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Our expected dash across SA, Zimbabwe & Zambia turns into a fantastic holiday in itself. The kilos roll by as quickly as the landscape changes. The vegetation changes from Mopane scrub to Miomba woodland, which consists of predominantly Brachystegia spp commonly known as Msasa trees. Unfortunately, these soft woods are fast being turned into charcoal with bags for sale at every hut along the road. White maize bags being the only input cost, are filled beyond capacity necessitating that they weave sticks in varying designs to increase the capacity. The only upside for us is the new growth of the hacked off stumps produces a flush of new leaves in an array of autumn colours.
We decide to punctuate our journey with two nights of R&R at Kapishya hot springs, which is on the Shiwa N’gundu estate. This massive farm has been in the Gore Brown family, legends in Zambia, for 3 generations. Here we floated around in the warm water like hippos, did some general camp maintenance & a spot of birding. During our final day in Zambia the Miomba gives way to open scrublands as we travel further north to the border crossing. As always in Africa, border towns are a dirty confusion of jostling people, trucks and impounded vehicles. We go through the formalities which consist mainly of completing various forms stating ‘where we are going’ and ‘where have we come from’. After being relieved of US$125 for visas and various road taxes, by the Tanzanians, we are officially in Tanzania. It’s not long before we have our first encounter with the Tanzanian police stops & racing buses. These dare devils travel at break neck speeds, overtaking on blind rises, head on into oncoming cars, at the same time blowing their horns and speaking on their cell phone.
Our first night is spent at the Utengale Coffee Estate, where we are asked whether we would like to camp ‘inside’ or ‘outside’. It turns out that you camp outside a chalet which you use for everything but sleeping. Within minutes we meet Louis & Sylvi, who give us valuable local info and our first taste of Kili’s. We frantically scribble down notes as day turns to night, thanks & hopefully we meet in SA. We cover the last 350km to meet up with Uli & Anka in about six hours, which is not bad considering that the national speed limit is 80km/h with either 30 or 50 in the villages which seem to run into each other. As has come to be the norm we arrive within 10 minutes of each other, not bad considering that we have travelled 15000 km between us. We catch up on all the news over the traditional iced bubbly & schnapps.
Cheers to another great adventure together.
Posted by M&L
We decide to punctuate our journey with two nights of R&R at Kapishya hot springs, which is on the Shiwa N’gundu estate. This massive farm has been in the Gore Brown family, legends in Zambia, for 3 generations. Here we floated around in the warm water like hippos, did some general camp maintenance & a spot of birding. During our final day in Zambia the Miomba gives way to open scrublands as we travel further north to the border crossing. As always in Africa, border towns are a dirty confusion of jostling people, trucks and impounded vehicles. We go through the formalities which consist mainly of completing various forms stating ‘where we are going’ and ‘where have we come from’. After being relieved of US$125 for visas and various road taxes, by the Tanzanians, we are officially in Tanzania. It’s not long before we have our first encounter with the Tanzanian police stops & racing buses. These dare devils travel at break neck speeds, overtaking on blind rises, head on into oncoming cars, at the same time blowing their horns and speaking on their cell phone.
Our first night is spent at the Utengale Coffee Estate, where we are asked whether we would like to camp ‘inside’ or ‘outside’. It turns out that you camp outside a chalet which you use for everything but sleeping. Within minutes we meet Louis & Sylvi, who give us valuable local info and our first taste of Kili’s. We frantically scribble down notes as day turns to night, thanks & hopefully we meet in SA. We cover the last 350km to meet up with Uli & Anka in about six hours, which is not bad considering that the national speed limit is 80km/h with either 30 or 50 in the villages which seem to run into each other. As has come to be the norm we arrive within 10 minutes of each other, not bad considering that we have travelled 15000 km between us. We catch up on all the news over the traditional iced bubbly & schnapps.
Cheers to another great adventure together.
Posted by M&L
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