Day 46: 30/05/2011 – Kisolanza Farm to Ruaha National Park

I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a bus but much better than the night before and I felt better as the day progressed. We were in no rush to pack up as we only had about 100km to travel to Chogela Camp Site, about 25km outside Ruaha  National Park. As Gray bent down to pick up a box, he coughed and oops, that was a mistake, off he waddled to the long drop.

25km from Kisolanza we came into the outskirts of Iringa, in order to get up to the main section of the town, we had to negotiate a steep hill which was tarred to first world standards with a pedestrian walk way and all. Just as we were marvelling at the road, the taxi in front of us started rolling backwards and it kept coming, when we realised that it was not going to stop, Gray swerved sharply out, luckily there were no oncoming cars. We landed up half suspended over a concrete block and half in the ditch below – stuck and blocking up the oncoming traffic with our car and trailer. The poor taxi driver was so upset. Before long the traffic had been stopped and 6 strong guys came to help lift the car out the ditch. The brakes clunked a bit but soon got back into their groove and we were on our way. No tow trucks, again just lots of good Samaritans willing to help.

Iringa came as a huge surprise. There are only buildings; lots are 2 or 3 stories high, housing shops and offices, no huts or make-shift shelters. It is clean and very orderly; a likeable town and worth a visit, if you just happen to be in the area. In the town we saw the first influences of the Muslim culture which is so prevalent in East Africa. There are also numerous churches of different denominations. We filled up with diesel, bought some coldrinks and a map of the park.

Along the first section of the potholed road to the Ruaha Park are many mud hut villages. Every 10km or so there is a big white church, complete with steeple and blue trimmings. According to the sign posts, these are Orthodox churches of different Parishes – they look like something one might see on the Greek hillsides and seems so out of context here in Africa. These villages became sparser as we travelled further along the road and we then saw the first Masai people on our travels.

We arrived at Chogela Camp and were met by Chogela, the owner; he is a really cool dude, with short dreadlocks. The camp is basic, clean and very well kept (and has hot water and a flusher). We are shaded by these huge Acacia trees and it is very pretty here but very hot (wish they had a pool).

After setting up camp, we headed up to the reserve. At the gate we had to fill in the regulation forms and pay US$90 for a 24 hour permit = around R650 for a couple of hours this afternoon and tomorrow morning (obviously we needed to be out by sunset). We travelled along the western section of the Ruaha River, it was fairly mountainous and rocky; we saw breeding herds of ele, with lots of young and 5 cheetah.

Returning to camp around 5:30, it was still 35 degrees. I made supper and we sat around the camp fire and chatted to the only other campers; 2 American students assisting with a study on educating the locals about the park, it’s benefits and the animals.

                                                         The accident prone taxi

                                                         Iringa

                                                         Giraffe in Ruaha

                                                         Ele in Ruaha

Day 45: 29/05/2011 – Kisolanza Farm

 

It has become the norm, on our non-travelling days, to lie in a little later. Gray then makes coffee, either over a braai fire or on his little petrol stove. I did some washing and sorting out of the food boxes. As we are getting fresh farm produce today, I donated our, past its sell buy date, veg stuff to the farm pig and her 6 little piglets.

We spent the rest of the morning planning the route ahead. We feel we have to be more prepared when the kids are with us and avoid these totally out of way places on bad roads. With three of them crammed into the back seat, we need to look at less car time and more beach and bush time. Needless to say, this means all our initial plans, of touring eastern Tanzania and Rwanda, have flown out the window and I’m sure they will change many more times. The main issue is making sure we are near a major city around mid July so we can get Kirst on a flight back to UCT, via Jhb.

Around lunch time, having given breakfast a miss, we felt a little peckish and decided to see if we could get a salad or a sandwich at the restaurant. Florian said “I vil vip you up zee salad and a leetle meat” – 6 different salads, homemade loaves of bread, stuffed eggs, rare roast beef and a veg arrived, followed by pudding. I don’t feel like ever eating again and we still have his 3 course dinner later.

Back at camp Gray’s stomach started making some very colourful noises, he was the lucky one. About ½ hour later, without warning, the dreaded African tummy bug hit me. So much for being so healthy, I knew that statement a few days ago was tempting fate. So there I was with the squirts and 50m from the nearest long drop, the only thing worse would have been the same ailment with a portaloo on a construction site.

As the afternoon progressed I felt worse and by dinner I wasn’t even vaguely tempted by Florien’s cuisine and sipped on a coke as Gray ate a portion that could have fed us both. What is it with men’s constitutions, obviously we have both caught something but his stomach just growled like a pissed off lion and well, mine needs no description. By the time I crawled into bed I was aching, freezing cold and the thought that I may have malaria crossed my mind.

                                                         Our camp site

                                                         Inside the restaurant

                                                        Zee leetle salad for lunch

Day 44: 28/05/2011 – Mbeya to Kisolanza Farm

We sadly had our last cups of Rift Valley coffee with our breakfast. We will always treasure fond memories of our stay at Utengule. Our destination today is ‘The Old Farmhouse’ on Kisolanza Farm, 50km south west of Iringa (another large town) on the road to Dar. The distance is around 300km and according to Doris we should be there by 12:15 – we are not sure if she is working on S.A. time or Tanzanian time, she is also not that reliable when it comes her E.T.A’s. in Africa.  Anyway, we will arrive when we arrive.

Kirst is the only one not taking a road trip today. Gareth is returning from Cape Town, with his Polo laden with goods from 6 months of living in Cape Town. Robs is returning from her 3 week stint at bush school, Juls and Adie will be there to meet her. According to her letters, she is craving a freezochino, so Juls says their first stop will be the local Italian restaurant, where they have her favourite freezos. Poor Kirst is in the middle of mid-year exams.  Oh, I miss them so much, in just over two weeks and I will see them all, I am sooooo excited.

We travelled back through Mbeya on our way East. I just love the feel of this third largest town in Tanzania; it is busy and has a nice vibe. We hit a serious traffic jam just before the main road but everybody just goes and somehow we arrived at the main road without delay. The shopping stalls/huts are divided into areas of what they sell, for eg. all the hardware stalls are clumped together, all the furniture stalls are together etc, these are interspersed with double story hotel/motels. Competitive advertising is the order of the day, Coke and Pepsi emblazon their ads, side by side, on the bridges.

The scenery along today’s trip was spectacular. We travelled through the valley of Great Rift Valley Mountains. Autumn has arrived here and there were views of yellow, orange and gold trees all around. We then moved through forestry areas of blue gums and pines and finally into a shrub type bush.

The road east is tarred and generally in good condition but travelling along these main truck hauling routes in Africa is not for sissies. The roads are just wide enough for 2 vehicles, with no lines and no shoulder. We are one of the few cars on the road amongst thousands of trucks and bicycles around the towns. We have got so used to seeing the tell tale signs of branches laid across the road, indicating hopefully, only a broken down truck but often it’s a mangled piece of metal on the side of the road.

We arrived at ‘The Old Farmhouse’ around 2:00, so Doris was out again. I guess I was expecting a colonial or typical old farmhouse – it may be around but we haven’t seen it. The camp sites and few available rooms are all in the middle of the bush. We are the only campers, so we were fortunate to get the rondavel type shelter; it is so cool inside, sheltering us from the hot sun. The showers are spotless and have a trickle of hot water but horror of horrors, the loos are long drops.

The restaurant area, where we will be dining tonight, is a mud building with a thatch roof. It looks like our restaurant eating days are coming to an end for now, as we are able to buy fresh produce and meat from the farm.

We went for a nice long walk this afternoon, down to the dam on the farm. As we were walking through the forest area to reach the dam, I happened to glance down and 2 feet in front of me was a big puff adder. I was fortunate to look down, as I usually have the camera in my face, otherwise I would have stood on him. He was chilled and I was chilled, I took some pics and we moved on. On the way back he had moved off into the bush but as we were looking around for him, Panda took a branch and threw it into the bush behind me. Obviously he found this hilarious; I think I might get him to do my underwear washing this evening. 

Our dinner was WOW – inside the restaurant made of mud, are little rooms, giving it a very intimate feel. The whole place is lit up with candles and fresh farm flowers adorn the tables. The French Chef, Florian, has a standard 3 course menu for each night – the food, freshly picked off the farm and cooked in a bush kitchen, would rival any top restaurant in Johannesburg. We walked out and booked for tomorrow night.

                                                         Mbeya traffic jam ahead

                                                         The road ahead

                                                         The puff adder

                                                         The mud restaurant

Day 43: 27/05/2011 – Utengule Coffee Estate

 The bird life in the gardens is great and there are numerous species found in the area. Tony has compiled a bird list of those he has seen and he has reached 162 different species to date. The wagtails dip in the pool, the resident owl waits for us to walk to our tent before flying off at night and this morning we watched the swallows swooping around the valley. Gray thought it was a bit late for them to be heading north, I decided that once they arrived here they just didn’t want to leave.

The guy who took us on the coffee tour yesterday explained that not all of Tanzania is this lush, it is restricted to the highland rift valley area and that is why we see so much evidence of farming around here.

After breakfast Gray set off into Mbeya to get the car sorted out. An hour and a ½ later he arrived back and he was like a 5 year old on Christmas morning; not only had the brakes been sorted but the guy had given the car a service and charged him R200. It looks like we will be heading up to Mbeya for the annual service. One service they do not offer, is a valet and the car came back still looking like it has been off road in Africa – Gray is very proud of this look (no Sandton spray on mud here – this is the real deal). We are carrying sand from the Namib, mud from the Caprivi, bugs (hopefully, now dead) from Zambia and leaves and twigs from Malawi.

My job for the day was to sort out the tent. Our down duvet that has served us faithfully, each winter, for the last 20 odd years and is now our cosy camping comforter has burst a seam. Our bedroom looks like we ritually slaughtered the horny gay turkey in there. I took out all the mattresses and bedding, not as easy as it sounds, as all the bedding is king size and has to be carried down a 1 ½ m ladder. Then came the fun of trying to get all little white feathers out the roof top tent – they stick like poo to a woolly blanket. The next problem, my compact camping sewing kit as well as my lack of needle skills were no match for the job of repairing the duvet. As always, in Africa, plan B came into action – encase the duvet into 2 duvet covers and hope for the best. This job was done in the heat of day and left me glowing like a pig. With jobs well done Gray and I felt we deserved a restful afternoon chilling at the pool.

For those interested in our health; I have never been healthier; I think not having 165, five year snotting all over me this winter may have something to do with it. Gray, however, has had a return of the putsy foot worm, now making road maps on both feet. He has googled his ailment and it appears to be sand worm, the cure is a pill, obviously it is the only pill that I don’t possess in my travelling dispensary. He seems happy enough to host the little squirmies till we get to Dar to find the medication. We are pleased to report that Vicks vapour rub does appear to be limiting their movement.

During dinner we chatted to a Scotsman, Derrick, who has been given the dubious task of building a runway and roads for a new airport in Mbeya. He kept us entertained all night about the trials and tribulations of working in Africa. The job should have been completed in January and the end is still nowhere in sight. Needless to say his wife, who lives in the Caribbean, is not impressed with him.

                                                         African Pied Wagtail about to take a dip

                                                         Variable sunbird

                                                         Mbeya Taxi