We have the camp pack-up down to a fine art, however this morning we had two incidences that made this job a little interesting. Firstly, an amorous gay turkey and 2 ducks arrived; the ugly, horny creature then proceeded to chase the drake around in the hopes of getting lucky, the drake, clearly somewhat aroused himself was in turn chasing the duck around the camp, she being the only non-interested party, squawked loudly and ran off. Secondly, as Gray opened the trailer, this huge, angry spider virtually spat at him, he then proceeded to chase the spider around the packed trailer. I sure hope he didn’t bring a lady friend into the trailer, I would hate to have a group of snot nosed little arachnids crawling around in my clothes.
We were on the road by 8:30, today’s destination being Utengule Coffee Estate, near Mbeya, in Tanzania. On the road to Karonga were lots of giant old baobab trees, my favourites. In Karonga we stopped for diesel and for the first time, just as we were leaving Malawi, fuel was not a problem. The vegetation along the road from Karonga to the border became more tropical and rice fields are in evidence in the marshy areas. Rice is laid out to dry on every flat surface, including the sides of the road, with people walking over it and bicycles riding through it. Next time I decide to cook Tastic for dinner, I am going to give it a thorough rinse first.
Travelling around Malawi we encountered road blocks every 20km or so, the police were so friendly and all they ever asked was where we had come from and where we were going to and then wished us a good day and a safe journey. At our last two road blocks before the border however, we were checked for insurance and drivers licences.
The Malawian and Tanzanian sides at the border post at Songwe were efficient and the officials were helpful and friendly. I am just glad we were not driving one of the cargo carriers, there were hundreds lined up; they can wait for days for border clearance.
I have no idea what the natural vegetation of this area of Tanzania is like because every surface from the steepest hillsides to the verge of the road is being used for agriculture. It is clearly a very lush and fertile area; we saw tea plantations, banana plantations, rice fields, mielies, sunflowers and vegetables fields. I think if you put a stick in the ground it would grow here.
We passed through a number of small but crowded towns on our way up the escarpment of the Southern Highlands. These green mist shrouded mountains took us up to 2300m and the temperature down to 15 degrees. It was not easy going as we could not see more than a few metres in front of us.
As we descended into Mbeya, the mist cleared and we entered this huge bustling African metropolis. There were no shopping centres but stalls selling everything from copper wire to wellington boots. We stopped for money at a Standard Bank ATM – it spewed out the maximum, 300 000Tanzanian shillings, this translates into R1300.
From Mbeya, it was a short 20km drive west up into the mountains to the Utengule Coffee Estate. This is a lodge set on a working coffee plantation and we are camping in the grounds. If I had been offered a bed here I would have taken it but you can’t justify $110 for a room, when camping comes to $20 (with hot showers). The setting here is stunning with views of the surrounding mountain ranges and stunning gardens. It reminds me a lot of the old family hotels in Mpumulanga and Limpopo.
At the moment we are sitting on the veranda of the restaurant, Gray sipping the local beer – Kilamanjaro, I am sipping a Kilimanjaro shandy and we eating the local roasted nuts, all very colonial and civilized. The sun is setting over the mountains and it is another perfect evening in Africa.
At dinner we met 4 guys from Singita – Grumeti Lodges, they were taking 4 brand new Landy game drive vehicles from Johannesburg to the Serengetti. Two were from Durban; it was kind of cool to hear South African accents again. We had a fascinating evening chatting to them about life in the Serengetti. We went to bed at 11:00, this is the latest we have been to bed in weeks – only to discover we are again in a different time zone and have gained an hour.
Utengule Coffee Estate
No comments:
Post a Comment