Tanzania
Rukwa

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    • Day 119–120

      Erste Reparatur 😁

      March 23 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      Den Vormittag haben wir mit der Reparatur des Stoßdämpfers verbracht. Gewinde unten abgerissen. Zum Glück ist unser Gastgeber in Sitalike im Hauptberuf Automechaniker. Er baut den Stoßdämpfer rasch aus, findet im Dorf einen Ersatzbolzen und weiß einen Schweißer, der die beiden Teile zusammenfügt.

      Dann über Stock und Stein und Morast auf der Suche nach einem Stellplatz. Die alte Schottergrube ist nur dritte Wahl für diese Nacht. Aber in der Regenzeit darf man nicht wählerisch sein.
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    • Day 37–38

      Lake Rukwa

      December 12, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 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.
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    • Day 36–37

      Lake Tanganyika

      December 11, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 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 🤓!
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    • Day 37

      Tales from the road: Glorifying the car

      December 12, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 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!
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    • Day 38–41

      Relaxation

      December 13, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 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.
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    • Day 484

      Roadside halt to be.

      February 23, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

      On the way back to the airport at Mbeya I Stopped at Sumbawanga, where Mvimba have a house and the secondary school, (see photos from 20th Jan). This time in true cargo cult style, the brothers offered a good meal, wine and free lodging as I was travelling with the German moneybags who had to placated with rich offerings so that he would keep returning.

      One of the projects dear to the heart of the Bro Superior - Nicholas, the bloke in charge - is the construction of a truck stop / service area on the main road heading East. We spent an hour and a half getting there, subjected most of the journey to an excited expose of his concept. In summary, he wants to build a super-loo, (sic), surrounded by a restaurant, motel, rest area, car wash, market and a secondary school for girls with babies. The multi-story loo, though a little potty for some, will be a wind powered, content rich and flush-full of various stimulating and attractive designs to tickle the imagination (at least); thereby drawing visitors to the edifice like flies to its contents.

      Attached to the complex is a large agricultural expanse. Capitalising on the output of the former to feed the crops, the range and variety of plants will extend beyond the existing sunflowers and maize to include school dinners and a tree plantation - and raw materials for the superloo.

      It all seems so obvious when explained like that; cause, effect and solution all in one facility. Hopefully it will be equally compelling to the 2 buses and 3 cars per hour that use the road currently.

      We had fun in the group flying the German's drone around to measure the perimeter so that the architects could mull over Design focussed on Award Winning Colonic Vacation. Someone parked their wheelbarrow out along the road but I could not see any Irishmen so I left it. It was full of holes anyway.

      After flight above ground we decided to walk through the ground as the morning rain had loosened the surface nicely and we favoured enhancing by tactile stimulation the architects Vision. Perhaps studying the output of a Great Artist like Twoloos Lautrac might have been more productive, but instead we walked barefoot a couple of km, squidging warm, soggy mud and something else through our toes, down to the shallow lake where we lunched and had a siesta on an artificial hill above the primal ooze.
      Work on site has commenced but not very advanced yet, so instead of a visual of the above, be amazed at the at the guards' houses and marvel at the cattle. (Ah! Thats where the 'something else' came from.)

      Now don't poo-poo the concept too quickly. This is a country where only 30.2 % of households have, (to use the Governments words,) "improved toilet facilities", ie running water. It may be a novelty but it also fulfils a necessary utility. Remember the words of the sage: "If you can do do do."
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    • Day 465

      Food for thought

      February 4, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

      A 2016 study reported in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" discovered that fish stocks are inversely proportional to water temperature. So as the water in the lake has been getting warmer, fish levels have been decreasing. We no longer know why things are heating up - scientists had a pretty good theory but ScoMo and other politicians have set them right about that.

      Anglers going after Goliath tigerfish and Nile perch don't appear to have much effect on stocks; and nor do the traditional hook & line or gill net fishermen in their leaky canoes.

      Clearly commercial fishing, which in the 1950's started using the infamous artisanal lift nets and industrial purse seines, has had a pretty big impact. There are about 800 fishery sites and around 100,000 people involved. But the industry collapsed in the 80's so I am not sure how many fishermen are actually making a living, especially as there are an increasing number of juvenile fish being caught. The catch in 1995 was around 196,570 tons. This fisherman has hooked a piece of Tanganyika rock, or maybe its a stonefish.

      So here is the dilemma. Fish stocks declining as temperature rising. The only option is to reduce commercial fishing.
      But these fish provide 60% of the animal protein consumed in the region. And children are turning up at school malnourished even now.

      Go figure.
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    • Day 454

      Speaking in tongues?

      January 24, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Here is the rotund Brother Gasper Toke, who, surprisingly in view of his name, does not carry a nominal Government Health Warning, (Surgeon General advises ...) He is hosting me in his camp at Kipili.

      The first thing he wanted me to do was to drive with him down to one of the local towns, Namanyere, where his buddy the parish priest was organising a workshop for young parishioners. I was to tell them about my travels and experiences, no doubt as an antidote to a day of earnest solemnising. So I told them to stop believing in Father Xmas and that people would help them if they helped themselves.

      Then Toke, as he is known by the multitudes, translated into Kiswahili. He spoke for 3 times as long as I had and managed to get them laughing and joining in every 3 minutes. I still have no real idea what he wanted me to say; or if he translated what he wanted me to say rather than what I did say; or even what the whole workshop was about. But they seemed to have fun.
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    • Day 451

      Kipili at last

      January 21, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

      Then on to the very local bus with a couple of young chicks for the hour long journey to Kipili. Well thats how long the first guy said it would take. The second said 2 hours and Bro Gasper texted me to say 3. It took 4 and didn't go to Kipili but stopped 8 km short as the road up to town was a spur off the highway. Luckily I had WhatsApp access so could let Bro Gasper know. He came down in their LandCruiser and carted me and 2 other muzungus who were visiting the opposition (Lutheran missionaries,) back to the village.
      And here I am beside the waters of Lake Tanganyika .. .. ..
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    • Day 451

      Mvimba monastery school

      January 21, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      Well, after my relaxing morning I discovered that Bro Gasper was not there, but another bus ride away in Kipili. I also found that Bro Clement was in fact the headmaster of a school of 700, including a hundred orphans who boarded. Before catching the bus at 11:30 he gave me a tour of his school.
      I didn't ask about the Chinese writing on the wall adjacent to the playing fields, except to discover it was the translation of the Latin beside it, but I am intrigued and will investigate.
      The government is trying hard to encourage people to switch from cooking fuels, from charcoal to gas. These three bean cookers caught my eye as the gas conversion (look at the window) reminded me of the bunsen burners in school biology labs.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Rukwa Region, Rukwa, Mkoa wa Rukwa

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