Day 230
Sleeping location: Checkpoint 1.078S 30.768E, Tanzania
Distance (km today/total): 57 / 14613
Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 115400
Days: 90
Distance (km today/total): 57 / 14613
Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 115400
Days: 90
Day in three words: Tanzania allows us
I felt better after a sleep and we efficiently got up and away well before 9am. Almost immediately we left tarmac and cycled towards the border along a rutted bumpy dirt road, past mostly quiet green fields. The occasional towns had some corona shouts but we mainly felt friendliness, apart from a guy with a big knife who started taking pictures of us but objected to me taking one back. He kept waving his big knife around and shouting “I will cut you” but it was the least threatening threat ever, as shown when he shouted “I am only joking with you” as we rode off. Fittingly, along this stretch I saw a couple of pairs of crowned cranes, the national bird of Uganda, flying overhead as if to see us off. We have both really enjoyed it here and it’s definitely been my favourite African country so far, and maybe favourite of the trip*. Friendly good-humoured people, beautiful and varied scenery, amazing and accessible wildlife, decent food, decent cheap beer, good and cheap accommodation, enough mzungu places around to be able to access “luxury” when we felt like it, and the most delicious avocado readily available for 10p or less. Oh and a rolex** is perhaps the best cycling snack ever, 10p for a single, 20p for a “double double”.
Near the border Rebecca was bumped by a car and fell off, but thankfully just got a grazed knee (just ONE graze) and a couple of jarred joints and she was able to cycle on almost immediately. The border itself was surprisingly quick and easy. We had our temperature checked on both sides but got through very quickly, and the Tanzanian side granted us a 90 day visa with no questions asked. On the other side we sat down and tried to figure out exactly what to do next with our remnants of Ugandan signal. We had been so focussed on making it to Tanzania before the border shut or became more complicated that we hadn’t thought through anything else. With a route in place we set off on a road that was allegedly dirt for the next 100km, to add to the dirt of the past 50km or so. From the off it was very difficult, up and down big steep hills on the loose surface, and again we made painfully slow progress. There were banana plantations everywhere and it was quiet but constantly farmed and/or lived in. Initially Tanzanians seemed quite quiet and shy (for Africa) and there was little mention of coronavirus, although maybe this was all because they were terrified of us. Covid has been mostly brought to Africa by Europeans and there is likely to be a suspicion of anyone white. What interactions I did have were friendly and supportive though.
There were no hotels so we asked at a checkpoint about sleeping nearby, perhaps in the local school or the checkpoint itself, but it was a no, so shortly afterwards we asked a woman if we could camp in the trees in front of her hours and she said yes. We took a relatively sheltered spot although obviously the entire village then came for a look through the trees at us. After food (pasta with tuna, sweetcorn and the remaining bits of the wheel of cheese; pretty good actually) a group of people including the guy from the checkpoint and a woman covering her face with her tshirt came and insisted that we move to a “safer place”. This was a total pain in the arse so we resisted, but eventually had to relent, packed everything up and moved to...the checkpoint. Of course.
*Vying with Turkey for that honour
**A small omelette rolled in a chapati, hence “roll eggs”, hence rolex
I felt better after a sleep and we efficiently got up and away well before 9am. Almost immediately we left tarmac and cycled towards the border along a rutted bumpy dirt road, past mostly quiet green fields. The occasional towns had some corona shouts but we mainly felt friendliness, apart from a guy with a big knife who started taking pictures of us but objected to me taking one back. He kept waving his big knife around and shouting “I will cut you” but it was the least threatening threat ever, as shown when he shouted “I am only joking with you” as we rode off. Fittingly, along this stretch I saw a couple of pairs of crowned cranes, the national bird of Uganda, flying overhead as if to see us off. We have both really enjoyed it here and it’s definitely been my favourite African country so far, and maybe favourite of the trip*. Friendly good-humoured people, beautiful and varied scenery, amazing and accessible wildlife, decent food, decent cheap beer, good and cheap accommodation, enough mzungu places around to be able to access “luxury” when we felt like it, and the most delicious avocado readily available for 10p or less. Oh and a rolex** is perhaps the best cycling snack ever, 10p for a single, 20p for a “double double”.
Near the border Rebecca was bumped by a car and fell off, but thankfully just got a grazed knee (just ONE graze) and a couple of jarred joints and she was able to cycle on almost immediately. The border itself was surprisingly quick and easy. We had our temperature checked on both sides but got through very quickly, and the Tanzanian side granted us a 90 day visa with no questions asked. On the other side we sat down and tried to figure out exactly what to do next with our remnants of Ugandan signal. We had been so focussed on making it to Tanzania before the border shut or became more complicated that we hadn’t thought through anything else. With a route in place we set off on a road that was allegedly dirt for the next 100km, to add to the dirt of the past 50km or so. From the off it was very difficult, up and down big steep hills on the loose surface, and again we made painfully slow progress. There were banana plantations everywhere and it was quiet but constantly farmed and/or lived in. Initially Tanzanians seemed quite quiet and shy (for Africa) and there was little mention of coronavirus, although maybe this was all because they were terrified of us. Covid has been mostly brought to Africa by Europeans and there is likely to be a suspicion of anyone white. What interactions I did have were friendly and supportive though.
There were no hotels so we asked at a checkpoint about sleeping nearby, perhaps in the local school or the checkpoint itself, but it was a no, so shortly afterwards we asked a woman if we could camp in the trees in front of her hours and she said yes. We took a relatively sheltered spot although obviously the entire village then came for a look through the trees at us. After food (pasta with tuna, sweetcorn and the remaining bits of the wheel of cheese; pretty good actually) a group of people including the guy from the checkpoint and a woman covering her face with her tshirt came and insisted that we move to a “safer place”. This was a total pain in the arse so we resisted, but eventually had to relent, packed everything up and moved to...the checkpoint. Of course.
*Vying with Turkey for that honour
**A small omelette rolled in a chapati, hence “roll eggs”, hence rolex
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