Kigoma (Feb 12th - 14th by Paul)We still had a long drive to get to Kigoma, a bigger town that we hoped would have petrol and was on lake Tanganyika, we headed out for it hoping the road would be better than the previous couple of days. In the town of Mpanda, about 30km from where we camped we filled up with fuel, which we were told was very lucky because it was about to run out, again… We were also told that the road ahead was better than what we had just done so we all felt good about hearing that.Initially the road wasn't too bad, it was a good gravel road and we could get up to 60km/h, with the odd patch of bad stuff. As the day drew on we got to some really bad sections of road, either deep muddy ruts of rough rocky sections. We pushed on, the book saying the last 100km should be ok. In parts it was but then we would hit sections of deep mud and water, which just slowed us down. It was getting late but we decided to continue to Kigoma, because we thought if we got there we could have a days rest and not need to get into the car.We eventually got past the worst bits of roads and as we closed in on Kigoma, we passed refugee camps. There were no refugees there, but we could see that it was quite large, with just some small reed huts for shelter. In the past this camp would have had people from Rwanda, Burundi, or the Congo fleeing to Tanzania. It was a good sign that there was no one there because we were going to head for Rwanda in the next couple of days and would come very close to the Burundi borders.As it got dark we were still bumping along a dirt road, but we thought we were close to Kigoma. We always say we don't like driving at night because it's not too easy. With the rough roads, the constant people on bikes or walking on the road, makes it quite hard work. The road just seemed to go on and on without coming into town. Eventually we made it into town and had to find somewhere to stay. After a couple of wrong turns and dead ends, we paid a taxi drive to take us to one of the places in the book that sounded quite good. He took us down some back roads, asking people for directions (even though he said he knew where it was) and when we eventually got to the place it was actually closed for renovations. We pointed to the next one in the book, as asked him to take us there, he didn't quite know where to go so picked up a couple of local lads to show him the way. As we followed him, he seemed to stall, the guys got out to try and push start the car, but he got stuck in a ditch in the road. By this stage we were all sick of driving and just wanted to get somewhere with showers and beds. We squeezed the driver and one of the lads in with us, leaving the taxi in the ditch in the road and we eventually found the second place.While the girls went in to check if they had rooms, Dave and I took care of paying the taxi driver, we had agreed a price before setting off now he wanted more. We weren't having any of it and paid him what we agreed and sent him on his way, back to his car to try and get it out of the ditch and going again.Thankfully they had rooms, so we checked in. The restaurant was closed, so we didn't really have dinner, I had a banana and a beer, which hit the spot before having a refreshingly cold shower and to bed. That day, in 12 hours of driving we had only covered just over 300km. In three days driving we had covered just over 800km, and were all tired and needed a rest from the car.The next day after a good sleep in we went for a wander around town, it wasn't much at all, and much less that we expected. We did find a place with internet and a bank. The guide had also said that there was a monument and museum close by where Stanley had famously met Livingstone ("Dr Livingstone I presume"), so we decided we should check it out. It was only a short drive away, after a couple of wrong turns we eventually found it. It was quite obvious that they don't get a lot of tourists flocking to the place but the guy working there did postpone his game of goa to show us around the very small museum. Not really a lot to tell about it, a couple of pictures and storyboards and a monument of where they met under the mango tree. There were also a couple of life-size figurines of them meeting and that was it.We had talked about heading on the next day to Kigali in Rwanda, it was another long drive so knew we would have to head off early. We needed petrol, so decided to fill up on the way back to our hotel. The first place didn't have any, so we headed to the next fuel station (we had seen a few in town). He also didn't have any and said there was none in the whole town. He also didn't know when any would come -ahh! We asked him to show us on the map where the closest fuel was and it turned out to be about 500km away, so we didn't have enough to get there. We assumed Kigoma would have fuel, because it has a rail link to Dar es Salaam. After checking with all the other fuel stations in town we headed back to the hotel not knowing if or when we would be able to leave Kigoma.When we got back to the hotel, Dave went and asked at reception if they knew where we could get fuel, and they said that they would let him know. Susan and I thought we would do some work on the car in preparation for when we would leave, even though we didn't know when that would be. As we were at the car, the girl from the hotel said a guy was there that knew where we could get fuel. He introduced him to me and I asked about fuel, he said we could get as much as we liked, it was good fuel etc. I asked how much and he said 2500 tsh per litre (we had been paying 1700tsh at fuel stations). I grabbed Dave and he headed off to find this secret stash of fuel. The guy also brought 2 of his friends with him, he seemed like an alright guy and considering we didn't really have too many other options off we went.We drove past a couple of fuel refinery depots, which obviously didn't have much going on, and ended up in basically the township area. Quite a crowd gathered as our new friend went to find the guys with the fuel. After a bit of back and forward between the guys he came back and told us it would be 3000 tsh per litre, we just laughed and the negotiations began. He kept saying that they would be disappointed with the prices we suggested but we kept to our guns and kept bargaining. We would increase how much we bought if the price came down. Eventually we settled on 100 litres at 2300 tsh per litre. The only way we came to this price was that it was all the money we had between us and it was finally agreed to.They said that one of us would have to go with them to get the fuel, so Dave went off with about 10 blokes and 2 of our jerry cans to get the fuel. We knew we could put at least 60 litres in the car and that would leave us with 2 full jerry cans as back up, we knew Rwanda also had fuel issues in the past months because of the Kenya situation. As I waited with the car for Dave to come back with the fuel, the few locals remaining eventually got bored when they realised I wouldn't give them money or food and they went back to their daily business. A few kids sat and watched me standing there watching them, and as the time went on I did get a little nervous. The sun was setting and it all seemed so dodgy, here were 2 white guys with a loaded up car, and obviously a lot of money compared to what the locals would have. I put those thoughts aside and waited patiently.Eventually Dave came back, with the group of guys, our 2 jerry cans were full and they had three 20 litre containers that we put straight in the car. With the 2 jerry cans back on the roof rack, we paid the guys and off we went, with the guy who helped us get there and his 2 mates. He kept trying to make out that he wouldn't get any money for bringing the business because we had bargained too low, we just laughed at him and said that we saw the smile on the guys face when he got the money, and also we had no more money to give him anyway. He told us that they get the fuel from Burindi by boat and tried to tell us that they didn't make much money from our transaction, but we didn't believe him.Back at the hotel we told the girls the story and headed out for dinner, the whole process had taken well over an hour and it was getting late and we would now have a very early morning the next day. Dave also said how the fuel was kept in a large warehouse and they had been using their mobile phones for lights as they filled the drums. It was a relief to get the fuel and it had felt like quite an adventure getting it.