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Rediscovering Tanganyika

December 2021 - January 2022
From here to there, simply strolling everywhere. Read more
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  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika

    Royal Dutch Aufenthalt

    December 6, 2021 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    It's about time again to renew my 4x4's customs documents in Tanzania. I convince my bosses that the world is not going to crush without me (as mostly I am the core component of any disaster) and manage to leave for another 8 weeks. Chakkalakka!

    This time I boycott Ethiopian Airlines and my journey starts in Amsterdam where I visit my beloved Catharina and Werner whose wedding I attended with Franziska in Cape Town in January 2020! Actually, their wedding invitation was the initiating spark to my idea of crossing the African continent by car. I am welcomed warmly in their royal apartment and spend the night with two fluffy cats on a huge bed. The next morning I find Amsterdam hidden in a misty cloud of little above zero degrees Celsius.    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika

    Racing through the night

    December 7, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After a delayed flight and a way too time-consuming arrival procedure I step out of the airport at 2 a.m. with - at least - a new SIM card in my phone. The transition from air-conditioned, sterile environment into the real night gives me back my life. Calm. Humid. Warm. It feels like returning home. Half an hour later after a fast taxi ride through Dar's stinky but refreshing air I check in at Eckhard's where I even get a private room with oversized bed for the next days. Yess!Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika

    Getting things ready

    December 12, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 29 °C

    "Pole pole" - as Tanzanians in the Swahili region would say - I start to get my things ready for another road trip. This time I want to not hurry and to concentrate solely on Tanzania. This country is sooo damn big and, apart from the main tourist attractions, has plenty of other spectacular spots to offer. The rainy season might boycott some of my yet unmade plans though.

    Over a week I need at Eckhard's place for arriving with my sould, servicing my car, visiting friends, people, neighbours and eating myself through the varieties of street foodi around the corner.

    With the new president many things already changed. Even though the nation celebrates 60 years of independence with positive retrospectives all over the place, the newspapers are again allowed to criticize and to post suggestions for improvements. They chew on the dualistic education system, on gender-based violence, on challenges in the agricultural sector, they report about road network extensions having massive impacts on the ecosystem, they bring specials about nature conservation efforts and they manage to give a good overview about which consequences this whole COVID thing has for eastern Africa.    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika

    Dancing with a dinosaur

    December 13, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I spend an evening with Thomas who borrowed my Toyota a year ago. We finally manage to meet here in person which we were not able to accomplish throughout the past year in Germany :-D
    Thomas worked for Berlin's natural historic museum and is totally into dinosaur excavations and skeleton preparation. He gives me some details of the Brachiosaurus excavation at Tendaguru in south-eastern Tanzania [1] and about his famous T-Rex skeleton steelwork. He will soon return to Germany and ship his restored Land Rover Defender to Mombasa for some extended safaris in this region here :-)

    [1] https://www.geschichte.fm/podcast/zs230    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika

    Custom sandals

    December 15, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    I start my trip northwards and meet Dagmara from Mambo View Point in Firefly hostel. She came here to pick up an old Mahindra Jeep from Firefly's owner Jo. We spend a great time all together! I love Bagamoyo for its calmness, atmosphere and busy dock from where the cargo Dhow boats (Arabic sailing boats) are leaving to Zanzibar. At the evening market I manage to find a superb spicy and rich soup (Mchemsho) with huge, palm-sized chunks of octopus for dinner! Paradise!!

    Two days ago I drove here for one night already and met Moody who builds beautiful sandals from old tyres with custom mesh top. He just took one look at me feet, we discussed the style and colour and now he presents his work to me. They fit perfectly! 😁    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika
    21

    Finally Saadani!

    December 16, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    My previous two attempts to enter Saadani national park were unsuccessful because the southern access road was not usable due to a broken bridge. This time I finally make it into the park! Still, the southern access sucks because of huge, newly established sugar cane plantations left and right. With recent rains the overused road turned into a mud bath. I pass two overturned trucks and slide my way through.

    At the entrance gate I meet Abdelhadi, a cyclist from Morocco. He is travelling for 3.5 years now, went down all the western route to South Africa, came up here and was even attacked by an elephant in Botswana. Here the ranger does not allow him to cross Saadani on bicycle because of dangerous animals in the park, haha. I would give him a lift with my car because he is not interested in animals anymore 😋 and just wants to exit through the northern gate, but the authority wants to charge him full entrance fees for that. Stupid. Sadly we part again as he finds a lift back to direction of Bagamoyo where he just came from through all the mud with his muscle power.

    In the park I grab Musa, a voluntary guide. He shows me a great lunch place in the village. We do an evening game drive in my car and start at 6 in the morning for a breakfast game drive. Most secondary routes are mudded and not drivable but he shows me the primary routes which are in more or less good condition. Payment of these voluntary guides works just through tips. I like this concept! The campsite is in rather bad condition but directly at the beach.    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika
    1

    Too fancy for me

    December 18, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    I check in at Barry's Cottages/Campsite as the only guest. Pompous place, very fancy and well-suited for an afternoon's power nap under a shady palm bush. Barry is an engineer from Canada and designed all houses and cottages himself. They are built to perfection and emit their creator's passion.

    At 6 I wake up and visit the nice beach with my coffee cup in hand. By strange yells and shoutings I am attracted to the nearby palm trees. "Baboons in the trees?" Barry greats me. Fascinatedly I watch an armada of guys climbing up the palms and harvesting luxurious coconuts. They celebrate some kind of yells while descending each tree. Wow, they are awesome!!

    At 8 I continue via the ferry over Pangani river to Tanga for lunch at Hashtag Cafe. This is beyond street food. Also too fancy for me.    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika

    Extending the Carnet

    December 18, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Extending my Carnet de Passage at Horohoro/Lunga-Lunga border is more complicated this time. I have to stamp my car into Kenya temporarily and then get a new form C32 from Tanzanian's customs which I never got before and which restricts my car to stay just for 3 months in the country for commercial instead of private purpose. This of course is not my intention at all. But the customs officer is beratungsresistent and I leave with what I have. Later at Holili/Taveta border I will learn, that this is bullshit and that my car is allowed to reside 12 months as usual on the Carnet and that I can screw form C32. Well, "Hello Africa".Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika
    1

    Umba river

    December 19, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Having spent too much time with customs procedures I rush into a side road along Umba river. My plan is to wild-camp somewhere in the thorny thicket. As usual, plans do not work out. As usual, things are getting totally weird. As usual, this is what makes my day!

    It is getting dark. I cannot find a place for the car. Either the bush is too thick or villages full of people boycott my search for a quiet spot. While ascending a small hill I think "Hey, up the hill there'll probably be a deserted quarry!". One minute later I arrive at a quarry. "Yess!". It is dark already. I park my car next to the excavator and get out with a torch to scan the area. The same moment somebody approaches me from direction of the bagger. It's Madini, a watchman, making sure that nobody touches the machine. He has a fire burning behind it, in order to scare away unwanted intruders. What may work against elephants and buffaloes does not work against me. He is about to drive home with his bicycle for dinner and suggests that I join him at his place instead of staying in the quarry. Aha. Ok. Good, so I better give him a ride? Just the moment we start to strap his bicycle to my roof rack, a boda boda (motorbike taxi) appears along the road and stops, the driver cursing. Something is broken and he cannot continue the ride with his passenger. I join with Madini and we inspect the problem. Apparently the motorbike's throttle cable broke and Hamadi the driver cannot throttle the engine anymore. Shit. We start to brainstorm and he suggests to tie a screw or nut to the bare steel wire so that he can pull it by hand for the next 35 km to his destination. I get my overequipped toolbox and some spare metal parts and we manage to attach a piece of wood with a thick 6 mm screw, a nut and a washer. It looks very handy and works well. Off he drives into the night, pulling the throttle by hand!

    At Madini's place his wife prepares some dinner with cassava, tomatoes, chai and cake for us. I add leftovers from my lunch out of my tiny fridge. Yum yum! After the dinner he has to leave for his night shift in the quarry. He insists that I sleep in his bed instead of my car and so I do. Calm night! Where the rest of the family sleeps? I don't know 😂

    I wake up at 6 when Madini returns from his shift with a pile of firewood. Damn, this dry acacia wood from the bush is sooooo damn heavy, dense and hard! Madini has three punctures in the rear tyre of his bicycle and repairs them within 5 minutes. Skilled man! He shows me around the village of Mbuta and his farmland. We have a coffee at his son's kiosk. We walk down to river Umba. We have chapati and chai for breakfast at his home. We say goodbye and I continue my journey along the border of Mkomazi national park towards the western Usambaras. Where would I go next? 😋    Read more

  • Michi, derRediscovering Tanganyika
    1

    Of spices and gems

    December 19, 2021 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    In a village I ask for a good place for lunch. Pilau with chai is always a good choice, yum yum! Hassan is very welcoming and keen of showing me a little refuge with mommies who are serving exactly what I need. It turns out that he is a really cool guy. He explains to me that the northern slopes of eastern Usambaras are the source of all ingredients you would use for Tanzanian chai: He farms awesomely aromatic cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper. He calls his brother who appears within a few minutes with two bags of cloves and pepper. The cloves smell and taste very differently from what I know from Germany! They are much more aromatic, intensely spicy (really burning hard on my tongue) and even slightly fruity in taste. The cinnamon is also lighter brownish in colour and much sweeter than the one you usually buy in Germany. A little bit like liquorice.

    Additionally, Hassan manages the mining of gems in this region. River Umba is sourced from western Usambaras with its alluvial deposits yielding a variety of colourful minerals you could spend a lot of money on: Green and yellow garnets, blue sapphires and red rubies! He gifts me 4 tiny green garnets. I can also keep the clove and pepper bags. And he invites me for this very lunch 🙃    Read more

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