just waved on and when we were stopped I think my
knowledge of Swahili helped ease our passage. I hope I am not tempting fate.
Everything I have read has indicated that the police are corrupt and will
invent charges against you but so far not in our case I am very pleased to say.
We are pooped and once again hit the sack early at 20h00.
Day 17
We have brought up a whole lot of sports kit in the way of
balls (Rugby , Soccer, Tennis, Softball,
Netball and Basketball) as well as exercise books, chalk, blackboard rubbers,
pencils and pencil sharpeners, which was limited by the space we had in the
car. The head teacher Angelina had to be called from her sick bed suffering
from Malaria and we did not want to dawdle as we were told the road up to
Karatu was not an easy route, but hell it cannot be worse than some of the
roads we had already tackled, little did we know.
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| Kongwa School Today |
I have to confess I did not recognise the school as the one
I had attended and although I would have liked to explore a little more we did
not have time. I am told there is still the remnants of the swimming pool at
the Kongwa Club and the little church is still sitting proudly on Kongwa Hill.
I did see some of the houses that we boarded in or I thought
I did. In honesty 57 years is a long time, but I did not think my memory would
have faded that much, having spent 6 years in this back of beyond place. I
cannot begin to wonder what went through my mothers mind as she arrived at this
dusty remote outpost of the Tanganyika
Mandated Territory
We eventually get underway at 09h30 and the first 60kms into
Dodoma are fine
and we go to a bank to change money and hit the road to Karatu via Kondoa and
Babati.
Once again the road is under construction by the Chinese,
but not for long and we are back on the old Dodoma to Arusha road, which by and large is
better than the on and off road under construction, but very corrugated, narrow
and in places very deep sand.
Tyres are deflated and we lock our differential and the
going whilst bouncy and a rock and roll ride it is manageable if it was not for
the buses and trucks that hurtle towards you and literally force you off the
road, but luckily there is sparse traffic, but the going is slow with climbs in
and out of the rift valley, washed away bridges and interminable villages where
you are obliged to slow down as well as going through a restricted area due to
the presence of a hydro electric scheme and dam.
The roads are devoid of sign posts and my Garmin decides it
does not recognise the road or country, but has my waypoints on it, very
frustrating and then I realise I had left my Tracks for Africa card at home
thinking I had down loaded all the map information, thank goodness for paper
maps, I guess it is all part of the adventure.
We are now racing the clock as I do not want to be on the
road at night and when we see the sign for Kudu Lodge it looks dirty and the
access road does not look too charming either and the entrance a bit
dilapidated in the falling light, but surprise! surprise! we find a place that
has not photo shopped its web site and it exceeds our expectations when we find
ourselves housed in a two bed roomed en-suite house with lounge, dining room
and a fireplace.
To top it all we have a great 3 course meal in very nice
surroundings, lovely pool, bar, internet café the works. Needless to say a full
8 hours on the road covering 496kms we are all in and Sinead has once again
been great so no complaints there and who knows perhaps she helped us get
through some of the police road blocks with her charm and smiling face.
Tomorrow is a rest day before we tackle the Ngorongoro
Crater.
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