Tanzania

Thankfully we passed through the border swiftly, as Claireís back was not good and she was feeling woozy because of the painkillers. In spite of regular stops to stretch it worsened as we continued and by the time we reached the ferry to Mwanza after a hard days driving she was at the end of her tether. So we were a little disappointed to find that we had missed the last boat.

There was nothing else to do but retrace our steps to the nearest town and find somewhere to stay. At first glance Serengerema was a big disappointment, but after investigating a couple of options we stumbled across a small but clean hotel with firm beds, and almost as important, satellite TV.

The staff were friendly and were able to rustle up something to eat and after a little persuasion someone to change our money. They did have the disconcerting habit of entering the room immediately after knocking, but that was easily forgiven as they were so cheerful.

For the trip back to the ferry crossing Claire had to lie in the back of the car, which was a worrying reminder of our holiday to France in June where she had originally slipped a disc.

Predictably there was an enormous queue of lorries for the ferry, which thankfully we bypassed as a small vehicle. We still had to wait for two hours due to the slow loading of the barge.

The first hotel we tried in Mwanza was full, and the second had small, saggy beds so we headed out of town towards the airport to look at the Tunza Lodge. It was almost perfect, set on a small beach with individual huts and enormous firm beds. The only downside was the lack of TV in the rooms. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and Yoyo the somewhat eccentric French manager lent us a TV and sorted a DVD player.

We were there a couple of days with Claire flat on her front and almost unable to walk to the bathroom before the lack of progress started to worry us. We phoned a couple of people. The first was a friend who had recently had back surgery to establish just how bad Claireís back was, and the second was the specialist she had seen in June. From these calls we established that while it was pretty horrendous, it wasnít bad enough to warrant an immediate return home and that Claire needed more painkillers and hopefully a little more time.

    The pier on the Tunza beach

It took almost a week for the pain to start to subside and a further few days before Claire was able to walk beyond the door of the room, but once the process started things improved quickly.

Once Claire was up and about we pottered about the beach and into town for a few days before deciding that her back was good enough to travel. We also resolved to take a break every hour for a stretch, this was not going to be easy as our next stop was the Serengeti and getting out for a walk would not be very easy.

It was not easy to leave as first Yoyo insisted on filling our fridge to the brim with all sorts of goodies, ranging from meat to toothpicks via lollies! Once this was loaded into the car all the staff came to wave us off, and Yoyo investigated our car with childlike amazement and managed to soak himself while fiddling with our shower.

We took the drive to the edge of the park steadily, stopping at a lodge on the edge of the park where we spent the afternoon lazing in the pool watching the baboons and mongooses go about their business.

The park entrance fees are calculated per 24 hours so we only started in the Serengeti at midday so we would have time to get to the exit after a drive the next morning. The total or us, the car and camping was 170 bucks, so we were keen not to over run.

The drive in was pleasant and we saw various herds of zebra and giraffes as well as some hyenas and a cheetah that wandered off as soon as we approached. We also visited a hippo pool which was very diminished due to the droughts they have had for the last few years. This meant that there were 50 or so hippos crowded together, wallowing in a foetid stinking pool of their own making.

We were a little disappointed as we had expected to see more and continued to drive far later than we had planned, only reaching the crowded campsite well after dark.

We were up again before dawn and had packed up in time to set off at first light. Almost immediately our early start paid off as we spotted a cheetah by the side of the road. As we braked to a halt it crossed the road behind us and sprinted into the grass, taking an antelope as Claire watched. I quickly turned the car round so I could see as well, as it tucked into breakfast. The antelope took a long time to die, and kept twitching regularly as the cheetah sat up to look around for scavengers.

From there our day continued to improve as we saw lions, leopards, hyenas, more cheetahs and massive herds of wildebeest and other herbivores. There were plenty of young animals around, and almost every carnivore we saw had a kill of some sort. Although one of the leopards dropped its meal out of the tree, and looked suitably sheepish when we laughed.

We arrived at the exit gate just in time to check out and had lunch in the ìno mans landî between Serengeti and Ngorongoro park gates before checking in as late as we dared so that we had as much time as possible in the crater the next morning.

The campsite is perched on the edge of the crater at 2200 metres so we quickly set up camp and got a fire going, but not before the a couple of regulars visited. A pair of bull elephants had got into the habit of coming in to drink from the camp water tank and once they had had their fill they started working their way through the bushes surrounding the site. After half an hour or so one of them was about ten yards from our car, causing us an anxious moment as the tent was up and it would take time for us to move, but he turned away and continued grazing peacefully pausing only to make a small charge at another tourist who got too close. Unfortunately we didnít have the camera ready and no one could be persuaded to get close again.

Once again we were up early to make the most of our time and made our way into the crater as the sun rose over the other side. The crater itself is spectacular, but surprisingly small and we were soon across the far side watching a pair of rhinos, but apart from that we saw very little of interest until late morning.

We were about to give up and head for Arusha when we decided to try one last track and almost immediately saw a pride of lions resting in a ditch. After a while the females got up and set off down the ditch, stalking some wildebeest. The male clearly decided that this seemed like too much effort and got to his feet, climbed out of the ditch and stood there in full view before lying back down again. As soon as he was visible the various herds of prey spotted him and ran, ruining the chances of the others.

Once it was clear that they wouldnít do anything else we moved on, following the track around another, less smelly, hippo pool. We spotted another couple of lions eating something in the distance but as we pulled forwards we met a car coming the other way. We pulled off the track to let them past and as we waited Claire heard something to one side. She had a bit of a shock to see five lions eating a baby buffalo three yards from the car.

We watched for a while as they snarled, fought and chewed over the carcass until a ranger came over to tell us that we were on a closed track and made us move on. After that experience the park fees didnít seem so bad and we left the park in high spirits to head for Arusha.

We were both exhausted when we arrived and did little more than set up camp before collapsing. While we were pottering about the camp gates opened and a British Discovery came in followed by another landy. We knew as soon as we saw them that Colin and his support team had arrived.

We had met Colin and some of his team at one of the landy shows in the summer. They were doing pretty much the same trip as us but with one significant difference ñ Col has been wheelchair bound since he broke his neck in an accident a few years ago and is driving a specially adapted car. He formulated his plan as he lay in hospital trying to regain some use in his arms.

The logistics of his trip means he has a doctor and assistant, as well as three friends to navigate, organise and fix things and a team back home. They are aiming to raise one million pounds for spinal injury charities. (Hereís a link to their webpage, in case you feel as inspired about his journey as we do: www.drivinghome.co.uk )

    Chris (the doc) sandwiching Kiko and Ben

We got to know them over the next couple of days which had the unfortunate side effect of my having a stinking hangover when we did a walking safari around he base of Mt Meru. Fortunately that failed to detract from the experience of walking amongst herds of buffalo and giraffes with views of Kilimanjaro.

    A rare view of Kili through the cloud

We broke our journey to the coast at a camp near Lushoto that had a pool. We had been at altitude since Ethiopia and struggled to deal with the stifling heat at only 400 metres. It was only a taste of what was to come in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.

We were stopped for speeding as we approached Dar and pulled over to be told the fine was 20,000 shillings. When we said weíd need a receipt we were told that the fine would be 10,000 as we were friends.

The campsite was on the coast just south of the city centre. We had heard it was a secure spot to leave the car when we went to Zanzibar, so the pool and bar were a bonus. We were disappointed the pool was salty, but worse, it was warm.

We spent the next couple of days in Dar, mainly at the airport in DHL (henceforth known as DH hell) trying and failing to get a package through customs in spite of the fact that customs were happy to waive duty. It was hot and frustrating, but eventually we decided to head for Zanzibar and hope that something would get done in our absence.

Our trip to Zanzibar was just what we needed after the frustrations of the previous days. The place at Matemwe beach was stunning and we had a very relaxed time. Especially Claire who was very keen to go diving, but was persuaded not to in case it flared her back up. This meant that I wasnít allowed to mention anything good Iíd seen. Not even the turtles.

    Jealous??

We spent a couple of nights at the beach before moving to Stone Town for a few days for the sights and the shopping. However it was so hot that we spent most of the middle of the day in a pool or an air-conditioned internet cafÈ.

We were at the port early on our departure day and quickly battled our way to the front of the queue for the Dar boat. This was run by a different company to the one we wanted, so they pointed us in the right direction. Once we were at the front of that queue our tickets were checked and we were waved on board for another ticket check before we were ushered upstairs to the VIP area (costing five extra dollars). There we settled in with our books for the 90 minute trip to Dar.

The boat set off on time and it wasnít until half an hour later when I looked up from my book that I realised that something was wrong. I could still see Zanzibar, and it was on the right not the left. A quick check of the sun showed we were headed north. The passenger opposite confirmed our error; we were on the boat to Pemba. I rushed to the bridge to double check, followed by Claire who demanded they turn the boat round. There was nothing we could do but resign ourselves to our fate and be grateful we had paid for nicer seats and werenít in the overcrowded section downstairs.

It turned out we had got on a boat at the right quay, but the Pemba boat was running late and the Dar boat was still waiting to dock. All told, with a half hour stop in Pemba and another one in Zanzibar, it took us nine hours to get to Dar.

Predictably nothing had happened to our package while we were away despite assurances to the contrary on the phone. We finally received it some time after we had given up and simply offered to pay the import duty, an offer that was refused, as that would entail different paperwork to the pieces that were filled in. It took another few hours, but at last we had it. The only condition being that we would have to meet someone at the border to complete the paperwork to prove we had re-exported it.

We had a relaxed few days getting to the border with Malawi, catching up with Col and his team on the second day at a lovely farm campsite near Kisolanza. They had had a freestanding wok made out of a scrap ploughshare and three bolts and were very excited to be cooking a curry in it. We had to settle for a ludicrously cheap fillet steak.

We stayed a couple of nights to allow John and Helen to catch up on their way down from Lake Victoria. They had taken a direct route south through a couple of parks and had avoided the coast completely.

We separated when we set off as they planned to visit a meteor and we were going to some caves to see the bats leaving at dusk. There were not as many bats as we had hoped for. They left in a steady trickle rather than the massive stream that we had expected, but the drive back down the muddy track was entertaining in the dark.

We had arranged to meet John and Helen at the border, but ran into them at a fuel station where John was refitting a broken shock absorber that had sheared. We continued together to the border, where predictably the man representing DHL was missing. He had gone to the Zambian border by mistake and promised to get someone to us quickly. The man who arrived had no idea what he was needed for and was under the impression that we had the paperwork. It didnít take us long to decide to leave.