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Travel
Journal
Africa
Africa
Day
100 Blantyre to Chimoio
Up
bright and early the following day we began by filling all the jerry
cans to the brim as we had heard that diesel can be difficult to
come by in the north of Mozambique. Leaving Blantyre and then headed
south to the border. The crossing into the Tete corridor was extremely
busy and the first time we had queued for our stamps. The Mozambique
authorities required the value of our vehicles to be converted into
the local currency, at 44500 to the pound Bert and Ernie became
worth billions. We felt that was a fair monetary representation
of the emotional attachment we had for them.
Border done and the road fair, although potholes still de riguer,
we made good time to Tete. There we got bit more diesel and incredibly
four king cone ice creams, with kit-kat centres no less.
The weather deteriorated and darkness began to fall but the desire
to get to Chimoio for the only campsite we knew about meant we pushed
on. Driving at night in Africa is never a great idea but fortunately
we found the campsite with alarming ease. Although campsite is a
bit over stated it was actually a restaurant which allowed us to
camp in the car park. That said the restaurant served us wonderful
food and gave us our first taste of Mozambique beer (very nice)
and peri peri (frighteningly hot). The proprietor was super friendly
and refused to allow us to pay any “camping” fees happy
instead to see us enjoy his food. Refreshed and recharged we slept
soundly with a hope to hit the coast the next day.
Day 99 Blantyre
Knowing
that we would be heading into Mozambique we had to restock with
supplies including refilling the gas canister which, after supplying
us with fire for the best part of four months, had finally given
up. We also took the opportunity to send back, via the slowest and
hence cheapest means possible, the various souvenirs we had liberally
purchased whilst in Malawi.
Andy and Austin spent the morning heading to the nearby town of
Zomba where Andy’s dad had couriered our return flight tickets
(thank you once again). They had previously visited a Mission hospital
6 years ago and also a rather fabulous tea and cake shop. Luckily
the tea and cake shop was still in order and carrot cake was purchased
for the drive south.
We also took the opportunity to head to the nearest major bank to
get currency for the next few days. We were pleased to see that
the charity funds were still looking pretty rosy as we haven’t
had any technical disasters with Bert or Ernie for a while now and
the price of Diesel is pleasantly low in East Africa. Unfortunately
the same couldn’t be said of our personal bank accounts as
the jaunt up Kilimanjaro and meals out have dented the finances
somewhat.
Now we were fast approaching our final destination we started to
think about how the rest of the charity money can be put into good
use. We have been overwhelmed by the support from family, friends
and colleagues that continues even as we have been making our way
through Africa. It is thanks to this that we have made it this far
at all and has now allowed us to provide not only the vehicles to
the health posts but look into the possibility of restocking them
with materials and equipment. We are waiting to speak to the directors
of Hope for Africa and get to the sites themselves before we will
be able to know precisely how best to spend the money. We will of
course give all the details as soon as we have them ourselves.
By the end of the day we were re-supplied and ready to go. The only
point of interest of the day was watching the crowds of people milling
around the presidential offices and vans of armed police looking
shiftily around. This was due to not everyone being totally impressed
with the result of the election and a bit of a ruckus happening
which sadly lead to the police shooting some of the protesters.
Thankfully we avoided any of the hassle and it was very much business
as usual for the majority of people in town.
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Day
98 Nkata Bay to Blantyre
We
said our goodbyes to the ever delightful staff of Njaya and continued
our journey south towards Blantyre. The journey was surprising in
the quality of the road and meant that we made good time. I say
we but mean in fact Austin and Giles who after a leisurely breakfast
took the better coast road south as opposed to Andy and Duncan who
charged off at the crack of dawn to get to Blantyre in time to watch
some of the cricket (England versus New Zealand, epic stuff).
Even with the time benefit (courtesy of Andy getting up an hour
earlier than even Duncan) Giles and Austin managed to virtually
catch the other two up. The views of Lake Malawi were stunning and
we happily trundled our way through the winding roads towards the
capital.
Having arrived in Blantyre we dropped the two vehicles off at Doogles,
the same place we stayed last time we were there and set ourselves
up just in time to see England despatch our colonial colleagues
on the cricket pitch, well done them.
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Days
93 to 97 Nkata Bay
Njaya
is a great place on the lakeshore that we had been to before and
we decided to spend a couple days there during the voting week itself
in case the troubles escalated as they can do during African elections.
The staff of Njaya was unchanged from our previous visit and it
was great to catch up with them and spend a couple of days in and
around Nkata Bay relaxing while the elections happened.
At Njaya we met Knowles who was returning to Malawi having delivered
a Landrover to a mission hospital near Livingstonia in northern
Malawi a few years previously. We were encouraged to hear about
how the vehicle had made a huge difference to the work done by the
hospital and strengthened our hope that ours would have a similar
impact. Once the election result was announced, (the current ruling
party winning and the process described by one international observer
as a total shambles) we decided it would be safe to head south again.
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Day
92 Iringa to Nkata Bay
After
a cold night, we packed the tents away and headed into Iringa for
diesel and set off with the hope of getting near to the Malawi border.
The drive took us through a impressive range of different landscapes
from dusty dry savannah, through eucalyptus plantations and cloud
covered highlands to the border post on the Songwe river. The crossing
was accompanied by the usual constant attention from the numerous
money-changers that hover around nearly all African border posts
but we were quickly across and decided to press on south down the
western shore of Lake Malawi.
It is a spectacular road with sandy beaches on the left and the
Lake stretching out towards Mozambique beyond and a dramatic escarpment
towering above on the right. The road had been improved in the five
years since we were last on it and we made good time arriving in
Nkata Bay before dark.
Malawi was due to have elections during this week but the exact
date of the vote was still a matter of some debate as there had
been some ‘irregularities’ in the preparations which had
resulted in almost a million names being removed from the list of
those eligible to vote….There were reports of some unrest in
the south of the country but we did not encounter any problems on
the drive south with the local police actually pretty honest and
friendly.
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Day
91: Bagamoyo to Iringa
From
Bagamoyo we chose the (apparently newly graded) road down to the
Dar-Malawi highway which meant we would avoid Monday morning in
Dar. The road proved much better than the one we’d entered
town on and the highway was one of the best roads we’d encountered
so far. Sadly we had no cash left and needed diesel so stopped in
Morogoro (no visa ATM) to exchange travellers cheques (a process
that took over an hour) and visit a petrol station. Fortunately
for Andy, the petrol station doubled as a Tatt Shop and he was able
to pick up a very fetching Masai spear... We’re all sure customs
are going to love that one on the way home.
The
road from Morogoro to Iringa runs through a Natural Park so with
high hopes of seeing lots of wildlife we headed into the park. The
stretch of road through the park is about 50km and after 25km and
only one baboon spotted, Andy started to say he thought the chances
of seeing anything interesting next to a busy road in the rainy
season were pretty slim. Around the next corner, stood in the middle
of the road were a lioness and her two cubs – a wonderful sight.
Strangely she was totally unperturbed by us and only moved off when
a big bus came storming past. From there we were also lucky enough
to see elephants, zebra, giraffes and antelope all close to the
road. Given that there’s no charge to enter the park, this
has to be the best drive around.
The
countryside continued to be spectacular – beautiful hills and
stunning valleys – and we reached the outskirts of Iringa before
five o’clock. Heading off the road down to a little campsite
(Riverside Campsite) that was lovely but, other than us and a honeymoon
couple in one of the cottages, totally empty. They also provided
us with some charcoal (our gas canister had run out and we hadn’t
yet managed to find a place to get it refilled) so we could have
a barbeque and some wood for a fire. Despite disappointingly again
failing to catch any fish, we tucked into another of Giles’
wondrous bush stews.
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Day
90: Bagamoyo
We
awoke to the sound of the sea and the happy realisation that we
had made it all the way across Africa. We pottered down for a celebratory
swim in the warm water of the Indian Ocean; Leaving the Atlantic
in The Gambia felt a long time ago.
We stayed in Bagamoyo for the day, a place whose name means ‘Lay
down your heart’, reflecting it’s past role as a loading
port at the height of the slave trade.
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Day
89: Arusha to Bagamoyo
Looking
at the map, we felt that as it was ‘only’ 500km to from
Arusha to Dar es Salam on a tarred road there was no rush needed
and so leisurely got ourselves ready and left mid-morning. This
was the first time we’d been driving Bert & Ernie at full
speed all day since we’d had all the work done in Nairobi and
Uganda, and they preformed admirably. The countryside proved to
be truly spectacular – lush tropical backdrops around Arusha
followed by enormous rocky hills rising from the edge of the road
further south.
As
the day wore on, it became apparent that although the road was good
and the Land Rovers were driving without problems, we would not
reach Dar before sunset. Uncharacteristically deciding that heading
into a capital city with no map in the dark was not what we really
wanted to do we had a quick scan of the map and the guide books
and found a place called Bagamoyo. Bagamoyo, 50 km north of Dar
and 60km off the tarmac road, used to be a small fishing village
but has now become something of an upmarket resort, although the
guide book said there were some backpacker-type places and a good
beach so it sounded ideal.
We
left the tarred road at just gone five and headed along a deteriorating
dirt track as the light faded. It was just like old times. Due to
the lack of light and poor road surface, it took us until almost
nine before finding the Backpackers Lodge in Bagamoyo. Realising
how tired we were – the effects of Kilimanjaro still very much
apparent – we booked ourselves in feasted on their delicious
sea food and headed to bed. We’d decided that due to our late
arrival and on going tiredness it was wisest to spend the next day
‘resting by the beach’.
Day
88: Arusha
Given
our aching limbs we felt it would be a little optimistic to head
on from Arusha straight away and decided to spend the day recovering
and repacking. Arusha has a Barclays ATM (something that makes life
a whole lot easier when travelling) so we took a trip into town
to get some cash and try experiencing what Arusha had to offer.
Sadly, like most of the rest of the places we’d recently visited,
the drop in the tourist trade in this part of the world meant many
of the cafes mentioned in the Lonely Planet seemed to have closed
down. After a Coke in possibly the quietest bar/restaurant in the
world we headed back to the Masai Camp.
That
evening we enjoyed a (another) hearty meal and headed to bed early,
excited at the prospect of getting going again.
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Day
87 Kilimajaro (6) to Arusha
Our
final day on the mountain dawned bright and sunny. Overnight it
had snowed on the peak, giving us yet another magnificent view of
the multifaceted mountain. Although still above the clouds all of
us felt refreshed and after another great breakfast we set off for
the final push to the base.
The descent took us back into the rainforest and clouds, we were
even fortunate enough to see Blue Monkeys on the way. After a couple
of hours we reached the park gate, signing out and receiving our
certificates (eligible for prizes and awards section of CV?) we
settled down for a final lunch. It was time to say goodbye to the
porters and tip them the going rate (frankly a bargain given what
they had done the previous six days). Group photos and much hand
shaking all around we collapsed in the back of the land cruiser
(!) with the guides and the cook to return to Masai Camp.
Arriving back we were greeted by Mercy and treated to a celebratory
beer (Kilimanjaro no less!) and reunited with a rather smug looking
Bert and Ernie. It must be noted that Bert had cried every day we
were away his battery alarm beeping away….
Tents erected and laundry handed in it was time for the first shower
in 6 days. The final chapter was reviewing the photos before collapsing
into bed to dream of mountains……
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Day
86 Kilimanjaro (5)
After
a few hours sleep we awoke at 11:15pm to begin the assault. Once
again Justaz had furnished us (well Andy and Austin) with additional
equipment in the form of windproof trousers and wearing virtually
every item of clothing we had we nervously gathered in the dining
tent. After a quick 'breakfast' of porridge and chocolate we headed
out with head torches blazing. The stars were again utterly breathtaking,
as was the altitude, and the ascent began.
In the dark it was impossible to gauge our position relative to
the summit, a rather handy thing, 'pole, pole' was definitely the
order of the day.
As the summit ascent continued we were followed by another group,
head torches snaking up the mountain. The moon began to rise, an
amazing burnt umber in colour, but it was the sun we truly wanted
as the temperature was icy.
By 5450m things seemed to be going well, although the going was
tough and the air noticeably thin all the team were feeling pretty
good. Chocolate had been consumed relatively regularly which kept
the energy levels up, although the water had partially frozen as
a reminder of just how cold it was.
Over the next two hours things got very tough, the slope began to
increase in its angle. Austin got trapped in a cycle of hyperventilation;
light headedness meaning breathing faster which induces light headedness.
After an hour or so of this the next rest stop saw him unable to
properly see or feel his arms. Fortunately Duncan spotted this and
duly informed him to slow his breathing, although not before attempting
to get a photo.
Justaz flitted nervously up and down the group like a concerned
parent, offering encouragement and progress reports which kept everybody
upbeat. After the hyperventilation episode the team's resolve to
get to the top was redoubled and we all got heads down for the final
push up the very steep portion to Stella Point on the edge of the
crater.
Reaching Stella Point was a huge boost although the altitude had
begun to have a heavy effect on Andy, the team were determined to
push onto the summit. It is at Stella Point that a fair number of
people end their climb.
As the team turned to walk along and up the edge of the crater to
the summit the sun began to rise. An awesome sight to behold as
the glaciers became a bruised pink and the clouds danced around
the lower peaks flecked with gold. It was just the lift we needed
and the team fair danced up the final slope. Andy had, by this stage,
been struck very hard with extreme nausea and headache. He likened
it to a hard rugby training session at school (jeez your school's
a bit hardcore). Despite this he pushed on showing remarkable reserves
of strength, and possibly a lack of self-preservation but Justaz
was unmoved so we marched on.
At 6:45am after six and a half hours of climbing we stood at the
peak. At 5895m Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain
in the world, one of the highest volcanoes in the world and the
highest point in Africa. To celebrate Austin also had probably the
highest wee in the world. With only 6 minutes allowed at the peak
due to the altitude it was quick photos and hearty English back
slaps all round.
With the sun up the descent began, now we could view the height
we had climbed, and were all very glad it was dark on the way up.
The campsite was a mere speck in the distance!
The initial descent took us down a very steep scree slope, different
from the ascent, allowing us to practice 'sand' skiing. Andy gradually
recovered as the height dropped but all of us were physically and
mentally exhausted, the summit already seeming like a strange dream.
By 10:00 we had reached the base camp, Jusatz having run down and
back up again to furnish us with much needed water. The porters
and cook all cheered us in, a lovely feeling, and we sat down for
much needed food and rest.
Within an hour we were back 'on the road again' descending down
towards the final camp. The porters did the usual trick of burning
past but we allowed ourselves the excuse of having done the summit
as a reason for not keeping up..ahem.
The descent down to the camp was utterly knackering, knees pounding
and all of us right at the end of our physical and mental limits.
Surprisingly this descent was probably the hardest part of the whole
six days, we were all very happy to reach 3000m and the final camp.
After 14 hours of continuous trekking, climbing 1300m and descending
2800m it didn't take a lot of rocking before the lights went out.
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Day
85 Kilimanjaro (4)
Sure
enough Justaz was right (a recurring theme) and we awoke feeling
bright, refreshed and no headaches. We sat eating breakfast and
glancing up at the formidable vertical face of 'Breakfast Wall'
ready for another days trek. Setting off with Philbert we began
the climb, amazed that previously an 86 yr old Canadian lady had
done this trek. Egos suitably pricked we headed up the wall with
verve and vigour, pausing only to note the porters leaping up like
mountain goats…. mountain goats with 25kg bags on their heads
Reaching the top we were once again subjected to breathtaking views
of the peak and surrounding mountains. The porters quickly came
past racing off down the valley as we continued with our 'pole,
pole' walk up and down the valleys surrounding the mountain.
Towards lunch we descended deep into Karanga valley, which was the
final water stop consisting of a beautiful mountain stream. Not
for the first time the water purifier came out and provided us with
safe drinking water. Headaches were bad enough but diarrhoea was
not an option in this terrain. Slowly we began our ascent up the
other side to the lunch stop.
At lunch we dined with 4 striped ground mice dancing between our
feet, in one case rather boldly leaping into Andy's cup. Sadly Giles
began to develop a severe headache, although bravely refusing medication
and electing to push on.
After lunch we began with a long slow climb that began to physically
push us as the air became thinner. By the time we reached the top
of the ridge Giles was scoring his headache as a 9/10 (we all had
to keep Justaz informed of out personal headache number throughout
the trip) which was enough to trigger Justaz into furnishing him
with Acetazolamide. This weak diuretic would hopefully ease his
pain.
We finally reached camp at 3pm at the heady heights of 4600m, with
some food and water on board Giles's headache subsided and we tried
to get our heads down….it was summit attempt that night.
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Day
84 Kilimanjaro (3)
Waking
with the sun we quickly donned as much clothing as possible and
shuffled into the dining tent for fortifying porridge. Justaz discussed
two possible routes for the day, a low and high road. Feeling pretty
chipper and no altitude effects we decided on the high road via
Lava Tower that would expose us to 4350m before descending down
to 3900m to camp. As usual we set off whilst the porters set about
breaking camp.
With spirits high we began the long circumnavigation of the peak,
always in view as a constant reminder, and the climb to Lava Tower.
The scenery gradually changed to one more akin to the surface of
the moon. Plant life was virtually non-existent, as was the oxygen,
some puffing was in order. By lunch (yes you guessed it vast and
varied) there were a few mild headaches around but generally everyone
felt fine. We reached Lava Tower at about midday (lunches taken
early) exposing us to the highest we had been outside an aircraft,
few headaches but otherwise all well we descended down to the camp.
The descent itself was the first signs of the wheels coming off,
headaches increased and knees began to throb in unison. The camp
itself was spectacular, nestled up against Breakfast Wall (a rather
worrying name) and beneath huge glaciers. All of us began to feel
pretty awful at this stage, a really terrible hangover was the closest
approximation. Justaz promised us that this was pretty normal and
it was more a factor of the jarring during the descent. Indeed he
had a headache himself, Austin retorted that he was really beginning
to hate him for taking him up this god forsaken mountain and he'd
wanted to do safari instead. "You don't get a headache like
this from the back of an air-conditioned land cruiser watching lions!"
After another excellent dinner, sadly Duncan was too ill to enjoy,
humour was restored and all settled down for the night, the promise
of no headache by the morning ringing in our ears.
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Day
83 Kilimanjaro (2)
We
awoke to the sound of rain thudding on the tents, luckily we were
expertly prepared for such weather and cotton trousers were duly
donned. Our guide was impressed by such waterproof clothing and
suggested we had a slow breakfast in case the weather cleared. Sure
enough our luck held and the weather cleared, off we set with Justaz
making sure the pace was now "pole, pole". The path climbed
upwards throughout the day giving us glorious views of Mt Meru behind
and occasional glimpses of the snow capped peak. About two hours
in and the porters raced past with vast bags balanced on their heads
whilst we stumbled and puffed laboriously in their wake!
As the altitude increased the heather gave way to more specialised
plants, all dutifully pointed out by our guide and instantly forgotten
by ourselves. At the lunch stop we opened our boxes to discover
vast varied and delicious food stuffs, much welcomed although it
was only about 3 hrs since a large breakfast!
After lunch we pushed on finally reaching the campsite on the Shira
plateau, 3850m high, at about 2pm. Here we were treated to gorgeous
views of the surrounding summits. THE summit looked frighteningly
high and worryingly snow capped, but we settled down to an afternoon
of scrabble and competition whist. The altitude seemed to have only
a minimal effect, in fact it was the first quadruple century in
the latter of the trip so far…
With the evening came dinner, as usual up to very high standards,
and the temperature began to plummet. Once again Justaz was hugely
impressed with our preparation, Andy's sleeping bag, rated at 900m,
being swiftly swapped for his own rather more capable bag.
That night the stars were breathtaking and with the lights of Arusha
twinkling in the distance we settled down for a chilly (except Andy!)
night's sleep.
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Day
82 - Kilimanjaro (1)
We
gathered at the agreed meeting point at 7am in time to greet our
guide, Justaz along with the cook and driver who would take us to
the park gate, just over two hours away outside Moshi.
The tension was palpable as we drove in the shadow of Kilimanjaro,
through Moshi and on into the foothills of the mountain itself.
The road deteriorated into the kind of rough dirt track that we
are familiar with as we crawled up to the starting point (approx.
1900m) of the Machame-Barafu route. This was a slightly less well
travelled route as it takes a more tortuous route round the mountain
lasting 6 days (camping) rather than the more popular 3-4 day long
straight slog up the mountain generally staying in huts. The idea
was that though this would take a longer time it would allow us
to acclimatise and take in more of the stunning scenery that the
mountain has to offer.
Having signed the register at the National Park office we met up
with the rest of the team. This included an assistant guide (Philbert)
and ten porters to lug the worryingly large amount of equipment
up the hill, this took the total number up to 17 including ourselves.
At this point the fear really started to set in as we wondered exactly
what we were letting ourselves in for.
We set off with Philbert whilst the porters divided up the loads
between them. The route made its way up a newly cleared path through
the dense rainforest. As we climbed upwards we passed into the clouds
and were enveloped in a cool mist. Trees heavy with moss and vines
were crowded by immense ferns and provided a truly atmospheric experience.
Justaz, our head guide had stayed behind to coordinate the porters
but his final words to us were ringing in our ears 'Pole, pole,
Go slow, very slow, conserve energy' as we sat sweating at the first
campsite having charged up in 4 hours. It was the last time we were
allowed to set our own pace. As we recovered, the porters arrived
and set up camp in a matter of minutes. The first camp was in a
beautiful area, just above the rainforest on the peaty soils of
the 'heather zone'. We were treated to the first of a series of
excellent meals before a restful evening playing scrabble and cards.
We caught the occasional glimpse of the upper sections of the mountain
through breaks in the cloud showing us there was a very long way
to go.
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Day
81 - Arusha
After
some discussion it was decided that as the route took us past Kilimanjaro
and it had been a collective dream of ours to climb it we would
make the time to do so.
We wandered into the office of Tropical Trails, a tour company based
in the same compound as the Masai camp and found out some more info
about the climb.
After some discussion with the lovely office coordinator, Mercy,
we decided to go with them as they offered what seemed to be a professional
and sensible package. This was surely a sign of us growing up as
we voted not to repeat the same level of poor preparation we had
when we climbed Jebel Toubkal in Morocco.
The rest of the day was spent preparing ourselves and our equipment
for the 6 day trek ahead of us. After purchasing enough chocolate
to numb an elephant and supplementing our own warm clothing with
some of Tropical Trails' own, we repacked our bags and got into
'mountaineering mode'.
Growing increasingly pensive as the day went on we did some 'Carbo-loading',
very important for climbing, you understand. Giles felt that his
relative lack of physical training would be offset by the 27 years
of concentrated carbo-loading he had undertaken for just this type
of challenge (ahem…).
Having been swamped by overlanders the campsite became a more lively
place but resisting the urge to join the frivolities we settled
down for a reasonably early night ready for an early start the next
day.
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