It was still about 500km to get to Blantyre and we wanted to explore Nkhata Bay a little. We didn't know of anything worthwhile to go to after Salima and Zomba or Liwonde would be too far so we opted to head for our first stop in Malawi, Cool Runnings in Senga Bay. The backpackers was on the northern corner of Nkhata Bay and directly opposite was where the snorkelling was best, so we'd heard. We swam across the channel and enjoyed the fresh water and the...

We had chosen to head to Nkhata Bay today and, since we would make up an hour when we went through the border, decided we could relax and read a little in the morning before we left. Bongo Campsite is really in a very picturesque region of Tanzania with high mountains peaks and virgin forest that the road to the border passes through. Next to the road there is not an empty lot with tea plantations in between dirty little towns and motorbikes and bicycles consta...

We had to start our day with some repair work. The diesel leak had started up again from the pump so we needed to replace the pipe and we had yet another flat tyre which needed to be repaired. So after fixing the pipe and getting into Iringa for the tyre repair and diesel we were on the road late morning. We also found a great market and got the Masai blankets we'd been looking for at a much better price than the tourist places. It was probably one of ou...

The first 30km took us 3 hours to get out of Dar Es Saalam. It is another ridiculous situation where there is one road in and out and only a single carriageway for all the trucks and busses that have to chug along out of the city in the morning. We left at 7 and joined a long queue for the ferry. Michael and Daniel, the students we'd met the night before, told us if they built a bridge across the harbour it would change so many things: all the rich would build ...

Having not seen the beach when we arrived the night before, but having seen the lights in the distance it's was interesting to wake up and find we were looking out onto an island. There are, in fact, a number of islands off the Tanzanian coast, obviously Phemba and Unguja that make up Zanzibar being the most famous and prominent. South Beach is a beautiful stretch of white sand with a number of hotels and campsites littered along it's length. As Martin had advi...