Early in the morning we crossed the leafy, jungle border at Thornwood/Milange into Mozambique. Stamping out of Malawi took mere moments, but entering Mozambique was a much more thorough process.
I want to start by talking about how absolutely amazing the African bottle recycling system is. My bottle of Fanta was noticeably worn down and re-used many many times. The label was faded and the glass had been ground down in certain places, by a million tiny scratches, a result of grinding against other bottles being shipped … More Finding hidden mountains in Malawi
I had no idea what to expect from Malawi. It was just a last minute route change driving south from Tanzania that took us there. So, we decided to find the local beer first. We stopped at a roadside bottle shop. The guy behind the counter dressed rather like a cool dude; he wore sunglasses … More Our experiences road tripping through Malawi
The Songwe border crossing into Malawi was easy as pie (no paperwork issues, and no touts trying to earn money by guiding us through the border), and we made it through in a matter of minutes. The border guards reminded us to stick to the speed limit, so we did.
There is a very interesting snake park outside Mikumi National Park, called the Genesis snake park. It houses several highly deadly snakes (and other reptiles) and some questionable enclosures that don’t appear entirely secure. We received the royal treatment when we visited, a stopover on our long road trip. A friendly Tanzanian man with a … More The Genesis Snake Park at Mikumi, Tanzania
The three scooters parked in front of us looked rough. If we sat on them, I imagined we’d collapse into a clanging pile of rusted engine parts and bald, eroded rubber tyres. But Jeff and Wessel were wearing the biggest grins i’d ever seen. We had poorly-fitting helmets, no riding experience and brake pads as effective as kitchen … More Scooter crashes, police roadblocks and flea bites – a crazy riding day on Zanzibar
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’s bustling capital, was a place I didn’t care to stay long in. The drive in was a gridlock of beeping horns and clouds of exhaust fumes. Trucks with colourful stickers and cabin decorations, battered cars with cracked windscreens and huge luxury 4WDs and black taxis.
This was not your average safari. We picked up hitchhikers. We got lost at night. A man with a machine gun rode in the passenger’s seat for a while. The car was infested with disease-carrying flies. We visited an African village, meeting locals.
The more we drove long distances through Africa, the more we realised that the journey is not about the destination, but the road you take. As we approached Dar Es Salaam from the west, somewhere in the Tanzanian heartland between Mbeya and Mikumi, we found the most spectacular mountain pass.
We stared at the menu with skepticism. A pile of limp, pale, thick-cut fries was piled in the corner of a glass-doored display cabinet. On another wooden shelf was some kind of withered, skeletal fish. Both options looked like they’d been waiting for quite a while for a brave customer.
StickyMangoRice 