Mikameni

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