August 2022 – Page 2 – Clancy Abroad

road to Chama to south of Chimphamba Village

A great night camped in the quarry. No cars in the morning, its a pretty quiet road. I get going 8:30am. Within about 2km I come across a minibus down the side of an embankment, with the passengers waiting by the side of the road sitting on the seats removed from the minibus.

The road just got worse and worse. It became a 4wd track with me doing about 15kph. Areas of thick bulldust, ruts, creek crossings. I was somewhat dreading 100km of this all the way to Chama. I passed a couple of vehicles coming the other way, and minibus very slowly going my way. Then after 50km of this, there was a bridge crossing a river, and suddenly it became an excellent bitumen road. Not the first time I have hit this in Africa. A good road, then it doesn’t get finished and there is a section of terrible road, then back to a good road. The terrible road never gets fixed and so the whole road carries hardly any traffic.

I get close to Chama and the road goes past a dirt road intersection with lots of traffic on it. I keep going, someone waves and makes a hand gesture and it dawns on me that this good bitumen road goes nowhere, they never built the bridge across the river. I turn round and go back to the guy that gestured to me and yes the road goes nowhere. I go back to the intersection with the dirt road, and follow it into Chama.

Chama is a well built town, with nice bitumen roads, even roundabouts, and almost no cars, nearly all bicycles. I find the market centre and park. Someone comes up to the window and wants to fix my bicycle, which of course is fine, I just store it with the front wheel off so it fits. He then wants to “help” me. I have come across this before they want to “help” so that they can get some money off me later for their “help”.

I find the bakery, and buy some bread rolls. I walk though the market, but cannot find any bananas, mostly people are selling the tiny fish that are a like whitebait in New Zealand, and are sold in Malawi. The Malawi border is only about 100km away. Considering the lack of water around I wonder if that is where it comes from. As I drive out of the market I pass one of the rare cars. He yells out asking where I am going. I say I am heading south on the RD105. Keep in mind I have not seen another tourist for more than a day now. He stops gets out and asked for 20Kw (about $A2) to fix his tyre. I reply why is he asking random strangers he passes for money. The I say you must be one of the richest guys in town, you have a car. He half grins, and I drive off. I struggle finding the RD105 but after a misstep I head south on the track that is mostly used by people, and hardly used by cars.

It is a slow drive south. The road is narrow, but there are dozens and dozens of bicycles. Guys transported goods out of Chama south, people riding between villages, its a busy busy road, but just with bicycles. I come across two cars, and then further south I pass a few trucks. At 5pm I pass Chimphamba Village and find a clearing in the forest south as a camping spot. A few motorcycles and a truck pass before dark, but after that it is quiet.

Bridge over the river to Chama, almost at the end of the bad road

Broken down truck blocking the RD105 south of Chama

So many loads carried on Bicycles to villages south of Chama

The river crossed by the bridge on the bad road to Chama

Camped of the road south of Chimphamba Village

Kings Highway Zambia to road to Chama

I spent 3 nights at Kings Highway campsite so I could fix the broken things. I fibreglassed the wheel arch back together. Then I reconnected the broken cables and routed them lower from the body so they would not get cut again by the severe motion of the camper body. I found in the end one broken rubber mount that I decided to leave for now because it will be tricky to replace (I have spares). I had problems with the cables trying to figure out which was which. Especially a cable that I had put in that I had never used.

So with all the packing up, I had spread out again, I got going about 9:30am. First stop was Isoka, about 60km down the road to go to an ATM. I was down to about $A15 left. The road to Isoka was new, and very easy to drive. I however have got so used to driving slowly, that I rarely go over 70kmh. I went through a Police stop outside Isoka where the policewoman interrogated me for quite some time, and also asked for a cold drink. I then turned into Isoka, drove the 3km to the township and found the ATM. The ATM refused the card. Darn I thought, ATMs in Zambia where not going well. It was 80km to the next bank. I was ready to drive off when I thought, what if I try my credit card? I did, and it worked, and I withdrew the maximum of 6,000Kw (probably too much).

Flushed with money I went on a spending spree in town. One thing I like about Zambia is that many more people speak English, its easy to do business. I wandered the main street and found a little market. I bought some peanuts, and some potatoes. I was offered tomatoes. I have to rant a little about tomatoes. I don’t dislike tomatoes, but they really don’t travel very well, but I probably should eat them more. However it is amazing in East Africa that Tomatoes are everywhere. You can guarantee as some roadside stall there will be tomatoes on offer , if not anything else. Anyway I also bought some bananas and crossed the road to a bakery I had seen and bought two bags of bread rolls.

So I hit the road down to towards Chinsali the last town with fuel. The good road ended some time out of Isoka and I was back to road works. I got to Chinsali ,I filled up the tank with another 33l. It was then 40km down the T2 to the turnoff to Chama. I was really surprised the road to Chama was bitumen. It went on for maybe 80km before deteriorating to dirt. I went through another military checkpoint, and then drove another 2km and found a disused quarry at the side of the road. Quarry’s are my favorite place to camp. No scrub, usually hidden from the road. This was really quiet. I must be a fair way from villages I heard no noise during the night, and only two vehicles came past earlier in the evening.

Truck town with lots of stopped trucks on the T2

Forest camp north-east of Luala Tanzania to Kings Highway Zambia

Worst Border crossing ever

I slept well at the Forest camp, but it was cold in the morning. I packed up and went to start the engine, and no start, battery problems again. This cranking battery is on its way out, the cold temperatures have weakened its cranking power. So I know how to fix this, and luckily it was sunny, although the sun was only just over the horizon. I got out the folding solar panel and connected it to the battery. Within about half and hour and some starting spray I had the engine going.

It was another 400m climb until I got to the top of the escarpment, with Clancy crawling slowly up the steep hills. I passed another truck accident, a dump truck on its side. Then it was a windy road down into Mbeya, with good views over the city. I tried to get fuel with a credit card at the Puma but no go. I tried to find a KCB bank which does not charge extra fees, but no go, so I went to and ATM and withdrew 400,000 Tsh (about $A250). Then stopped for fuel. I knew I was low, it took 67l, so I was down to my last 8l.

Then off through the crazy traffic in Mbeya, and the road to the border, which was about 80km away. The road to the border was crammed with trucks. Long conveys of trucks crawling up the hills, nose to tail so they are very difficult to overtake.

I had read lots of accounts on iOverlander about this border, and how complicated it was. I had decided that I would try to do it myself, but if I got into trouble I would call on Robert a fixer mentioned several times by iOverlander users. So as soon as I got to the roundabout to turn into the border crossing I was surrounded by fixers. I told them to go away, So I entered the Tanzania building, but I was soon completely confused. Someone told me I had to go to the Zambian building, which I wasn’t even sure where it was, so I went outside again to be surrounded by fixers. As it turns out one of the fixers was the famous Robert. So I engaged his services. We went through all the fees I would have to pay, and he seemed fairly reasonable. So we trudged from place to place, getting different pieces of paper. He left me to do the immigration part. So I got stamped out of Tanzania (where they wanted to scan my vax certificate – why?). Then it was getting a visa for Zambia. They had dropped the price of Zambian visas to $25USD. I had $80USD in 4 $20 notes. You can only pay for a visa in USD. They would not accept and of my 4 $20 USD notes because they were not pristine enough and suggested I go onto the black market outside and see if I could get “better” notes. So I find a dealer who will give me (under pressure) $28USD for $40USD of slightly better notes, including 8 $1 notes. So I go back with my $25USD including 5 $1 notes to get told by immigration that they don’t take $1 notes. I must have made such a fuss, that they gave in and took my $25USD.

So back with Robert, more bits of paper, until we have almost everything (we are about 3 hours in by now). We just have to drive to the gate park and he will hand over the Tanzanian road tax paperwork. So the gate area is jammed with trucks, Robert gets me to maneuver past a truck to park, and I hit a raised edge of the road, Clancy tips and I clip the side mirror of a Mercedes Benz truck, and breaks it. All my fault, but what a pain. So is a security guard, a police woman, the truck driver, the truck drivers boss and 4 of 5 other hangers on. So much discussion in Swahili about what to do. I must say it was all very civilized, and with Roberts help they decide I should pay 1,200 Kwch (about $A110). This seems reasonable to me so I hand over the money, and everyone seems happy, if not somewhat embarrassed that I paid any money.

So by now its about 30 minutes from dark. I say goodbye to Robert and head down the dreaded T2 of Zambia. The road is a terrible mix of potholed bitumen and dirt. I stop at the ABSA ATM about 1km down the road, but with two attempts I cannot get any money out of the ATM. I am down to about $A50. I have 50km to get to Kings Highway and its about 15 minutes from sunset. I overtake a truck past some pot-holes and hit a pothole really, really hard. I hear a crunch from Clancy in the back. I stop to look, but I cannot see anything wrong so I continue.

So here I am again. Don’t drive in Africa in the dark, driving in Africa in the dark. The road is terrible for a few kilometres then it becomes road works. The Chinese are building a new road, but of course its all diversions and dirt and bulldust and everything else. So its a slow (40kmh) drive to Kings Highway, and it is a welcome sight when I get there. Its a nice camping area, and I have a nice solar powered hot shower. I then notice power cables hanging down the right hand side rear wheel, and realise my pot-hole collision has caused more damage.

The next morning I find that the fibreglass wheel well, has broken as the wheel hit it, and it ripped four power cables in the process. I decide I am going to have to stay another night to be able to fix everything. I ride into the village and get a sim card, which all goes well.

I spent all day fibreglassing and fixing cables. That’s why I carry 2 litres of epoxy with me. I am 50/50 if I can leave tomorrow. I have to reconnect cables. I have this problem of running out of money, and its at least 50km to the nearest ATM.

Gum trees at the side of the road at altitude above Mbeya

Taking the wheel off so I can get to the broken cables

south of Kambikatoto to escarpment Forest camp north-east of Luala

My wild camp south of Kambikatoto was great. I heard nothing, not even anything driving down the road. I had my normal barley breakfast, and headed down the road, about 280km to go to Mbeya. The road was definitely worse. It was rocky, basically single lane, so I would have to squeeze to the side in the ditch to let trucks and buses pass. There were not many villages, and no mobile reception. About mid-morning I came to a rope across the road outside a village. This is a common practice with the Police, and most villages have some sort of barrier, but it was always up. I stopped at the barrier, and said a friendly hello to the your man who came up to the window. He spoke zero English. He tried telling me in Swahili why there was a rope, but I kept shrugging no understanding. Then it was the rubbing of stomach, and I knew this was extortion for money. I mentioned the word “Police” several times, and “illegal”, but this didn’t stop him. So I said I can wait here and block the road as long as I want. I switched of the engine, and wound up the window and starred forward, ignoring him. He went over and removed the rope and let me through. This might be inconsistent behavior with me paying the villagers to cross the river. However I was on much stronger ground in the bigger village. A truck or bus would come along some time and have to get past me.

I stopped for lunch then continued what was a punishing road, with corrugations and rocks. I was worried about fuel. I had not really bought enough fuel 200km+ north of me, so it was a sight for relief when I pulled into the first service station for about 200km. Except that it was closed because it had no Diesel. So off down the road, about 1km away, where there another servo, this time with Diesel.

I eventually got close to Makongolosi, where there was a Police stop and praise be, a bitumen road. I was heading for a iOverlander wild camp at the look-out about 34km form Mbeya. Outside Makongolosi as I had got 3g internet for the first time in 6 days, I stopped and uploaded the blog posts and pictures I had done. This timed the arrival at the look-out camp a nice 5:15pm. Unfortunately, the look-out camp was having a fence built and had a security guard, so that campsite was a bust. I turned back down the road, because the area was all pine forest (I was at 2000m+), and within 500m I found a forest track. About 300m down it I found a good spot, out of view of the road. I set up the shower tent for another hot shower, draining the hot water from the roof hot water tank. This was the 5th night of wild camps in a row.

Bee hive traps, these are all over the place made of different materials designed to trap bee hives

south of Unyambwa to wild camp south of Kambikatoto

It was cool when I got up. I guess I am getting further south, and I am at about 1500m altitude. I added the wild camp to iOverlander. I was only getting minimal internet, EDGE or GPRS. There was not much I could do with it, it really only worked on my phone.

I got packed up and left, still not seeing any people until I got onto the T22. About a km away there was another truck crash. The prime mover had become separated from the trailer carrying timber. I stopped for a minute to talk to the locals, but they just wanted me to give them cigarettes.

At about the 10km mark I came across a reasonable service station. However they would not take a credit card, so I gave them 100,000Tsh (about $65) for 30 litres of fuel, which was half the cash I had. I also filled up the water tanks and filled the roof hot water tank so I could have a shower when I stopped for the day.

The road wound south. It went though plenty of villages, but as I got further south the villages got further and further apart. There was not much traffic. Buses, and a few trucks, and occasional cars. I went through a military checkpoint, but they were all friendly. I passed several broken down trucks, cars and buses, as I headed south. I stopped for lunch by a river, and kids from a nearby house played near the river watching me the whole time. When I left they ran and hid. I have seen this before with rural kids and white people (or maybe its just me?).

Later in the afternoon I drove past a village where dozens of people were walked down the road out of the village. About 500m away were lots of trucks and vans pilled with goods that I squeezed past and I saw lots of stalls set up selling goods, and dozens of villages shopping.

At 5pm I turned on the heater element for the hot water and started seriously looking for a campsite. I spied a track of to the side. I left Clancy parked by the road. The track was good, but there was no evidence that anyone had walked or driven down it for a while. I drove down and set up camp. I got all the shower stuff out and had another nice hot shower.

Lake Eysai to south of Unyambwa

I packed up at Lake Eysai. It had been a good campsite. My new solar controller and solar panel connection improvements showed with power soon after dawn.

I followed my tracks back to the road and headed south. The road was no large but it was well graded. Very little traffic, a few motorcycles, no cars. I suddenly ended up at a dry river bed and I could not figure out were the road went. I took a track and asked a lady washing where the town was on the main road. She sent me east, and I drove between piles of mud bricks to eventually see a crossing of the river. The road then got very vague. I was following my GPS, but I would often be 200m away from the road as shown on the GPS. A motorcycle went past and I followed his track for a while. The road just meandered through the scrub. There were little village compounds every now and then, surrounded by spikey african thorn bush. I don’t know if this is to keep animals out of keep animals in. I was all very primitive, and every village I went past, people stopped to stare at me.

After 20km or so I came across another river, this one with water in it. There was a barrier across the road and a couple of locals standing around. I got out to talk to them figuring they wanted money. They just put their hand out. I asked “how much”, but they didn’t understand. I went back to the car and got 1,000Tsh. I offered this, but another older man came along and shoke his head and held out a fist. I didn’t get this, eventually he counted out 5 fingers, so I gave him 5,000Tsh (about $A3). They took the barriers down, I walked the river just to check the bottom, but it was sandy and no deeper than 30cm. I locked the hubs, engaged 4wd, and easily crossed the river.

The road continued to meander. I passed a couple of villages who were pulling water out of wells dug in dried sandy river beds. This was definitely not Dar es Salaam. I got close to the town on the main road. Here I crossed another dried river bed with wells dug in it. There were dozens of people carted drums of water on two wheeled carts away from the river bed. It all looked pretty grim.

I got on the main road, which was still dirt. I headed over a newly build bridge over a river and flood plain.

It was then a wander around different side roads, all dirt until I got to Singida. About 20km out of Singida was the first police stop I had been through in 3 days. However they were friendly and let me go quickly. Once through Singida it was down the bitumen of the T3 looking for wild camping opportunities. I decided as it got closer to 6pm, I would wait for the turn-off from the T3 to the T22 that headed to Mbeya. I turned of and was very surprised that the T22 was dirt. This meant I had 518km of dirt road to drive down to get to Mbeya.

Only about 1km after the turn off I saw a track to the side. I backed up drove into the track, then walked further down. It looked like an abandoned field. I drove about 150m down and parked on the side. It was pretty invisible from the road, and I didn’t see anyone all night.

Negotiating the price for the extortion barrier across the road

The faint track meandering around south of Lake Eyias

Sunset at wild camp south of the T3 T22 intersection

Migungani to Lake Eyasi

I started well after the Overland Truck left, who I was camped next to at the campsite. They had packed and left by 7:15am, never have I managed that. I headed west somewhat unsure if I would even be able to get to Lake Eyasi. Its really tourist land, streams of Landcruiser Troop carriers with white people inside go past me, both directions. I climb up a mountain range to about 1500m. I turned off towards Lake Eysai at about the 35km mark. It was a dusty dirt road, with a fair bit of traffic on it. About 40km down the road I passed half a dozen tourist Land Cruisers doing the “authentic” village experience. After then the road forked away from the road to the tourist lodges, and it got much quieter. There were spread out villages, but they got smaller and smaller. Eventually I reached the iOverlander wild camp spot. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was, but there certainly was not a marked track, so I kept going, about 1km off the road, near the lake shore. I arrived about 2pm.

Later in the afternoon a couple of cattle herders came past, but language difficulties kept the conversation short. I was not getting full charge fro my solar panels, and I realised this had been happening for quite a while. So I replaced Anderson plugs, tested everything and got full solar power.

Next morning, I decided because it was such a good campsite, and I wanted to get the solar working even better, I would stay camped next to Lake Eysai, and replace the solar charge controller with a new one I had brought out from Australia. That took me a fair bit of the day. The new solar controller was MPPT, and worked better than the old one. I decided it was time for a shower. I pumped water up to the solar hot water system on the roof. I connected up the heating element in the solar hot water system, and started heating the water, on solar power alone, something I had never done before. I got out the shower tent, and had a great shower with hot water, that actually was too hot.

Then later in the afternoon three kids came along who were herding cattle. The older boy Seghis spoke pretty good English. We had probably a two hour discussion, me telling them how things worked on the camper, and them telling me things about them. Seghis had his sister with him, and another friend. Seghis said he ws 14 and his sister was 11. I guessed he was 11 and his sister was 7. I don’t know if it was a language mis-communication, or he really was 14. He had the gravitas of a 14 year old, but he was way shorter than any Australian 14 year old. He was herding cattle which he did every day from sun-up to sun-down, except when he went to school. When he went to school his mother took care of the cattle. Later on he asked for some food, so I thought here is my chance to off-load the food I know I will not use on the trip. So he got about 3kg of flour. Some salt, miscellaneous cans of things I will never eat. In the end I double bagged it in some PnP bags and he happily went off with his compatriots.

east of Kafuri to Migungani – turning south

I spent two days at the wild camp east of Kafuri. I didn’t see any crocs, hippos, or Kilimanjaro. Yesterday it was thick cloud, and it rained two or three times during the day. I had a child cattle herder come past. Maybe he was 10 years old. He had this dog helping him. You would think the dog (and the boy) would get tired all day guiding these cattle. However, no. The boy played with the dog, he threw things for the dog to chase, and the dog ran up and down chasing things. Levels of energy I wish I had. Then the boy playing with the dog in the (crocodile infested) water, catches a fish with his bare hands, and tries to sell it to me.

Later a fisherman came along on the river in his canoe.

I got going early, my battery levels were low, because there had been almost no solar the previous day. Amazing fact of the day. I went through 20+ police stops and did not get pulled over once! The reason for this I think is its tourist central. There are Landcruiser Troop carriers all over the place ferrying white people around, so maybe the police are under orders to leave the white tourists alone.

Then it was onto Arusha. Arusha is big, 400,000+ people. I headed for the Shoppers supermarket to get some more apples. I tried getting more small denomination USD for the Zambia border, but again it was too hard.

I have decided I am going to take a detour, to see if I can drive through the Hadza lands. I am bit bit fascinated with the Hadza, some of the last hunter-gathers left, especially the double labelled water experiments. The Hadza live near Lake Eyasi, so tomorrow I will see if I can pass that way.

So I am camped at a campground at Migungani. First hot shower in five days.

The furthest north I will get this trip, 3.3 degrees from the equator

The best picture I could get of Kilimanjaro

Dar es Salaam to north of Mailikumi to east of Kafuri

Another slow start out of Mikadi Beach campsite at Dar es Salaam. I was doing some extra cooking to store in the fridge. If I cook when I have power and store it in the fridge, its much cheaper, I don’t use any gas. I also had to check Clancy underneath, check for loose suspension bolts etc.

I thought about taking the ferry across the harbour, but too many unknowns, and I had driven the road in, so how hard could it be? Well returning to the centre of Dar was much harder the other way. The roadworks were routed differently, and it took be at least an extra half an hour to negotiate all the detours. I headed to the Dar city centre, because I wanted to get some small denomination USD for the Zambian border. There was several money exchanges in the centre of town I had seen the previous day. So because of all the one way streets in the city centre I had to follow a tortuous route with the GPS. When I got close I realised my target was wrong and I had to circle around again, all very slowly. I went in a second time, and by chance someone waved a parking spot to me. This was some sort of parking scam with the parking inspector. I gave the guy 1000Tsh (about $0.65), and it seemed to work. I tried the money exchange, but they didn’t have small denomination notes, so it was all a bit useless, and I headed back to Clancy.

Then I headed north to shoppers plaza, with the shoppers supermarket. I loaded up with more supplies. I paid another 1,000Tsh (about $0.65) for a car guard with a double barreled shotgun to guard Clancy, which I thought was very good value. Then I was finally ready to leave Dar es Salaam at 1pm in the afternoon.

I had a target of 290km in the GPS, but I had two sub targets thinking I would never get 290km. I got near Bagamoyo, about 80km north of Dar. The camping ground looked very nice, but I have to get moving. I have 4,500km to do to get back to Joberg. So I pushed on. At 5pm I passed the next target another 100km on, and I decided I would push on and find a wild camp before the next target which was the original another 116k further on. It got closer to dark, it was 6:30pm, and I could not find any camp. So breaking my African rules again I drove into the night figuring I would make the wild camp at 290km out of Dar. Of course it was horrible, but so many other people drive in the night in Africa. I went through two police stops that pulled me over with their torches. Its crazy for these police to be standing in the middle of the road in the dark. About 7:30pm I came to an intersection with two servos, one a Puma, one an Engen. I tried the Puma to see if they would take a credit card (Puma usually do), but not this time. Try the Engen they said. So off to the Engen. Yes they would take a credit card but they had run out of diesel.

So I slowly drove on the last 8km, doing about 50kmh, and made it to the wild camp along a powerline at 8pm.

Next morning I was up having breakfast at 6:30am, because I wanted to get going and cover the 240km to Misho, the nearest town to Mount Kilimanjaro. The road was good. A couple of police stops along the way, include a surprise one where he wanted to see my passport. So after a lunch stop I decided to make for a wild camp east of Kafuri. So I am camped by the river which the locals tell me has crocodiles and hippos

Firing mud bricks. I have seen these stacks all over Malawi and Tanzania, but I have never seen on in operation.

Zanzibar, Tanzania

Its been a 4,000km drive from Joberg to get to Zanzibar. I packed up Clancy at Mikadi Beach, and took only a small rucksack and walked the 2.5km to the harbour ferry across Dar es Salaam. It felt strange having so little gear. I took the ferry across with several hundred other people mixed with the cars. It was then about a kilometer to the Zanzibar Ferry terminal. I had booked the Airbnb on Zanibar, but not the ferry. I had not been able to do it online, so I thought I will get to the terminal early and buy a ticket there. All was OK, and I had no problems buying a ticket, or paying with credit card. It was then about a two hour wait for the ferry.

The Australian built Austral ferry was a smooth 2 hour trip across to Zanzibar. When I disembarked I faced having to fill in a arrival card and show my passport. Zanzibar is semi-independent, a country within a country. I then fought through the people trying to get me to take a taxi and walk the 800m to my Airbnb. Stone town is very dense, with narrow streets no room for cars, just scooters. I used OSMAnd on my phone to navigate, but when I got close I could not figure out which building. I could not log onto Airbnb, but luckily the host sent me an email, and I replied. He then sent me a message on Whatsapp. Why didn’t I think of that earlier, everyone in Africa is on Whatsapp. I got to the Airbnb and all was fine. The place is run down, but its right in Stone town near the markets, and cheap.

I went to the markets and got late lunch. It was all a bit shocking, white people, tourists around. I was so not used to seeing tourists. Europeans fly directly to Dar es Salaam and then to Zanzibar, so its a bit of a tourist destination. There are resorts on the north and east of Zanzibar (that I have not seen, and don’t intend to). Having been in Tanzania for a week, I am a bit shocked how everything in the market is so expensive. A bunch of bananas that I bought in Iringa for 600 TSh they try to charge me 3000 Tsh for, I beat them down to 2,000 Tsh, but its still expensive.

So I have spent the weekend wandering around Stone Town. Saturday morning it rained a bit, Sunday morning it rained for a couple of hours. Saturday night was interesting at the shore, lots of people, mostly locals out for Saturday night. I catch the ferry today at 12:30pm back to Dar.