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.