View Images

28th October 2006

Location: Arusha, Tanzania
Distance Travelled: 9700 km

Kilimanjaro kept a watchful gaze as the African Odyssey Core Crew and our motley mix of bikes cruised onward leaving the fantastic first three months behind us. We celebrated our three month anniversary with a small Eland steak. Not taken from the Eland seen in the last update with a lion on its back. Just short of 10 000kms the African Odyssey is changing up a gear. We have been granted Sudanese visas which we must initiate within one month. Therefore we have 1 month to travel from Tanzania to Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. The Race is on.

What has happened in the last few weeks? From the raw natural beauty of Ruaha National park we made a break for the coast. The mayhem of the entry to Dar es Salaam was full on but more manageable than expected and we slipped through the traffic and escaped to a camp site on the beautiful southern beaches. For four boys who grew up spending summers at Ohope beach to be back basking in the oceans of Tangaroa, be it the Indian Ocean, was strangely therapeutic. The lads spent every minute of the fading sunlight frolicking in the sea. The beauty of the camp site was jaded by the camp reneging on a deal we struck to leave the bikes for free while we went to Zanzibar. Frustrating, but never mind.

A hectic day and a half was spent in Dar es Salaam being ferried around by Felix the best taxi driver Dar had to offer. Felix ferried us to and fro from the cheapest food outlets for chapatti and beans to embassies and motorbike stores. The morning of the ferry to Zanzibar we paid $80 NZD each for a letter from the British High Commission that said nothing in particular so that we could apply for our Sudanese visas, ouch! We managed to sneak our passports to the Sudanese embassy and make the boat for Zanzibar.

As we stepped off the ferry onto the soil of the “quasi” island nation Zanzibar we realised the folly of our situation. As a “quasi” nation Zanzibar expected us to have our passports. Who would have thought you would need a passport to enter a new country? Luckily and with some persuasive conversation we were granted entry to Zanzibar with photocopy passports. Lesson learnt and extremely relieved at not being expelled to the mainland we had a great if slightly expensive, (due to pricey accommodation) 6 days on Zanzibar. The high prices were slightly tolerable as every night was spent in double beds being a comfortable change from the tent and thermarest we have become used to.

Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, has a very strong muslim presence a result of slave trading activities of the Arabs earlier in the last century. We arrived to catch the tail end of Ramadan the holy fasting month, whereby no one is supposed to eat or drink or smoke or even swallow in public in daylight hours. Once light faded everyone would be out in force at the local night markets. The night markets were a culinary delight especially for those keen on seafood or sugar cane juice. However you needed to be selective as to which seafood you ate as some appeared to come back night after night named after a different fish as the meat changed colour. Juls fell ill due to some local food but we aren’t sure exactly what struck him down. He has recovered fully. We were glad to celebrate “Eid” the end of Ramadan when the new moon was sighted on the 22nd October.

With a Muslim experience on Zanzibar despite not having our passports we headed back to Dar on a night ferry. Once back on the mainland we made haste to escape Dar es Salaam and the coast, we won’t be seeing the ocean again for another two months as we wind our way through East and Northern Africa. You certainly would struggle to drive 10,000km in NZ without running in to the coast. We hope to spend Christmas in Cairo before crossing through Libya to Tunisia where we will catch a ferry to Italy and make a beeline through Europe in the middle of winter to the ferry for the English Channel.

Yes, it is true the African Odyssey has a schedule! We can hardly believe it. Having experienced only minor troubles in the first three months including punctures, broken suspension, faulty starter motors, crashes in sand, broken panniers and the odd bout of stomach sickness we can only hope that the next three months go as well, touch wood. In fact it is hard to believe that we have come this far. The bikes and the camera and the boys are all still rolling and the mood is good. Only three more months of group decision paralysis and stopping to film in the blasting heat and we should arrive in the bleak winter embrace of London Town.

Iringa to Arusha Images

Chronicle blurp

A couple of days of good old fashion R&R at the Riverside Campsite and we were ready to hit the road again. The Odyssey continued east through the eerie baobab valley and then stopped briefly at the Mukumi snake park to see the elusive lizards of Africa. After a few nightmares about black mamba attacks we headed across the Mukumi national park, one of the few reserves which allows motorcycles to pass through. It was interesting to see how indifferent some of the game was to the traffic, with impala and zebra grazing right next to a major highway. Onwards to Dar es Salaam and we encountered a truely hectic city where the efficiency of apparently chaotic systems was amazing. A ferry trafficked people across the harbour and loaded 20 cars and 500 people within 5 minutes then steamed across the bay. OSH may have had a few problems with the safety mechanisms, but it was fast. Onwards to the island formerly ruled by Arab sultans, and heart of the slave trade: Zanzibar. After a wee passport mix up (we forgot ours) we managed to get customs to let us in. The iconic Stonetown was a fascinating place to explore and then we hit Nungwe, a party town in the north with picture perfect beaches and coral reefs for snorkling. Back to Stonetown for the end of Ramadan and the festivities that accompany the breaking of a 30 day fast. We then returned to Dar es Salaam and collected our Sudanese Visas from the embassy before heading north towards Mt Kilimangaro and Arusha, an area of stunning natural beauty.