Day 15: Back to Tanzania

I battled to get out of Mombasa. Pikipiki (motorcycle taxis) were picking there way, tuk-tuks were tuk-tukking, taxis (taxiing), cars careering, bicycles (trying), carts being pushed, buses bussing (?), and me, battling to get my piece of the road.

Another Mombasa beach (the morning of my departure)

Eventually I made it out of the city and into the most amazing countryside with palm trees so tall and hanging coconuts everywhere. The roadside was green. Very fertile, and unlike what I had been used to in some parts of this adventure.

This is such an easy name to remember....... 

Finally I made it to the border with Tanzania. Lunga Lunga was the Kenyan side, HoroHoro the Tanzanian side. Here I realized why I had not paid the 50US$ for a visa. They told m we (SA) and Tanzania now had a bilateral agreement. There was now no cost for a visa, great. I filled in a basic org for Temporary Import of my bike (no cost) and I was off. I still had my COMESA insurance o I was fine there as well. I changed some money with the. Pedestrian money changer (1800 Kenya shillings for 10 500 Tanzanian shillings). Good to go. So off I went.

Now, the goal was to find a nice place to stay, far enough south to make decent distance. I though, ok. Tanga sounds great, let's go there. Must be an awesome place with a name like that.

TANGA TOWN

I drove in, so far so good, thinking, let's get to the beach, see that, and take it from there.

I could not find the beach!!! Eventually I drove towards it, on footpaths, through some low tidal flats and there I came across a fishing area. Now, fishermen are normally jolly folk. Not this bunch. I don't know why, but I felt uneasy. So I chat with the oldest man there. Usually a good strategy as thy have seen it all. He's about 80yrs old I guess and even speaks a bit of English.

Small talk followed and he takes me to a table where unfortunately he gets me talking to a crazy guy. This guy looked like Samuel L Jackson, with an afro, glazed drunk look in his eye, and a big knife cleaning the smallest fish I had ever seen (maybe 7cm long?).

After introductions the small talk between him and the old man was weird. He obviously wanted to get money out of me somehow and the old man was saying he should b nice. All this was in Swahili but I knew bad vibes when I saw them. He offered me a boat ride, to an island and said its 300 US$. Wow, hectic!!! Is he insane? I say its steep and he says ok, how much do I have.

Tanga fishing beach

NEGOTIATION EXAM

So he eventually wants my cell no. And I say I don't know it. I give him my SA no. He doesn't even have a phone?!? And asks a friend. Now his friend tries calling me but has no airtime. They say I might not come back. In my mind I said, 'damn straight, as soon as I get off the beach I am gone like Donkey Kong.'
I eventually extract myself with many eyes on me. I felt glad to leave. When I drove through the leftover high water I was so happy.

Leaving Tanga's fishing beach

I decided to give Tanga one more chance. So I scouted a few streets and found a nice street with trees, even a bicycle lane, and a nice garden overlooking the sea. Even here the atmosphere was somber. It was like in a horror movie, where the new guy comes to town, its beautiful, but he's the only one who doesn't know the towns secret.

The view from higher up on the Tanga hillside

So I found a vendor selling fruit salad that looks good, and get one, hoping I would not get sick from the fruit. It was delicious, the best part of Tanga. It had avocado, papaya, banana, water melon, even cucumber.
Still I felt uneasy, so I decided to make tracks for anywhere else, wow, such a waste.

Tanga to Bagamoyo

I drove and drove, and drove, the sun set, I drove some more, and more, my garmin said there was a camp site at a place called Travelers Lodge so I headed there.

My camp site in Bagamoyo

15km out, true to Tanzanian style, ....... Deviation!!!   ! The road got worse the closer I got to town.
Eventually I was there. Wow, all rooms booked 65-80 us$, but camping was 12us$. Great.
The place is by the beach but I waited till morning to walk in the beach.

Day 3: Vryburg to Gaborone (Botswana)- What a DAY!

So. What a day. 3 strange things happened, but all in all everything turned out well.

First off I was very happy to leave Vryburg behind.  It seemed very unmanaged.  I asked the petrol attendant what they had that was interesting, and he says, Tsotsis (gangsters), who prefer to steal and get paid every day, than to work and get paiud once a week/month.  I left there as quickly as I could say, "Thanks for the petrol", and I was gone.

Later, reaching Mafikeng wa a pleasant surprise. They even had a 'Cash Crusaders' which is a shop that sells used equipment, music instruments, etc.  I went in there for "old times sake" but nothing interestingwas on sale 9where would i pack it anyway??).

Unluckily, they never had a smaller tent, which was what I was after. I had a short chat with a friendly guy in the parking lot, then went round the block where he advised I could get food, unfortunately it was by the taxi rank and I didn't get anything.

So I went into 'Choppers Mall'. They had a Spar supermarket so I knew they would have fresh food, salads, etc.

Now the fun begins.

I pulled into the parking lot trying to find a parking space. When none materialized in a safe location I decided to pull up onto the pedestrian area close to the door, where the bike would be safe.

(1st strange event) I was going at 'old granny walking with a walking stick in each hand pace, turned round a pillar and 'bang' right pannier hits the pillar, and the Titanic moves towards the ground on the left side in verrrry slow motion. I basically couldn't  hold the ±250 to 300kg up anymore and the bike went down basically in the entrance of the bottle store.

This happened right in the middle of the undercover walkway to te shops. Boy was I embarassed. Luckily 2 kind gentlemen helped me lift the bike up.  there was no damage, and i walked into the shop as if nothing had happened.  At least the salad was good. And I filled my Nalgene water bladder with over a liter of apple juice.

I ate and got out of Mafikeng as quickly as possible. Heading for Botswana.

The border crossing was easy, except I had no Bot Pula (Botswana Currency) so got some from the exchange container thingy at the border office via card payment.

(2nd strange event) While unpacking I realized what the plasticky, burning  smell was that I had detected earlier while driving.

My bike cover had melted from the exhaust heat. Luckily my sleeping bag, wrapped inside it, was fine...... For now.  The sticky stuff was coating the end of the exhaust, but it was basically just causing a bad smell, and nothing mechanical was affected.

(3rd strange event) Driving through into Botswana, I headed further north for Gaborone at about 120km p/h. Slowing only for a troop of monkeys in the road, and some cows also almost on the road. All of a sudden, I feel the bike 'shake her booty side to side' doing the twist again. Looking backwards and down to the right pannier, I see the very same bike cover trailing in the wind like a yacht's main sail. And..... No sleeping bag in site. I hadn't fastened the stuff well enough. Grrrr. I looked back and saw someone flashing their lights, so I thought they wanted me to come collect the sleeping bag. It took me 5 minutes to tie up the bike cover again, but by the time I turned round..... The car was gone......and so was the sleeping bag.

I drove back about 5km. But nothing. So I turned and headed for Gaborone, safe in the knowledge that it was time to get a new sleeping bag.

In Gaborone, I realized that I had gotten there just in time for peak hour.... Wow, I couldn't get the bike through faster than 1hr of walking pace. And of course.. .  yes, of course, as soon as I got the GPS navigation system charged, I had to drive BACK through the jam 5km to find Mokolodi Backpackers, which was my choice of the places listed as potential places to stay. It was nice and clean, but again had no card payment facilities?  (What world am i in??)

My bed at Mokolodi Backpackers (Gaborone)

Ready to leave from Mokolodi backpackers the next morning

Luckily I had just enough Pula to pay for a tented bed, at 165Pula.

Wow, what a day.

Tomorrow, let's go further north to Livingstone,  Zambia, which the 2 German exchange students say can be done in 9hrs total driving time. They just came from there.

Day 1: Last Preps & GO!!!

So. Day 1 of my trip into Africa came and went. Before I go there though, it may be helpful to go to Day 0, which was meant to be my departure date.

Day 0:
I have been running around like a crazy guy. Its Friday 5 July, the 1st day of my time off from work. I had planned to leave today, since I wanted to maximise the 18 comma something days I had saved up over 2 years or so for this trip.

Of course, I've wanted to do this trip for almost 2 decades, or rather, a more leisurely version, with cruising round the African continent at a leisurely pace being the intention. However, life happened, and the trip did not.

Ooops, I'm off the point, back to Day 0. It went something like this.

08:45 Meet the journalist from the District Mail (our local paper) for photos for the newspaper.
09:15 Meet Noel Visser, our local metal worker, to fit the pannier brackets.
12:30 buy wires, fuses, spare bulbs, at motor spares shop, for finishing the usb charger socket.
13:00 get something to eat.
13:45 get bolts, brackets, handles to install panniers boxes.
Oh, buy pannier boxes, actually, plastic auxiliary battery boxes from plastics for Africa.
Anyway, after much bolting,connecting, an wiring, everything was put together by 5am. After 2hrs sleep my parent came round to say goodbye but I needed an international driving permit,some more bolts, etc. Which took half the day. I eventually managed to pack and leave by 14:00.

Ride report:
The bike handles well but is shaking her booty in the wind like a woman doing the twist. The wind out from Somerset West (my home town) was gale force strong all the way through the Huguenot tunnel.  It was coming in from the left side and was very hectic. It seemed like the wind was trying to blow me to the centre of the road. .....

I covered 170km then filled up at Touws River. Another 130Km to Laingsburg and it was 18:00.

I checked out a place called Haremba Lodge which was full but the friendly guy at reception phoned ahead and organised me a bed at "Die Kliphuis". Its in the middle of nowhere, and freezing old, but the beds are clean, and the water hot.