Balili - A Spectacular, But Wet Stopover

The fourth and last country of my Africa leg brought me to Tanzania - not an entirely new country for me, as I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2019.

Anyway, the little town of Balili was basically just a stopover on the way to the Serengeti National Park, but once we arrived at the campsite, the sun was shining in full force and four of us decided to climb the nearby hill for a sunset view over Lake Victoria.

Little did we know that the sunset became less relevant once we reached the top, because a literal wall of rain was heading our way. The clouds formed a truly spectacular shape and we knew once we made it up that we were about to get absolutely drenched, as we had no chance of making it back to camp in time.

Luckily, there was an abandoned hotel (leaking...) at the top where we could seek shelter after spending a few minutes at the top and admiring the inevitable. The rain came down hard with bright lightning all over the sky.

Once the worst of the rainstorm passed, we made it back to camp - still getting wet, though. However, the sight of the clouds and the rain storm, while watching the sunset at the same time, was well worth the hike.Read more