Freezing out butts of in Africa

Freezing out butts of in Africa

It was below zero in Mbeya, frost still on the ground when we left the hotel to take the early morning bus to the Malawi border. Only the day before we had been sweating in our t-shirts and shorts in Dar es Salaam, now we were shopping woolly hats and putting on double sweaters… This is African mid-winter!

But when the African sun climbs over the mountain rims, it still gets hot, and of course the temp varies with the height - and we’ve been going up and down, over the mountains, down in the valleys as we’ve been going south-west from Dar, so there’s been a lot of dressing and undressing.

The 25 hour train ride down to Mbeya was a great ride, first overcrowded with people all having incredible amounts of goods that they brought home to their villages, then as we got further along, new people with only light luggage. The train, built by the Chinese in the seventies to show the world they could do it, was quite comfortable - we were told we should upgrade to first class but in the end we just stayed in our reclining 2 class seats rather than going for the bunk beds. There were three dining cars on the train, with cold bear and all! And loads of wildlife along the tracks; giraffes, wildebeests, impalas, warthogs… It’s almost a shame the train didn’t break down in the middle of it!

Mbeya may be the biggest Tanzanian town in the south but it’s still a dump, and a very cold one! At least we got a romantic dinner by candlelight for ourselves, but that was only because electricity was out and nobody else braved the cold and the dark to go eating.

The bus to the border with Malawi had probably the only female, African, Hindu driver around. She was cool although no different to the male drivers in her trying to fool the passengers that we were just about to leave, but in reality not going anywhere until absolutely all seats and floor room was taken (and then drove­ as if she was going to be reincarnated as a holy cow!). The last bit to the border was by bike, “boda boda”, named after their border-function but now operating in almost every major town. In Malawi the police didn’t accept the bus we were on, everybody had to get out and wait for another one. Once onboard a big coach the pretty landscape was rushing by outside - the “lake of stars”, glittering Lake Malawi, but we opted to skip the crocs and cichlids in the cold water to head for the mountains instead. For the last bit to Rhumpi we caught a ride with some safari people who told us that the horse back riding that we had come for was unfortunately out of business, but instead set us up for going to the national reserve of the Vwezi Marsh.

Living in Kenya, we are spoilt with wildlife, but Vwezi still got our hearts beting faster, when we had to sitt absolutely still and barely breathe because the huge old male elephant was barely a meter from us, hitting the acacia tree with its forehead for fruit to fall down for it to eat. It stayed for a long time, and we got worried that the elderly Irish couple we were safarying with couldn’t take the pressure anymore, but in the end it majestically walked away. The next day, the same elephant charged us but then we were in the jeep with all the false security that gives us. Apart from that, hordes of hippos grazing just outsider our hut at night, antelopes of different sorts and sizes, baboons and 30+ birds we haven’t seen before filled the plains around Lake Kazumi.

After two days in the reserve we moved on and got a lift with the Irish couple down to Mzuzu. More than 10 busses and 30 hours later we arrived at our next stop across the boarder into Zambia: The South Luangwa National Park. The last bus ride turned out to be a real torture ride, bumping up and down for 6,5 hours in 20 km/h on a road that would normally take 2,5 h to drive with a normal car. We arrived late and had no reservation for any of the lodges. Surprisingly most of them where full with large groups of people travelling on overland trucks, but in the end we manager to find a tiny kids tent to rent and enough blankets to keep warm. Wandering around in the dark to find another place nearby was not advisable since elefants and hippos where all around the camps…

The next morning we woke up early and went for a game drive in the park. Plenty of elephants, baboons, kudus, pukus, impalas, birds, etc. were all over the place. It was nice, but not as exciting as we would have hoped - partly because the guide was not that good (“the one with the horns is the male, the one without is the female“) and it was hard to find the tranquillity of nature among the many safari trucks roaming around. In the afternoon we launched at the camp, having lunch watching the hippos in the Luwi River and than taking a dip in the pool and a nice (warm!) shower. Then we took off for a second game drive and this time we manager to get in another car with another, much better, guide. He started off by taking us to a site where a whole pride of lions were feasting upon the huge carcass of an elephant! The stench was almost unbearable and millions of flies were buzzing, but it was so exciting to watch them eat. After that we were so content with the tour that it would have been ok to go back to the camp, but we continued to drive around until after dark and many more animals were yet to be seen. We came across sivets, genets, hyenas and in the end we even came rally close to a leopard! Tove was probably most excited since this meant she has now also seen all the Big Five…

Luckily we manager to get a lift the next morning with a German couple who were also going in the same direction. But we only got to the next town before the car broke down - probably too much dust in the ignition - so here we are, stuck in an internet café in Chipata. But we have good faith that the mechanic we fond will be able to fix it soon and then we will be on our way to Livingstone (I presume)…

(Pictures will be added later)