Kahangara

The waves were gently lapping the lake shore as I awoke with a good night's sleep, after I had given up trying to mend the broken zip on my tent - luckily it didn't rain. I ordered an omelette and beans from the camp restaurant and ate it by the beach with the wide view over the lake and watched the many long, thin fishing boats bobbing over the calm waters. Midge like flies attended the shore and hoards of small insects had invaded the fly sheet of my tent as I packed it away. This lake shore was teeming with life, both welcome and unwelcome. After admiring the beautiful view one more time, and with a kite swooping low over my head, I boarded the truck for the next stage of our journey through Africa. It was another long trip to our next campsite on another lake shore beach. We drove back through Mwanza which was a very scruffy and dilapidated town, contrasted with the beautiful rounded rock formations that rise above it on all sides. The morning Tanzanian rush hour was in full swing. We headed out of Mwanza into a flat plained, heavily cultivated area, with women and their very young children tilling.and hoeing the fields, all waving back with big smiles as we passed. The land was still interspersed with these large and fascinating rock formations. As we crossed a river which had burst its banks, we could see the extent of the flooding in the agricultural land all around. Dozens of small, bright blue and red lizards had taken refuge on the roadside and scampered over the hot surface. Further on, there were more traditional thatched roundhouses mixed with more recent mud-brick budings and other more modern buildings in the towns with corrugated iron rooves. Women carried large loads of vegetables in sacks on their heads and wore their traditional highly patterned wraparound dresses. We waved and were waved back to by countless adults and children with smiles and acknowledgements. We passed the western edge of the Serenghetti reserve and saw zebra, impala and wildebeest in the far distance. There was another badly flooded river which extended flood waters far out into the Serengeti plains. The landscape was enclosed by a long line rocky mountains which dominated the skyline for many miles. We stopped for lunch in a small town in the shadow of the mountains, and I enjoyed some beans in sauce, spinach, vegetables and a flavoured rice. As we continued our journey after lunch, the landscape opened out again into huge wide plains and deep green mountains. The afternoon storm clouds began to gather in immense plumes over the mountains and we were soon engulfed in heavy rain and a lightning storm. We had to stop to buy food at a local supermarket and a fruit and vegetables market. There was a lot of flooding and those of us food shopping got absolutely soaked. We arrived at the 'Tembo Beach Hotel' in heavy rain with the lake waves smashing into the front wall and sending plumes of water spray high into the air. The nearby camping ground did not look inviting and all but one of us, Steph, decided to upgrade to rooms. I booked a nice twin room with my colleague and 'roomy' Brian. We could see Steph out the window, battling to put up her tent in the strong wind and rain. Needless to say, we could only admire her bravery and resilience. We had a late dinner, and I had a great conversation about sports, politics and the environment with a young, intelligent, Canadian fellow traveller, Vincent. I got an early night as we had another very early start at 6am the following day.Read more