8 June, Wednesday   Dar es Salaam Zanzibar 
 
Willie leaves at 6 with Andrej and Hugo to take them to where
they pick up the ferry to Zanzibar.

 Willie and I spend the day in the camp: laundry, maintenance,
administration, bills, bank and computer stuff. We have tech glitches with our
computers, cameras and now our GPS! After talking to an agent it becomes clear
that the GPS died! This is bad news, because we have become so dependent on the
help the GPS gives, but to buy a GPS here might be very expensive. 
 
The boys come back at 7:30 and they had a lovely day. They enjoyed the island a lot and even though I gave them my camera – they came back with 5 pictures! Willie will take nice ones tomorrow is what they have decided. So tomorrow Willie and I will go and the boys will stay at the camp to be with Sammie.

7 June, Tuesday  Sunrise Beach, Dar es Salaam
 
A quiet day: we do laundry, clean the car, dust, update the blog,
catch up with admin stuff, call home,
swim…

6 June, Monday Dar es Salaam   Mozambique embassy 
 
We pack up as soon as we wake up – just a light pack and strap,
because the other campsite is less than 2 km away: Sunrise Beach. It is by the
ocean, clean, private and we are under big shady trees. 
 
Willie makes a few phone calls and we do need to get our visas
for Mozambique here in Dar es Salaam. There are no facilities yet to issue visas
at the border. The boys scramble to find clean, decent looking clothes. Andrej
produces a t-shirt that I’ve not seen yet this trip and shorts that he’s worn
maybe once. Hugo has very little that will pass the‘decent-looking’ grade. His
shorts, pants and jeans are ripped and torn beyond the point of repair. He has
one pair of pants that passes, but his attire selection is on its death bed.
I’ve suggested that we find him a new pair of shorts, but there is resistance,
like with the mattress. So, I’m not sure if this is another of those
self-chastising, masochistic decisions to go through Africa with no mattress and
maybe 1 pair of shorts and a t-shirt?

 There are several people waiting at the embassy. Willie explains
our situation: do we need visas, what will it cost etc. We wait almost 2 hours,
and we realize that we do not have the tolerance, or resilience to deal with
another visa complication. They cannot tell us whether Namibians need visas or
not; it takes 5 days to get a visa; rush fee for US visa is $95 and then you get
your visa the next day. 

We have a team/family meeting in the embassy: how important is it
for us to go to Mozambique; will we be grief-stricken if we do not go there; who
wants to go; who does not want to go; who does not care…what are the pros and
the cons?

 Andrej and Willie feel $95 is stiff and both of them can skip
Mozambique. Hugo and I would of course like to go, but if it is $95 for
  Namibians as well, then we will reconsider. We wait another ½ hour and they
  still cannot tell us whether we need a visa or not. Waiting-time helps to push
  the vote over to ‘skip Mozambique’. I can live with that. We can hopefully go
  at another time. It cuts down on our distance and gives us more time to drive
  unhurriedly.  Peace descends on the decision and we leave in unison. Next stop will thus be Malawi. All of us do want to go to Zanzibar and we will have to do that in the next day or 2.  

5 June, Sunday  Dar es Salaam wrong camp 
 
It takes 4 hours to the outskirts of Dar es Salaam and almost
another 4 to negotiate through bumper to bumper traffic, but we are getting used
to this as well. We use the time to observe and enjoy the organized chaos of
African city street life – something really difficult to describe to others. It
is almost something you have to experience to be able to find a category for it,
because it is so foreign to anything we know.

 Our camp is at South Beach and we take a ferry which cuts out 38
km by road. What we thought is the right camp site turns out not to be. It is
obvious that there were no recent campers. They have to clean the bathrooms and
showers, but we do have a guard for the night and Willie decides that we will
move over to the campsite, used by other over landers, the next morning.

 The humidity and warmth remind me a little of Florida, although
it is not as humid.  

3 June, Friday  Bush Camp before Wildlife Park     
 
Our aim is Dar es Salaam, but we plan to stop at the Baobab
  Valley on our way down. It is interesting how a restlessness has crept in the
  closer to home we get: a feeling of wanting to reach the end…Hugo cannot wait
  to share his birth country and –town as well as South Africa with Andrej;
  Andrej cannot wait to see it after hearing about it for the last 4 years;
  Willie and I are excited about going back to a place and its people that we’ve
  grown to love immensely, BUT…

 We’ve decided to help and remind one another to stay in the
  present: enjoy the richness of life everyday – new places, people, food,
  sights, difficulties, tiredness, long roads, short roads, potholes, tar or
  carpeted (as they say here) and so much more. We’ve also realized that the
  answer to help curb the travel fatigue is to cut down on distances; shorter
  travel days and longer periods of rest. It definitely helps to energize and
  replenish us and it also allows for processing time. We are so full of newness
  boiling over and processing helps to prevent spilling and
forgetting.

 We want to sleep in a camp at the gate of a National Wildlife
Park. The signs are there, but the campsite is deserted and it really looks
creepy, so we decide we will rather bush camp. Willie pushes the car deep into
the bush and we hope we will be out of sight. Hugo helps me with dinner
  preparation whilst Andrej and Willie play back gammon. Andrej remains the
  undefeated champion. No one has discovered us yet, and all 4 of us crawl into
  our tents with a little apprehension. We hope we will sleep well. 
 

3 June, Friday    Bush Camp before Wildlife Park     
 
Our aim is Dar es Salaam, but we plan to stop at the Baobab
  Valley on our way down. It is interesting how a restlessness has crept in the
  closer to home we get: a feeling of wanting to reach the end…Hugo cannot wait
  to share his birth country and –town as well as South Africa with Andrej;
  Andrej cannot wait to see it after hearing about it for the last 4 years;
  Willie and I are excited about going back to a place and its people that we’ve
  grown to love immensely, BUT…


We’ve decided to help and remind one another to stay in the
  present: enjoy the richness of life everyday – new places, people, food,
  sights, difficulties, tiredness, long roads, short roads, potholes, tar or
  carpeted (as they say here) and so much more. We’ve also realized that the
  answer to help curb the travel fatigue is to cut down on distances; shorter
  travel days and longer periods of rest. It definitely helps to energize and
  replenish us and it also allows for processing time. We are so full of newness
  boiling over and processing helps to prevent spilling and
forgetting.


We want to sleep in a camp at the gate of a National Wildlife
Park. The signs are there, but the campsite is deserted and it really looks
creepy, so we decide we will rather bush camp. Willie pushes the car deep into
the bush and we hope we will be out of sight. Hugo helps me with dinner
  preparation whilst Andrej and Willie play back gammon. Andrej remains the
  undefeated champion. No one has discovered us yet, and all 4 of us crawl into
  our tents with a little apprehension. We hope we will sleep well. 
 

2 June, Thursday Moshi to Usumbara mountains
 
 
We get travel weary quickly these days and I now understand why
overlanders would say they took a week or 2 vacation: stay put in one place and
regroup. One would not think it, but this does tire you in an interesting way.
After 2 hours drive Willie starts to look for a place to camp. We have a
  waypoint of a camp which, apparently, has a stunning view. 
 
We stop at Mombo, the last town before you drive into the
  mountains or shall I rather say, we are stopped by street vendors whose shop is
  on top of their heads…big round baskets filled with anything you can think of:
  chips, sodas, water, chocolate, gum, tissues, samoosas, sausages, roasted corn
  on the cob, small donuts, peanuts, cashews…They are accompanied by shrewd stall
  salesmen who want to lure you to their little restaurant or food place.
  Everyone has a wonderful plan for my life and I lose my thinking processes as I
  am being barraged by their incessant talking trying to convince me that their
  product is the best. I, inevitably, go with the smoothest of the talkers, spend
  too much money (although he assures me that is not the case) and end up deathly
  tired back in the car. Hugo usually goes with me and he, on the other hand,
  loves to negotiate and barter with a big smile and loud voice without getting
  angry or tired. I think I am stocked up for a meal for the
evening.

 We drive on a narrow, windy road which twists and curves higher
and higher into the mountain through lush, green and dense vegetation and trees.
Our aim is Irente Mountain View Hotel – built on a cliff with decidedly the most
unbelievable panoramic view I’ve ever encountered. Standing on the ledge and
overlooking the world below gives a surreal feeling – an outsider looking in on
a world that has grown distant and silent and small. I feel her breath on my
skin as she sighs and I wonder if this is an inkling of God’s perspective of an
unseen and unknown universe out there…?

 We pitch camp in the parking lot of a hotel with no guests…We are
told it is low season and the quiet time of the year, but it is weird to see a
big complex so empty. The hotel is 150 meters away from a small village that
boasts, without a doubt, with the noisiest, hair salon in Tanzania: loud,
ear-piercing, thumping music pumps out of that small building to cover the
surrounding area like dripping icing on a cake. My theory is that you do not
need scissors for a haircut – the pitch and sound level make your hair fall out
spontaneously!

 Willie, Sammie and I walk to a viewpoint to watch the sunset. The
ledge with no barrier has a sheer drop and the dizzying height makes me feel a
little sick to my stomach. The view is breathtakingly spectacular as the sun
changes into different colored robes behind the cloud
curtains.

1 June, Wednesday    Moshi  
 
June…I remember when we started in January the end was not even in sight- it was so deeply tucked away under snow and an unknown filled with many questions, uncertainties, fears (for me at least), and now ¾ of the distance lies behind us. I can almost smell home! 
 
June – no more teenagers – both Andrej and Hugo have their 20th birthdays, the 10th and
17th – on an unforgettable journey, in an unexpected place will they leave their teen years
behind! 

Our next stop is Arusha where we have to go to the bank, fill up with gas and stock up on food supplies. The town is super busy: streets lined with activity, markets, business and people, but we slowly negotiate our way through the energy. We find a Shoprite – a South African grocery store. All of us are so excited and I find it interesting and humorous that a bottle of Mrs Ball’s
Chutney, Marmite, biltong and boerewors can cause so much enjoyment. We spend more money than we should have on little treats that make all of us happy– even Andrej who has heard and seen some of the products in our home during the last 4 years. The experience makes me realize how much we’ve missed home and the familiar things that are associated with it. 
 
Our aim is to sleep in the Honey Badger Lodge campsite in Moshi which is another 1 to 1 ½ hour drive from Arusha. Most of the way there Kilimanjaro flirts with us – showing her snow p eaks and then hiding it in the clouds again. We stop to take pictures a few times, because we realize how fortunate we are to see her. Friends of ours have been around the mountain for
  a few days and have not even had a glimpse of the top. 
 
Honey Badger is secluded, clean with friendly staff – hot showers
and flushing toilets! The guys have asked for fries and I was not too excited
about the prospect of peeling mounds of potatoes, but with Andrej’s help we are
done quickly and fries in the bush is definitely a treat.


Click Play for Pictures

31 May, Tuesday,  

  Soon after we woke up the Massai ‘warrior’ joins us accompanied
by a friend. Both are very friendly, but communication is difficult. We soon
understand or derive that the friend could be the owner of the land and he wants
something from us for staying there which is fair. Willie gives him money and
they seem to be satisfied with it, but stay to watch how we make everything, us
and Sammie disappear into and on top of the car. Hugo decides that, if he was a
Massai ‘warrior’, who lives in a rural village in the bush and tends to his
livestock, he would also have given himself over to shameless staring – “think
about it, ”he says – “a car, with ‘muzungus’ (white people) and a black dog,
stops and half an hour later a compound has appeared from the car…they carry
their house, fire and food with them?”

 The bumpy, potholed, powder-dusted back road takes us through
breathtaking scenery: rolling savannah grasslands and valleys, under a canopy of
thick, bulging white clouds, carry our eyes to the end of its reach –an endless
kaleidoscope of color, texture, shapes, lines, contours, silhouettes and forms.
A taste of the Serengetti, but without the animals…We’ve decided not to go to
the major parks, because it is extravagantly expensive – especially if you
arrive with a foreign licensed car – a decision which I know is the right one
for our circumstances, but I am sad that we are so close and we cannot
go.


The off the beaten track campsite surprises us with green grass,
big shady trees, running water showers and toilets and even a gazebo. A friendly
Massai, Israel, runs the campsite called Moses’camp. He speaks perfect English
and is kind and helpful. He joins Hugo and Andrej after his day’s work and they
have an interesting conversation exploring Kenyan politics, government and world
affairs.

30 May, Monday  Nairobi to Tanzania 
 
It is a 2 hour scenic drive to the Tanzanian border where we go through customs and immigration procedure to leave Kenya and enter Tanzania. We do not encounter any problems and 1 ½ hours later we are back on the road. 

Willie takes a back road towards the Serengetti area where we find a bush camp with the hope that we will not be disturbed. By sunset we discover that we can see a snow-capped Kilimanjaro in the distance after she took her cloud-hat off – we are actually looking at the highest mountain in Africa and it is quite a wow experience, even though it is so far
away.

First glimpse of Kilimanjaro

Click Play for Pictures

 

 From nowhere a young Massai man appears wearing his traditional
attire: robe, beads and stick. He is friendly, but cannot speak any English.
Hugo and Andrej, with lots of gestures, and laughing try to have a conversation
with him. He watches us and our activities for almost 2 hours before he finally
indicates that he is going to bed. It is hard for me to relax when my every move
is being watched, and I stayed on the other side of the vehicle until he
leaves.

Click Play:
 

Hugo developed severe back-ache during the 8 hour trip on the
awful road from the Kenyan border to Marsabit. I tried to mobilize and
manipulate it, but sitting in the car for long hours would undo any change or
improvement. I felt bad for him, because his discomfort was obvious. I brought
my acupuncture needles and tonight was the night. After cleaning his back
thoroughly I stuck the needles in while being bombarded by Hugo-questions about
the why, how, what and where… the photos tell the story. I really hope this will
help.   

Click Play: