Day 32 - Mpulungu to Sumbawanga/Tanzania [ 170km , 60% mud]
We waited for a gap in the clouds to pack up camp,greeted new friends and were on our way. We did the same 40km back to Mbala and then another snot mud section of 30km in the rain to the border. The Zambian side was a joke-a gate with fencing 5 meter in either direction and then nothing;a small building with nobody in it. We fetched the customs officer from his house,but the immigrations officer was in town and has no transport. With both doing different duties,the customs guy said we had to go collect the immigrations guy in town to get a stamp to continue...this was not happening,so after some whoosa and lots of pleading he put his signature as an exit stamp in our passports. The Tanzanian side was a complete different story with finger and eye scans and $50 for visa and $25 for road tax,but it was clear that very few people use this post. And clear they do not use that tax money for the roads...pretty much the same as in Zambia,but here the Chinese were busy making a mess of things again. Roadkill swerved out for a chicken[maybe he felt guilty of the previous one he killed] and nearly had a serious accident.With only a sore hand and some bent luggage racks we did the 98km of service road till Sumbawanga. Very busy town and a culture change since Muslim is the main religion. I discovered an ant nest in my freaken helmet that has been cruising with since Mpulungu....I am talking thousands of ants,so we found a lodge for the night and took to town to try the local quizine-Roadkill had goat and chips while I tried their Buca Buca-very nice. Roadkill had some problems adjusting to the Muslim toilets back at the lodge,but laughed it off over a beer across the road.That night it rained really hard and I was glad we were not camping....the next day we would head further north.