November 2011 - Tanzania - Long Way Down

It was nice entering Tanzania again, the only country that we are visiting twice during our trip. But since we had already exhausted the time we would spend here on the way up with an extended stay on Zanzibar we decided to drive through as quick as we could.
The scenery was great and we felt very lucky to experience this part of Tanzania from top to bottom. The North is still quite green on the border to Rwanda but once one reaches the centre everything turns into shades of brown. It gets really hot and it is extremely dry. The South again is greener.
In the North the Baobabs had actually green leaves, in the centre they were as most of the time leafless and in the South they had flowers! Its funny to see seasons pass in just a couple of days.
There are small villages and settlements everywhere in-between this scenery, which is what most of us in our mind associate with Africa. It really makes you wonder how people can choose such uninviting environments to live in. It is boiling hot, dusty and so dry! Nothing green grows here and it looks like it has not rained for ages. People make their livelihood out of cows and although those cows look quite skeletal there must be water somewhere... The cows’ masters on the contrary, are extremely healthy looking. Masai men put a lot of attention into their appearance! Hair styles, clothes and jewellery are really advanced and make one think of a small fashion show in this deserted bush.
The stretch of about 1500 km took us 4 days long. We were recommended a short cut via Dodoma instead of taking the unpaved B6 that was apparently too bad to drive on. So instead of driving 500 km on gravel we opted for the route that was 300 km longer but supposedly tarred. This was not true and the additional 300 km were on really bad gravel that took us a full day.
We reached that part on the route on the third day and were already quite tired. The gravel and the painful vibrations in Cruisi did not help our mood whatsoever. On that stretch we did not only lose a part of the exhaust but also our temper, more than once. We told each other several times how f.... annoying we find the other and had walks into the bushes as the only escape from the 10 cm separating and the only means to release some energy. We managed though without further serious insults or mechanical problems .
Days like this really do not feel like holidays. We woke up as early as possible, had a quick breakfast and were on the road. Either of us was driving for the first part of the day and after lunch and coffee on the side of the road the other was taking over. Add to that about 40 degrees of dry heat and two tonnes of dust wherever you can imagine it.
When at some point we got stopped for the 4th time within 100km by a police road block just to show that we actually do have a driving license (...) we got a bit impatient with the police officer informing him that his colleagues had checked us already 3 times this morning and what was this whole checking all about anyhow. He looked a bit confused, apologised and told us to go. A few meters away we realised that out of security reasons we should rather lose our temper with each other rather than with police officers and the next road block, we approached with forced politeness again.
Only one officer asked if we could buy him ‘breakfast’, but told him straight that we do not do bribes and with a “ Oh, ok, thank you very much, have a great day” he let us go.
The necessity of bribes in Africa truly seems to be an urban legend. As long as you know that you are right there is no need for a bribe. The ‘budget’ for bribes that so many South Africans had told us that we would need will be spend on beers once we get back.
For now, we have arrived for one more time in paradise, Malawi!!! Pictures and news on the next post.


P.S. Fred is becoming an uncle again, this time from the side of his twin brother! Congratulations Sophie and Guillaume, we can’t wait to see the new Douelle!!!