Driving from Bagamoyo

We had a terrible night’s sleep! Between thumping music until 2am, screeching birds, revving motorbikes, sneezing and spluttering non-stop, and the early morning call to prayer at 5am, I reckon I slept for about 2 and a half hours!! We had to be up with tents down by 6.30am, anyway, so we gave in and got up at 5!!

Breakfast was very low-key – eggs cooked to order served with white bread and margarine. We’re missing Henry’s cooking!!

We were all ready earlier than we needed to be, so we were on the road by 7.10am. We had 310 kilometres to cover today to reach the Usambara Mountains. Due to the strict speed limits here in Tanzania, we were expecting the drive to take about 10 hours.

We had a toilet and snack stop after a couple of hours and then pushed on, gaining altitude as we did so. The countryside was really green and lush. We crossed back and forth over a railway line and passed countless roadside stalls piled high with pyramids of oranges. There were acres and acres of sisal plantations and several factories where the plant’s fibres are made into ropes and twine. We also drove past vast areas of paddy fields, which looked stunning with their mountain backdrop.

For lunch, we stopped at a roadside pull-in that had toilets, so no bushy bushy was needed! Ibrahim and four volunteers spent an inordinately long time chopping salad while the rest of us tried to avoid the biting ants that were everywhere – in the grass beneath our feet, and in the trees above our heads! When lunch was ready, I have to say we were disappointed. There was a meagre salad comprised of lettuce, grated carrot, and sliced tomatoes (just two tomatoes for 15 people!), and cold rice mixed with chopped pineapple. Where was the cooked meat? The cheese? I’m sure Intrepid give all their chefs the same budget. Once again, we were missing Henry!!Read more