Day 28 - into Tanzania

Point of departure : Chitimba

Point of arrival : Kisolanza (50km from Iringa)

Accommodation: the rooftoptent - The Old Farmhouse - www.kisolanza.com or [email protected]

Km travelled today 504 kmCum: 6 677km (gravel 0km cum 1 359km)

Countries so far: 5/16

Where to next? Ruaha National Park

Total number of photos taken: 28 (cum 1 294)

A fairly gentle start and we headed north towards Karonga, (the largest town on the northern part of the Lake and the gateway to overland crossings into northern Zambia and southern Tanzania) and onto the border. Along the road we saw an amusing scene - a cyclist with a pig tied to the back - poor pig he was squealing all the way.Immigration and customs formalities, on both sides, completed with a minimum of fuss (30 minutes)…

At over four times the size of Great Britain, Tanzania is the largest country in Eastern Africa.

The word Tanzania is derived from the two nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar which before 1964 were separate.Tanganyika in Kiswahili, the local dialect (Swahili) is translated to mean "sail in the wilderness" and Zanzibar is derived from the Arabic words "Zayn Z'al Barr" which means "fair is the land".

The change in topography entering Tanzania was quite dramatic, rising from the Malawi Lake plains at 480m rising pretty quickly to 2 290m en route to Mbeya… very pretty scenery with pine trees and tea plantations, interspersed with the inevitable villages, almost like valley of a thousand hills. One of the driving challenges in Tanzania is the 80km per hour general speed limit, 50km per hour approaching towns or villages and 30km within. We went through four road blocks before Mbeya (116km from the border), with nothing much more than being waved through but entering Mbeya we got flagged down by a traffic cop with radar gun in hand. We were doing 71 in a 50 zone with a threat of a Tsh 200 000 fine. John was despatched to negotiate with the senior official sitting in a car under a tree. He started trying to discuss this (man to man, you know football, motor cars, women?) and when this failed, resorted to general pleading and begging. This eventually bore fruit and after he had been offered a 50% discount (no receipt) was dismissed with a wave of the hand and a friendly warning to adhere to Tanzania's traffic rules.

Tanzania seems to be a haven for speed traps - between Mbeya and Iringa (330km) we went through a further 4 and happily survived them unscathed. It does seem however, that there is one rule for locals and another for foreigners, because we were constantly being overtaken by anything that moved, including clapped out taxis (how embarrassing).

We had planned to stay in Mbeya but decided to push on to Iringa (less driving the next day to Ruaha National Park) but the combination of losing one hour in time change (Tanzania is GMT+3) and the speed restrictions meant we were pushing the daylight hours. Fortunately we discovered the Old Farmhouse (referred to us by Mandla Nyathi - the overland truck driver we met at Chitimba) at 50km before Mbeya and pulled in there for the night. What a pleasant surprise… clearly demarcated camp site and pleasant ablutions. But the best was, the dinner and breakfast in a very quaint dining area, a good 3 course meal (R110 each - cheap) and very friendly and pleasant staff who thought Marina needed fattening up. An altogether very pleasant evening with the added bonus that it was cool… duvet for the first time on the trip.