We made it to the shore of Lake Malawi at Senga Bay in time for New Year's Eve celebrations. Fully expecting a sleepless night, we were not disappointed: loud African disco and rap blasted out of a huge generator-supported music system, with all songs repeated in a 2-hour cycle...
We popped the last of our South-African "bubbly" and welcomed the New Year under the starry East African sky, watching thunderstorms on the opposite shore of the lake. Not before thinking back to an experience-rich 2010 that brought us from the Pacific shores of Costa Rica to the shores of Lake Malawi! What an incredible safari (Swahili for journey)!
The stickers on Archie now regularly draw crowds who have a hard time believing that such a journey is even possible!
2011 will no doubt be another interesting year, as we complete the trip up through East Africa, Ethiopia, the Sudan and Egypt, then (most probably) around the eastern Mediterranean shore back home to Luxembourg. It not clear yet what the second half of the year will bring in terms of jobs and location, we'll find out soon enough!
Back to Malawi. The lake dominates our memories of this thin stretch of land squeezed in between Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. Usually calm, but developing strong winds and waves at short notice, the lake supports a large number of fishermen in their dug-out canoes and rickety boats. Unfortunately, a nasty bug (spreading bilharzia) inhabits the intensely blue waters, and we don't go swimming longer than a short occasional dip, despite the heat.
It is with high expectations that we approach Tanzania. Without knowing it, Tanzania is what most people would describe when asked to picture Africa, influenced by famous documentaries. The large plains of the Serengeti, the unique Ngorogoro Crater, ice-capped Mount Kilimanjaro and the vast Lake Victoria are all part of that fame.
After a very enjoyable stop-over in the mountains near Iringa (imagine how we enjoyed the first cool night in quite a while!), we head for Dar-es-Salaam ("haven of peace"), the capital of Tanzania in all but name.
We narrowly avoid its permanent traffic jam and take the ferry across to the southern beaches for our first encounter with the Indian Ocean since Cape Agulhas.
Tanzania is a federal state, composed of the mainland, and the Zanzibar archipelago. The union has always been a difficult one, and the Zanzibaris are still today fiercely independent-minded, as we would find out on arrival.
Having left the car in a secure spot near Dar-es-Salaam ("haven of peace"), we took a posh shuttle boat for the 2-hour trip to Zanzibar.
On arrival, quite unexpectedly, a Zanzibari immigration check-point requested to see our passports, securely locked away in Archie. After providing a short, written apology, dictated to us in clumsy English ("we apologise for what we have done to you"), we're free to explore the famed spice islands.
In fact, we limit ourselves to the old part of the city, "Stone Town", which transports you from Africa straight to the Arab world, with its specific architecture, its mosques and its maze of narrow streets, used only by pedestrians and racing Vespa-drivers. Although the salt water, the rains and general lack of maintenance have reduced most buildings to shadows of their former glorious appearance, it is still possible to imagine the enormous wealth that was acquired here centuries ago through the slave, ivory and spice trades. Visiting the cavernous local market confirms this impression, as we barter for coconuts, spices and lunch.
After our return to Dar, we use the opportunity of a public holiday and the absence of traffic to leave the city towards Bagamoyo. This village on the mainland just opposite Zanzibar was the former staging posts for the ivory and slaving expeditions into the central african heartland. Early explorers, including Henry Morton Stanley, left from Bagamoyo with large caravans towards the Congo. The place doesn't seem to have changed much since then...
Shortly after Bagamoyo, we turn north towards the Saadani Game Reserve, looking forward to meeting fellow travellers from the times of our central and south-American adventures. After returning to their native Greece, they embarked on a new adventure, managing a high-end lodge on the Wami river. Our meeting was emotional, and we wished we could have stayed longer! We wish them plenty of success in this new and exciting venture!
At the time of writing, we are camping next to Mt Kilimanjaro, enjoying the cool atmosphere at over 1600m of altitude. The two summits, Kibo and Mawenzi have been gracious enough to lift their veils for us to admire them. Not without noticing that there is significantly less ice on the summit then commonly portrayed in advertising and postcards. As our host confirms, global warming has been changing the climate in the Kilimanjaro area rapidly and noticeably.
We'll soon exit Tanzania via Arusha, on our way to Nairobi (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda). We've had to give up our initial plan to reach Kampala by crossing the Ngorogoro Crater and Serengeti National Parks, then continuing on to Mwanza on Lake Victoria and then Rwanda. We'll leave these Tanzanian highlights for a next trip, when we'll fly in with a sizeable amount of cash in our pockets to allow us to enjoy these places "in style".
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