Tanzania

within two days we managed to drive from kigali, rwanda, to arusha, tanzania. from the moment we arrived in tanzania, we realized that we were quite spoiled by the rwandan roads and we questioned the high taxes for the tanzanian roads, as they are partly in a really desolate condition. a heavy truck breakdown additionally interrupted our driving progress. but a fight against time is always easier to win when you have only one goal in mind: the arrival of Katharina's parents in arusha!

as we already travelled through northern tanzania three years ago, we had the feeling of returning to a familiar country. but we definitely did not miss the corrupt street police, who was waiting for us with a fake snapshot of our car. remarkably, before we have been driven through twelve different countries without being punished for anything by any street police. anyway, we decided to make our tricks with them as well and so it came that every time when we got stopped by them and got asked for a gift or for money for «one big mistake» (e.g. over speeding), which we had certainly not done, we started nicely a conversation in swahili and swapped then to swiss-german with the excuse not being able to speak english. with this tactic we managed to drive them crazy and let us pass sooner or later with a desperate laughter and without paying anything.

the heavy rainfalls in east africa in the past few months also transformed tanzania into a lush green country with flowering bushes and trees and some totally muddy unpassable roads in the national parks. arrived in arusha, not only the commonly cloud covered mount kilimanjaro but also the roundabout with the clocktower on it marking the halfway point of the route cairo to cape town welcomed us. it was such an exciting and overwhelming moment passing this place, where we took the crucial go-ahead decision for our adventure exactly three years ago. we had never imagined that our life dream becomes true and even less driving once around this roundabout by our own car!

what an intimate and emotional moment when we could finally hug Katharina's parents at kilimanjaro airport. it was such a great feeling to see them after a very long time and to spend the following two weeks with them and share our daily adventure life with them. after their quick acclimatization not only to the warm climate but also to the african culture, we picked up their rented land rover defender, went for shopping for a two-week bush life and started our joint journey towards tarangire national park. as we headed to our camping place for the night, Flora got seriously stuck in the mud and after hours of trying desperately and unsuccessfully to get her out, we simply decided to pitch our rooftop tents on the spot. what an adventurous first night for susanne and jürg in tanzania’s wilderness! but we all managed this situation, which can be part of the game obviously, quite well and on the next morning Flora could get released by the help of a third defender and other manpower from a nearby lodge. it was so marvelous to spent a lot of time together and to share moments such as starting the day early in the morning, preparing breakfast at dawn and preparing the cars for game driving, watching wild animals and their behavior for hours in the vast plains of serengeti, crawling over bumpy and dusty dirt roads in the heating sun, finding some veggies for dinner in rural villages, washing clothes and even baking some kind of bread and coconut crêpes in the bush, admiring the starlit sky, sitting around a camp fire and learning about some maasai traditions or getting awaken by the sound of a water leaking hyena next to the car in the night. it was such a wonderful time with them, which we will always lovingly remember to and we will also never forget the good-looking picture of susanne and jürg in their forest-green defender, which we appropriately named «fauna». one of our personal highlights was the route to nassera rock and olkarien: we drove over vast and solitary grass land while getting passed by thousands of wildebeests with their newborn calves, by huge herds of thomson and grant gazelles, zebras and giraffes striding gracefully through this picturesque landscape. to experience the impressive migration and this beautiful nature up close was a very intimate and salutary experience for us. and of course, it belongs to these unforgettable moments in life being on top and in the world heritage site listed ngorongoro crater, where it feels like the ark noah’ animals are united in paradise. enriched by all these shared experiences, we spent our last days together on the beautiful gibb's farm, where we could stroll through the magnificent organic garden and coffee plantation, milk the cows, relax our backs and joyfully enjoy our being together in an idyllic atmosphere on the crater’s slope.

it was hard to say goodbye to Katharina’s parents and we tried to ignore our tiny odd feeling of being alone and abandoned in the wide world by doing some maintenance work on Flora. since one of Flora’s front wire curl got broken on the bumpy and muddy roads of serengeti, we took the chance to let exchange all of the four curls at a garage in arusha. within a busy day of 16 hours we got our defender repaired, completely cleaned and washed inside and out and our laundry and food supplies done. we were lucky to stay at the beautiful utamaduni guesthouse of simone and chris, where we were enriched by delicious breakfasts, pleasant conversations with simone and playful moments with their sweet dog simba.

as we were ready on the road again, we left the mountainous region and drove eastbound to the coast by passing hundreds of agave fields, the hilly landscapes of usambara mountains and beautiful jungle-like sceneries out of exotic plants like baobab-, moringa-, rubber- and papaya trees and lots of coconut and banana palm trees. coming from kilimanjaro region, we could feel the descending altitude very well. as we arrived at a beautiful caribbean-look like beach near to pangani, we realized that we just had one of our hottest and most humid drives on our journey so far. and although the light breeze always coming up with ascending tides and the thirty degrees warm indian ocean could not cool us down, we could greatly relax and chillout in this robinson crusoe-like atmosphere. the palm tree lined white sand beach covered with moving shells used as houses by all sizes of crabs, the turquoise blue sea water partly dotted by the traditional sailing boats «dhow», the clear starry sky and the friendly and relaxed attitude of the locals reminded us on our passed times on zanzibar.

after fighting through the heavy traffic of dar es salaam several times, we regretted it a few times that we dared to make a detour to this lively port city. nevertheless, we found a nice spot to stay over and to celebrate Joas’ birthday properly. latest when we made our last beach stop south of dar es salaam, we realized that the major rain season had started. since then no single day had passed without a rain shower and therefore, we decided to skip a visit of the southern national parks, since their roads are impassable during the rain season, and to head towards the malawian border with three stopovers in between.