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Rainy season, the juicy season
  • Michi, der
marrask. – jouluk. 2023

Rainy season, the juicy season

In search of dead ends in the nature Lue lisää
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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    2Peas?Lunch break at intact bridge2

    Abandoned beauty of a road

    2. joulukuuta 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    I decide to take a "seasonal" side road for further surveying of these absolutely gorgeous mountains. Even after yesterday's heavy rains the seasonal aspect would not have been a problem because after a while the road deteriorates to a well-overgrown and thus stable single trail. Strange. You still see its attempt of wanting to be a "real road" but that must have been years ago! It is completely abandoned and I start to ask myself, why? I have to leave the car many times to assess the drivable surface ahead. According to the map, a bigger river crossing might cause troubles. But when I reach the bridge, it is still in top condition! Perfect spot for a lunch break.

    But then, behind the next hill I learn the "why". In a rather inconspicuous location the path has been underwashed. People have partly repaired the damage on one side with wooden trunks but the wood is very loose and slippery. Additionally, to the other side the "crossing" consists of soft soil which gives in when walking over it. Deeply underneath there is now a stream flowing. The whole crossing offers a width of 2 m and my car's track width is about 1.80 m. With the loose wood I have no room to maneuver. If one wheel slides off, the game is over and I get stuck in a place where nobody can help me out 🫤.

    Half an hour later a farmer appears and tells me that it will be impossible to cross with my car. Usually, locals say that everything is always possible and especially then it is not. Now I feel supported in my decision.

    I turn back and enjoy the challenging track, the pretty landscape of hilly farmland, the low clouds and even a distant glimpse on the lake which I did not notice when coming from the other direction! Yet again I found a wonderful and remote place where probably not many travellers have been before.    Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    1Climbing back up from the lake1Improvised campsiteGPX

    Geothermal Firlefanz

    3.–4. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I wanted to hike up the crater rim of Mount Ngozi to get a view on the inner lake already in 2021, but by then the weather didn't allow. This time I don't care. My whole previous week was nearly dry and thus, if now there is rain, fuck the rain.

    Arriving in the rainy evening 😅, I plan to quickly drive up to the informal campsite, which is to be situated in a forest clearing from where the trail starts. Surprise! This campsite apparently won the lottery and has been upgraded to a "Geothermal Project" site, meaning, it is becoming a 70 MW power plant soon (by February 2024). What the ... how is this possible? This is a damn natural forest reserve! Officially protected by documents, signatures and stamps! And I am supposed to pay 10 $ for it being "conserved"! My romantic dream of an authentic bush night, surrounded by pristine, juicy, dripping forest, vanishes in an instant. All these colourful machines of steel do not radiate any of the expected sexiness to me. But probably to the government. There is a guard who just shrugs at my comment and I simply drive back a kilometre along the access road to pitch my awning directly next to the road, at least being surrounded by this very forest of desire. This road is a dead end. Nobody will use it at night. Privacy guaranteed.

    Not. I prepare dinner, it gets dark, the rain stops, I sip on my red wine from Dodoma region and listen to the forest sounds when suddenly something huge drops from the heavens onto the road just next to my car. Woah 😳! I switch on my headlamp. A fat owl, grabbing something from the road! And up she flies on a branch opposite of me, starring at me. I politely switch off the light. Now is her turn of the night. I already had my fun. This is her forest. I better behave.

    Next, a motorbike appears, with three guys and three backpacks. The site supervisor, arriving Sunday evening to start his working shift of the coming week. He and his fellows sleep at the site in a wooden hut. He invites me for a chat in the morning. Next, an unlit random guy comes walking by, carrying a tremendously big bag on his head. Smiling and continuing. Strong guy! Finish. No more interruptions follow.

    The morning hike develops as expected. Wonderful forest with Sykes's monkeys, many flowers and many spiders for breakfast, which like to span their webs across the narrow path. No rain! Shortly after 9 I arrive on top of the crater rim. Splendid view down on the lake, aye!! A few minutes after me this yesterday evening's strong guys appears. He comes up jogging, completely wet from sweat, greets me and jumps over the crater rim, down into the steep thicket. Wäh? Is there a path down to the lake 🤔? "Yes" he shouts from already far away. Okay, challenge accepted! I go after him and find myself rather climbing down 200 m, holding on roots of trees and crawling under branches, finally getting nicely dirty 🤓! Shortly before reaching the bottom he passes me jumping upwards again. Down there is less spectacular than expected. A lake, surrounded by a green wall. Time to climb back!

    In the worker's camp I talk to the guys, now 4 of them, and share my coffee. During me returning, this sporty machine guy went into the forest for felling some firewood trees which he now comes carrying on his shoulders (our European wood is nothing compared to this dense, heavy tropical timber!). I learn that he performs our crater hike every morning, sometimes twice a day if work allows 💪. He cannot sit still. While we talk, he begins chopping the wood ...    Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der

    Vehicle documents cleared ☑️

    4. joulukuuta 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After the crater hike I spontaneously decide to stamp in my new vehicle customs documents at the Malawi border in the afternoon. A really nice and forthcoming customs officer makes my day! Within little time and with much less fees involved than expected, I am ready to go. Lucky day 😁!Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    Fresh cocoa right, fermented and dried left
    First batch of my own pan-roasted cocoa beans 🤤Livingstone mountain range from the West2Felix when going after Büchsenwurst at all willAfrican Paradise-FlycatcherFresh cicada spawning

    Rivers of cocoa

    5.–8. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    At Matema beach I relax from this intense vacation. While driving here I notice dense forests of cocoa trees. Interesting! Yet another thing I have to investigate further 😏. Next to the road I ask a random mister "Hey, sir! You're involved with this cocoa?"

    I must have some kind of intuition for meeting just the right people. Baraka turns out to be a voluntary teacher, teaching young (orphaned) kids basics before they get into primary school: independence from "the system" and self-defense 😃! Prior to that, he has been village executive officer. He teaches me the fundamentals of coca processing and fetches fresh cocoa for me which I can try to ferment and dry myself. The white flesh around the beans is very tasty! Reminds me of "guanabana" fruits of Venezuela. Together, we also find a mama who sells already fermented and dried beans to cooperatives, of which I acquire 2-3 kg. Fermentation of the beans takes around 7 days, whereas drying requires 3-4 additional days in the current sun. Afterwards, the beans are ready for roasting and post-processing, either into chocolate or powder with separated cocoa butter. The whole process is indeed extensively complex, involves a lot of time, heavy labour and many resources. If you tend to buy a bar of chocolate in Germany for less than a Euro, please ask yourself if this is a reasonable price? It can never be!

    Baraka invites me to stay for lunch with his family and we go hiking up the valley to Matema waterfall which is prettier than expected. It looks like a river of milk flowing down the rocks 🤤. Later, I visit the barber and get a new shirt tailored from Tanzanian kitenge by a nice old lady.

    The good thing about the rainy season is that you can spend a whole day just watching the game of weather. And this is what I do the following day (and night).    Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    Tasty swarming termites

    Wille's Parachichi Paradise

    8. joulukuuta 2023, Tansania ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Parachichi! Eckhard forwards me to his old friend Wille near Tukuyu. Wille lived in Rostock, Germany, during the 1980s. He recently retired and runs an organic Hass avocado farm now. It is interesting to see how different crops interleave with each other: All mixed together, the fields consist of banana plants, papaya trees, robusta coffee bushes and the desired avocado trees. The soil is covered with plant waste as natural manure and for binding the moisture. Most of Wille's avocados are exported to Europe via a Swiss organisation.

    The Hass avocados have been initially introduced in this region by Zimbabwean farmers who have been chased out of Zimbabwe during the land reform act end of 1990/beginning of 2000. Tukuyu also features an avocado oil processing factory which produces a great local alternative to the imported and expensive olive oil. This industry is very young though and thus you won't find avocado oil anywhere yet, apart from selected shops in Dar, for example.    Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    5Swiss overlanders. The first tourists I meet after one month!
    Different varieties, differently roasted and also one anaerobicly fermented

    Lunji Coffee

    9.–10. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    At Lunji coffee farm I meet an overlanding couple from Switzerland. Aye, how refreshing to talk to them! I realise that they are my first tourist encounter after a whole month of travelling 😃! During the past 15 months they drove down from Europe via Western Africa and arrived here from Mozambique and Malawi.

    Lunji I visited in January 2022 already but have not stayed here. This is one of my favourite places in Tanzania and I could come back every time! Now, the weather is great and the coffee even greater! Luckily I am able to talk to Paul who is running the coffee and roasting business. He studied in Germany and lives with his wife and kid here. Through his mother-in-law they also distribute their coffee in Germany (though being roasted here). Paul just send 800 kg over to her to be able to cope with all the Christmas orders 😁.

    The farm tells a vibrant history throughout the past century. The oldest coffee bushes are 70-80 years old! Unfortunately, they are affected by a fungus disease which has been introduced in the 20th century, leading to huge losses in crop yield. Paul's plan is to replace them in future with new promising varieties, step by step. Anyway, they have different lots with different varieties already, which I very much sympathise with because this kind of diversity offers a great chance for customers to taste different coffee types. Also, they process their coffee either "natural" or "honey" which both result in intense fruity aromas which I very much appreciate 🤤. There is also a 5-days anaerobicly fermented coffee with promising taste. Had to buy a full kilogram of that, too 😅.

    There are great hiking opportunities to Mount Mbeya and it is interesting to learn about the environmental challenges the farm faces nowadays. Next year they will also be producing avocado oil!    Lue lisää

  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    2Kasanga
    Rainy season requires some rain from time to time

    Lake Tanganyika

    11.–12. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Lake Tanganyika, approx. 670 km long and 50 km wide. After lake Baikal, the world’s second deepest lake with its depth of 1470 m reaching 688 m below mean sea level (cryptodepression). Many rivers flow in, just one river flows out, as a side arm of Congo river. Below the first few hundred metres, the water isn’t affected to any exchange with the upper layers which means that it basically does not contain any oxygen and is considered to be fossil water from ancient times, reaching back 10.000+ years. Fascinating, isn’t it? Where you swim, you bath in lukewarm, crystal-clear drinking water. Many of those desirable and colourful aquarium fishes you know from your local pet shop are being taken from here or Lake Nyasa and exported to our countries of wealth. Illegally! Because they are difficult to be bred in captivity. During transport, the majority of them die (> 70 %? I have to re-consolidate my source of wisdom later). Think about that the next time you fill up your glittering aquarium ☹!

    I camp at an overpriced lodge which lost its beach campsite due to the increased water level which I already observed in many of the other rift valley lakes in Kenya and Uganda in 2021. Here, the water rose around 3 metres. The Tanzanian owner lost a lot of his infrastructure. Wherever I am, the local people say that it correlates with the increase of precipitation during the last years, but, oh boy, don’t even try to neglect geophysics just because it appears to be sluggish! Take a look at the key facts: Water rising began in 2020, throughout nearly all rift valley lakes in Eastern Africa uniformly at the same time, along a stretch of thousands of kilometres, across climatically different areas, it happened quickly, within just a few months and since then the high levels are persistent. What do you say now? A "local rain phenomenon"? No way that rainfall alone is the reason behind all that. We probably experience tectonic ramblings with complex side effects, of which one might induce changes of groundwater level to the extent we are observing now. Conti-fuckin’-nental drift, brother! Digest that. At least, that’s my highly professional assumption. While writing these lines, I drifted away from Congo by 0.007 mm already (officially!). So damn exciting 😃!

    The positive aspect about sunken anthropogenic infrastructure is that when you go snorkelling, you find many of those famous fishies just in front of the lodge 🐟. Why? Because they love to hide between the stones, bricks and squiggly concrete features now being under water. Further out, where sandy ground takes over, you ain’t gonna find no damn fancy fishies any more. I have witnessed them not being there 🤓!    Lue lisää

  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der

    Tales from the road: Glorifying the car

    12. joulukuuta 2023, Tansania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    My Toyota is just amazing. Having 2600 kg fully loaded with two people and food plus drinks for a couple of days it is light-weight compared to the tanks of above 3 tonnes many other overlanders are driving. And it is well balanced: 1250 kg front axle, 1350 rear axle. With the awesome all-time four-wheel-drive (Permanentallradantrieb) it just feels like riding a go-kart. The tyres show superb grip and when deactivating vehicle stability control, drifting through curvy gravel tracks starts to be real fun! Exploded tyres? Broken suspension? I don't know what that is (yet 😅). And nothing rattles. A quiet car. Dust only outside, not inside. An off-road couch.

    This region is rather sparsely populated. Endless plateaus, smooth road surfaces, gentle hills, far-reaching views, colourful cloud formations. Still, Vodacom covers all this with 3G-5G mobile network. I tune in either Rockantenne, Radio21 or some German Power Metal station and: Oh, what a fun to ride!    Lue lisää

  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    3

    Lake Rukwa

    12.–13. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Eh, what a contrast to Tanganyika. It seems like no tourists are coming here at all. There is no touristic infrastructure. Generally, nobody talks about this lake. German Wikipedia says that the shores of lake Rukwa are nearly unpopulated. Arriving in the western part I can tell you that this is so very not true. It feels like one elongated village of super-friendly people. But still, the slopes of the escarpment leading down to the lake are dense with natural forest. Not (yet) cut down for charcoal production. The road down is awesome! Wiki also says that the lake’s depth is somewhat between 3 and 5 metres only. Driving planlessly in direction to the waterfront I quickly realise that what is "road" or "village" on the map is "water" in reality. The people laugh and tell me that the depth is rather something around 10 metres further out there. Now, nearly 1 km earlier than expected I have to start searching for a campsite.

    In the village I stop and talk to just the right person again. Peter the boat driver. He and his friends lead me to a nice camping spot next to a tree not far from the water. I share my beers with them. Later, Peter brings me one new beer as compensation for the one I gave to him. Unexpected!! There is no "beach" or whatsoever, just a smooth transition between land and not-anymore-land. You walk on grass. Then you walk on wet grass. Then you find yourself walking in shallow water. Better search for a boat now.

    The morning’s light is great. I have an appointment with Peter for a boat tour. It was a bit complicated to communicate the time of departure on the previous evening because he always kept repeating something like "at two hours". 02:00 at night? Hmm. At 07:30 I learn that the people here start counting the time of the day from sunrise on. Thus, at 08:30 we jump into a huge wooden boat with some of the other guys. Everybody in good mood, as always. The water smells a bit like a syphon. Also, it is generally opaque and brownish but currently covered by an additional intense green layer of algae. Peter is not a fisherman. He rather transports goods between villages. On our departure his colleagues are unloading huge bags of smoked, rolled (cat) fish which they say is exported to Burundi and Congo. I learn that the intense algae bloom correlates to abundant fish at the moment. I suppose that the fish are simply weak due to lack of oxygen and thus easier to catch. On our small round trip we visit fishermen on the lake and the boys show me different types of fish they commonly catch. Small fish 😕. Most of the time I am allowed to steer the boat while the boys chill. For that I will even tip them afterwards, lol.    Lue lisää

  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    Cozy
    Time for cocoa and coffee roasting!Earthworms as breakfast for themFish farm at the lodgeCashew1Mvuna island2Ancient Moravian monastery

    Relaxation

    13.–16. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    The last stretch of 60 km from Namanyere to here leads through untouched forest and I would have never thought to arrive at such a surreal, fancy establishment, the Lakeshore Lodge. Surrounded by beautiful landscape, with small islands in front and wonderful views on the mountain stretches of Congo. As I arrive, Vanillekipferl are being baked.

    I spend my trip's last days with hammocking, bread dough raising, cooking, roasting coffee or cocoa or groundnuts and fixing minor issues around the car. One morning, I spontaneously join a boat tour to Mvuna island for snorkelling. Good decision! But, diving masks attached to beards really don't make sense. I also learn that extracting oxygen from water is better left to the fish.

    And there will remain a hundred other things yet untold this time.    Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    Announcing me arriving everywhere along the road

    Flat and wild

    16.–17. jouluk. 2023, Tansania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Strange region here between Mpanda and Tabora. Perfect new tar road but barely any traffic. Nearly all of the 360 km lead through wild and untouched forest, except for a few settlement clearings.

    On a wide and open earth pit I find my peace next to a rotten tree which still burns surprisingly well. The red soil is interesting. It consists of porous chunks of tiny pebble-like volcanic stones with a huge amount of iron. When zooming out, I find myself surrounded by bigger chunks of round, grassy elephant dung 🤔. Shortly after nightfall, while enjoying this morning's baked bread, now smoke-toasted in the fire with salted butter, I hear very familiar "who-oop" calls coming from the distant forest edge. So, which scavengers might be announcing their night visit here 😁?
    🫣    Lue lisää

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  • Michi, derRainy season, the juicy seasonMichi, der
    African white garden eggplant

    Tales from the road: Uniform veggies

    17. joulukuuta 2023, Tansania ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Wherever you move in Tanzania, if there are people along your route, you are always able to buy 4 basic vegetables throughout the whole year: Tomatoes, onions, garlic and peri-peri (pili pili). What fascinates me is the fact that there is no variation in the type of these. None at all! It will always be this Roma-shaped elongated tomato type. It will always be red onion. It will always be habanero-like bell pepper. In total, I spent 10 months in this country, scattered over 4 years, and drove 10.000+ km into nearly every corner. I never saw differently shaped tomatoes and never encountered yellow onions nor other chili peppers. Strange, isn't it? What might be the reason? I suspect some kind of seed cartel behind this. Also, you can observe the omnipresent phenomenon of "everybody copying his neighbour": If there is one petrol station, shortly afterwards 5 more will pop up directly next to it. If one sells tomatoes and onions, the neighbour would never think of selling potatoes or cabbage. It must also be tomatoes and onions.

    From time to time you also find regular sweet peppers, but then only green ones! Recently, there have popped up very tasty, small "African white garden egg(plants)". I cannot remember having seen them two years ago. Must be a new trend!

    And with these tomatoes, of which you can buy a bucket of 10 kg for 2.5 €, you will
    be preparing Italo-style tomato sauces all days long! 🤤.    Lue lisää

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  • Matkan lopetus
    21. joulukuuta 2023
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