28 July, Day 45: The Sunshine Chill

Oversleep a tad, but we’re at the breakfast table by 08:00. Basic affair of 2 eggs and toast, coffee. Charles, our waiter is very friendly. We pack up and get going, it’s another 250 km’s to the coast. Many trucks on the road already, but it seems more civilised today. Lots of wildlife too, Dik Dik, little antelope, baboons climbing up Baobab.

Spot the railway track that runs from Kenya to Mombasa and later we race the Rift Valley Rail train to our destination. It’s apparently a very touristy thing to do to take the train between the two cities, so lots of white tourist hanging out of 1^st class windows. Our fuel light comes on. So does Mattie’s. That’s a first...

Arrive in the fringes of Mombasa just after 12:00. It’s everything you’d expect from an industrial, port city. Just multiply that expectation by a factor of 2. Chaos, people, busses, people, trucks, bigger trucks. We meander along the road, doing our best not to be crushed under the freight. We spot the first turquoise green of the Indian ocean as we head nearer to the centre of town. Here it’s a little bit more tame, resembling a busy main road like Goodwood or Parow. Matatu’s (taxis. Called Daladala’s in Tanzania and other places) cut through traffic with their usual lack of concern, little three wheel motorbike taxis, the kind you’d associate with say Indian cities cut through in-between the Matte’s. Mosques call out for prayers (very beautiful Mosques, I might add).

The GPS directs us to the ferry so that we can cross over. Good thing, since we’d probably not have enough fuel to cross ourselves! We wait in line for the next one before free-wheeling onboard, the GPS unit informs us that we are now 15 meters below sea level. Always wanted to ride in a submarine.

A short whole layer we exit on the other side and dash into the first available fuel station. 130 Litres later and the Bullet is ready to go again. Beautiful here man, warm tropical wind, tall palm trees litter the landscape between wild forests of vegetation, framed by patches of white sand beaches and turquoise green water. Little fishing boats (makoros, hollowed out tree trunks) working up and down the coast. Heading down to the border at Lunga Lunga to cross into Tanzania, but first Mattie would like to check out the beaches here. We struggle down one path what seemed to be a logical way to get there but end up driving into a thick forest broken here and there with huge ring fenced houses. We reach a dead end and must turn back. Further down the road we test the waters again before finally heading down a sign marked road. What we end up doing is a well hidden 4x4 track! This place puts Kakamega to shame, as far as unspoilt dense forest goes. Winding path through canopies of trees, mud slides and rocky patched. All awesome!

The GPS assures us we’re getting close so we continue on. And on. And on. We pass a few hidden villages next to the path. Mattie radios in that he just missed a green Mamba (VERY VERY poisonous snake) crossing the road. They (the Green and Black variety) have a habit of coiling up and nailing you right through your open window. You have 10 minutes to get anti venom. Out here it’s We close our windows.

On and on we go, until the GPS announces that we have reached Beach road. Hang a left into beach road for a while until we come across a build site... and water! We turn right into the area, with the intention to get out and have a look. Lots of labourers around, they stop to look at us. Around the corner comes a white dude. Looks like he could be a surfer or something, torn jeans, longs curly blonde hair, unshaven, but with a big smile. Introduces himself as Robbie. We intro ourselves and mention we just wanted to check out the beach. He’s very helpful and friendly, quite a soft spoken way about him, and he walks us to the shore break.

WoW!!!

WOWOWOW!

Paradise. Can’t really put it any other way. It’s low tide, so the rocks are exposed a bit, making little tidal pools. Beyond that, impossible colours of blue, green and turquoise. We explore the water and rock pools a bit while Mattie and Robbie walk around the corner to a small cove. I’m not even going to try and describe the raw beauty of this place. It’s pretty much like that movie “The Beach”: wild, untamed and stunning.

Robbie’s story: German born, 32 years old, worked everywhere in Egypt and other African countries. Married to a Kenyan woman, named Supreme’ just last month. They met in Egypt, where he was an entertainment coordinator. Tried getting Supreme’ a visa for Germany, declined, come over to Kenya instead. 6 Months ago he broke ground here, building a lodge and beach bar, with some help from his folks. Their quarters is the semi finished building with the large water tower, the labourers also live on site as well in a hut on the beach, as well as few fishermen nearby. The fishermen supply them with fresh and cheap fish, octopus, you name it. Good resource for his restaurant one day. Work is slow, not up to German standards, but it’s getting there. He intends to call his beach bar “the Sunset Chill”. Says there is a gap in the market here, there are a great many hotels and lodges up the road but their all for older tourists. And they’re always full, so business is booming. He wants to corner the surfer market.

He invites us for tea and we accept. And this part is really straight out of a movie, or that TV show, shipwrecked. A HUGE Mango wood table right on the beach, under palm trees, with a make shift bbq area and tikihut, We meet his very beautiful wife Supreme’ and they share some maize with us. He comments that when they arrived here in this spot the first thing they did was plant maize, tomatoes, cucumber etc to support them and the workers. Clever boy. Everything grows quickly and wild here. We’re also introduced to a very special little guest, Lucky. A small, must be 3 month old puppy! Annelie is officially in seventh heaven and they spend a lot of time playing. I feed the little girl (the puppy, not Annelie) some corn, and I get licked and bitten in equal parts.

We finish our tea and thank Robbie and Supreme’ for their hospitality. I mention that I’ll be sure to mark his place on Tracks for Africa, so other travellers can locate it and that I hope to come stay at his place one day in the future. We leave Robbie’s place feeling a little sad, like we were leaving good friends.

Back up the 4x4 track, this time with vigour. We join the main road again and blaze on to Lunga Lunga. It’s late again, 16:00 already. We make good time and arrive at the border by 17:45. It’s a first for us to enter and exit a border at this time, and it’s very quiet. So what that means is that everything is checked and double checked. No worries, everything is in order, it just takes time!!

Bye bye Kenya!

Exit into no man’s land, a 6KM drive to enter the Tanzanian border post (weird). Not as much chaos as we’d come to expect, but that’s only because it’s late. Lots of trucks and busses blocking the road though. We do the safety dance through customs and immigration, paying our $25 dollars for the car and road tax (remember that?). We get away with not having to buy another visa, which is pretty sweet.

Out of there by 18:35, and the sun is setting. Shit... here we go again.

Very bad for us is that THIS isn’t tarred road and we now have to drive this pothole ridden dust bowl in the dark, trying to pass trucks and busses kicking up dust which reflects your headlights right back at you. Annelie does the driving while I focus on telling her where people and bikes are (since they don’t have any lights, and she is focused on the right directly in front for potholes). I lose count the amount of times we go airborne. Madness! Also a shame since it was at least clear that we were driving through a particularly beautiful part of Tanzania. But we where way to preoccupied to care.

We manage not to kill ourselves again and reach the city of Tanga just after 20:00. Check in at 3 different hotels and inns, all full or really crap. Settle for the Panori hotel. Like all the other good places here, it was built during the colonial times, and left to their own devices. At least the rooms are cheap, and we are dead tired.

Have dinner, roast chicken with peri-peri and... yeah... chips. Finish up and head to the room, I emptied out the bullet of all our bags and suitcases. We need to reconfigure for Zanzibar and repack. We’ll also be leaving the vehicles somewhere for the next 6 – 7 days, so we need to clear out the perishables from the fridge. The plan is to do breakfast tomorrow at 07:30, and head out as soon as possible after that. We have a good 300 km’s to go to Dar, and the last ferry crosses at 16:00. So we need to get to Dar, find a cool place for the cars, catch a mutatu or taxi to the ferry and hopefully BOARD the thing. All before 16:00.

GPS reckons it’s asphalt all the way. We’re gonna drive the wheels off the Bullet to make it!

Highlights: Not killing ourselves. Again.

[G & A], out

We’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow