Lake to Lake

18th August – 11th September (Rwanda, Tanzania and Malawi)

Another 3 weeks have shot by as have another 3 countries! Boy, where is the year going? I think we last left you on the tranquil shores of Lake Bunyoni in South Uganda and we are once again sat by another lake this time Lake Malawi. In between these two lakes, beaches and water have been a bit of a central theme as we have camped on the shores of Lake Victoria and then spent another week on the golden beaches of the Indian Ocean, so we have had plenty of sun, sand and……. surf over the past few weeks!

So apart from lazing around lakes and oceans what else have we been up to these last 3 weeks? Well, from lake Bunyoni we crossed into Rwanda where we spent a fascinating 2 days in the capital city Kigali, so recently scene of a horrendous genocide (over 1 million people massacred in a 100 days of madness in 1994). It was incredible to see how the country, or at least Kigali and the bits we saw, have recovered and the people returned to a ‘normal’ life. The roads were excellent, country side spectacular and the people fantastically friendly (we also had a bloody good curry!!); in fact Kigali ranks as one of our favorite African cities – clean, safe and hassle free.While in Kigali we visited the Memorial Centre which does an excellent job in documenting not only the Rwandan genocide but also many of the previous genocides which have taken place around the world (what a horrible species we can be) – a truly shocking and fascinating history lesson as well as being a scary one. Unfortunately our time in Rwanda was limited as we had to push on so we crossed into Tanzania through the fairly remote border crossing in the west at Rusumu Falls. From here we headed east across the southern tip of Lake Victoria and on into the world famous Serengeti National Park. However, from here the tale goes a little sour as we experienced our biggest disappointment of the trip so far. Full of great expectations, we were instead hit with huge costs (park fees and camping), one of the worst roads we have encountered to date, not much game and a ‘don’t give a **** attitude’ from the Tanzanians, so sadly we left with rather a negative view which did not improve as we crossed over the famous Ngorogoro Crater. However I won’t get on my soap box now but will write a ‘fuller’ version of our experience separately and post it at a later date in case anyone might be interested. Note, this is obviously only our view based on our experience (and expectations) as we are sure many people will have had a truly amazing time in this part of the world.

Thankfully Tanzania improved as we continued east and after spending 1 night on the foot hills of Mount Kilimanjaro we arrived back at the Indian Ocean (just 80 miles south of Tiwi Beach where we spent a week in early July so 2 months and 3,000 miles might seem a rather excessive detour!). We spent the next 10 days camped on the beach, swimming, relaxing, eating and generally doing very little; we even decided to forgoe the trip across to Zanzibar as this involved packing up Bula, leaving her unattended and catching a ferry or dhow….. far to much hassle and anyway we have to leave something to do for when we come back!

From the beach we headed inland to a fascinating conservation project called Kisampa on the edge of the Saadani National Park, which has been set up and run by friends of the family (well, I last met Rob 38 years ago so that surely counts!) Rob, Jackie, Jeanann and Richard looked after us fantastically (thanks again) and we successfully abused there hospitality for 3 days before moving on. For more details on Kisampa go to http://www.sanctuary-tz.com/.

As a result of our laziness on the beach we were now in a bit of a rush as had a date with the Mr. Roddy Bridges and we all know Roddy and his dates!! So from Kisampa we headed west again back across Tanzania before turning south into Malawi, covering almost 1000 miles in 3 days – some going for Bula! As time was short in Malawi we immediately headed to the Nyika Plateau, a wonderful spot set at an altitude of 2500 metres with some spectacular scenery. We camped at a perfect spot (which we had to ourselves) and took the opportunity of game viewing on horse back!! Yep, we got Clare on a horse for the first time in her life and went for a 3 hour ride amongst herds of Roan Antelope, Eland and Bushbuck – fantastic. However, we both suffered the next day on the backside front! From the Nyika Plateau we continued south to Nkata Bay on the shores of Lake Malawi where we are now, sat with a cold beer. Tomorrow we head to Zambia for our rendezvous with Dr Roddy Bridges (I presume).

Unfortunately, no real gore or disaster to report as has been a relatively smooth 3 weeks, though as per usual Bula has undergone a few running repairs, including me spending 45 minutes underneath replacing the rubber bushes on a rear shock absorber while parked at Hippo Pools (with over 50+ hippos in situ – Clare kept guard) in the Serengeti (thanks to their wonderful roads!). We also had to finally replace her front shocks, while a spot of welding & lock fixing completed the repairs for this leg. Clare managed to get herself sun stroke while out snorkeling from a Dhow & then suffered for a week with cold sores (think after 8 months in the bush she should know better!) but thankfully has now fully recovered. Also, whilst staying at Kisampa we thought the trip might come to a premature end as a result of a bush fire which approached & surrounded the camp for 1 night but thankfully burnt itself out before causing any damage to buildings etc, though it was a bit scary for a while!! Apart from that all fairly uneventful & as we are in the Southern hemisphere everything is much easier so we are eating & drinking exceptionally well so should manage to re-gain those lost pounds!!!!

Our next update should come from Botswana & will include our ‘adventures’ with Roddy…..so until then take care & enjoy the World Cup (not seen a single game yet!). Hope all the Toy Boys & Girls are coping with the re-calls, bad press etc., it all sounds very exciting!!!