Day 12 16/12/2010 Livinstonia—Mbeya in Tanzania 277 KM
The next morning we went for a nice hot shower. The hot water get warmed by a donkey (that is a hot water system where a wood fire under a tank warms the water and then runs in pipes down the mountain with gravity to where the open air shower is). After the shower while making breakfast at the open air bar the lady told us that there is a very nice waterfall nearby. She said it was a couple of hundred metres away. You can either ride there or take a shortcut by walking. So after breakfast we decided to walk as we still wanted to make it across the border and into Tanzania. The lady said no need to explain how to get there, the dog will show us. It was a steep climb up the mountain and the few hundred meters became about 3 KM and 3KM back. The falls however was very nice (see photos). We returned about 10.30 am and packed up and left thanking the couple for really looking after us. We went down the same 22KM gravel pass that we came the previous night. The camp and the pass was one of the highlights of the trip. We then crossed the border close to the northern point of Lake Malawi. At the border we enquired about how to get to the Kalambo falls as it is the 2nd highest falls in Africa. The lady said that we have to travel to Tunduma and from there stick close to the Zambian border through villages. There were no roads and only foot paths where pedestrians walk and bicycles ride. I really wanted to see the falls as a friend of mine said he could not find it in his 4X4 and that you must take a boat on Lake Tanganyika to get there. So I had a point to proof. From the border we travelled in the rain to Mbeya. Halfway the cops had a roadblock and showed that we must stop. They had AK 47,s in their hands and Juan did not see that they wanted us to stop and rode past. Fortunately they did not shoot. We arrived just after dark in Mbeya and found the Monrovian Church who offered camping and even had a dining room with a menu. We camped close to the offices. The bathroom had a Muslim toilet and shower. I thought that to be strange for a church. Like in most places in Tanzania only the cold water worked if at all. I joked from there on that Africa is the place where you get hot beer and cold showers. Yes you have to specially ask for a cold beer and in 90 % of the time you will only get a warm one. At dinner we met a group of school children from Australia on tour that has been to Mahle Mountains National Park to see the Chimpanzees. You have to go to the park and then take a boat on Lake Tanganyika and get off and go into the bush from there the to see them. So our route over the next few day were to first go and see the Kalambo falls then go and see the Chimpanzees and then to go and see the Gorillas at the southern part of Uganda. It worked out different in the end.
Topic: Africa tour to the equator and back in 40 days (Read 25953 times)
