August 2011 - Border Crossing Mozambique Tanzania - Unity bridge

Leaving the paradise-like Pangane and with that Mozambique was indeed a tough one but the excitement of getting into Tanzania was motivating us to move on.
The most convenient border crossing for the route we had chosen was from the North of Mozambique into the South of Tanzania. The bridge that was connecting those two parts of the countries we knew had been finalised a year ago. Another infrastructural project sponsored by the Chinese.
The condition of the roads however, connecting the bridge to the main road-network of both countries was supposed to be the most difficult stretch of our whole 5 months. This because the bridge was more or less build in the middle of nowhere in honour of 5 independence fighters who swam over the Rovuma River (the natural border between Mozambique and Tanzania) at exactly that point. 300 km down the river both sides of the border have asphalted roads connecting to the river...

One of THE main reasons for buying a GPS was this stretch of road however, about 200 km before the bridge the GPS was not recognising any roads anymore and was indicating that we were travelling in the middle of nowhere. Not too tragic as there is only one road and people always point you into the right direction.
The asphalt or better to say the batches of asphalt that are covering the gravel here and there are dotted with the most enormous potholes making driving a constant stop and go and a relief when the asphalt fully stops. Our going was slow as we try to preserve Cruisi as best as we can and feel sorry for her and the millions of old screws that can get loose on the constant vibrations of the gravel. Apart from that we did not face any difficulty whatsoever. The scenery was beautiful and the villages don’t seem to have seen too many foreigners passing by only since a year and the opening of the bridge the frequency must have increased.

Travelling these roads during the wet season must be a different situation altogether and a it seems that a private jet might be more recommended.
After 6 hours we reached the bridge. Mozambican customs officials despite scarily drunk wished us a good trip and let us go. They wanted to have a look into Cruisi, but after 6 hours on gravel roads we and the car were so dirty that they did not dare come any closer.

Entering Tanzania was extremely welcoming with the officials speaking fluent English and us having prepared everything like out of a textbook had everything they could ask for.
Another stretch of gravel waited for us after the bridge and we reached the first Tanzanian town, Masasi at night and with that our first taste of Tanzania beers Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and Butlers, verrry niiiiice!