As soon as we crossed the order from Malawi into Tanzania, there was an immediate improvement in the quality of the road. Unfortunately the roads in Malawi had broken something on the truck so, along with the 50kph speed limit, we limped to our first overnight stop in Tanzania, at Utengule Coffee Lodge, just before sunset. A lovely location just outside the bustling city of Mbeya, which was much more like what I’d imagined an Eastern African city to be like…noisy, busy, lots going on.
We started the next day with a tour of the coffee plantation attached to the lodge. Afterwards we hit the road towards Iringa. It was a long and slow drive as we followed the Great East Road which would eventually get us (in a few days time) to the port city of Dar Es Salaam. This road is the main route for trucks going to and from Dar, taking goods into and out of Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many trucks and, as it was a single carriageway road, it continued to be a slow journey.
This was another long day and we got to the next accommodation about 20kms outside Iringa in the dark. We left before sunrise the following morning and it was a real shame not to be able to enjoy the accommodation (or even see it in daylight) as it looked nice and quirky.
After 2 long driving days, we had a shorter drive the next day to Mikumi, where we would be staying 2 nights – woo!
On the way to Mikumi, we stopped off at the Baobab Valley where there are avenues of baobab trees. I first saw a baobab tree when I was in Zimbabwe 3 or so years ago and I find them fascinating and quite alien (to this Brit at least) with their fat trunks.
We arrived at the lodge just outside of Mikumi National Park in time for a late lunch. I then had a relaxing afternoon at the lodge and did my handwashing where I was able to wash enough to get me through to the end of the trip. Fortunately my room was big enough for me to drape a weeks’ worth of clothes around to dry!!
Another early start the next day but this time it was for a half day safari drive into Mikumi National Park. The first thing we saw were some impalas with their heads up and alert for danger. Hiding nearby in a tree was a leopard. At first I thought it was sleeping on a branch, but it soon stirred, and dragged the remains of its prey from its hiding place in the tree. The leopard deftly climbed down the trunk of the tree, clinging on to the remains of an impala before getting about a yard from the bottom of the tree where it then flopped into the long grass. Such an incredible sight to see.
Not long afterwards we came across probably 8 or 9 lions lying in the long grass. At first I though there was only 1 or 2 but then as we continued driving they all revealed themselves just chilling in the grass.
And then not long afterwards we came across a family of elephants again very close to the road. We stopped and watched for quite a while. Just such an amazing experience to witness these animals in this environment.
The sightings became a bit more sporadic after this as the day heated up and the animals were taking shelter. The grass was also pretty long which made spotting anything lurking in it quite difficult.
As we finished up in time for a late lunch, we did get another lion and some monkeys as we headed out of the park.
I enjoyed another relaxing afternoon at the lodge before we headed off early the next morning to Dar Es Salaam, the biggest city in Tanzania. A city of over 5 million people and easily the largest city since I left Cape Town over a month ago.
We arrived in Dar in the early afternoon. It was quite a change of pace from the last few weeks. A busy city, lots of traffic and lots of people. After a brief walk along the front near the ferry terminal, we escaped into the air-conditioning in the Hyatt for a cold beverage.
Next up, an early morning ferry to Zanzibar…
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